Fender American Deluxe J Bass V 5-String

[Kain]

Hi TalkBass!

I got Fender American Deluxe J Bass V 5-String (circa 2000) with Bill Turner-designed dual-coil Ceramic Noiseless pickups (according to wiki).

Do you have any advice as the B-string is not as loud as the other strings. Playing without amp it's ok, but there is something wrong with the pickups. Should the magnets on the B-string be more flat than the other magnets? On my bass they are different than the other 4 string's magnets.

What pickups do you recommend as a replacement (if the original sound is pleasing other than the B)?

 

[shadewind]

I don't know if they fit but when I had the same problem with my Squier Deluxe Active Jazz V, I replaced the pickups with DiMarzio Ultra Jazz 5 and they worked great. The B string made thunder!

 

[Kwesi]

Are you sure it's the pickups? Fenders aren't necessarily renown for having flat out killer B strings. Here's another thread you might want to check out: http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=618521&highlight=string

I actually plan on posting a thread on replacement pickups for Fender 5 string jazzes within a week or so but I've PM'd you my preliminary findings.

 

[Kain]

Thank you Kwesi for your PM.

I took my bass to my friend, who is a luthier. He measured the pickup magnets and found out that the B-string magnet was weaker than the other magnets. He was quite sure that it was the reason why the B-string is not so hot sounding as the others.

As I said earlier the B-magnet also looks different than the others, so I guess it's intentional. Weird anyhow, does anybody know reason for this?

 

[bassbenj]

Thank you Kwesi for your PM.

I took my bass to my friend, who is a luthier. He measured the pickup magnets and found out that the B-string magnet was weaker than the other magnets. He was quite sure that it was the reason why the B-string is not so hot sounding as the others.

As I said earlier the B-magnet also looks different than the others, so I guess it's intentional. Weird anyhow, does anybody know reason for this?

I don't know if "intentional" is the right word. You mean came from the factory that way. Clearly the pickup is defective. The real true story is that at the factory there is a large box of magnets. In that box was a weak defective one. Person building pickups just grabbed them out of the box and the weak one happened to get under your B string. My noiseless Jazz V deluxe has no such problem. And the "reason" for the problem would be lack of quality control that should have tested the pickup and bass for even response before it was sold.

The bottom line as far as I can see is a new pickup or at minimum a new magnet for the pickup if you can find one.

 

[Kain]

Both (bridge and neck) of my Noiseless pickups are the same. Both got different magnets on B-string, they look flatter than the other magnets.