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Darkstar Glaub question

T

TheOldFlatwound

Supporting Member
Jan 26, 2005
946
355
Nashville, TN
Disclosures
Endorsing Artist: D'Addario
#1
I love this bass--use it all the time. although it's usually not an issue, occasionally i get too much noise (being a single coil and all) to use it in the studio--not very often--but enough to notice. it varies live as well, but is less of an issue.

so would getting the bass really well shielded help minimize this??? i figure that would be a simple and inexpensive way to fix this....

also--anybody play a dual-darkstar jazz bass?? i've seen one guy doing that on here--anyone else?? opinions??
thanks
 
#2
i have a Hammon Dark Star in my Guild Starfire, which is essentially unshielded. I'm getting nearly no noise. In fact, my humbucker basses (Acoustic Black Widow, Thunderbird, T40) are all hummier than my Guild!

YMMV, of course, but I don't know that shielding will help.
 
#3
yeah--it's usually slight--but i have had several situations in the studio where i had to switch basses because the engineer caught it and it bugged them. often i just say "it's a single coil--i'm sure it no buzzier than that strat over there" and that's it---but sometimes not. this in no way diminshes my love for this bass :)
 
#4
timmarks said:
yeah--it's usually slight--but i have had several situations in the studio where i had to switch basses because the engineer caught it and it bugged them. often i just say "it's a single coil--i'm sure it no buzzier than that strat over there" and that's it---but sometimes not. this in no way diminshes my love for this bass :)
Click to expand...

as you say, it would be pretty cheap to give it a go -- might as well try it, eh?
 
#7
4Mal said:
Wow! what a nice looking bass.
Click to expand...

+1. My Dark Star P bass isn't very noisy at all. My guess is I'd do whatever I could in terms of shielding and grounding to get it as noise free as possible, then just live with whatever hum remains.

Hum is the price one pays for single coil tonal bliss. That being said, it can be minimized to a point where it doesn't bug me.

Also, the dummy coil idea is the ultimate way to solve the problem permanently, though it's obviously a more radical step to take.
 
#9
thanks guys--
i'll add some shielding at some point. don't misunderstand me--it's only an issue every now and then....this bass just KILLS--i love it.
I don't think there were that many factory darkstar glaubs made. maybe some of the guys in the LOG can comment on that.
this one was a custom job and it has Dan and Carl's signatures on the back of the headstock.
 
#10
Not many of them out there ... here is one custom color with a Adam Clayton of U2 Jazz taper neck with black blocks

BGonwhite.jpg


BlackkatBone-3.jpg


:) ... This was my 1st DS pickup bass I have since aquired two more.
 
#11
I've played a couple of Dual Darkstar basses in a shop ... a very nice shop though so I feel like I was able to tell what was going on with them.

One was a Joe 4, and that one didn't particularly move me. That pickup placement didn't seem ideal for the stars, to me.

The other was a Decade, which is now HIGH atop my GAS list. That pickup placement really really works.

One additional thing to consider is the polepieces on the darkstar ... if you put one right under where you want to pluck at the bridge you can end up really feeling the polepieces. On the neck pickup it seemed like less of an issue, but when going for a burpy bridge sound on the Joe, I was tearing up my fingertips on polepieces.

So I'd either stick with the single star and just turn off the volume between tunes (or swap out your comp for a Rane DC24, so you have a noise gate), or go over to the decade, or a custom Glaub with decade pickup placement :bassist:

Shielding won't do a thing to help pickup hum.
 
#12
this bass isn't going anywhere, but glad to hear some good stuff about the decade. not surprised--looks really hip. haven't gotten to try one yet though....
heard conflicting reports on the darkstar/jazz combo--but the folks that love it are way into it
 
#14
I really like the Jazz with Dark Stars ... I have seen several configurations of the pickups on a Jazz body, for me this one was the one that worked. It gets the P-bass vibe with the neck only pickup and every other Jazz sound to (ONLY BIGGER), infact it is the only J-bass I have that I like running both pickups wide open.

Have yet to try a Decade (love to try one) but a Peavey T-40 conversion has crossed my mind

76Jazzpickups-page.jpg


;) ... This one is a conversion on a 1976 Fender Jazz
 
#15
timmarks said:
heard conflicting reports on the darkstar/jazz combo
Click to expand...

Really??? :eyebrow:

No conflict here concerning my dual ds jazz, just tonal bliss. Previous owners agree with this, from everything I've read. There is a little bit of noise in there, but like you say, no more than with any single coil guitard--well within the tolerances of most engineer's ability to deal with IME.

I really had never even noticed much noise at all (in a live setting) till rehearsal last night when I was playing around with some different amp settings.
 
#16
maybe not a coflict exactly--but the two darkstar setup--i'm sure it sounds huge and i'd like it--but i've talked with a couple of folks that liked the single pu plan better, like a DS p bass/glaub instead of a decade. also for example, in the hollowbody, preferring the barts to the DS's.
i have no doubt it's cool--i've been tempted to do it....johnmark--i see you got that dual DS geddy lee--nice...
 
#18
Thanks a lot timmarks! It sounds a lot like those Lakland clips. Can also do the "traditional" jazz sound.

If I were financing a new build from scratch, I'd probably go with a single-pickup P bass too. Honestly this would give me probably 90% of what I like about mine. I see very little benefit in any active pre with the Darkstars too, but I do like the low z mode on the Audere.

Oh what the heck. All that being said, I still say go for the gusto man!
 

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