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Fender Blacktop Club

#441
I picked up my Fender Jazz Blacktop yesterday - can I join the club :)
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Chrome Fender 'f' locks fitted
GHS Pressurewound Strings

Although i'm not unhappy with the current Neck I'd really like to have a fretboard design like that on the Geddy Lee Jazz Basses.
 
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#442
Hi guys,

Here's mine. Précision Blacktop . Sounds great, very powerfull. I ask for a number in the club.
image.jpg
 
#445
SCOMan said:
I picked up my Fender Jazz Blacktop yesterday - can I join the club :)
[This invalid link has been removed]

Chrome Fender 'f' locks fitted
GHS Pressurewound Strings

Although i'm not unhappy with the current Neck I'd really like to have a fretboard design like that on the Geddy Lee Jazz Basses.
Click to expand...

SCOMan, try uploading your pic again. It's trying to link to it, but not showing up. And yeah, a Geddy neck, or even a Squier VM '70s neck would look pretty slick. Let us know if you do the mod.

Princedead said:
Hi guys,

Here's mine. Précision Blacktop . Sounds great, very powerfull. I ask for a number in the club.
View attachment 413014
Click to expand...

SCOMan gets Number #46. Princedead, you shall receive a number and it shall be Number #47.
 
#447
Wonder if one of you blacktop owners can help me. My blacktop precision arrived today it appears to have an issue. I assumed (and please correct me if I am wrong) that with the 2 volume knobs for each pickup, you could go silent on one, full on the other and everywhere in between. My bridge pickup appears to be working correctly, but when I dial down that and go full on the neck pickup I get nothing. Now when I change the volume on the neck pup with the bridge pup's volume raised, there appears to be at least some change in sound (to my untrained ear). Note I also get bad/no grounding buzz when i touch the poles of the neck pup with both on, but not with just the neck pup on.

So it seems to me that it runs through the bridge pickup and no matter what the neck pup is set to, the bridge pup can silent the bass by itself.

Is this how it is intended to function? I am still a beginner and I have not messed around with a bass that was setup like this with separate volumes (just had blends).

Thanks.
 
#450
Sidewinder, a few members here have had similiar issues regarding their pick up volumes and blends. I know that some have rewired and changed out some electronics. I am no expert but some of them might chime in with advice.
 
#452
Sidewinder7 said:
My bridge pickup appears to be working correctly, but when I dial down that and go full on the neck pickup I get nothing.
Click to expand...
If you are not getting any sound from the neck pickup when soloed on full, there is an electronic issue. It could be a defective pot, a broken wire, bad soldering, ect.


Some BT bass owners feel like the stock pots rapidly go from "on" to "off" instead of having a smooth sweep, and replace them with better quality pots (and sometimes B tapers for the vol pots).
 
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#453
Hi Blacktop owners, I'm curious about something:

Aren't P-style pickups basically humbuckers in a split-coil formation? What's the tonal difference between the Blacktop jazz and precision if both have humbuckers on them and positioned somewhat similar to each other on the body? I'm thinking of trading in my Sterling Ray 35 for one of these babies.

Love the precision sound but love it on a jazz body and neck
 
#454
Don't underestimate the tonal differences by position. I have a Blacktop P that I really like but it doesn't have the classic P sound either! Which is one of the reasons I like it, it gives me some versatility. I play pretty much P Basses, bought a few others but always ended up not using them. So to my amateur ear the P-bass blacktop has a lot more mids than the traditional Ps about the same hi's and a little thin on the lows.

I can't really speak to the Blacktop Jazz, which chose to use two traditional style P split coils, But I suspect that by placement and such what you'll get is a unique sounding Jazz tone and not the classic P tone.
 
#455
Hello!

So, I've been playing drums for the past 25 years professionally and thought it's about time to learn a stringed instrument. After doing a ton of research I decided the Blacktop Precision bass would be a great guitar to start with and grow with in my learning of a new instrument.

I bought it at Sam Ash. I have since had it setup at Guitar Center. I noticed they were an authorized Fender warranty repair center. I showed them how my volume knobs would only turn on at the last 90-95% of the way on. This seems like,a very common problem with the Blacktop series after reading these forums.

Well, they found the problem. The tech spent an hour with Fender and they discovered that the capacitor from the tone pot was touching the top of the output jack. I guess he just bent it back and now I have volume from 1-10. Thought I'd share some useful information for first post here.:thumbsup:
 
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#456
MovingPitchers said:
Hi Blacktop owners, I'm curious about something:

Aren't P-style pickups basically humbuckers in a split-coil formation? What's the tonal difference between the Blacktop jazz and precision if both have humbuckers on them and positioned somewhat similar to each other on the body? I'm thinking of trading in my Sterling Ray 35 for one of these babies.

Love the precision sound but love it on a jazz body and neck
Click to expand...

I'm in the opposite side of the boat from jandscotten pastorjamesc. I have a BT Jazz, but little experience with the Precision. That being said, I find I can cop a "pretty-darn-close-if-not-spot-on" Precision tone by solo'ing the neck pickup. By blending in more and more of the neck pickup, I get an deep, growly tone that neither loses the low-end-Precision foundation, but has more bite.

Is it "Jazz-like"? Perhaps, but not quite so to my ears. To me, it's a sound almost completely unto itself. Either way, it kicks like a mule and is easily the most aggressive bass I own! ;)
 
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#457
Top Timmy said:
Hello!

So, I've been playing drums for the past 25 years professionally and thought it's about time to learn a stringed instrument. After doing a ton of research I decided the Blacktop Precision bass would be a great guitar to start with and grow with in my learning of a new instrument.

I bought it at Sam Ash. I have since had it setup at Guitar Center. I noticed they were an authorized Fender warranty repair center. I showed them how my volume knobs would only turn on at the last 90-95% of the way on. This seems like,a very common problem with the Blacktop series after reading these forums.

Well, they found the problem. The tech spent an hour with Fender and they discovered that the capacitor from the tone pot was touching the top of the output jack. I guess he just bent it back and now I have volume from 1-10. Thought I'd share some useful information for first post here.:thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads-up! Post a pic and I'll slip you a number.
 
#458
Malak the Mad said:
I'm in the opposite side of the boat from jandscotten. I have a BT Jazz, but little experience with the Precision. That being said, I find I can cop a "pretty-darn-close-if-not-spot-on" Precision tone by solo'ing the neck pickup. By blending in more and more of the neck pickup, I get an deep, growly tone that neither loses the low-end-Precision foundation, but has more bite.

Is it "Jazz-like"? Perhaps, but not quite so to my ears. To me, it's a sound almost completely unto itself. Either way, it kicks like a mule and is easily the most aggressive bass I own! ;)
Click to expand...

Yes, that's right, I feel the same sound in my BT J. I think the Jazz BT has an advantage: that it is easy to change the pups, I bought 2 SD Quaterpounds. Heavy!

edit. And about electric issues. BT electrics is very poor, a trash, simple that. Change all electrics is essential. I instal a Jazz Bass Vintage electric kit (BassPartsResourse), is another bass now.
 
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#459
Fernando Costa said:
Yes, that's right, I feel the same sound in my BT J. I think the Jazz BT has an advantage: that it is easy to change the pups, I bought 2 SD Quaterpounds. Heavy!

edit. And about electric issues. BT electrics is very poor, a trash, simple that. Change all electrics is essential. I instal a Jazz Bass Vintage electric kit (BassPartsResourse), is another bass now.
Click to expand...

I guess I lucked out, then. There's not a thing wrong with my electronics and I love the "stock" sound. The only modifications I felt the need to make were adding a Hipshot Drop-D tuner and "sprucing up" the pickguard.

Post-ModBlacktop01_zps44b7b13c.jpg

(And if you need to ask…yes, I'll use any excuse to trot out this pic!:p)

But I definitely agree on the "ease of change" subject. I suppose it'd be much easier to swap out a pair of Precisions, not to mention the wide variety of brands/builds/styles a person could choose from, than the stock humbuckers.
 
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