Re: HumBucker Pickup For Bass? Which one?

rboy wrote:
> On Jul 16, 1:16 am, Romeo Rondeau <[email protected]> wrote:
>> rboy wrote:
>>> On Jul 15, 8:48 pm, Romeo Rondeau <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>> A single coil hums period. The only way to get to stop humming is by
>>>> wiring it in a humbucking mode. Don't believe me? Take a look at a strat
>>>> 's wiring. Know why they did that? It hums. That's why they invented
>>>> humbuckers
>>> Single coils CAN hum, but nothing says they have to. If both of your
>>> Jazz basses hum with one pickup on, they shouldn't. Mine don't.
>> Bullshit, if they are true single coils they hum.
>
>
> Geez. All those clean strat tracks throughout the history of recorded
> music over the years. I had no idea they had intrusive hum on them.

They were recorded in studios free of ambient electric fields. Or, as
I often do to get rid of stray monitor noise, single-ended noise
reduction was used on 'em. The noise is usually relatively narrowband
so SE NR can be pretty good.

I usually turn the monitor off, but not always. Yes, I know - buy
an LCD. I will when this one breaks.

> And every Jazz Bass track must have had both pickups wide open or they
> could never have been recorded with the hum.
>

And then somebody turns on the Neon "Budweiser" sign at Bob's Burger
and Bourbon Beeratorium...


> Sorry. If they truly hum under a microscope below the noise floor,
> unnoticeable unless you solo everything and turn the track up to the
> ceiling, it ain't any kind of hum they invented humbuckers over.
>

I have a P90 class pickup on the neck of a guitar. It will find
hum like a bloodhound finds deer.

--
Les Cargill

On Jul 16, 10:52 pm, Les Cargill <[email protected]> wrote:
>>Geez.  All those clean strat tracks throughout the history of recorded
> > music over the years.  I had no idea they had intrusive hum on them.
>
> They were recorded in studios free of ambient electric fields.

So what's the problem, then? The pickup or the field? : )

Single coils aren't quiet, but you need the field for humming. If it
hums with one amp and not when direct, the pickup is the least of the
problem. Single coil has inherent sound issues, but with a solid
shield job if you can't use it there's bigger issues afoot.

I should add that before recording a part with a guitar without
humbuckers, I move through a half-circle of rotation -- there usually
will be one angle where hum and other interference from my surroundings
is minimized.

Then you have to stay at that angle, which for those who like to bounce
around while playing, can be a big trick.

--
"Coloured and animated, the concerts and spectacles are as
many invitations to discover the universes of musicians and
artists who tint with happiness our reality."

In article <GD5fk.12514$LG4.4344@nlpi065.nbdc.sbc.com>,
Romeo Rondeau <[email protected]> wrote:

> Jenn wrote:
> > In article <3PTek.119000$102.33167@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net>,
> > "Paul Stamler" <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> >> Have you considered switching
> >> to a synth bass?
> >>
> >> Peace,
> >> Paul
> >
> > Will probably require a different player, of course.
>
> CHange to synth bass because the one he's using is making a humming
> noise? Shit! What great advice :-)

Arny has evidently solved the problem. He informed me that the solution
is of "no interest to you."

On Tue, 15 Jul 2008 02:19:43 +0000, Paul Stamler wrote:


> You may be seriously up the well-known creek. Have you considered
> switching to a synth bass?

The Line 6 Variax bass doesn't hum. It uses piezo pickups in the bridge.

They sound good too. I think the resynthesis that the Variax and Roland
VG8 do works better if the instrument is designed for it.

"Arny Krueger" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:QI-dneYx_ZfB-ubVnZ2dnUVZ_gmdnZ2d@comcast.com...
> Are humbucker bass pickups really effective?
>
> We've got big problems with power line hum + harmonics our bass guitar,
ever
> since we started dimming our lights. Unfortunately, most of the lighting
> power runs under the stage and there is a big break in the conduit right
> where our guys stand to play.
>
> Yes, I need to fix the power wiring, but I suspect that I could change
> pickups on the Bass with a lot less effort, if it was effective.
>
> Are Hum Bucker pickups really effective, and which ones work the best?
>
>

Last time a bass player had me trouble shoot his problem it turned out he
was using an unshielded speaker cable on the guitar.

Tim Perry <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>Last time a bass player had me trouble shoot his problem it turned out he
>was using an unshielded speaker cable on the guitar.

The absolute best I ever saw was a fairly well-known upright bass player
who had a TRS-to-dual RCA plug on his bass pickup, to one half of a cheap
stereo RCA-RCA cable to an RCA-to-TS plug into the amp. It hummed, yes.

I wouldn't use those dual RCA-RCA things for line level signals, let alone
instruments.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

"Tim Perry" <[email protected]> wrote in
message news:g5fq9v$k4e$1@aioe.org
> "Arny Krueger" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:QI-dneYx_ZfB-ubVnZ2dnUVZ_gmdnZ2d@comcast.com...
>> Are humbucker bass pickups really effective?
>>
>> We've got big problems with power line hum + harmonics
>> our bass guitar, ever since we started dimming our
>> lights. Unfortunately, most of the lighting power runs
>> under the stage and there is a big break in the conduit
>> right where our guys stand to play.
>>
>> Yes, I need to fix the power wiring, but I suspect that
>> I could change pickups on the Bass with a lot less
>> effort, if it was effective.
>>
>> Are Hum Bucker pickups really effective, and which ones
>> work the best?

> Last time a bass player had me trouble shoot his problem
> it turned out he was using an unshielded speaker cable on
> the guitar.

We've got a ton of guitar cables. They all hum. I've dissasembled the ones
that don't have molded-on connectors, and they are shielded, at least where
terminated. Most of the rest are very limber speaker cables, if that is what
they are.

On Jul 14, 8:48 am, "Arny Krueger" <[email protected]> wrote:
> Are humbucker bass pickups really effective?
>
> We've got big problems with power line hum + harmonics our bass guitar, ever
> since we started dimming our lights. Unfortunately, most of the lighting
> power runs under the stage and there is a big break in the conduit right
> where our guys stand to play.
>
> Yes, I need to fix the power wiring, but I suspect that I could change
> pickups on the Bass with a lot less effort, if it was effective.
>
> Are Hum Bucker pickups really effective, and which ones work the best?

Humbucking pickups are effective.
\As was previously mentioned, what model of bass being used will
determine what humbucking pickups are available for it as a drop in
replacement.

Humbuckng pickups do not sound the same as single coils and that can
be either good or bad depending on what you want.

If you are using a Fender Jazz Bass, (and many imitators) turning up
both pickups all the way will turn those two single coils into a giant
humbucker.

The old Peavey T40 had two pickups that could be either single coil or
humbucking depending on how the tone control knob was set. Under "7"
it was a humbucker above that, one coil gradually faded out leaving a
single coil.

There are pickups with multiple wiring schemes that can give
humbucking, single coil, in polarity, out of polarity, and multiple
combinations of the above,