Does the JB create more hum than the Distortion?

Re: Does the JB create more hum than the Distortion?

pickups with ceramic mags seem quieter to me than alnico p/ups, this is across stock guitars, "professional" install stock pickups, and everything i've fitted and modded. not necessarily feedback and bad noise, but a bit of hiss.

i note that i tend to not only eq amps differently for different pickups (esp. midrange), but also set the heights and poles differently in the same guitars.
i think it comes with the territory; if you have an A2 pickup right up next to the strings and crank the mids on the amp and turn it right up, i'd be more worried if there wasn't a little bit of noise.
this is just my opinion, but ceramics don't seem to need the tweaking and still sound pretty much the same regardless of height, i find. get em close enough to 'get everything' at the right volume and enjoy the chunk, i say.

getting back to the problem you're having with your JBs, bear in mind that all your other pickups are quite a bit newer; sounds like a wax bath could be in order! you have the technology.
i used an old JB in a les paul for years and never got any of the issues you're having, and that was through a heap of different amps at gig volume. poor old girl copped an absolute hiding.

are you using a high-gain amp and a lot of processing..? that can bring all sorts of nasty high-end sh1t down upon you
 
Re: Does the JB create more hum than the Distortion?

dr. ad said:
pickups with ceramic mags seem quieter to me than alnico p/ups, this is across stock guitars, "professional" install stock pickups, and everything i've fitted and modded. not necessarily feedback and bad noise, but a bit of hiss.

i note that i tend to not only eq amps differently for different pickups (esp. midrange), but also set the heights and poles differently in the same guitars.
i think it comes with the territory; if you have an A2 pickup right up next to the strings and crank the mids on the amp and turn it right up, i'd be more worried if there wasn't a little bit of noise.
this is just my opinion, but ceramics don't seem to need the tweaking and still sound pretty much the same regardless of height, i find. get em close enough to 'get everything' at the right volume and enjoy the chunk, i say.

getting back to the problem you're having with your JBs, bear in mind that all your other pickups are quite a bit newer; sounds like a wax bath could be in order! you have the technology.
i used an old JB in a les paul for years and never got any of the issues you're having, and that was through a heap of different amps at gig volume. poor old girl copped an absolute hiding.

are you using a high-gain amp and a lot of processing..? that can bring all sorts of nasty high-end sh1t down upon you
Click to expand...

Thanks for the response. I have one old JB and two new trembucker JB. One of the trembuckers now has an alnico 2 magnet (and sounds really good) Maybe I will just re-pot them all.

As far as processing and amp... I use an original Cameron CCV (and modded Marshalls) into two 4x12's for a dry signal and use a custom Suhr ISO box to get a line level to slave with. I go into a RJM mini line mixer then into a Rocktron Intellifex for my effects. Finally I blend both the wet and dry signal into an HH V800 power amp feeding two more 4x12's. As I mentioned earlier, my music room is wired directly to the service panel to prevent noise issues, etc.
 
Re: Does the JB create more hum than the Distortion?

dr. ad said:
pickups with ceramic mags seem quieter to me than alnico p/ups, this is across stock guitars, "professional" install stock pickups, and everything i've fitted and modded. not necessarily feedback and bad noise, but a bit of hiss.
Click to expand...

Word.

A passive pickup wound with full bobbins of 44AWG wire and an A5 magnet is basically the noisiest pickup on the planet... it has nothing to do with the JB itself IMHO.
 
Re: Does the JB create more hum than the Distortion?

I would think it could very well be part of the EQ curve of the JB. It's natural peak is the mids, and an A2 will emphasize those mids even more. Guitar hum is dominated by the mid range of the EQ spectrum, so the more mids, the more hum. A lot of ways to deal with this such as an EQ pedal to fine-tune your mids perfectly, noise gate, try different amp EQs with different gain/volume stages, etc.
 
Re: Does the JB create more hum than the Distortion?

Myaccount876 said:
I would think it could very well be part of the EQ curve of the JB. It's natural peak is the mids, and an A2 will emphasize those mids even more. Guitar hum is dominated by the mid range of the EQ spectrum, so the more mids, the more hum. A lot of ways to deal with this such as an EQ pedal to fine-tune your mids perfectly, noise gate, try different amp EQs with different gain/volume stages, etc.
Click to expand...

I never though of it like this...but it does make sense. It's entirely possible the A2 is enhancing the hum.

The annoying thing is that I REALLY like how the JB sounds with an A2 magnet. If it were quiet, I would probably replace a few pickups with it.
 
Re: Does the JB create more hum than the Distortion?

psychodave said:
I never though of it like this...but it does make sense. It's entirely possible the A2 is enhancing the hum.

The annoying thing is that I REALLY like how the JB sounds with an A2 magnet. If it were quiet, I would probably replace a few pickups with it.
Click to expand...

I've done the A2 mod enough times on a JB to know for a fact that a swap from A5 to A2 doesn't create any extra noise.

Your problem sounds like it could possible be a weakened coil but for trouble shooting purposes, you'll need to install another JB and DD in the same guitar in order to have a control for your variable.
 
Re: Does the JB create more hum than the Distortion?

zenmindbeginner said:
I've done the A2 mod enough times on a JB to know for a fact that a swap from A5 to A2 doesn't create any extra noise.

Your problem sounds like it could possible be a weakened coil but for trouble shooting purposes, you'll need to install another JB and DD in the same guitar in order to have a control for your variable.
Click to expand...

Well I did try two different JB's in the same guitar along with a Distortion, Suhr Aldrich and MCP Garuda. My Les Paul has an 80's JB in the neck. I would have to think 3 JB pickups would be enough...but it's possible all the have more hum than others....and yet the 3 Distortions (two from the 80's and one new one) don't hum much at all. Note: I have a custom 5 bridge in the neck of my other Charvel that is quiet as well. I'm not trying to be sarcastic, I just hear what I hear. This is somewhat moot now since I have a Motor city pickups "Garuda" in the guitar now and it is almost silent. Funny thing is that it's design is based off of the JB.
 
Re: Does the JB create more hum than the Distortion?

You know what, could it be so, that the JB is purposefully wound with slight asymmetry in the coils?
 
Re: Does the JB create more hum than the Distortion?

It's completely normal. Alnico II magnets are more sensible to electrical interferences and make more hum than ceramics. I changed the stock ceramic humbucker of my Jackson with a Custom Custom (alnico II) and I also noticed the extra hum of the CC.
In general, the less powerful is the magnet, the more hum it will have.

Ordered by hum:
Alnico II > Alnico V > Ceramics > Active pickups
 
Re: Does the JB create more hum than the Distortion?

The magnet is involved in neither the picking up hum nor in the hum canceling. They should be equivalent since they only differ in the magnet.

In any case, a humbucker is designed to cancel all hum unless there is a serious mismatch in coils. The only exception are coverless humbuckers which expose a short about of bare wire between the pickup cable and the actual coils.

The most likely explanation for serious noise picked up is that somebody didn't connect the shield in a 4-conductor pickup wire - which is really 5 conductor. You must ground the bare wire which is connected to the cable shield which grounds the pickup baseplate.
 
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