How Much Hum on J Basses?

[BassPlayer95]

Hey guys, considering buying a jazz bass if I get the job I so desperately want-think of all the bass gear I can buy with a steady income!-and I wanna know how much "general" hum a j bass typically produces. once I know that, then we can talk models.

 

[darkstorm]

Depends on the pups. The better ones are humfree. With others the hum can be minimal or nonexistent when using both pups if they are wired so they cancel hum when using both. A fair amount of the newer fenders have humfree J pups I think.

 

[Matthew_84]

yeah get humbuckers if you don't want the hum. You're going to be trying out the bass before you buy it anyway, so just go to the store and solo one of the p'ups. It can be quite a lot though, and because of this every Jazz I had just had both pups on full... I really need to invest in some humbuckers, LOL.

 

[BassPlayer95]

So jazzes only hum with a pup solo'd? Which pup? The neck or bridge? And noob question, but aren't the pickups just the same but doubled? Like having two humbuckers? Also, I'm looking at a couple models here:

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That's all.

 

[ksandvik]

The charm with a J bass is the single-coil. Humbuckers will just destroy that charm. Many noise-cancelling single coils also take away some of the J sound.

Now, my J sounds quiet in the studio and nasty in a crazy bar with neon lights and bad electricity system -- that's life.

 

[Matthew_84]

So jazzes only hum with a pup solo'd? Which pup? The neck or bridge? And noob question, but aren't the pickups just the same but doubled? Like having two humbuckers?

I hope I get this right, someone please correct me if I don't describe this accurately.

Basically what happens is the single coil pick-ups are composed of magnets with opposite polarites. When they are the same volume then there is no hum, but when one of them is louder than the other a hum is generated. The further the difference in volume between the two, the greater the hum. It doesn't matter which pick-up is solo'd. They hum equally.

If the bass pick-ups are installed with the polarity correct, the wiring is okay, and is grounded, there should be no hum when both pick-ups are the same volume.

EDIT TO ADD: Humbuckers are different though, they aren't one magnet per pick-up. They have two magnets which are wired together in a way to cancel the hum. Then you can solo different pick-ups without any hum, but most people prefer the tone in single coils rather than humbuckers and deal with the hum for the hunt of the desired tone. With other instruments playing, the hum isn't very noticeable... But it drives me crazy when I'm playing solo.

 

[Jaco D]

I think it's more than just pups. For sure, some pups are quieter than others. However, if the place where you play is an "electrical noise magnet" then playing there would give you more than normal levels of noise. Shielding the bass, properly grounding your electricals, etc. all help in keeping the "noisy" jazz bass quiet. In so many words, many things play a part in the level of noise a JB puts out.

 

[HuntYouDown]

Well, I have two Jazzes a MIM and MIA. The MIA has great stock pickups, I can adjust controls to any tone pallette and be happy. However, the MIM has cheaper pickups and its pretty npisy sometimes. both pickups is pretty quiet though and treble rolled off makes it subtle also. I love them both though, its like a human, you vlcan still love someone, even if they ar not perfect.

 

[David Jayne]

It's simple: hum is a way of life with single coil pickups. If you run both of them at equal volumes, the hum is eliminated, or nearly so. If not there are other problems (shielding or grounding defects). When solo'd, they can hum, but it's all up to the environment in which you are playing. Studio environments generally will not have hum-generating devices around. Live, it'll hum sometimes but I've yet to find it a problem. 'Power conditioners' won't help because the noise is airborne and goes directly into the pickup coils.
Hum cancelling Jazz pickups exist, many are very good, but they don't sound as good IMO.

 

[DiabolusInMusic]

*cough* shielding *cough*

 

[Baird6869]

None as far as I am concerned.

If I play alone in my basement with only one pickup on, I hear it, but with blended PU and in a gig or rehearsal mix, it is almost impossible to hear. Hasn't bugged me at all in over 25 years of playing standard Fender Jazz basses....

 

[Matthew_84]

I should add that my bass room has ridiculous electrical interferences with two high frequency rodent repellers... So my hum, which is nearly unbearable, would likely be less than yours.

 

[JB36]

*cough* shielding *cough*

I've wondered why manufactures don't shield the cavities when then they build them.

 

[Batmensch]

I've wondered why manufactures don't shield the cavities when then they build them.

Both my Squier basses have shielded cavities. So do my Fender MIA jazz and MIM Strat.

 

[metalmariachi]

What they said plus where you stand or sit will make a great deal of difference.
Directly in front of your amp will have more hum than off to the side.
None of my Jazzes have excessive hum though.

MM

 

[Bassamatic]

It really depends. I have a nice MIM Jazz. One show I was next to the light dimmers and it buzzed horribly all night. I put the great Fender SCN pups in to get rid of the buzz. I also have a Lakland JO4. It still has the stock pups. Sometimes it picks up a buzz and sometimes it doesn't, depending on how close you are to the source of the interference.

 

[slapmachine]

Never had problems with my Bill Lawrence designed Fender SCN Custom Shop noiseless pickups. If I do ever have a problems, I hit the ground lift switch on my head and it's gone.

Best regards,

Brooks

 

[bassbenj]

Both my Squier basses have shielded cavities. So do my Fender MIA jazz and MIM Strat.

True. But Fender uses conductive paint which for some reason doesn't work as well as it should. My MIM Fender Deluxe had paint but some hum still sneaked through the paint. So I had to go with copper to get that last bit of hum out. It had "noiseless" pickups and they had no hum. Didn't have a lot of tone either!

So I modded with SCN pups and that bass came alive. No hum in sight. Bottom line is : Fender bass + SCN pickups + copper foil shield job really can give you dead quiet a killer instrument. I think some of them actually come from the factory this way. Others don't.

I can verify what others have said here that Fender SCN pickups are humfree with absolute killer tone.

 

[Mike M.]

*cough* shielding *cough*

Yes, indeed! Bought a VM fretless Jazz bass and it hummed like mad when I turned either of the pickups down, even by a little bit. Had it shielded and the hum is barely noticed.

On the other hand, I bought an AM STD Jazz 5'er and there's barely any hum when I turn either of the pickups down.

 

[mongo2]

Given one single coil pickup on the amount of noise depends on the environment and the position of the player/bass/pickup relative to the noise generating fields.

It's no where near as bad as it used to be for us in clubs since all around here are now using digital cash registers, LCD TVs, and many use LED signs instead of neon so the amount of noise generated is considerably reduced. It appears to me that the main sources of noise now are the power supplies of amps and lighting systems (band or house), but it's much better than it used to be.