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Passive Tone Active Circuit, Fender Ultra Jazz

#2
Honestly, I’m a little surprised it doesn’t.

Because the electronics onboard the Ultra Jazz are all on a printed circuit board, that mod would not be very easy. You’d need to figure out where in the circuit the passive tone is connected and move it to before the active/passive switch. Easy on a hardwired circuit but a real pain on a PCB.
 
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#3
Makes sense. I was kinda worried that would be the case. This is my first active bass and I really like the options, but not so much the top end sizzle. I'm looking at the Sadowsky or the J Retro Deluxe as options. Thanks for the reply!
 
#5
furym said:
The active mode has a 3 band eq. Roll back the treble to tame the sizzle.
Click to expand...
That's what I was thinking, too. That, and I've "tamed" the harshness of a couple of passive Jazz basses with the right kind of strings. For example...
  1. I added Fender Pure Nickels to a dual-Precision, Fender Blacktop Jazz bass. They added a nice bit of warmth over other nickel-on-steel strings.
  2. I got some great sound out of D'Addario coated XT strings when adding them to a '70s-style parts-bass with Fender Custom Shop '60s pickups.
In both cases, the tooth-grinding "CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!" was greatly reduced, but not at the expense of the growl or the punchy, low-end sound one would expect from a bass.
 
#6
I don't have an ultra--I have a Player Plus without any tone. BUT... In the PP the pickups go through a blend pot just like a passive, and the output of that goes through the active/passive switch and straight out to the jack and completely bypasses the active electronics in the passive setting. I think there's a good chance this is the case with the ultra, with the tone tossed into the circuit when in passive. It's possible that just rewiring the active/passive switch could move the tone to after the rest of the circuit. Fender is not the most, um, innovative in instrument electronics, so IMHO worth tracing out the wiring in that area at least.
 
#8
Malak the Mad said:
That's what I was thinking, too. That, and I've "tamed" the harshness of a couple of passive Jazz basses with the right kind of strings. For example...
  1. I added Fender Pure Nickels to a dual-Precision, Fender Blacktop Jazz bass. They added a nice bit of warmth over other nickel-on-steel strings.
  2. I got some great sound out of D'Addario coated XT strings when adding them to a '70s-style parts-bass with Fender Custom Shop '60s pickups.
In both cases, the tooth-grinding "CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!" was greatly reduced, but not at the expense of the growl or the punchy, low-end sound one would expect from a bass.
Click to expand...
I have used Fender pure nickels in the past and really enjoyed them. Thanks for the suggestion!
SharpCat said:
I don't have an ultra--I have a Player Plus without any tone. BUT... In the PP the pickups go through a blend pot just like a passive, and the output of that goes through the active/passive switch and straight out to the jack and completely bypasses the active electronics in the passive setting. I think there's a good chance this is the case with the ultra, with the tone tossed into the circuit when in passive. It's possible that just rewiring the active/passive switch could move the tone to after the rest of the circuit. Fender is not the most, um, innovative in instrument electronics, so IMHO worth tracing out the wiring in that area at least.
Click to expand...
I'll try to trace it out. I reached out to Fender but they wouldn't send me a schematic 🙂. Thanks!
 
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#9
I good tech should be able to take care of this for you if you're not sure how to tackle it yourself - I've had it done in the past on other basses.

Just FYI, on the new Ultra II series basses, the passive tone control does indeed work in active mode.

It's definitely a huge improvement and makes the basses sound much, much better when you can control that. Simply turning the active treble knob down is not the same at all.
 
#10
phillipkregg said:
I good tech should be able to take care of this for you if you're not sure how to tackle it yourself - I've had it done in the past on other basses.

Just FYI, on the new Ultra II series basses, the passive tone control does indeed work in active mode.

It's definitely a huge improvement and makes the basses sound much, much better when you can control that. Simply turning the active treble knob down is not the same at all.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the response! I ended up having a Sadowsky preamp installed. It's just what I needed. Tone about 50%, pickups panned slightly toward the neck, just a touch of bass boost. 🙂
 

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#12
I'm in this boat too. I bought an Ultra Jazz V a few months ago. I liked the feel of it the most and as time has gone on, cutting the treble all the way out and rolling the mids back, it is still pretty harsh. I have some Bartolini B-axis pickups on the way. I heard them on a few other jazz basses and liked how they sounded over the stock noiseless Fenders. I was thinking about a John East Retro Deluxe preamp, but may have to look into the Sadowsky.

I'm also rolling through some different strings - again to find what my ear likes, but I like to spend at least two months per set. I work full time, have kids and I only play at home and church about twice a month. They still aren't getting a ton of use in that 2 months.
 
#14
Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati said:
Who needs a tone control when you can dial in the frequencies you want hear? I’m a little surprised by the OP’s question.
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Hey Gianni,

I prefer the way a passive control behaves vs. an active treble boost/cut. I don't know all the details, but my impression is that the passive tone control cuts a broader range of treble frequencies and alters the mid character a bit as well. It seems to my ears that an active treble control is only cutting a specific, narrow treble frequency (I never boost). I'm sure there are lots of different (and good) ways of achieving the sound I'm after, I just prefer the ease and intuitive nature of the passive tone control. I'd love to hear more of your thoughts and how you manage tones. Thanks!
 
#15
BassMic_84 said:
Hey Gianni,

I prefer the way a passive control behaves vs. an active treble boost/cut. I don't know all the details, but my impression is that the passive tone control cuts a broader range of treble frequencies and alters the mid character a bit as well. It seems to my ears that an active treble control is only cutting a specific, narrow treble frequency (I never boost). I'm sure there are lots of different (and good) ways of achieving the sound I'm after, I just prefer the ease and intuitive nature of the passive tone control. I'd love to hear more of your thoughts and how you manage tones. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Oh, my bad, what you say make sense.
I wasn’t initially very fond of my Ultra P and I tend to use it mainly in passive mode.
The reason of my initial doubts I had about this bass was mainly related to the P-pickup sound.
However with the TI strings I later on installed on it I started to progressively like it also because, honestly, the neck is a super neck in my opinion.
However, when I switch the active circuit on, I find tweaking the bass' tone an easy task although what I'm after is more or less just a tweaked Motown tone, nothing much sophisticated actually so it may not really be consistent with the OP's requirements 👍🏻
 

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