Fender American deluxe Jazz 2007 pots

[bodmin]

Hi guys,

I have a 2007 Am deluxe Jazz bass, and the stacked pot for Bass boost and Treble boost doesn't seem to make any noticable difference when I adjust these. The seperate pot for mid boosr certainly makes a load of difference. How much variation should be heard, and how can I check the pot is working correctly? (I'm a relative newbie, and it's my 1st active bass, and to be honest, have left the settings in the heutral position, and set the tone at the amp up to now...).

Hope this isn't a too silly question...

[ikay]

There should be a very significant change in tone when cutting or boosting the bass/treble control so something isn't right. First thing I'd do is unscrew the control plate and take a look inside to make sure there are no obvious issues with the wiring to the stacked pot (eg. broken wire, bad solder joint). If you have a multimeter you can check whether the pots are working by testing resistance between the wiper and the end terminals. As you sweep the pot the resistance should change from zero to the nominal value of the pot. If all that checks out OK then maybe a component has failed on the circuit board. In which case you could look at getting a replacement preamp such as the John East J-Retro Deluxe which is a drop in replacement.

http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/East_Preamps_J_Retro.html (about halfway down the page)

As far as I know Fender don't sell their preamps as replacement parts but they do very occasionally come up on ebay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fender-American-Deluxe-Jazz-Bass-Preamp-Pickups-/151000368665

[bodmin]

Cheers for the help. There are no obvious signs, ie wire broken or bad soldered joints. I will try and borrow a multimeter and see.

I had to replace the mid boost pot the other week, as the center spindle litterally fell out whilst I was playing!!!! - not impressed