Fender Elite Jazz V with Sadowsky Preamp - HUM!

[gridpower]

I just picked up a sweet 2018 Fender Elite Jazz V that was just traded in at my local store.

The Champagne finish is flawless >> not a single dent anywhere.

As a bonus, the previous owner installed a Sadowsky VTC preamp and it has SO MUCH TONE!

However, this bass is exhibiting a LOT of hum/noise when I play through my Mesa TT-800. In comparison, a new 2022 Fender Ultra V plugged into the TT-800 was significantly quieter and also sounded fantastic.

I am trying to wrap my head around why there is so much hum. The cavity and pickguard are copper shielded and the bridge is properly connected to ground.

If I defeat the preamp, it still is noisy AF when you crank it up to compensate.

The original parts are not included with this used Elite V, so I can't go back to stock at the moment to test what is up. I may buy an Audere Jazz Pre just to test it out.

Any ideas or tips to consider here?

Thanks TBers!

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Take it to a good repair/set up person. This can be ironed out.

 

[simongpaez]

Is it making noise while passive?

 

[songwriter21]

Is it making noise while passive?

He said in his post that it's still noisy when passive.

 

[Alessandro Cruz]

I just picked up a sweet 2018 Fender Elite Jazz V that was just traded in at my local store.

The Champagne finish is flawless >> not a single dent anywhere.

That's a beautiful bass, mate... Congrats!

 

[Alessandro Cruz]

If was me, I would start hanging the pickups straight to the output jack and see what happens next.

Fender's Noiseless pickups are known to have some issues with hum/shielding or something, despite the nomenclature. I recall Josh Ham's bass was showing same symptons, and then he dropped it in favor of the Yamaha's BBNE2.

ICYMI, there's a video from him explaining his decision...

 

[gridpower]

If was me, I would start hanging the pickups straight to the output jack and see what happens next.

Fender's Noiseless pickups are known to have some issues with hum/shielding or something, despite the nomenclature. I recall Josh Ham's bass was showing same symptoms, and then he dropped it in favor of the Yamaha's BBNE2.

I dropped the bass off to Jeff Marple at Corner Music (who is a bit of a Nashville legend) to see what he can do about the hum issue and to tweak the setup for me. I may end up replacing the pickups at some point.

That BBE2 sounds fantastic in that video!

 

[Dr. Cheese]

I had Sadowsky humcanceling pickups in a Yamaha and they were super noisy. There must a trick to installing them properly that people unfamiliar with them miss. You should post on the Club Sadowsky thread if the current tech can’t straighten them out.

 

[Alessandro Cruz]

Any update of your problem?

 

[bucephylus]

I just picked up a sweet 2018 Fender Elite Jazz V that was just traded in at my local store.

The Champagne finish is flawless >> not a single dent anywhere.

As a bonus, the previous owner installed a Sadowsky VTC preamp and it has SO MUCH TONE!

However, this bass is exhibiting a LOT of hum/noise when I play through my Mesa TT-800. In comparison, a new 2022 Fender Ultra V plugged into the TT-800 was significantly quieter and also sounded fantastic.

I am trying to wrap my head around why there is so much hum. The cavity and pickguard are copper shielded and the bridge is properly connected to ground.

If I defeat the preamp, it still is noisy AF when you crank it up to compensate.

The original parts are not included with this used Elite V, so I can't go back to stock at the moment to test what is up. I may buy an Audere Jazz Pre just to test it out.

Any ideas or tips to consider here?

Thanks TBers!

Sorry I missed this.

I’ve been kind of focused on the mid-2000’s Fender Jazz 5 American Deluxe for the moment, and have added the Sadowsky preamp to one of them, which I found in pretty decent shape.

The main thing I found was that Fender shielded everything, EXCEPT the bridge pickup cavity. Apparently, they either thought they didn’t need the shielding there, or couldn’t figure out an economical way to get the shielding there. Anyhow, a bit of copper tape in that cavity and extra wire out to the control cavity ground point, and the bass is now silent.

FWIW