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NJ4 vs NJ4SV and humcanceling question

walknbluez

walknbluez

Oct 3, 2007
1,017
8
Sacramento, CA
#1
I'm going to do a pickup change in a MIM Fender Jazz and was looking at going with the NJ4's. However, from the research I've done on here many go with the NJ4SV's for humcanceling.

Now I do notice some noise when the pickups are in certain positions, but generally once we start playing live I don't really notice. But it would be good if there were no noise at all.

Would installing Nj4's and just having the bass shielded do the trick? If so, why do people go for the NJ4SV's for humcanceling purposes when they could just go with a NJ4's and a shielding job?
 
#2
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but in my experience, proper shielding does not fix the hum from the pickups. I just got my jazz shielded and still have hum when I mess with pickup volumes.

So if it's a bad problem, I'd get the SV's for good measure.

I'm in the same boat as you, except I'm stuck between my current stock pups and the NJ4SV's.

But, again, if proper shielding can fix this, someone please correct me.
 
#3
Valerus said:
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but in my experience, proper shielding does not fix the hum from the pickups.
Click to expand...

That is correct.

Shielding helps with electrical field noise, which is that high pitched buzzing. But the 60/120 Hz hum is magnetic field noise, and only humbuckers can get rid of that.
 
#9
I dont have any audio clips ATM, sorry. Here's a quote from my other post:
"They are very high quality pickups, and sound like it. I can, however, hear a hollow type of grind from them, usually associated with humbucking pickups."

I apologize if that's a little vague, I dont really know how else to explain it. Think of the difference between a single coil and humbucker in a 6 string guitar.
 
#10
Anderson81 said:
I dont have any audio clips ATM, sorry. Here's a quote from my other post:
"They are very high quality pickups, and sound like it. I can, however, hear a hollow type of grind from them, usually associated with humbucking pickups."

I apologize if that's a little vague, I dont really know how else to explain it. Think of the difference between a single coil and humbucker in a 6 string guitar.
Click to expand...

A guitar humbucker has two coils sensing each string. This cancels out some upper harmonics and reinforces the lows and mids.

The SV's only have one coil sensing each string. So they are actually single coils. They hum cancel because there are two of them next to each other, but they are not the same thing as a guitar humbucker at all.

The reason they sound slightly different is because it is two smaller coils, so they are slightly lower in inductance. This tends to give a clearer tone. Some split coils are wound hotter, like the DiMarzio Model J, which also has ceramic magnets. That was to give it a thicker tone which was desired when that pickup was introduced.

But the NJ4SV was designed to sound like a non hum canceling single coil. The crew at Bass Player magazine couldn't tell that and the NJ4 apart.
 
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#11
SGD Lutherie said:
A guitar humbucker has two coils sensing each string. This cancels out some upper harmonics and reinforces the lows and mids.

The SV's only have one coil sensing each string. So they are actually single coils. They hum cancel because there are two of them next to each other, but they are not the same thing as a guitar humbucker at all.

The reason they sound slightly different is because it is two smaller coils, so they are slightly lower in inductance. This tends to give a clearer tone. Some split coils are wound hotter, like the DiMarzio Model J, which also has ceramic magnets. That was to give it a thicker tone which was desired when that pickup was introduced.

But the NJ4SV was designed to sound like a non hum canceling single coil. The crew at Bass Player magazine couldn't tell that and the NJ4 apart.
Click to expand...

Exactly. The "linear" hum-canceling Jazz pickups can sound very, very close to pure single coils. I've done the A/B thing with my noiseless Lindy Fralin Split-Jazz against pure singles a few times, and other than a little less "air" and "sparkle" in the highs from the Fralins, they're indistinguishable. If you roll off the treble even a few degrees, they're functionally identical. And the Fralins growl like crazy.

I also have a set of Nordstrand's hum-canceling NJ5FS in my 2008 Fender Jazz V. I don't think they sound like side-by-side humbuckers. They are in the "passive Jazz" sonic category, but they don't sound like vintage single coils. IMO, they have a more modern sheen, with a smoother punch than the Fralins. I guess that modern slant could lead some to think of them more like humbuckers. IMO, YMMV, etc.

I've generally preferred the Fralins, but I've been recording lately, and I must say the Nordstrands in my Jazz V track extremely well. With a little compression, that clear, smooth punch sits "right there," with a nice growl to boot.
 
#13
Anderson81 said:
I didn't mean to imply that they are the same as guitar humbuckers, I'm simply comparing tone here. I've played the same bass with SV's, and with NJ4's, no other changes, and the SV's sound like humbuckers, plain and simple. Perhaps Bass Player magazine should get some new crew.
Click to expand...

What does a humbucker sound like to you? Because I make humbuckers and they don't have a "hollow type of grind." You get that with parallel wired coils like on a Music Man. Series wired coils sound fatter.

Almost any neck pickup will get a hollow type of tone it is has god high end. That's true of real P and J pickups.
 
#15
walknbluez said:
So is Anderson81 the exception in that most people don't hear a difference between the two?
Click to expand...

Sound is very subjective. I'm sure there is a slight difference. From what I most hear people say is the top end is slightly less sparkly. The point I was making was it has nothing to do with the pickup being a humbucker, but is more because of the difference in the shape and size of the coils.

It's not that hard to make a great sounding jazz pickup that doesn't hum, but it's a lot harder to get that pickup to sound like another totally different type of pickup, like a single coil J. They both sound like single coils, just not exactly alike.

I'm sure you can find other opinions on those pickups here.
 
#16
I just ordered a new Fender American Standard Jazz Bass. Would the NJ4 or the NJ4SV have a more classic Fender tone? Basically, my concern is that the NJ4SV will make my bass not sound like a jazz bass. I know nothing about pickups, so I'm just wondering which of the two will still make my Fender Jazz sound like a Fender Jazz. Also, would the regular NJ4's be more noisy than the stock pickups on the Fender American Standard?
 

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