really loud buzz in J pickup (Ibanez TMB100)

[arakiri]

hey everyone, i got this bass thanks to the ppl in this forum and i rly rly love it,, is comfy and tho unpopular i like the preamp a lot
until recently i only used the P pickup and recently i been tryin to mix in the J for clarity when im goin crazy with the fx (taking the advice from juan alderetes videos)
but i been noticing a really annoyin buzz in the J,, even with the blend in the middle. in my house iis not so bad but when im playin loud with the band it can get crazy at times.

now i know its a single coil and some noise is expected but i dont think its a normal single coil hum but it could be! only experiencce i have is with strat type guitars. i read this article where an identical bass was shielded but the buzz was still there. im thinkin maybe the stock J in this bass is specially noisy? im gonna go over the circuit soon to make sure theres no grounding issues, but i wanted to hear your opinions regardless. im considering gettin a hum cancelling replacement for it down the line because i also dont love the sound of this pickup, but well its my first and only bass so i dont know maybe it is supposed to sound like that.

for the time being i will stick to the P, wich is dead quiet as it supposed to be

cheers!

 

[arakiri]

oh i have to add, the noise is there qwheter or not im toucchin the strings,bridge, pickup. so maybe not a grounding issue? i dont know

 

[AK Bass Guy]

The noise from single coil pup you describe is most likely the standard em/rf noise.
If you use the J pup at anything but full you start loosing the humbucking effect it has when used with the neck pup at full.
To keep things really brief you have 2 choices.
1: Shield your cavities and make sure all shielded cavities are connected to the ground. This helps but it not going to eliminate all the noise in every situation.
2: Replace the J pup with a side by side or stacked humbucker J pup.

The effect of EM/RF on single pups is related to the environment you are in and some environments or more hostile than others.

If you go the shield route there is a sticky for J bass shielding.
If you go humbucker, there are a lot of options, and opinions….so many opinions. I recommend watching a bunch of vids and going with the one you think you’d like. It will still be a gamble whether you like it or not, you won’t be the first person that spent $100+ on a pup you don’t like.

One off topic bit of advice, if you are going to be messing around with electronics, might as well install a series/parallel switch on that bass. Cheap mod that will give you more tone shaping options.

Good luck on you adventure.

 

[arakiri]

The noise from single coil pup you describe is most likely the standard em/rf noise.
If you use the J pup at anything but full you start loosing the humbucking effect it has when used with the neck pup at full.
To keep things really brief you have 2 choices.
1: Shield your cavities and make sure all shielded cavities are connected to the ground. This helps but it not going to eliminate all the noise in every situation.
2: Replace the J pup with a side by side or stacked humbucker J pup.

The effect of EM/RF on single pups is related to the environment you are in and some environments or more hostile than others.

If you go the shield route there is a sticky for J bass shielding.
If you go humbucker, there are a lot of options, and opinions….so many opinions. I recommend watching a bunch of vids and going with the one you think you’d like. It will still be a gamble whether you like it or not, you won’t be the first person that spent $100+ on a pup you don’t like.

One off topic bit of advice, if you are going to be messing around with electronics, might as well install a series/parallel switch on that bass. Cheap mod that will give you more tone shaping options.

Good luck on you adventure.

thanks!! the switch idea is rly good actually i think ill give it a try regardless. i saw the sticky as well its very thorough so im maybe considerin doin that too.
i was hopin it wasnt the standard noise since my cheap strat isnt as loud but i imagine the size of bass pickups might picck different kinds of interference.

im probably gonna change the pickups too eventually just for fun and tryin stuff out, i been lookin at this one that is locally made, im not sure its a humbucker because it doesnt look like, but probably is a stacked one right? but ill def be lookin at demos just for the fun of it.

thanks for the help good luck to you as well!

 

[AK Bass Guy]

thanks!! the switch idea is rly good actually i think ill give it a try regardless. i saw the sticky as well its very thorough so im maybe considerin doin that too.
i was hopin it wasnt the standard noise since my cheap strat isnt as loud but i imagine the size of bass pickups might picck different kinds of interference.

im probably gonna change the pickups too eventually just for fun and tryin stuff out, i been lookin at this one that is locally made, im not sure its a humbucker because it doesnt look like, but probably is a stacked one right? but ill def be lookin at demos just for the fun of it.

thanks for the help good luck to you as well!

A passive bass pup usually has more winding than a guitar pup, so single coil noise in bass can be a bit louder depending on the environment.

My Spanish is a bit rusty but pretty sure that pickup in the link is humbucking. The four conductor wire means it has 2 bobbins, so 2 coils, and the part were it mentioned linear bobbins, I think means side by side bobbins not stacked.
It has Alnico 5 pickups which I think sound better than ceramic.

Pickup sounds great in the demo, IMO.
Salud!

 

[arakiri]

A passive bass pup usually has more winding than a guitar pup, so single coil noise in bass can be a bit louder depending on the environment.

My Spanish is a bit rusty but pretty sure that pickup in the link is humbucking. The four conductor wire means it has 2 bobbins, so 2 coils, and the part were it mentioned linear bobbins, I think means side by side bobbins not stacked.
It has Alnico 5 pickups which I think sound better than ceramic.

Pickup sounds great in the demo, IMO.
Salud!

cool that makes sense! salud