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Fender American Deluxe Jazz noise

Wireking1

Wireking1

Sep 22, 2004
222
14
52
Jacksonville, FL
#1
I have a 2011 Fender American Deluxe Jazz (4 string) that I am having noise issues with. I have read several threads regarding noise issues with these models. I shielded the pick guard and it looks like it has shielding paint inside, but is still noisy. I can point the headstock in one position and make the noise tolerable, but if I move it at all it gets noisy again.

Does this seem like a shielding issue or a grounding issue? I assume it is not the single-coil, 60 cycle hum as they are the stacked noiseless N3 pickups. I am going to attempt to link a soundcloud clip of the noise. I am moving the headstock back and forth a couple of times to make the noise go in and out. Any thoughts....
 
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#3
No, but I will do that right now and report back. Probably should have done that out of instinct. Now I know what my mom feels like every time I ask her "did you turn it off and back on" when she calls to ask me about something about problems with her phone or computer!

Now that I think about it, the noise is exponentially worse in active mode, but the recording was actually done in passive. I assume the extra gain just makes everything worse. Dialing down the treble helps reduce some of the severity of the noise, but it is still there. I will change the batteries just because it may be due for that anyway.
 
#5
I tried one of these out at my local GC. The preamp had an awful HISS to it. Hiss comes from the active electronics, it is not a shielding problem. In active mode it also crackled and sputtered when it was first plugged in. It sounded great in passive mode.

I thought the controls were a PITA. I went with a passive bass instead.
 
#6
Think of the "shielding" as ground. Separate cavities must be linked to each other on the ground path. A shielded pickguard can be a huge help, but it need to be 'electrically' connected to the ground path.
 
#7
DiabolusInMusic said:
Does the noise go away when you touch metal/strings/bridge? If so you have a shielding issue. That would be my guess. A proper shielding job will remove the issue if this is the case.
Click to expand...

Touching the strings does not have as much effect as moving the bass. If I spin 360 degrees I can find two spots 180 degrees apart that stop the buzz. Everywhere else causes the buzz. Made me think it was a shielding issue. I assume it the electromagnetic fields in the room that the are getting in through poorly shielding job.
 
#8
I'm going to order some supplies and follow the how to on shielding the cavities. I will probably go with copper tape. I have solder and soldering iron. Anyone have any tips or tricks beyond what I am going to find with some searching through these and other forums? Also, If I need to move this over to Hardware, Setup and Repair...let me know and I will jump over there.
 
#9
If the noise changes that dramatically as you rotate then something inside the bass is acting like a fairly decent antenna and shielding it properly should help a lot. I know that shielding paint can be good but one of my Fenders has a obviously spotty paint job and while the other looks good, I have to wonder how well it was really done given the results on the other. Plus, as others have said, the pickguard needs to be shielded and both it and the control plate tied to the main electronics route shield to be fully effective. And then the bridge pickup and battery cavity both need to be shielded and the wires to them should also be shielded and tied to the route shields at both ends. If your Fender came with any of that they did a much better job for you than they did for me but then mine are MIM not MIA.
 
#14
Mine was noisy as you describe. I loved the bass but couldn't put up with the noise so decided if I could see what was going on. I took the electronics out with the bass plugged in to an amp and to my surprise it went dead quiet. What I found was that the routing of the wiring was really important to getting these quiet. I was very careful upon reassembly, using the amp and noise as a guide, and I found by moving the wiring around a bit it was then dead quiet and stayed that way. You might try this.
 
#15
I also own a 2011 MIA Jazz Deluxe. I occasionally had noise when using a certain cable. I switched to Mogami cable and the noise went away.

My issue with the bass was the huge drop in output when switching to passive mode. It was much quieter than my MIA passive Precision. I ended up removing the pickups and pots and installing a new set of Lindy Fralin pickups with new pots and capacitors. I also lined the pickup and pot cavity with copper shielding. The bass sounds great and still looks original.
 
#16
I ordered copper tape to properly shield it. I am leaning towards installing new some new pickups since I will have everything open (I'm also considering fralins, do you recommend the traditional or split coil design). I will play around with the electronics when I have it open to see if I can reduce the noise. I have also considered replacing the OEM preamp with an aftermarket pre. Any suggestions? I enjoy the layout of the Fender pre and think the eq points are pretty usable, but if it is a noisy by nature I would consider ditching it for something else.

There is a large volume drop in my bass when I switch to passive. It is lower output than my souped up '03 Mexican jazz with dimarzio ultra jazz pickups.

Interestingly enough, I have the noise even when I switch to passive. Can the active electronics act like and antenna in passive mode?
 
#17
headband said:
Mine was noisy as you describe. I loved the bass but couldn't put up with the noise so decided if I could see what was going on. I took the electronics out with the bass plugged in to an amp and to my surprise it went dead quiet. What I found was that the routing of the wiring was really important to getting these quiet. I was very careful upon reassembly, using the amp and noise as a guide, and I found by moving the wiring around a bit it was then dead quiet and stayed that way. You might try this.
Click to expand...

I got a multimeter today so I could do the shielding as thoroughly as possible. I am waiting for the copper tape to come in. I decided to check the continuity in various locations and make sure the wiring all looked in order inside. When I took the pick guard and control plate off, I plugged the bass in and low and behold...... The intolerable noise was almost completely gone. I noticed it would come back based on how I put the control plate back in. I found a way to get it in there without triggering the noise. Thanks for your advice!!

It appears as though this was not shielded. I don't see signs of it anyway. I have the supplies coming and enjoy little projects like this, so I think I will shield it and keep the pickups and electronics, as they work fine for my needs.

Again, many thanks to everyone for the advice, especially headband for the disassembly / reassembly advice.
 
#18
I got my copper shielding tape in and now even in active mode with the gain cranked it is pretty darn quiet. I made a quick recording (direct into the iPad same as before) in the exact same position. I purposefully tried to emulate the noise before and after playing a few notes and got no noise. Thanks to all for the help with shielding! Below is the "after" recording:
 
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#19
I have the exact same bass (2011 american deluxe jazz) however, never had any noise issues with it so far. Hopefully it stays that way - if not I know where to look for a possible solution. ;) Thanks for sharing your experience!

Greg
 
#20
Shielding helps. A pre-amp like Bartolini or Aguilar that encases the guts inside epoxy helps a lot. I yanked the Fender pre-amp and went passive with the same pickups, and also copper foiled the entire inside of the bass including the back of the pick guard. That arrangement yielded a very quiet instrument, albeit totally passive.
 

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