What's causing this low hum?

[LoveThatBass]

This is the bass I have:

I had a P bass special with that same pickup arrangement. The neck pickup being humbucker P bass and a single coil J bridge pickup. The single coil will cause hum. The answer is to get a "split coil" (noiseless) J bridge pickup. That will fix your problem.

 

[BlueTalon]

Seymour Duncan makes a great "Stacked" single coil Jazz Bass bridge pickup which is dead quiet and a good match to stock Fender P pickups. "STK-J1b".

When are you guys going to start making a split-coil/dual-inline-coil/serial-single-coil pickup? There is obviously a market for them.

I had a P bass special with that same pickup arrangement. The neck pickup being humbucker P bass and a single coil J bridge pickup. The single coil will cause hum. The answer is to get a "split coil" (noiseless) J bridge pickup. That will fix your problem.

That's one of the main reasons I don't like the PJ arrangement.

But there are at least three approaches to hum canceling a J; split-coil, stack, and parallel coils. While I like split-coils, they are not the only option.

 

[acebase62]

The Fender Super 55 J pickups have gotten good reviews here (split coil).

I've used 2 good sounding PJ sets.

Seymour Duncan SPB-1 combined with Seymour Duncan STK-J2 Hot Stack (in Fender and Warmoth PJs).

Recently I began using the Dimarzio Area P+J set DP251 in a PJ. The Area J is split coil.

I think the Dimarzio Area J pickup sounds more vintage than the SD STK-J2, but both combos provide a variety of good tones.

I am also using 500k volume pots and a Fender TBX tone control.

 

[LoveThatBass]

When are you guys going to start making a split-coil/dual-inline-coil/serial-single-coil pickup? There is obviously a market for them.




That's one of the main reasons I don't like the PJ arrangement.

But there are at least three approaches to hum canceling a J; split-coil, stack, and parallel coils. While I like split-coils, they are not the only option.

With all due respect here the term "split coil" and stack are the same thing. Two half sized coils wired in series but in opposite phase to cancel hum. I can't quite see why some would want to wire these two coils in parallel as each one only covers 2 strings (on a 4 string bass). It would make them thinner and tinnier sounding if you like that. I don't. The P pickups on his bass are actually 2 separate coils wired in series but opposite polarity to cancel hum (thus called Humbuckers). They are staggered to where each cover one string and overlap to where they both cover the middle string. The J pickup is wired parallel to the P pickups. I tried wiring the J in series with the P pickup and it did not do well at all.

 

[BlueTalon]

I'm pretty sure you're wrong about stack and split-coil referring to the same thing, but allow me to be a little more specific, just in case. By split-coil, I am referring to dual-inline coils, where, like a P pickup, half of the J covers the E & A, and the other half covers the D & G. A stack refers to two coils that look like short single coil windings which cover all strings, that are oppositely wound and stacked on top of each other.

Wiring a single coil J with a P pickup isn't going to work well, and IMO it doesn't matter whether it's in series or in parallel.

I'm not sure if you were disagreeing with me or not, but it seems like we agree more than we disagree.

 

[LoveThatBass]

Blue Talon, If you are correct about the stack coil being 2 full length coils side by side, wireing in parallel but out of phase I was not aware they could get such in a narrow J pickup case. You have my apologies. That is something I will have to research. Yes we agree on more than we disagree. I personally liked the seymore duncan split coil I put in my P/J bass. It was clean sounding but still had some of the J character. Thanks for clearing that up.

 

[jmbjandfam]

Someone mentioned using the Fender N3 pickup. What kind of design does it use to keep it away from the hum?

 

[Gluvhand]

Blue Talon, If you are correct about the stack coil being 2 full length coils side by side, wireing in parallel but out of phase I was not aware they could get such in a narrow J pickup case. You have my apologies. That is something I will have to research. Yes we agree on more than we disagree. I personally liked the seymore duncan split coil I put in my P/J bass. It was clean sounding but still had some of the J character. Thanks for clearing that up.

The stacked are just as he said, stacked on top of each other. Take another look at his post.

 

[iiipopes]

Seymour Duncan makes a great "Stacked" single coil Jazz Bass bridge pickup which is dead quiet and a good match to stock Fender P pickups. "STK-J1b".

With all due respect here the term "split coil" and stack are the same thing. Two half sized coils wired in series but in opposite phase to cancel hum. I can't quite see why some would want to wire these two coils in parallel as each one only covers 2 strings (on a 4 string bass). It would make them thinner and tinnier sounding if you like that. I don't. The P pickups on his bass are actually 2 separate coils wired in series but opposite polarity to cancel hum (thus called Humbuckers). They are staggered to where each cover one string and overlap to where they both cover the middle string. The J pickup is wired parallel to the P pickups. I tried wiring the J in series with the P pickup and it did not do well at all.

Look at the manufacturer's pages. The term "Split-coil" now means there are two separate coils, one for the E&A strings, the other for the D&G strings. They are wired in series with opposite polarities in order to be humbucking, just like a P pickup is. The only reason a P pickup is in two parts is because of the technology of the day that was all Leo could do. In addition, Barden has "rails" J pickups, which are similar to their Strat pickups, two coils wired like a Strat-sized humbucker. And then there are the stacks like Seymour Duncan.

 

[LoveThatBass]

Yes, after I responded I found an inside view of a stacked coil pickup. That would probably provide the tone closest to a Jazz single coil

 

[BlueTalon]

Pictures save a thousand words...

Split coil / dual inline coils

Stacked coils

Parallel coils

 

[BlueTalon]

Yes, after I responded I found an inside view of a stacked coil pickup. That would probably provide the tone closest to a Jazz single coil

Between the stacked and the split-coil, I think the split-coil gets as close as it is possible to get to a single coil sound, because each string only sees one coil.

I can't speak to the parallel coils, as I have no personal experience with them yet. But considering who makes them (Joe Barden, SGD)(I know, I know), I suspect they sound brilliant. I intend to find out in a future build.

 

[walterw]

Between the stacked and the split-coil, I think the split-coil gets as close as it is possible to get to a single coil sound, because each string only sees one coil.

that, and the fact that there's an inherent drawback to stacked pickups; the two coils actually "fight" each other, losing tone and output! disconnect the bottom coil of any stacked pickup and the sound gets louder and better, just with all the hum.

split-coils don't have the cancellation loss, so they tend to sound stronger and more like the real thing.

 

[Dogghouse]

Seymour Duncan Custom Shop makes a Jazz Bass split coil.
One of my faves now. Very punchy too.

 

[walterw]

Seymour Duncan Custom Shop makes a Jazz Bass split coil.
One of my faves now. Very punchy too.

it's about time! when are they gonna make a production version?

for that matter, there's a glaring hole in the lineup as far as i can tell, where is the hum-canceling quarter-pound J pickup?

 

[BlueTalon]

Seymour Duncan Custom Shop makes a Jazz Bass split coil.

Seriously? So many pickup makers have off the shelf versions of a split coil, and we gotta go through the Custom Shop to get one from SD?

And I agree with Walter, a hum canceling quarter pound J should be avaliable too.

 

[kenneffdupriest]

ELF