Carvin H50S vs H50A

[selberg]

Hi,

I've got a carvin bass with a J99 neck pickup. While I like the sound it gives, I get a lot of hum as well playing at my church. So I want to try a humbucking pickup. Carvin has the H50S and the H50A. The H50A is not quite double the price of the H50S. Does anybody have experience with either pickup? Is the H50A worth the extra money?

-Scott

 

[Luthier De Bass]

The H50A was an ideal replacement for a fretless SB5000 I have. The 99's are great sounding, but on a fretless where you are using only the bridge pickup, the 60 cycle hum was so ridiculous, I had to find a solution. The H50A is an alnico magnet just like the 99A, but because it is a stacked hum bucker, there is absolutely no noise. As far as tone, it is very similar to the 99, and has virtually as much output. Any slight variation in output can easily be compensated for by adjusting the pickup height, but in my case both were so close, it was not necessary. I would however recommend that if you are going to use both pickups regularly, replace both with the H50A. Now my SB5000 fretless is ideal for any playing situation since it is dead quiet....even with the tone knob all the way open.

 

[Roy Vogt]

Stacked single coil H50N pickups used to come standard on the LB series. I have them in my Anniversary 6 and an earlier fretless LB76 and they are dead quiet. Carvin had to talk me into the new J pickup for my PB 4 string. It sounds great, but it does have the traditional Fender PJ hum.
I think the H50A will give you what you're looking for.