popular Posted by iconian | Staff • 5d ago
Mar 21, 2025 9:37 PM
Item 1 of 2
Item 1 of 2
popular Posted by iconian | Staff • 5d ago
Mar 21, 2025 9:37 PM
Charvel Pro-Mod San Dimas Bass PJ IV Bass Guitar $499 + free s/h
$499
$1,000
50% offAdorama
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15 Comments
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They took $50 off for a few dings on the second used one they sent me, but I regret not just returning for a correct one. The first didn't have level frets. The second is sitting at a Fender repair center having the overcut nut replaced. The pickup and control cavities aren't shielded, so you'll have to get a $10 roll of shielding tape off Amazon too. The 4 string sounds better than the fiver. The neck is incredible if you can get a playable one.
They took $50 off for a few dings on the second used one they sent me, but I regret not just returning for a correct one. The first didn't have level frets. The second is sitting at a Fender repair center having the overcut nut replaced. The pickup and control cavities aren't shielded, so you'll have to get a $10 roll of shielding rape off Amazon too. The 4 string sounds better than the fiver. The neck is incredible if you can get a playable one.
I agree with this for mine and the truss rod is very stiff but I love it so much I just kept it. It sounds amazing even unshielded.
Yeah, the truss rods are terrible. They do seem to work, but it's so stiff it nearly feels like you are breaking it. I do love a heel mounted spoke wheel, but they did a terrible job there. In my opinion, Indonesia is doing way better than the junk out of Mexico.
They took $50 off for a few dings on the second used one they sent me, but I regret not just returning for a correct one. The first didn't have level frets. The second is sitting at a Fender repair center having the overcut nut replaced. The pickup and control cavities aren't shielded, so you'll have to get a $10 roll of shielding rape off Amazon too. The 4 string sounds better than the fiver. The neck is incredible if you can get a playable one.
I'd expect this to be better in the shielding department as this is the revision 2 of this model. You can tell that by the colors pickup covers. The black covers indicate rev 2, which are also shielded.
I've seen this conjecture in comments, and I know it to be incorrect. I know what shielding paint looks like, but doing a continuity tests on the control cavities was the real proof. I hope some are shielded, but both my 4 strings from Adorama had the issue, and my 5 string from Franklin Guitar Works had the issue. The Fender P pickup on the 5 string certainly hissed the worst, but both required shielding. The 4 string was noticeably better, and a person that usually cuts treble, or does not use a tweeter/horn, probably wouldn't be bothered much. But, there was clearly a huge difference between touching the strings and not touching the strings. It's an easy enough fix, but it just shows why these "$1000" basses are selling for $400-500.
That at definitely makes sense. I would expect touching the strings to dampen the noise for such a hot preamp, regardless of the shielding. The preamp is just way too hot and it's probably causing some distortion. Luckily, i can actually check that with an oscilloscope and report back when I get mine!
That's not the case either. The preamp being hot is an overblown issue. It has a trim pot. It can be turned down to where it is not noticably higher output than a passive pickup. Just turn the trim screw fully clockwise.
Touching the bridge, touching the knobs, or touching the strings all quiets it down, so it's definitely related to a grounding/shielding issue, and it was solved in both cases by a dollar of copper tape.
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When I turned the preamp trim screw down, it was basically the same volume as the passive pickup.
No, that's wrong. Fender Mexico.
Truth. Indonesia has something special
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Second question: In order to not drain the battery, I understand you have to unplug the audio cable from the bass? Or can you simply pull out the active/passive knob to shut off the active circuit and save the battery?