Listen to the band Khruangbin. She's one of the best bassists around right now and uses split coils in an SX jazz bass. Dead flatwounds. I love her tone.
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Fender Jazz bass pick ups
- Thread starter briandavismurph
- Start date
Despite the noise you get with the single-coils the electronics layout on a J is crap. Mixing your signal properly cannot be done with two passive pots. Either use active panorama blending or a 3-way toggle switch. Or P / MM.
Flatwounds don't sound right until they have been on your bass for a few years. Rounds never sound right to me anymore.
My $0.02: Shield you Jazz!!! It will make a world of difference. I also agree that it is possible that the pups are both bridge, hence non-humbucking. If so, you can try some GFS pickups. Not too much money, but certainly an improvement.
Not to derail the thread, but I just had to comment on this. I finally put flats on one of my basses and hated the zingy, dull-y, wiry sound!!!! About 10 days later, I was a happy thumper!! I didn't realize new flats would sound so horrible! Thankfully, they settled rather quickly and very nicely!
As others have said here, there are things you can do to minimize hum. Shielding being one of them. Which pickup do you favor? When I play a jazz bass I play with one pickup almost (but not quite) all the way up. The other pickup I turn up to just when the hum stops (if I hear any at all) . My pickup cavities are shielded and I don't really notice much hum at all. I do think that single coil Jazz pickups sound better than the humbucking type. Also check your grounds.
One of my pet peeves on talkbass is people who write string reviews, whether positive or negative, when they've only had the strings on for a day. Tons of threads here say "I just put X strings on my bass today and they suck. What else should I try?"
Once you start playing with the group you cant hear the noise. You can buy Dimarzzio model J or area J pickups for about $120 a set. I never play both pickups wide open it scoops the mids to much.
Copper shielding is the way to go! I have does this to a few jazz basss & made them all quieter.
Lol^
Are you sure it's hum and not some sort of electronic interference? I battled this as well while living in an old house with shoddy electrical work. Really frustrating.
I've had some REALLY noisy jazzes and others that are almost silent. Classic Fender inconsistencies at work I guess.
Make sure its grounded and shielded.
I have a 2001 MIM J and it does have some hum but its negligible. I don't play at high volume though. I don't play it much anymore; I would sell it but my wife bought it for me and I don't want piss her off!
Yeah, my 99 MIM was noisy with 2 neck pick ups. So cheap and dumb. I replaced them with split coils and it took minor rout modification and I shielded it. It is my first bass so I can’t sell it.
Anyways, single coil hum is acceptably low to many people. For all practical purposes. You could try a noise gate, but I personally probably wouldn’t bother. Maybe just roll down the volume if it’s noticeable between songs.
Shielding and a noise gate if needed. As others have mentioned, the humbucking pups, whichever design choice they choose, are generally acknowledged to sound a little different than true single coils. The same issue happens with the first Gen P bass.
I swapped out my Original stock 1996 MIM JB pickups for replacement 62’s. Best upgrade ever. I don’t recall getting a humm when using only one pickup however before or after. That said, If there is a reostat (light dimmer) on the circuit and I played with the bridge pickup full open is would make a noise, but not when full open.
Slightly off topic but my Gibson Thunderbird hums like an agitated hornets nest, but oh my goodness does it sound amazing!
I play in modern church services. Fancy moving and flashing lights and a wide variety of moods in our songs. Kumbaya under a neon sign is pretty close to what I do some weekends.
Cant help much. My MIM Jazz does not hum. Nada. Zero.
Of course I did replace the crap pots and jack when I installed Seymour Quarter Pound pickups.
Maybe that helped the issue? No clue, but I did not add shielding, just the stock paint.
I decided to embrace the added noise. Not my initial reaction, but I try to see it as therapy. No idea if it does anything good for me though 
