Options for 97 MIJ Fender Jazz Bass Electrics

[rwillett]

I have a 97 Made in Japan Fender Jazz (Lake Placid Blue) and I love the neck on it. To be honest that’s the reason I brought it. As an ex rugby player, the weight is pretty immaterial and as I have the arms (and possibly the body) of an orangutan, the neck length is fine. It’s a great guitar BUT the knobs and controls seem to do very little apart from turning the volume down on each of them. I get far more different tone from where I play the strings.

 

I brought it second hand and I know the bridge isn’t a genuine Fender and had assumed that the electrics were a bit dodgy. So I took the plate off today and had a look, somewhat surprisingly, I think that these are the original pots and capacitors. Can someone confirm this please based on the pictures?

 

Assuming these controls are original, I’m not keen to throw these away but I have no issues with replacing them with something new to give me some more variety of tones and keeping the originals for if I ever sell. I have read (and re-read and re-re-read) to try and work out what my options are and am more confused than ever. I don’t think I need active, I want to get a variety of tones, something with some bass grunt, but also a bit more treble and bite. I want my cake and to eat it 😊

 

I’m more than happy to spend £100+ on replacing the stuff, for a top class solution, I can spend more, I can solder so I’m not looking for the easiest plug and play solution, but if plug and play is a good option, then that’s great. I believe that the control plate on the MIJ Fender Jazz’s might need to be replaced along with the knobs and that’s fine. Should I also be looking at replacing the pickups? Or are they seen as pretty good. My problem is that I know nobody who even plays guitar within a 45 min drive (I live in rural North Yorkshire), so can’t easily compare and contrast with another bass.

 

Any help or simple guidance welcomed.

 

Many thanks

 

Rob

[jrixn1]

What size are the control plate holes?  I recently needed to replace the electronics on a CIJ jazz bass (broken pot in my case).  The control plate holes are smaller than the standard size.  I took advice from basschat's KiOgon whose concern was sourcing quality pots in the smaller thread size.  Instead, he enlarged the holes so they could accommodate standard pots.

 

In terms of increased tonal options: by default, jazz bass pickups are wired in parallel, but one option above the usual volume-volume-tone is a pull-pot to connect the pickups instead in series.  This gives a meatier tone and volume boost.

 

I'd recommend contacting KiOgon if you want a drop-in solution; or http://www.ak-line.com/medium/Bassschaltungen.pdf if you want (many!) diagrams to do it yourself.  There are an inspiring - or perhaps overwhelming - number of options... I think #333 is the series option mentioned above.

 

I liked the stock pickups but changing them is always an option.  One approach is to do the electronics first and see what difference it makes, and then you can always switch the pickups later.  Using solderless connectors makes pickup experimentation hassle-free.

[Lw.]

What changes are you actually trying to make? An easy solution would be to leave the bass stock & buy a nice EQ pedal to go in front of your amp, that'll give you a load of tonal options & if you don't like it you can sell the EQ on and get something else.

[Bassman68]

The recommendations above are spot on, KiOgon makes some lovely replacement looms..

I have a couple of volume,pan,tone looms for my jazz basses, very simple to fit with solderless connections.

A good preamp pedal is another good option however, if the sound isn’t there to begin with, what are you hoping to boost?

 

Another option would be a replacement preamp, such as a J East retro, it will give you bass/treble cut/boost as well as passive tone control options.

Just check the dimensions of the cavity in the bass to make sure everything will fit (including battery)?

Dimensions are on the East website (I think?)
 

[rwillett]

@jrixn1 Thanks for this.  The holes in the control plate are 8.14mm. The pots have all the signs of never having been removed. There's a washer underneath the flat nut, and it feels like its never been turned in 25+ years. I beleive the MIA Jazz are larger holes but thats just my understanding.  I would like a meatier tone as you suggest. Its difficult to describe 'tone' but I did listen and play an active Music man and that really punched out bass notes. I know it was active but wow!

 

Just looked at http://www.ak-line.com/medium/Bassschaltungen.pdf, thats a lot of guitars and somebody has really put the effort in to bring that information together. My German is limited to the little I studied in school but I can follow a diagram so I'll look at that. I'm happy to contact KiOgon and see if he/she can assist here. Whilst part of me loves tinkering (I have two Prusa 3d printers on the go), my heart says "yeah, lets play", my head says "get back to bloody work and earn some money" so perhaps KiOgon is the way forward.

 

@Lw. I actually have a mod_dwarf and am still playing with it to learn what it can do. I was trying to get the sound right before I tried adjusting it in the mod dwarf, my thinking (probably wrongly), is to get the bass sounding as good as it can and then play about with pedals. Happy to disabused about this.

 

@Bassman68 Similar recommendations for KiOgon, which is good to know. I have seen the J East retro fit, not cheap but might be worth it. The control plate is off the Jazz so I can measure things up and see if that is an option.

 

Appreciate all the help

Rob

[Owen]

I would be looking at the East option. It will be done and dusted then. 

 

Staying passive is a thing but I am not convinced that you are going to get that step up you are hoping for with a better passive loom. 

 

An East will come through the classifieds at some stage. Everything does. 

 

 

[itu]

Remove the original plate with pots and save it as it is. The set costs so little, and then you have an original backup just in case.

 

Another hi-Z version is to have

vol - blend - tone - out

Use Bourns 500k MN as the blend pot, and a switch pot for that series option.

 

Lo-Z options are numerous; John East was already mentioned. It's probably The Preamp, although tastes vary.

 

You want to go to extremes: use switches (rotary is also an option) to choose pickups, tone etc. Might work best in studio environment, where sounds can be chosen and returned in fractions of a second.

[uk_lefty]

I don't think you'll get a MusicMan tone I'm afraid. If you want a MusicMan perhaps restore the bass as best you can and sell it to fund a MusicMan? Fender Japanese basses fetch good money so if you replace the loom and get it firing nicely with the stock pickups you should get a good price for it. 

[Bigguy2017]

9 hours ago, rwillett said:

I have a 97 Made in Japan Fender Jazz (Lake Placid Blue) and I love the neck on it. To be honest that’s the reason I brought it. As an ex rugby player, the weight is pretty immaterial and as I have the arms (and possibly the body) of an orangutan, the neck length is fine. It’s a great guitar BUT the knobs and controls seem to do very little apart from turning the volume down on each of them. I get far more different tone from where I play the strings.

 

I brought it second hand and I know the bridge isn’t a genuine Fender and had assumed that the electrics were a bit dodgy. So I took the plate off today and had a look, somewhat surprisingly, I think that these are the original pots and capacitors. Can someone confirm this please based on the pictures?

 

Assuming these controls are original, I’m not keen to throw these away but I have no issues with replacing them with something new to give me some more variety of tones and keeping the originals for if I ever sell. I have read (and re-read and re-re-read) to try and work out what my options are and am more confused than ever. I don’t think I need active, I want to get a variety of tones, something with some bass grunt, but also a bit more treble and bite. I want my cake and to eat it 😊

 

I’m more than happy to spend £100+ on replacing the stuff, for a top class solution, I can spend more, I can solder so I’m not looking for the easiest plug and play solution, but if plug and play is a good option, then that’s great. I believe that the control plate on the MIJ Fender Jazz’s might need to be replaced along with the knobs and that’s fine. Should I also be looking at replacing the pickups? Or are they seen as pretty good. My problem is that I know nobody who even plays guitar within a 45 min drive (I live in rural North Yorkshire), so can’t easily compare and contrast with another bass.

 

Any help or simple guidance welcomed.

 

Many thanks

 

Rob

 

 

Yes, that's all original Fender Japan wiring.

[rwillett]

1 hour ago, uk_lefty said:

I don't think you'll get a MusicMan tone I'm afraid. If you want a MusicMan perhaps restore the bass as best you can and sell it to fund a MusicMan? Fender Japanese basses fetch good money so if you replace the loom and get it firing nicely with the stock pickups you should get a good price for it. 

I didn't expect to get a MusicMan tone, I had a play on it and loved the sound but didn't like the feel of the neck, very subjective but thats just me. Kli0gon has come back and we'll have a chat.

 

18 minutes ago, Bigguy2017 said:

 

 

Yes, that's all original Fender Japan wiring.

Thanks for letting me know. It looked authentic, bit sloppy on the solder I thought, but hey ho, it is what it is.

 

Thanks

 

Rob

[ead]

Have you tried some switch cleaner on the pots.  I had a similar sounding issue with a bass and a few drops into each pot worked wonders.

[rwillett]

Thats a good idea, I'll try that as well

[ossyrocks]

+1 for @KiOgon. His looms are great, and you don't need a soldering iron to fit them. The Jazz I recently sold had one fitted (I fitted it). There's various options, I went for CTS solid shaft pots, but I had to test if my knobs would fit them first.

I liked the Fender Custom Shop 60's pickups in a Jazz. But having just bought a vintage Jazz I have no need for them anymore.

Rob

[fretmeister]

I’d put EMG JX in it with one of their EQ systems.

[rwillett]

I've ordered a loom from Kliogon so lets see how that goes first.

 

Thanks

 

Rob

[Jonesy]

Sounds like you have it sorted - you can't go wrong with one of Ki0gon's looms. I have one of his looms with a push pull for series/parallel and tone bypass. Really well made and that'd be the first thing I'd look at if your pots aren't doing much.

 

If you fancied upgrading the pups at some point I'd recommend the Fender Pure Vintage 74 J Pups. I have them in a G&L Tribute and they're glorious!

[rwillett]

@Jonesy Thanks for that information. Looking forward to the new loom

 

Will also check on the PUPS.

rob

[Cliff Edge]

On 09/08/2023 at 14:56, Jonesy said:

Sounds like you have it sorted - you can't go wrong with one of Ki0gon's looms. I have one of his looms with a push pull for series/parallel and tone bypass. Really well made and that'd be the first thing I'd look at if your pots aren't doing much.

 

If you fancied upgrading the pups at some point I'd recommend the Fender Pure Vintage 74 J Pups. I have them in a G&L Tribute and they're glorious!

Seconded for the Fender PV 74 J pickups. I have them in my 72 jazz and they are way better than the Seymour Duncan’s I had in there for a number of years after the originals called it quits. 

[Lozz196]

Thirded (if that’s a word). I had the Fender 74s in a Squier VM77 Jazz and they made it sound great.

[Chienmortbb]

On 08/08/2023 at 11:20, jrixn1 said:

The control plate holes are smaller than the standard size.  I took advice from basschat's KiOgon whose concern was sourcing quality pots in the smaller thread size.  Instead, he enlarged the holes so they could accommodate standard pots.

I find the UK made OMEG pots to be very good both in large and small (16mm) size. The only problem is the minimum purchase direct from OMEG. Don’t stress about using CTS pots, they were what Leo had back in the day but are by no means a gold standard, then or now.

 

 

On my CIJ Aerodyne, I replace the stock pickups with DiMarzios. The Aerodyne is a P/J so  only the rear pickup is a Jazz but it does give a Jazz tone in a humbucker, so noiseless. I had a long dialogue with the DiMarzio techs and used their slightly unusual wiring scheme. The result was a Tone control that works and gives a smooth sweep from bright to dull. 

[rwillett]

Thanks for the update, appreciate it. 
 

I’ve ordered a CTS based loom from Kl0gon and have a control plate with 10mm holes already. 
 

Whilst my heart wants to experiment and tinker, my head says “just do the loom and keep practicing”. I easily get distracted with new ideas 😀

 

I have a little Ibanez Mikro for experimenting with, very , very beaten up and worth almost nothing. In biking terms it’s a “rat axe”, that’s where I’ll play with stuff. 

 

 

 

[Geek99]

Thanks for posting the link

quute taken with the idea of turning my p bass into a highway 1 

@kl0gon would this work with a no-load volume pot? 

Edited August 12, 2023 by Geek99

[Chienmortbb]

1 hour ago, rwillett said:

Thanks for the update, appreciate it. 
 

I’ve ordered a CTS based loom from Kl0gon and have a control plate with 10mm holes already. 

Whilst my heart wants to experiment and tinker, my head says “just do the loom and keep practicing”. I easily get distracted with new ideas 😀

 

I have a little Ibanez Mikro for experimenting with, very , very beaten up and worth almost nothing. In biking terms it’s a “rat axe”, that’s where I’ll play with stuff. 

 

 

 

Good call. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with CTS pots, I just like to tell people that there is no magic in them.

 

If you are not sure of doing the work yourself, a @KiOgon loom is a good solution.

Edited August 12, 2023 by Chienmortbb

[rwillett]

Got the loom from Kl0gon and fitted it. Dead easy. Good quality work on the soldering and wiring, I’m no expert but it looked nice and shiny. Very tightly packed as well. 
 

some <ahem> user issues on earthing but I sorted that out. Now have a proper jazz bass and am very happy. 
 

thanks 

 

rob