Fender Deluxe Active P Bass (questions)

That bass has a tone control in passive mode. The Bass, Mid and Treble controls are only available in Active mode. The traditional tone control is only available in Passive.

In other words, the traditional tone control is only used in passive, and the 3-band controls are only used in Active. Kind of the common gripe about these basses is that the traditional tone control is not available in Active. The bass acts like a traditional Precision in Passive.

 

I have an American Precision Deluxe (about 2013). The 3-band EQ is good. I like the tone(s) in passive mode just fine but this bass simply cannot sound like a P. I think it's because the neck pickup is in the wrong place by about 10mm-ish. For P sound, I have Ps. As I say Fender's Deluxe basses are good IMHO. My American Deluxe, ergonomically, is dreamy. I like the sounds. It sounds different from a P. Fatter. P basses make a sort of barking sound. As opposed to boom or poof.

 

Just did some checking, and there are two versions of this bass. One is the GC/MF Special Edition Deluxe P/J and the other is The Deluxe P/J. The MF unit has the blocks and the regular version is dots. The blocks bass has the Traditional and 3- Band controls. Looks like the dots units only have the 3-band when Acitve and no tone control when Passive.