paulyboy Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 Hi, Can anyone help ? After many years of hunting and waiting Fender finally make a truly great looking and great playing Jazz bass, active - passive , 18 Volt , block inlays , but , is it true these instruments have a mojor shielding problem leading to buzzing so bad you can only use the passive settings in certain circumstances . ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acebassmusic Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 Er...yes and no.... Earlier this year i went and bought a Fender Jazz FMT active five string second hand. This was my first real Fender in over 29 years of playing. I had a Squire Jazz for a couple of years at about the 3 year mark and any other Fender I picked up just didnt do it for me.......anyway I digress.....I got the bass home and the only thing I didnt like about it was the earth buzz. I'd been used to humbuckers for years. After checking on several bass forums I set to with a soldering iron to ensure all connections were good and solid and to earth. Bit of an improvement but the buzz was still there. Next up was shielding the cavities and backplate - much more of a difference now. Due to the pickups being single coil I dont think you can make it totally silent and mine does buzz more at some venues than at others but its down to an acceptable level and no-one else notices it but me. At some point I will probably install "better" pickups but thats just me wanting to mess with gear. To answer your original question......if you're gigging with a normal volume band then [u]no[/u] the buzzing isnt really a problem but if you are in a quiet band, recording studio or the music you play is very "open" and all parts can be clearly heard then [u]yes[/u] it could be an issue. I'm really happy with the the sounds I get out of the bass and the way it plays. Based on this I would buy the bass and do the easy fix cavity shielding. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulyboy Posted October 29, 2011 Author Share Posted October 29, 2011 Thanks Acebassmusic , Theres always been two Fenders , if you know what I mean , and the new American Deluxe Jazzers are a prime case , £1400 and no shielding ! Tut , Tut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_5 Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 Don't forget to shield the pickup cavity as well as the control cavity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duncbassgit Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 Welcome to the forum fellow Stokey, Dunc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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