Recording single coils hum-free: How did Jaco do it?

[Gyoon]

Listening to Jaco do some of his back pu stuff, you can't really hear a lot of single coil hum. I'm personally someone who prefers the sound of single coils over stacked j's, hb's, etc.

Is this a simple matter of just using a noise gate? Are there any recording engineers out there who can comment on recording single coil instruments out there and how much of an issue the noise is for them?

Glenn

 

[zazz]

never really notice a whole lot of hum from my jazz...i suppose being bass the frequency occupied by hum is a lot higher and can be easily erradicated without affecting the bass tone.

also ...arent the pickups opposite and so cancel...i know jaco relied heavily on the bridge but he mixed some neck in there as well....i think..not totally sure?

 

[csholtmeier]

Jaco never had a computer monitor in front of him while recording.

Try turning off your monitor when you record a take.

 

[kalle74]

Is this a simple matter of just using a noise gate? Are there any recording engineers out there who can comment on recording single coil instruments out there and how much of an issue the noise is for them?

Glenn

I think it´s more an issue of proper grounding, and staying away from electrostatic fields, such as computer monitors and light dimmers. Pro studios normally have these matters considered and sorted out.

I wouldn´t recommend using a noise gate, especially during tracking, as it may cut off the attacks and tails from your signal (and this will be irreversible).

Shielding the control cavity and pickup casings on your bass could help big time. Or, switching to internally shielded pup´s (EMG etc.)...

 

[Dave Martin]

I don't believe that the Jazz has single coil pickups; the split pickups introduced in 1957 for the Prcision were humbucking, and there's no reason to think that Leo went backwards when designing the Jazz.

But leaving that aside, in most situation, I don't get noise from my single coil pickups (on either my '54 or '51 reissues), nor do I typically get noise from the guitarists who use Fender guitars here.

I think csholtmeier is mostly right - if you're getting hum, try turning off you monitor. If you still have hum, you've got issues with the room you're playing in (and the usual fix is to try turning yourself or the bass until the hum is minimized).

 

[zazz]

i have to agree ...not one hint of a buzz!!

 

[geoffkhan]

I think csholtmeier is mostly right - if you're getting hum, try turning off you monitor. If you still have hum, you've got issues with the room you're playing in (and the usual fix is to try turning yourself or the bass until the hum is minimized).

That only really applies to CRT monitors, correct?

 

[LM Bass]

Jazz basses definitely have single coils. Personally, I prefer their sound to the P-bass, and don't really see it as going backwards, but to each his own. YMMV etc.

There are lots of nice humcancelling variants available if you can't stand the 60 cycle hum, including Aero, Sadowsky, Bartolini, and Nordstrand. I haven't tried a lot of these, as I really like the "bite" of vintage singles. Shielding is always a good idea for any guitar, so I'd try that out first. You can get copper sheets with adhesive backing at a stained glass store to do the job -lots of info on this site on "how to".

Best regards,
Laurence

 

[figuredbass]

I don't believe that the Jazz has single coil pickups; the split pickups introduced in 1957 for the Prcision were humbucking, and there's no reason to think that Leo went backwards when designing the Jazz.

Sorry, but this is not correct. Since the beginning, the Fender Jazz bass HAS used single coil pickups! Only in very recent years have they begun to offer some hum cancelling pickups as another option on certain models, but on the "stock" basses the pickups are still single coil to this day. The way Fender made a partial workaround to the single coil hum problem was to reverse-wind and also reverse the magnets' polarity of one of the two pickups. This allows the two pickups to act humbucking AS A PAIR, but only when they are both on, at or near equal volume. When only one pickup is used there is a risk of hum if the pickup is close to or oriented towards a source of magnetic noise.

the usual fix is to try turning yourself or the bass until the hum is minimized.

+1

 

[Gyoon]

I guess what I'm asking is: is some hum in your signal acceptable to sound engineers? I love the sound of the j bass single coil neck pickup. I don't think that cool agressive fatness really gets captured in the humcancelling single coil-sized pu's I've heard.

Can I use a jazz bass, solo the neck pickup, and provide an acceptable signal for recording engineers?

Glenn

 

[figuredbass]

I guess what I'm asking is: is some hum in your signal acceptable to sound engineers? I love the sound of the j bass single coil neck pickup. I don't think that cool agressive fatness really gets captured in the humcancelling single coil-sized pu's I've heard.

Can I use a jazz bass, solo the neck pickup, and provide an acceptable signal for recording engineers?

Glenn

Yes! In reality nothing is completely noise free; the name of the game is to lower the noise to a level of acceptabilty. Engineers have to do this all the time and usually know how to deal with it. Remember that stock Stratocaster pickups are also single coil, with the same potential noise risk (if not more because of increased gain or treble boost players often use.) Thousands of records were done battling single coil noise problems, I'm sure you'll agree with surprizingly good results. You have as much potential for making acceptably noise-free recordings with your bridge pickup soloed as as Jaco did.