Hum cancelling jazz without losing jazz tone?

[RumbleBot]

From what I understand, that will cut out the hum but at the same time, limit the diversity or tone in a J. I guess if that's not important, it's a decent route to take.

Could do the push/pull put parallel/series wiring. I just did it to my jazz bass and it's terrific!. Big punchy, fat tone in series and I can just click back to parallel whenever I want.

 

[HardNHeavy]

Threw dimarzio ultra149 in my MiM J....no noise, no problems...deep tone ...mids/highs, when needed.

 

[mikecd1]

From what I understand, that will cut out the hum but at the same time, limit the diversity or tone in a J. I guess if that's not important, it's a decent route to take.

works great - all the tone and punch when you need it

View attachment 3867809

Could do the push/pull put parallel/series wiring. I just did it to my jazz bass and it's terrific!. Big punchy, fat tone in series and I can just click back to parallel whenever I want.

had the series / parallel switch for years - used to be called the "S1" back when Fender offered it and I have loved using it with my Duncan SJB-1's though I usually leave it in series position.

 

[RumbleBot]

works great - all the tone and punch when you need it
had the series / parallel switch for years - used to be called the "S1" back when Fender offered it and I have loved using it with my Duncan SJB-1's though I usually leave it in series position.

Yeah. It's a great mod. Purely an upgrade with full backwards compatibility. I don't know why this isn't standard!

 

[tb-player]

sorry, but it actually makes no sense at all.

the hum travels through the air right into the coils, it has nothing to do with a physical ground connection. (i use a wireless all the time with my single coil tele, it makes no difference in the amount of hum). that's why you can turn the instrument to the right spot and have the noise go away like @nnnnnn mentions, it's coming through the air into the pickup.

if a wireless made some noise go away then something else is going on, some other issue than regular single coil hum.

I’m no electrician. I really don’t understand how all that works. But I’ve played in churches and OP’s story is all too familiar. Adding a wireless was the solution for me (and for my guitar player).

Like I said before, most church wiring is not setup for clean sound... especially when dimmers are involved. Maybe it’s a shielding or grounding issue?? All I know is that wireless worked for me. In fact, it still does.

 

[Altitude]

The Aguilar 4J-HC set is what you really need IMO.
You can usefully check this promotional video from Aguilar.



To me they sound as a nice blending between the 4J-60 and 4J-70, more aligned with the 4J-70 likely but decidedly lively and similar to a true single-coil pickup!

That's a very useful video. They put all the pickups into the same bass and the guy plays the exact same notes with each.

I'd probably choose the 4J-70 set. You can dial out a little of their forwardness, but you can't dial it in if it isn't there to begin with.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

Playing a MIM Jazz. I play a lot in church. Lots of the modern stuff, like Bethel and Elevation Worship. My tone is predominantly neck pickup alone, and I push the mids with some good tube breakup style overdrive. I ride the volume knob a lot for dynamics and how hard I hit my preamp, so I hardly use the bridge pickup (don't like the mid scoop with both on), and I like the fatness of the single coil.

I love the sound of the pickups I have right now, they are stock. But, I have 60 cycle hum because I am running just the neck pickup. Is it possible for me to keep the same tone switching to something hum cancelling or am I better off getting a P Bass?

I was thinking maybe the Lindy Fralin Split Jazz or something.

I recommend DiMarzio UltraJazz pickups. I had a set in an American standard jazz and they were great. A definite upgrade from stock, yet they retain the classic jazz tone.

 

[dkelley]

I'm a Bart b-axis fan for HC jazz pup. Very "non-Bart", in a good way, to my ear.
Good demo here of neck only, bridge only and both.

OMG this video makes me hate "classic" barts even more than I did. Also - nice to hear that the USA "normal" barts sound pretty much like the import ones, overall.. upper mid forward, no treble, no sizzle, nice, but not like a regular pickup at all.

Those new b-axis pickups though? totally great - although they look like nordstrand..... odd ;-)

 

[dkelley]

I'm a Bart b-axis fan for HC jazz pup. Very "non-Bart", in a good way, to my ear.
Good demo here of neck only, bridge only and both.

oh yea, and it also reminds why I dislike aguilar amp tone. Maybe that's just me.

great video though!

 

[dkelley]

The Aguilar 4J-HC set is what you really need IMO.
You can usefully check this promotional video from Aguilar.



To me they sound as a nice blending between the 4J-60 and 4J-70, more aligned with the 4J-70 likely but decidedly lively and similar to a true single-coil pickup!

Aaaand there ya go - that's why Aguilar should stick to pickups, and preamps. They make stuff with good tone that installs IN the bass... just their stuff AFTER the patch cord I dislike.



cool vid

LoL - I know I know, they make good amps and cabs.... but sound like DI to me in this video... ironic, isn't it?

 

[skyline_01]

Very good choice.

I also really like Seymour Duncan Apollo Jazz pickups.

+1 for the Apollo pickups. I put a set in a MIM Jazz Deluxe V that I used to own, replacing the stock "Noiseless" pickups (and they were anything but noiseless). The Apollos sounded great and were dead quiet, although I did shield the cavities when I had everything pulled apart so I'm sure that somewhat contributed to the lack of noise. Highly recommended!

 

[RogerTheAlien]

Not really discussed much here but someone posted a clip of noiseless kinmans and wow !

 

[dkelley]

I’ll second the Dimarzio Area J. I like the Model J and Ultra J better but I’m not looking to clone a P bass. For a very close P, Area J will do the trick.

Are you saying that the Area-J pickups sound like P pickups to you? Sort of confused by the wording. Interesting thought, if that's what you mean.

 

[Honkey tonk]

] Convertible™ for J Bass® Neck (JC64) — Lawing Musical Products
If two is better than one , is 8 better than 2 ?

8 really small pickups in series, kinda makes sense if you want full dynamics and detail

 

[deste]

Are Fender Super 55 still available? I mounted them on my MIM J (on the other two sport DiMarzio Model J and SD QP, very different sounds) and I really like them: very quiet, with a strong nasal sound when both pups together.

 

[ChadTheRat]

I play a MIM fender p bass special, which is a P/J. The J is a stock fender "noiseless" Vintage Jazz pickup. I mean, I think that's what it's called, it's certainly not actually vintage. The bass is 2016. It used to say noiseless right on the cover until my fingers wore off the lettering. I'm not sure how they achieved it, but there is no hum. It sounds like a J. And I run it through many pedals in a daisy chain so if there were a hum it would be obvious. Good luck!

 

[fhm555]

Are you saying that they sound like P pickups to you? Sort of confused by the wording. Interesting thought, if that's what you mean.

They actually sound like a j with more balls, but with the neck soloed and the tone rolled all the way down, it makes a pretty convincing p. I prefer the model j because it has waaay more balls but you need to add a bit of bridge to avoid excessive mud. The ultra j just gives you even more boom than the model j but neither work as well soloing the neck and when you add bridge it strays away from the p and in to more of a very ballsy j.

 

[dkelley]

They actually sound like a j with more balls, but with the neck soloed and the tone rolled all the way down, it makes a pretty convincing p. I prefer the model j because it has waaay more balls but you need to add a bit of bridge to avoid excessive mud. The ultra j just gives you even more boom than the model j but neither work as well soloing the neck and when you add bridge it strays away from the p and in to more of a very ballsy j.

Very interesting! I have a set of one of these two versions kicking around here somewhere.... I'll have to dig them out adn see which they are. I have a feeling they were the higher output ones which i found less endearing...

 

[fhm555]

Very interesting! I have a set of one of these two versions kicking around here somewhere.... I'll have to dig them out adn see which they are. I have a feeling they were the higher output ones which i found less endearing...

What can i say? I’m a fan of boom. Not big on all boom all the time but as long as i can dial out the mud and still ruffle my bell bottoms i’m a cappy hamper.

 

[ObsessiveArcher]

I had EMI and grounding issues, that caused two differnt hums. Ground lift, wireless, etc. will solve one. The other can be fixed with this:
Electro-Harmonix