Why do the noiseless pickups on my Fender active J make a lot of nose?

tegnoto89 · #1 03-28-2009, 02:53 AM

Seems rather odd... But I get a lot of buzz when I'm not muting the strings on my fender J, especially when the highs are above like 3 or so.

tegnoto89 · #2 04-03-2009, 01:23 AM

Just realized this should be moved to pickups & electronics.. Can somebody do this?

**TheMutt** · #3 04-03-2009, 01:38 AM

could be a number of things. Pups too close/far away from the strings, low battery, grounding issues, loose pup windings, loose solder joint, EMI/RFI in the room are just some places to start. I'm sure a mod will move the thread soon.

SelenaBassGirl · #4 04-03-2009, 01:45 AM

I know that right before my cell phone is gonna go off, or someone is getting ready to text me, a weird sound comes out of my amp...lol, so I know to grab the phone! hehe (sorry, this reply is irrelevant to the question...

ps...your Fender J makes a lot of noses?? lol! sorry again, couldn't help that one!

**TheMutt** · #5 04-03-2009, 01:51 AM

Noiseless pickups are also kind of a misnomer. Especially if you are boosting the treble. I have personally never owned an active fender jazz, but my EBMM had a little buzz until I adjusted the pickup height. I'd get a tech to do it if you don't know what you are doing though.

82Daion · #6 04-03-2009, 01:52 AM

If the buzz goes away when you touch the strings (or any other metal part, for that matter), it's probably just the grounding in the bass. When you touch the strings, you complete the ground, which is why the noise goes away.

tegnoto89 · #7 04-03-2009, 05:32 PM

Quote:

If the buzz goes away when you touch the strings (or any other metal part, for that matter), it's probably just the grounding in the bass. When you touch the strings, you complete the ground, which is why the noise goes away.

So, is there anything I can do about this? Or is it just one of those things I've gotta deal with?

**butchblack** · #8 04-03-2009, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tegnoto89

So, is there anything I can do about this? Or is it just one of those things I've gotta deal with?

You can replace the ground wire from your bridge to the electronics cavity. Bring it to a guitar repair person if you're not comfortable doing it yourself. It should be an inexpensive job.

rjs6700 · #9 04-04-2009, 06:26 AM

What particular model active Fender are you talking about. I have an Am. Deluxe that doesn't buzz at all (it does have noiseless pickups). I you put a active preamp on regular jazz single coils it will amplify the noise they had when solo'd.

Vakmere · #10 04-04-2009, 11:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tegnoto89

Seems rather odd... But I get a lot of buzz when I'm not muting the strings on my fender J, especially when the highs are above like 3 or so.

Single coil pick ups do that. Take them out and put humbuckers in there.

ehque · #11 04-05-2009, 02:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by butchblack

You can replace the ground wire from your bridge to the electronics cavity. Bring it to a guitar repair person if you're not comfortable doing it yourself. It should be an inexpensive job.

If the hum goes away when he touches the strings, the bridge is grounding him - ie. the bridge ground wire is doing its job.

You could try proper shielding. From what i understand, noiseless pickups are splitcoil already - aka. humbucking - so the hum is coming from somewhere else, possibly your electronics. Properly shielding your electronics cavity can seriously bring down this noise level.

**butchblack** · #12 04-05-2009, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ehque

If the hum goes away when he touches the strings, the bridge is grounding him - ie. the bridge ground wire is doing its job.

You could try proper shielding. From what i understand, noiseless pickups are split coil already - aka. humbucking - so the hum is coming from somewhere else, possibly your electronics. Properly shielding your electronics cavity can seriously bring down this noise level.

I think you might be mistaken on both counts. If the bridge is properly grounded there should be little to no change in hum when touching the strings. An easy check would be to get a wire long enough to reach from the bridge to the jack inside the cavity. Touch one end to the bridge, the other to the jack, if the humming goes down significantly it's the ground wire. I also don't believe Fender's noiseless technology is a humbucking design, though I've never looked to verify that and I could find nothing online to confirm either a single coil or a split coil humbucker design. Shielding your cavity is a good idea regardless.

PilbaraBass · #13 04-05-2009, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by butchblack

I think you might be mistaken on both counts. If the bridge is properly grounded there should be little to no change in hum when touching the strings. An easy check would be to get a wire long enough to reach from the bridge to the jack inside the cavity. Touch one end to the bridge, the other to the jack, if the humming goes down significantly it's the ground wire. I also don't believe Fender's noiseless technology is a humbucking design, though I've never looked to verify that and I could find nothing online to confirm either a single coil or a split coil humbucker design. Shielding your cavity is a good idea regardless.

split-coil humcancelling is similar to humbucker humcancelling...

difference is, in a humbucker there are two coils sensing all strings, the coils are RWRP (reverse wound/reverse polarity)...
in a split coil there are two coils, each sensing ~half of the strings (3/2 split on a 5-string)...these coils are again RWRP and usually connected in series...

for noiseless jazz pickups, they can be split or stacked...split is as described...stacked is two coils, one above another...
on a classic humbucker (Gibson PAF or MM or G&L) the coils are side-by-side

+1 on the grounded bridge comment

tegnoto89 · #14 04-05-2009, 09:55 PM

Okayy, I have an update; I don't know if this changed anything.. I realized the buzzing is only when my laptop computer is plugged into the outlet.

PilbaraBass · #15 04-08-2009, 03:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tegnoto89

Okayy, I have an update; I don't know if this changed anything.. I realized the buzzing is only when my laptop computer is plugged into the outlet.

ah HAAAA!

I don't know...just ah HAAA!

seriously, the source of your noise is obviously your laptop and appears it's getting to the signal chain via your amp or effects box(es)...try using an isolation transformer in the signal chain and you're problem may be solved.

ChadDMatthews · #16 04-16-2009, 11:57 AM

Hey, I had a crazy buzz with my custom shop jazz that I got last year, drove me crazy, especially when it had "noiseless pickups". I took it in to my guitar tech twice, he couldn't figure it out, eventually he said that there seems to be a problem with the 4 string noiseless pickups, most of them seem to be this way. There doesn't seem to be a problem with the 5 string version. He contacted Fender, to no avail, but they did send new pickups, albeit with the same problem. It was driving me crazy trying to record with that buzz so I took the bass back and have been using my P-bass ever since

SGD Lutherie · #17 04-16-2009, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vakmere

Single coil pick ups do that. Take them out and put humbuckers in there.

They are humbuckers... "Fender noiseless pickups." They are stacked humbuckers.

Humbuckers only get rid of 60-cycle hum. The high pitched stuff is electrostatic noise and you need shielding to get rid of that.

The bass might just need better shielding, and I bet the pickups aren't shielded either, not do they have the pole pieces grounded.

I can sit in front of my CRT monitor with properly shielded pickups and they don't buzz at all. My noiseless Jazz pickups are noiseless.