Alembic Sigature Electronics Installed in Fender American Deluxe Jazz Bass

[willie]

I just completed replacing the stock Fender Electronics and Pick Ups in my 2012 Fender American Deluxe Jazz Bass with Alembic Signature Electronics and Pick Ups.
Wow!!! What an improvement!!! It's like getting a whole new Bass!!!
Has anyone else done this?

[hieronymous]

Wow - that looks really cool! It's worth it to expand the picture to see the knobs and switches! I've only got Activators in a couple of Fenders - impressed that all the electronics fit - I can barely get the pickguard back on with just Activators...

[terryc]

Back in the 90's I put Alembic P/J combination with twin volumes, bass & treble into a 83 Japanese Squier, it was as if the whole bass was on steroids!
My son used this bass extensively in the bands he was in and he got so many comments on how it sounded so good and it was only going through my old Peavey TNT115 combo !

[willie]

It was a tight fit getting everything in there. And Fender only had a small hole for the wires of the bridge pick up to the control cavity. The jack from the Alembic pick up would not pass through it. So I had to drill a larger hole from bridge pick up cavity to control cavity. Didn't want to cut the wires to the pick up.
And I had to rout the hole for the input jack out a little bit because Fender didn't do a very good job!
This Bass had a horrible electronic buzzing noise since the day I got it. Tried getting it fixed under warranty. Same problem. Paid G.C. to put in a new pre-amp and new N3 noiseless pick ups.  Same problem. So this Bass didn't get used for 5 years. I have a very powerful sound system with a very wide frequency range. So the noise was unacceptable!
Now with the Alembic Electronics and Pick Ups the noise is gone and the Bass has a much wider frequency range and much more versatile tone options.
I'll post a picture of the old electronics coming out and the new ones going in. I did it all in one night. Well worth the time and effort!

[gtrguy]

I did it to a friends P bass and liked the sound. I have played several Fender Jazz Bass deluxe basses and did not like the stock sound on any of them. Oddly enough, I love the tone of the Fender P Bass deluxe though (both are active) and record with one all the time.

[willie]

Here are a couple pictures during changing the Bass over to being POWERED BY ALEMBIC!!!

[edwardofhuncote]

My compliments Willie... that's what I'd call a Fender done right.   

In the future, (surely this won't be your last Alembicization?) this thread might be helpful: http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=209.0

Those modular connectors will slip right off.

[pauldo]

Thanks for posting that Willie.
Now I have gas cause a set of PJ Alembic pickups in my fretless would be the cat's pajama!




Not that I have any complaints with the EMG's that are in it now . . . .  just sayin' Alembic makes everything taste better.

[willie]

Edwardo
Thanks for the link to the page about the connectors being able to be disconnected from the wires.
I wish I had known that. Hated taking a drill to the bass to fit that connector through.
No harm done but that would have been a lot easier!
Now this Bass needs some new strings and then it needs to be played through my 12000 Watt Rig!
I can't wait to hear what it sounds like with a little bit of POWER behind it!