• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Sadowsky HumCancelling versus Single Coil pickups. (Clips inside)

#21
Stox said:
Wow! Thanks for that, I was considering swapping out to single coils on my UV70 and to be honest I dont think its necessary for me after listening to that. I thought the neck pickup on the singles sound nicer but a prefered the hum canceling for the slap - sounded 'fatter'. You would not hear the difference live and in a recorded mix in anything other than a prominent bass solo the difference would be neglible.

Thanks, you just saved me some time and money!
Click to expand...

you're welcome. :)

I also think that the neck pickup soloed sounds better on the single coils, I prefer the slap sound also. But to tell the truth, I could live happily with any of them.
 
#22
Very timely for me and so useful too. Thank you.

After being influenced by several TB posts I was looking at SC's as an option but after doing some research I was going to stay with HC's - and now I definitely am.

Bearing in mind woods, strings and fingers etc. the difference in pups to me is negligible.

So thanks for clearing the remaining doubts up.
 
#23
Pan said:
Very timely for me and so useful too. Thank you.

After being influenced by several TB posts I was looking at SC's as an option but after doing some research I was going to stay with HC's - and now I definitely am.

Bearing in mind woods, strings and fingers etc. the difference in pups to me is negligible.

So thanks for clearing the remaining doubts up.
Click to expand...

+1. If I had of heard these clips before I ordered my bass I would have stuck with the HC's. My next Sadowsky with be an RV5 with HCs!
 
#24
Just keep in mind though, the Sadowsky Pre amp hasn't even been brought into use in these clips and that can definitely add booty and treble to the singlecoils but can't really add back the little bit of difference to the mids in the HC. IHMO, etc... and the bass will react differently depending on your rig, your touch...

But yeah, i was surprise how similar they are
 
#26
Mr_Dave said:
Just keep in mind though, the Sadowsky Pre amp hasn't even been brought into use in these clips and that can definitely add booty and treble to the singlecoils but can't really add back the little bit of difference to the mids in the HC. IHMO, etc... and the bass will react differently depending on your rig, your touch...

But yeah, i was surprise how similar they are
Click to expand...



that was my thought as well.id like to hear them with a bit of the pre added in.
 
#27
I have tried both pickups in different basses...not in Sadowskys, but the Sad HC's and single coils. Essentially they are ultra-jazzes v. Antiquity II's. They are very very different pickups to my ear. The UJ's have hyped top and bottom which to me don't sound very "jazz bass like" at all...they are really unlike any other pickup. Good for slapping. They also have a weird chorus-y type harmonic quality in the high end. I have experienced this in multiple sets in different basses, so it isn't a defective pickup or defective wiring. Everybody else present heard it as well. The single coils are excellent, excellent pickups and have a nice vintage character. In a live recording they might sound similar but solo'd they are quite different and they respond VERY differently.

W
 
#28
I agree with JokerNJ regarding his assessment of the tone of humbuckers versus single coils. I had the wonderful opportunity to blind A/B test several different basses, in Roger's shop. Some had single coils others had humbuckers. When I played a humbucker-loaded bass, I immediately recognized the scooped mids - every time, without fail. The single-coil pickups have a more complex midrange and are very satisfying when played fingerstyle. For slapping, the humbucking pickups are an excellent choice, but for everything else I prefer single-coil pickups. To my ears, they yield a richer, more complex, and, overall, a more euphonic tone. That being said, I have a very good friend who vastly prefers the sound of humbuckers, because he likes to scoop the mids when he plays. The buckers do that naturally.

Ben
 
#30
Pan said:
Very timely for me and so useful too. Thank you.

After being influenced by several TB posts I was looking at SC's as an option but after doing some research I was going to stay with HC's - and now I definitely am.

Bearing in mind woods, strings and fingers etc. the difference in pups to me is negligible.

So thanks for clearing the remaining doubts up.
Click to expand...

Same here. Thanks a lot, will be keeping my HC.
 
#32
Thanks for taking the time to do all this.

It's 10:30pm but having listened to the combined pup setting, I definitely prefer the single coils. I have the HC in my Sadowsky and am happy. Without going back and forth side to side, I'm sticking with what I have.

Tangentially, I have the Nords in my Modern and the sound more aggressive and less hi fi than what I associate with the Sadowsky JJ and PJ hum cancelling pups.
 
#33
I put a set of flats to my Sadowsky with single coils and I have a PJ4 on order that should be with me soon. I'll do some recordings with these basses and I'll also try to show different pickup and preamp settings.

Now that I see this thread up here again I kick myself for misspelling Sadowsky on the title. :hmm: When the new recordings are ready I'm going to open a new thread with the correct spelling so that everybody can find it when doing a search.
 
#34
HI

Cool beans, Fran. Until recently, I've always had HC's in my Sadowsky's. The two latest have Nordy big singles which I really like. That being said, my metro hybrid and NYC jj have humbuckers and sound amazing. To each their own. Both ways rock!!! Have to try for yourself but after many gigs under my belt with both combos, its really a toss up

Rob
 
#35
bikeplate said:
HI

Cool beans, Fran. Until recently, I've always had HC's in my Sadowsky's. The two latest have Nordy big singles which I really like. That being said, my metro hybrid and NYC jj have humbuckers and sound amazing. To each their own. Both ways rock!!! Have to try for yourself but after many gigs under my belt with both combos, its really a toss up

Rob
Click to expand...

The PJ4 that I have on order has the HC pickups. I find the SCs to have, as Poon said, more bite while the HCs are a little fatter. I like them both and I think that on active mode (and I always use it this way) the difference is no big deal.
 
#37
Since two different instruments were used any difference could be easily accounted for by that fact alone so the results are not definitive.

A better test would be to swap the pickups between the basses and make a second set of recordings made under the same conditions and settings and compare each to the recording made with the same instrument and their original pickups.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back