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Any true humbucking J pickups around?
- Thread starter TuneSalad666
- Start date
Likewise I could say.
The person who that quote was addressed to appeared to me as he was nitpicking for the sake of nitpicking straight out ignoring my post on purpose in his first response to my question, which is why I replied as I did.
Later he explained though, and I realized that I misunderstood him and that my assumptions about him was wrong and I apologized to him.
Honestly don't see what that comment of yours is good for, after the issue was solved between both parts concerned by that response of mine you quote, other than an attempt to stir up troubles.
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- Mar 19, 2013
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Just speculating here....
The Fender modern player jazz series bass isn’t like what your describing is it?
The Fender modern player jazz series bass isn’t like what your describing is it?
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- Endorsing Artist for: Duncan Pickups; Line6, Hipshot, GHS Strings, Somnium Guitars
So, if you know what you're looking for and shoot down most of the recommendations and point out they are wrong, why did you ask?
I have shot no one down, except for the one I thought was playing a smart ass on my behalf, but later I apologized to him since it seemed I misunderstood his comment.
What you see as me shooting people down might possibly simply be me stating that the pickups they suggest does not meet the requirements I asked for in my initial post.
You might also ask, how could anyone come with an answer if they didn't know what I was looking for?
Simply asking: "What am I looking for?", most people would probably find a little too vague a question for them to actually being able to answer.
Asking a question kind of require you to know what you want to get answered, doesn't mean you actually know the answer though.
Yes, I know what I am looking for, it says so pretty exact in the first post of this thread, what I am actually asking though is what products would meet my requirements and where to find them.
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What's your attraction to "true humbucking"? As long as they're quiet and sound good, what's the difference? I have a coupla basses loaded with DiMarzio Area J pickups and think they work great. They have a fairly authentic old school single coil like Jazz sound, are quiet, have excellent string to string balance (with their raised A and D pole pieces) and are quite reasonably priced. I don't have the slightest idea of what's going on underneath the pickup covers and don't really care ... they've got it where it counts as far as my needs ... check'm out.
Oh, I can't help you, but maybe if I waste the next couple of hours on Google, I might be able to find an answer for you. Good luck in your quest. I hope it works out.
Nothing is wrong with classic P and J pickups, as I stated earlier in this thread I am actually quite pleased with the tone I get out of the P/J set of EMG Geezer Butler pickups I have currently installed in my bass.
However I am looking for something different than your classical split coil P and single coil J tone, without having to drill new pickup cavities in my favorite P/J bass.
What I am specifically hoping to achieve is a fuller tone with a wider frequency response and with a bit more of a piano like definition and clarity.
Thanks for you suggestion, I already know Google though, and have even already tried that option when trying to find an answer to my question.
I wasn't able to formulate a search term though that really gave me any useful results, but then again I am sure I don't possess your incredible skills at formulating myself.
Now you got me thinking why we even have this forum when it easily could be replaced by just one message saying: "Use Google!".
A lot of trouble saved for a lot of people.
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DiabolusInMusic
Functionless Art is Merely Tolerated Vandalism
You are looking for a split-coil blade pickup in a single coil jazz shape? One that sounds like a MusicMan side-by-side pickup? Or am I way off base here?
What exactly is a "true" humbucker"? Do standard stacked or split coils not buck hum as good as other designs? I am just not sure why typical humbuckers are not meeting your standards.
What exactly is a "true" humbucker"? Do standard stacked or split coils not buck hum as good as other designs? I am just not sure why typical humbuckers are not meeting your standards.
I am looking for a humbucker pickup in a J pickup housing, yes, split coil no though, and not necessarily using blades, I just mentioned the strat blade pickups as that is a fairly known example of humbuckers in a single coil housing.
Not really looking for the tone of a music man pickup either, just kind of toeing the water for what options I have, but definitely closer to the tone a typical music man pickup would produce than a typical J pickup, if that is even possible.
Perhaps it would not be too far off in combination with a humbuker P pickup as well.
Already stated a couple of times in this thread what it is I hope to achieve more specifically:
Also what I mean by the term true humbucker:
Typical humbuckers in other words is exactly what I am looking for, I just used the word true for that term, split coil pickups, that technically are humbuckers, but tone wise has more in common with single coils only they are hum canceling is not what I am looking for though.
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- Mar 19, 2013
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DiabolusInMusic
Functionless Art is Merely Tolerated Vandalism
So the issue isn't with the make of the pickup, it is with the tone it produces, correct? Have you considered just pairing a pre-amp with some more standard humbuckers? It would give you quite a bit more tonal shaping options. You can always a series/parallel switch to get more mids and more oomph out of your Jazz, it gets you pretty close to a P.
Apparently intelligence comes with the price of being judged as a better knowing smart ass.
Honestly I only was a bit snide in one response, which turned out to be me misunderstanding a comment, which I also apologized for.
Later though it apparently triggered some people to try to get a piece of the trouble cake, which I naturally responded accordingly to.
A preamp might be a possible solution to what I am trying to achieve, it is a P/J bass I had in mind though and not a J bass.
- Mar 19, 2013
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Calm down bud.....it’s the internet....no one can resist a good meme
This thread is a bit trolly to me ... OP states he hasnt got much experience with pickups but he wants a specific thing based on his own definition of the term “humbucking pickup” which seems to be very rare on the market, rejecting any genuine suggestions from other users ... so what? What does the OP want ? He seems to already know the answer or that the answer, in the end, is not so important ...
Seems to me that you got at lot of misunderstandings, misconceptions and wrong assumptions going for you there.
As I already stated, yes, I know what I want, how else could I ask where to find it and expect to get a decent answer?
The answers I pointed out I couldn't use were the ones which suggested pickups that I specifically stated that I was not interested in, and mind I did not do this to be disrespectful, simply pointing out that it was not what I was looking for and the reason why.
Yes, I do not have a lot of personal experience with different pickups, exactly as I stated, doesn't mean that I haven't read up on different pickup types and what they do though and doesn't mean I haven't enough experience with playing bass and music as such to know what I am looking for.
In short:
Knowing what you are looking for doesn't automatically give you the answer on where to find it, just increase the possibility of someone possibly being able to help you that does know.
Also hard to get your point through when your thread is constantly bombarded with off topic content that calls for a reply, so I understand your confusion about what I want, even if I think I stated it pretty clearly in my first post.
Actually in the midst of all the mess this thread developed into I did get a couple of useful replies which I also thanked for and commented on.
Like this, that actually was exactly the kind of answer I was looking for:
Any true humbucking J pickups around?
Or this, which was not really the answer I was looking for, but still a useful suggestion of possibly achieving what I wanted (the part of the reply that suggests using a preamp):
Any true humbucking J pickups around?
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Here's a J pickup with split blades that might qualify. The designer says "designed to maintain authentic J-Bass™ tone and character but with extended frequency response and articulation"
J-Style Bass Pickups for J-Bass | JBE Pickups
My Google search terms: '"j pickup" humbucker' After the search, I switched from "All" to "Images" to view photos that meet your visual requirements.
All the J pickups I saw with split pole pieces were double wide. The size limits of a J pickup would seem to be somewhat of a limiting factor. Perhaps it would be wise to focus on sound qualities rather than pickup architecture.
IMHO, these tonal goals do not seem to suggest "humbucker." Single coil pickups are typically characterized as open and thin with less punch and low end; while humbuckers are characterized as fat or full, but with less extension in the high frequencies. In my experience single coils tend to produce a more piano like sound. Some of the difference in the characteristic frequency response is due to impedance. Higher impedance pickups tend to produce more lows and roll of more of the high end. I am sure designers can take other steps to minimize or enhance this tendency. Are there no stacked or split coil J pickups that use series windings?
Regarding the parallel rows of pole pieces in some humbuckers...the physical separation of the pole pieces would result in each pole piece sensing slightly different harmonics. Think in terms of how pickup placement effects tone. I would think that the split pole piece architecture would produce some degree of comb filtering or alteration to the smoothness of the frequency response. Perhaps this is why Leo Fender chose to use a split coil humbucker in the P bass instead of the humbucker architecture you describe.
Perhaps you need active pickups with a preamp that has a baked in response that would better meet your tonal goals. Or perhaps you need a pickup system that would allow a dummy coil to be inserted in series with the single coil jazz pickup for noise cancellation and to give you more of a humbucker impedance and tone profile.
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