• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Fender American Elite 5 - Preamp Swap?

#41
My neck pickup crapped out on my Elite 5, so I’m probably gonna try a set of SD Apollos in it, if I don’t go with the Aguilar 5J-70’s that I’ve loved in the past.

Might also swap the preamp at the same time. Either the Audere 4 band that I’ve used in the past and know I like, or I might spend the extra dough and try the Sadowsky pre.
 
#43
Ryan L. said:
Just ordered the 5J-70’s and Audere 4 band for it. That combo has worked great for me in the past, so that’s what I decided to go with.
Click to expand...

I love Nordstrand stuff and always heard great things about Audere.

It's funny you mentioned the issue with the neck pickup. There have been 2 Fender Elite 5s that I've played in stores that had a malfunctioning neck pickup.

Wonder if it's the connection, or something within the pickup itself that is failing.

If I ever swap pickups, I'll probably do something more extreme like Nordstrand Dual Coils, but so far I'm happy with the tone from them.
 
#45
phillipkregg said:
I love Nordstrand stuff and always heard great things about Audere.

It's funny you mentioned the issue with the neck pickup. There have been 2 Fender Elite 5s that I've played in stores that had a malfunctioning neck pickup.

Wonder if it's the connection, or something within the pickup itself that is failing.

If I ever swap pickups, I'll probably do something more extreme like Nordstrand Dual Coils, but so far I'm happy with the tone from them.
Click to expand...
When I removed the pickup, I could see broken copper wires on the windings, so I’m assuming that’s the culprit. It’s not the preamp, because I plugged the bridge pickup into the neck pickup slot and it worked just fine. So I could have gotten by with just a pickup replacement, but decided to go all out and do the preamp too.
 
#46
Ryan L. said:
When I removed the pickup, I could see broken copper wires on the windings, so I’m assuming that’s the culprit. It’s not the preamp, because I plugged the bridge pickup into the neck pickup slot and it worked just fine. So I could have gotten by with just a pickup replacement, but decided to go all out and do the preamp too.
Click to expand...

Yikes, that doesn't sound good. Now I wonder how many folks may have had their pickups go out on them.
 
#47
phillipkregg said:
Does the Bart preamp have a passive tone control while it’s in active mode?

That’s a big selling point for me.
Click to expand...
Not the standard one but the tone control knob can be added as a separate knob ... thus may require drilling an additional hold but it’s a solution now advertised by Bartolini on their website ... however, I got a NTMB-3F in my Elrick and it is not that neutral when switched on
 
#48
phillipkregg said:
Thanks for posting that, I believe I saw this review on another thread as well. For me it basically just comes down to the fact that Fender didn't make the passive tone control usable while in active mode.

Rolling off the treble helps, but there's a whole spectrum of tones that you can achieve when you can roll off the tone control, then bump the treble or vice-versa. It's something that I grew quite accustomed to on the Sadowsky (and the Sire, and the Skjold) but a little annoying that I can't do that on the stock Fender.

Not a huge deal, but it would have been a very nice feature to have. I'll talk to the tech I normally use and see if it's possibly just a simple wiring modification that would allow for it to work in active mode.
Click to expand...
Sadowsky states that they’d preamp can be installed in a four inline of diamond pattern configuration ... the half-moon layout of the Elite P bass may require working on the pre-wired cabling if the preamp ... make sure that this is not issue from somebody who’s already took the chance to buy the preamp for installing it in this bass before purchasing one or verify this with the one you have in the jazz bass ... I’d be interested to know how it fits although this preamp doesn’t have a mid control knob

PD note:

Sorry I thought you talked about an Am. Elite P bass ... no such issue with a jazz bass
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back