Nordstrand: BIGMAN Vs. BIG SPLITMAN

#2
My Bigmans were so noisy in singlecoil I finally pulled my $$4 apart to copper tape it.
Haven't gotten it back together yet to see if it helped dramatically.

Bigsplitman should be quiet-er.
 
#3
I have had both big splits and bigman pickups. The voicing between these two is quite similar. A single bigman is not designed for single coil operation. It is only hum-cancelling when both coils are engaged. I have a 5-string Clement bass with dual bigmans, one in precision location, the other in music man location, and each with their own volume. I also put in a switch to select either neck/bridge or outer/inner hum-cancelling pairs. It’s quiet and has a lot of great tones on tap. I love it! This bass was built before the big splitman was available. If you want the option of single coil then bigsplitman would be the one to try. It should sound excellent.
 
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#4
I don't know about the BM being "not designed for singlecoil".
It gets switched down to a Big Single.

Series is a sledgehammer, parallel has a ton of overtones, but I use my Warwick $$ mainly with the BM's in single coil favoring a little either way as appropriate.
 
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#5
Yes, a pair of BM in single coil should be fine as long as they are not too far off center. Good shielding still helps. I’d like to try a pair of Bigsplitman. They would provide even more tone combinations.
 
#7
MAJOR METAL said:
Does the BIG SplitMan come close to the G&L MFD Humbucker tone and output?
Click to expand...

MEC MM is like the G&L pickup, big ol focused hammer, like a 100lb jackhammer with a demo point.
You know what the G&L wants to be.

The Big series are all doubled J pickups and catch more nuances that slam output across the board.
You "hear" more, and they are all way more useful when you try switching and blending possibilities.
They also seriously change character depending on installed position.

Totally diff experience that can be difficult to set a use case for.
 
#8
How much of a difference is the BigMan and the BigSplitMan when it comes to running them in parallel or series modes? In other words, how similar is parallel on the BigMan vs. parallel on the BigSplitMan?

I recognize there's a BIG difference in a Big Single vs. a Big Split... but I'm curious about the BM and the BSM.
 
#9
Low84 said:
How much of a difference is the BigMan and the BigSplitMan when it comes to running them in parallel or series modes? In other words, how similar is parallel on the BigMan vs. parallel on the BigSplitMan?

I recognize there's a BIG difference in a Big Single vs. a Big Split... but I'm curious about the BM and the BSM.
Click to expand...

A lot with the BM, I don't have a BSM, not as noticeable with the BBM.
I'm starting to think series-parallel variation is most noticeable with alnico pickups.
Ceramics don't "breathe" quite the same in parallel.....that whole killer Pre-EB Stingray super finger responsive thing is always there with decent alnico.

I sent someone an audio file flipping thru the $$4 settings, neck only-both-bridge only.
I deleted it bc that bass was never shielded and picked up radio in singlecoil if I wasn't careful.

It's sitting on my wall pickup cavities copper taped, I just need to pull my SS1 preamp out of it bc that worked worse than the stock 2-band with the BM's.

Will reinstall the BM's and I'll post a clip just to see if the Futbol station is gone.

There's a guy on Youtube that mixed and matched SD MM ceramic and alnico.
I wanted to do that with my $$5, alnico bridge to fatten it up, ceramic neck to punch it up.
That will end up happening with my $$4.

BM bridge, BBM neck, flip them.
Record a bunch of the same riff.
Agonize, thing about what preamp I don't own that I wanna try, agonize some more....end up playing them the whole time passive.
Find out after $100's spent on preamps that I wasted my time and passive kills with these things.

Spend more $, get some BSMs, yadda yadda yadda.
 
#10
Low84 said:
How much of a difference is the BigMan and the BigSplitMan when it comes to running them in parallel or series modes? In other words, how similar is parallel on the BigMan vs. parallel on the BigSplitMan?

I recognize there's a BIG difference in a Big Single vs. a Big Split... but I'm curious about the BM and the BSM.
Click to expand...

Not much. But then again I don't find a huge difference between a Big Split and Big Single. The Big Split has a bit of a dip in the high mids and a bit more treble extension but they sound way closer in sound so me than say, a Big Single and a traditional single coil jazz pickup.

In series mode the BigMan and BigSplitMan will sound very close IMO. Also IMO, I don't like series mode on my BigSplitMan. I want to rewire it as neck coil/parallel/bridge coil and I think I'll get more use out of it that way.

As for parallel I'd say the BigSplitMan will be a bit more polite in the high end and the BigMan will have a bit more bite in it's high end.

Just my $0.02 but if you're buying it primarily to be used in parallel I'd go BigMan and if you plan to do a lot of switching I'd go BigSplitMan. The latter is what I did.
 
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#12
Jared Lash said:
my $0.02 but if you're buying it primarily to be used in parallel I'd go BigMan and if you plan to do a lot of switching I'd go BigSplitMan. The latter is what I did.
Click to expand...

When I owned an early 90s Stingray 5, I really enjoyed the 3 different modes on the pickup. Series was my straight-ahead strong rock setting... single-coil was for those tunes when the bass could be noticed and have a little ring/presence to it... and parallel was my slap tone.
 
#13
It's nice being able to play with your pickup modes but I tend to wish I had a switching system to kick in an optimized preamp/head that's setup for whatever I'm doing on the bass.

Parallel with the BM and BBM makes me dig for more of that thick wider sound.

Series I want lots of edge and clank.

Single is a home position, back to a pair of J's essentially.

I go back and forth btw an SVP-CL straight into a power amp, or play it thru the FX loop of an ELectric blue into a power amp.

Kick out the SVP for parallel, kick it back in for Series and I've foudn some weird synergy btw the 2 preamps that gets me more of that obnoxious 90's scooped nang.
 
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#14
Jared Lash said:
Not much. But then again I don't find a huge difference between a Big Split and Big Single. The Big Split has a bit of a dip in the high mids and a bit more treble extension but they sound way closer in sound so me than say, a Big Single and a traditional single coil jazz pickup.

In series mode the BigMan and BigSplitMan will sound very close IMO. Also IMO, I don't like series mode on my BigSplitMan. I want to rewire it as neck coil/parallel/bridge coil and I think I'll get more use out of it that way.

As for parallel I'd say the BigSplitMan will be a bit more polite in the high end and the BigMan will have a bit more bite in it's high end.

Just my $0.02 but if you're buying it primarily to be used in parallel I'd go BigMan and if you plan to do a lot of switching I'd go BigSplitMan. The latter is what I did.
Click to expand...
@Jared Lash How did you wire your BigSplitMan? Does it have the same options that the quad coil has, parallel / series / front / rear ?
 
#15
doran.dragic said:
@Jared Lash How did you wire your BigSplitMan? Does it have the same options that the quad coil has, parallel / series / front / rear ?
Click to expand...

I've always had a 3-way switch on my bass. Originally the BigSplitMan was wired to switch between parallel, series, and single (rear) coil.

I rewired it to front coil/parallel/rear coil. It's also always been paired with an nP5 and the new wiring is much more uwful to me.
 
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#16
Jared Lash said:
I've always had a 3-way switch on my bass. Originally the BigSplitMan was wired to switch between parallel, series, and single (rear) coil.

I rewired it to front coil/parallel/rear coil. It's also always been paired with an nP5 and the new wiring is much more uwful to me.
Click to expand...
I can see how the front coil/parallel/rear coil would be more useful with a BigSplitMan. I bet that sounds nice with the nP5. With the BigMan pickups, which have a similar output and tone profile, the series alignment was too much of a blunt instrument - high output and congested. My best result with a pair of BigMans was two volume knobs with a switch to select either neck coil pair/bridge coil pair or inner coils/outer coils in parallel.
 
#17
5StringPocket said:
I can see how the front coil/parallel/rear coil would be more useful with a BigSplitMan. I bet that sounds nice with the nP5. With the BigMan pickups, which have a similar output and tone profile, the series alignment was too much of a blunt instrument - high output and congested. My best result with a pair of BigMans was two volume knobs with a switch to select either neck coil pair/bridge coil pair or inner coils/outer coils in parallel.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I could see that being really versatile.

At least for my preferences, I agree that series wasn't a tone I used much. And that was for a BigSplitMan in the bridge. I can't imagine it in the neck position. But it someone wanted a big, woofy, mid heavy tone it might work for them.
 
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