Is there anything as silent as EMGs?

Corporem · #1 04-01-2007, 04:00 AM

I've just bought a great passive Warwick Corvette (thanks, Ozzie!), and would like to record it to my PC, through my Boss GS-10 audio interface.
However, the static electricity in this environment, or the Boss unit itself, makes it too noisy to record, for my tastes. Therefore, I'm thinking about switching to pickups that don't take sh|t from the surroundings. I've heard that EMGs are the quietest out there. Are there other alternatives?

Nighttrain1127 · #2 04-01-2007, 04:31 AM

There has been a ton of music recorded with fender Jazz and p bass pickups of all makes the key is propper grounding and shielding of the instrument . If everything is done right then just about any decent pickup will be silent. I had EMG's in one of my basses, Can you say sterile lifeless sound? No soul they were almost as dull sounding as Batrolinis. Again modern tone with no soul. INHO if you want a cretian tone then go for whatever that tone is and make it work.

i_got_a_mohawk · #3 04-01-2007, 05:29 AM

Just shield and ground the bass properly, as nighttrain points out. Ive got a bass with some DiMarzio pickups in it that is completelly silent.

One thing, if you are recording to the PC and have an CRT monitor, playing infront of it will give noise, regardless.

Noise could also be coming from the Boss? Ive noticed that problem with a fw boss products before, never used that one tho,so im unsure.

Corporem · #4 04-01-2007, 06:16 PM

The environment is the point here, really. CRT monitor, PC, external disks, printer, lamps and what have you. When plugging the bass into an amp elsewhere, it's not noisy at all. That's why I think drastic measures like EMGs is a necessity here.

As a guitarist, I've never recognised the clean is sterilie and soulless mantra. To me, sterile and soulles pickups are typically cheap, muddy humbuckers. Back in the nineties, everybody knocked Lace Sensor pickups, but I loved the set I had in my Strat Plus.

jay800 · #5 04-01-2007, 07:13 PM

I just finished shielding my Geddy jazz as per Lyle's instuctions and dropped in some new 9CBJD1's with 500k pots.

This, once loud buzzing bass, is now quieter than my EMG actives on my Ibanez - no bull! I still can't believe how the copper shileding/star ground makes such a difference.

Modulrob · #6 04-01-2007, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nighttrain1127

I had EMG's in one of my basses, Can you say sterile lifeless sound? No soul they were almost as dull sounding as Batrolinis.

dude, you might want to wrap these kind of statements with "In my experience/opinion". Maybe your right hand just can't adapt to the wide spectrum of frequencies passed on by the pickups? Believe me, I'm a passive Lane Poor kinda guy by choice...but I had emg's in 2 basses and produced very lively, dynamic, soulful bass parts with them. Lots o' pros do it every day as well.

Oh, to the original poster...I'd agree that emg's are the most silent, if you don't add an emg preamp. But a very well shielded passive setup with humbuckers (foil lined pickup routes, cavities, pickguards, etc.) can be virtually silent as well (that's what I currently have).

- Rob

Nighttrain1127 · #7 04-01-2007, 08:46 PM

If you have EMI and RFI electro magnetic interference and radio frequency interference then shielding and good acbles anr the only cure I am not sure about EMG EFI/RMI Rejection rates being that much better than everyone elses. But shielding could be much less expensive.

SuperDuck · #8 04-01-2007, 09:12 PM

Unless the pickups are making noise, it doesn't make sense to swap them out for quieter ones. I would check cables, monitors, light fixtures (dimmers are always a good source of noise), etc.

Turnaround · #9 04-01-2007, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SuperDuck

I would check cables, monitors, light fixtures (dimmers are always a good source of noise), etc.

I always found dimmers to be a BAD source of noise.

NTPTFAPOI

(Not To Put Too Fine A Point On It).

Corporem · #10 04-02-2007, 06:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jay800

I just finished shielding my Geddy jazz as per Lyle's instuctions and dropped in some new 9CBJD1's with 500k pots.

This, once loud buzzing bass, is now quieter than my EMG actives on my Ibanez - no bull! I still can't believe how the copper shileding/star ground makes such a difference.

Where can I find Lyle's instructions? I'd like to have a look at them.

If the pickups in my Corvette were humbucking, I'd think maybe shielding could do the trick, but my MECs are single coils.

jay800 · #11 04-02-2007, 11:05 AM

Actually, the shielding discussion started in regards to single coil hum. So these intructions were based on single coils. You'll see after reading the first few posts. Humbuckers would just be that much quieter.

Here is the thread:

Jazz Shielding Pictorial (Big Images Warning)

Joe Gress · #12 04-02-2007, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Modulrob

dude, you might want to wrap these kind of statements with "In my experience/opinion". Maybe your right hand just can't adapt to the wide spectrum of frequencies passed on by the pickups? Believe me, I'm a passive Lane Poor kinda guy by choice...but I had emg's in 2 basses and produced very lively, dynamic, soulful bass parts with them. Lots o' pros do it every day as well.

- Rob

+1 But it seems to be that there are those who love EMG's, and those that hate them. Me, I'm on the loving side.

Corporem · #13 04-12-2007, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by i_got_a_mohawk

One thing, if you are recording to the PC and have an CRT monitor, playing infront of it will give noise, regardless.

YES! That was it. When I turned it off, the noise went from untolerable to to hardly noticeable. Looks like I'll spend some dough on a flatscreen rather than EMGs. Good thing too; this old CRT's screen is ghastly. Thanks!

Quote:

Noise could also be coming from the Boss? Ive noticed that problem with a fw boss products before, never used that one tho,so im unsure.

Yeah. It becomes like an order of mangitude more noisy when I switch on the amp modelling software.