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Best Passive Hum-Cancelling J-bass Pickups

#21
Seymour Duncan STK-J2s.

I had those installed on a bass I owned/gigged/recorded with for over 10 years in three or four different bands all over the east coast and they were the absolute best. Many genres of music (punk, metal, indie, hip-hop, schlock...)

www.seymourduncan.com

Hot Stack® Jazz Bass Pickup | Seymour Duncan

The Hot Stack Jazz Bass (STK-J2) is a noiseless pickup that will deliver increased output and a fatter tone for any 4-string Fender American Standard Jazz Bass.
www.seymourduncan.com www.seymourduncan.com

(Said bass was a German-made Warwick Corvette Standard with a wenge neck. I hated the stock active MEC electronics. Harsh, peaky, and very "artificial-active" sounding. When a luthier-friend installed those passive Duncans and rewired the bass with simple VVT controls, the tone just opened up. It was more open, less choked, and the bass growled like an otherworldly beast).
 
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#22
My favorite vintage sounding ones are the Seymour Duncan Apollos - they also have a slight mid bump to my ear that really cut in the mix. The Wildes are another good budget option, but I found the stagger on the Apollos worked much better for my 9.5" radius.

For more modern sounding, I really like the Bartolini B-Axis.

I like the Delano FE/M2's but they are humbucker-y sounding akin to the Relentless/Model J (but better IMO).
 
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#24
I've owned and giggled all of these over the years:
Nord SV (still have) My favorite. Perfect in a rock mix. Plenty of everything. Tons of passive jazz character.
Nord SE muted highs, more mids. Not articulate like a single coil IMO.
Duncan Apollo Loved these. Very balanced, nice polite tone played finger style.
Aguilar HC. Similar to the Apollos. I prefer the Apollos, but it's close.
Bartolini B Axis (still have) A bit more hi-fi. Clean and clear, not muddy at all like most Barts. Zero noise.
DiMarzio Ultra J Kinda scooped. Snappy tone.
DiMarzio Area J (still have) Sound like a vintage J set to me. Not as hot or articulate as the Apollos.
DiMarzio Model J Loud, powerful, great with a pick. Not enough high end for me.
Delano FE/M2 Great modern tone. Thick, not very single coil ish.
EMG JV muted highs, Didn't care for them at all.
Fralin HCs. These shocked me. I didn't care for them and I LOVE their single coil version. Thick mods, loose bottom, kinda muted high end.
 
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#26
I installed a Nordstand NJ4FS Hum-canceling Jazz bridge pickup in tge bridge position with Fender Custom Shop 62 Precision pick up (in my Fender P/J) and they sound great together. Very balanced output.
 
#27
Both Nordstrand split-coil sets are fantastic. I prefer the NJ4SE set as they had a more aggressive/grindy tone- they are probably my favorite overall J pickups, and for me had more clarity and grind in a mix than most single-coils I tried in the same basses. The NJ4SV set is tamer in the mids but still fantastic. I actually didn't really dig the Nord NJ4 single coils all that much, so might make sense that I prefer the SE split-coils
 
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#29
If you search on YouTube, you'll find someone who did almost identical demos of 3 sets of Fralin Jazz pickups: Stock, +5% Overwound, and noiseless Split Jazz. The Split Jazz sound very similar to the +5% Overwound.

Since +5% overwinding has a similar effect as making the pickup a Split, I can't resist wondering if taking the -5% Underwind option would cancel out the effect of going Split (at least to a degree)?

So.... has anyone used the Fralin -5% Underwound Split Jazz?
 
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#31
I think it needs to be clarified whether the OP is looking specifically for hum-cancelling J-bass pickups that are designed to be as close as possible to single coils (the comments in post#5 strongly suggests this), because a LOT of the recommendations in this thread are more like "J-bass on steroids" types of pickups that don't sound/feel even remotely like single coils.
 
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#32
I have the Aguilars. I had them in a passive Warwick Corvette and they were awesome there. That bass weighed 12 pounds so I let it go, but kept the Aguilars. I put them in a Fender American Deluxe Jazz paired with a John East preamp. Wow & quiet as a mouse, even at church under really funky lighting and such. I also have experience with a Nordstrand 5 string with Nordstrand ‘s hum cancelling pickups. I liked it a bunch too!
 
#33
iiipopes said:
My experiences installing and playing the following pickups on either my own basses or friends' basses. All are humbucking, and most are split-coil, because I simply cannot stand any kind of noise on stage, whether hum, electrostatic noise from neon beer signs or other digital electronics, or otherwise. Most are shielded as well.
Most like single-coil pickups with good blend: Seymour Duncan Apollo
Grindy, rockin' machines: first generation DiMarzio Model J (with a little more than 7 kohms' worth of wire)
Not-so-grindy, a little more top end: current DiMarzio Model J (with a little less than 7 kohms' worth of wire)
Scooped "hi-fi" tone: DiMarzio UltraJazz; also works very well with a vintage-style P-pickup
Interesting tone with a little more top end: previous generation of Fender Noiseless, the end-to-end series
Better in the bridge rather than the neck: Seymour Duncan 5-string Stack pickup, which is actually conventional 4-string neck size.
Dark, rich, but still have presence and clarity: Bartolini. I have the dark one in the neck and the bright one in the bridge. I don't know the model numbers.
Click to expand...
Thanks for this! The SD Apollo seems to be getting some love here, for being more single-coil-esque which I like
ELG60 said:
I have a set of Bill Lawrence-designed Wilde Humbuckers in my main bass. I use it for all my 4 string gigs. It's used in in conjunction with a John East Preamp in a CIJ Geddy Lee:
Click to expand...
VERY interested in this. I think Bill Lawrence was a genius. Do you use the staggered or flush pole pieces?
 
#34
sumeursault said:
Thanks for this! The SD Apollo seems to be getting some love here, for being more single-coil-esque which I like

VERY interested in this. I think Bill Lawrence was a genius. Do you use the staggered or flush pole pieces?
Click to expand...

Bill Lawrence makes sets with either staggered or flush - the stagger is meant for 7.25" radius, but I'm sure if you asked they stagged them more like a 9.5" radius. I found the stock staggerd version to be too staggered for a 9.5" radius IME.

www.wildepickups.com

J-45

The J-45 is a coaxial coil design incorporating our air spaced micro-coil system, to reproduce a noise free and Traditional Jazz Bass Sound. Nine evenly spaced direct Alnico 2 magnets provide a wide magnetic field to perform equally well on most 4 and 5 string basses. The J45 comes in a black...
www.wildepickups.com
 
#35
I've tried several sets of noiseless J-bass pickups, and my favorites overall are Lindy Fralin's Split-Jazz. To me, they sound pretty close to vintage single coils, and they have solid punch. I've had them for about 20 years. DiMarzio's Area J are similar to the Fralins at a much lower price. But to me, the Fralins sound a little better, with slightly thicker lows and a little more grit. In a band mix, however, very little difference. (At one show I switched between basses with these pickups to find out.)

If you're not after traditional J-bass tone, consider Lace Man O' War. I replaced DiMarzio's Area J with a set in my G&L JB. In that bass, they sound thicker than traditional J-bass pickups, with slightly reduced treble. As a result, my G&L functions a little more like a P-bass in a band mix. This is not a bad thing. It's extremely versatile. Also, because they're true single coils, you get that extra "bark" of true singles, with virtually zero noise thanks to the Sensor design. (I also have Lace Sensor Hot Golds in my Strat, and they're amazing IMO.)
 
#37
manchego_eggo said:
Bill Lawrence makes sets with either staggered or flush - the stagger is meant for 7.25" radius, but I'm sure if you asked they stagged them more like a 9.5" radius. I found the stock staggerd version to be too staggered for a 9.5" radius IME.
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Thanks, that's very helpful intel. If I remember correctly from another thread, you ended up landing on the Bartolinis?
 
#38
sumeursault said:
Thanks, that's very helpful intel. If I remember correctly from another thread, you ended up landing on the Bartolinis?
Click to expand...
Yeah, I think the B-Axis are the best of both worlds via a vis modern/vintage IMO - i haven't played the Wilde's in over a year when I had them but I remember them being more vintage leaning with lower output since they are stacked not split coil.
 

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