Pickup / Preamp choice

[intime-nick]

I’ll start by saying that I really like the overall sound of my Warwick Jazzman LX5 so my question may be a little odd.  The only thing I don’t like is the noise from the single coil neck pickup - it's really noticeable in certain environments (LED dimmer switches, dodgy pub wiring, slot machines etc, I’m looking at you...).  It’s not a shielding issue as when it’s fully panned to the bridge MM pickup in humbucking mode, it’s very quiet.  I know single coils have this issue so was thinking of swapping the J neck PU for a stacked humbucking type (and possibly the MM PU as I’d like a visually matching pair ‘cos I’m vain like that)

swapping PUs is something I've never done in my 30+ years of playing so could do with some advice.  I realise everyone’s idea of that ‘perfect tone’ is different and I’d rather not lose the core sound of the Warwick if that’s possible.  I’d also like to keep the 3 way switch for the MM PU if the preamp was swapped.  The current preamp is a 3 band MEC with stacked volume / pan and pull for passive plus 3 band EQ  

any advice on pickups or pre’s or should I leave it alone and put up with the noise ? (you can’t hear it when playing to be fair but it is a touch annoying nonetheless)

[dub]

On 11/10/2018 at 18:36, intime-nick said:

eamp is a 3 band MEC with stack

 

[dub]

That last post was a mistake. I'm not sure what happened there!

Anyway, if you want to replace the single coil. Nordstrand do a very good split coil pickup that should fit that won't hum.

[NancyJohnson]

Shielding or otherwise, there's an inevitability of noise when you're in the vicinity of dimmer switches etc.  Played a few venues where thus has been the case.

Ultimately, and if there is an upside to nit making changes to the bass, once you're up and running, no one will hear the buzz.

[Hellzero]

Humming and buzzing could become a nightmare. Have you simply tried to find the non-noisy position (because there is one) by slightly moving in circle from left to right ?

That said, to date, the only basses totally quiet I've owned are the Leduc's with their patented hum-cancelling dummy coil à la Alembic (which are also dead quiet) and my old Tune BEB-6 with their own home made quad coils pickups and original twin preamp. When I write dead quiet, I mean in very electrically polluted with LED lights, neon lights, switching power supplies, ...

Ask @Marcoelwray what Delano pickups (same configuration as yours, but with 4 strings) he could recommend you, as on his Elwray Infinga, they are very quiet, powerful and articulated sounding. The bass pass around review is here with some videos : 

 

[Guest Marcoelwray]

@intime-nick hello!

I have a streamer LX Jazzman 4 and I didn't noticed any buzz.... If you're not in love with your pickups and want dead silent set-up, best option IMHO is to swap the pickups for Delano's. They are like the MEC, but they "open" the tone range, improve dynamics, and you can keep the very same visual aspect!

You don't even be to change the preamp, it's really transparent.

For the neck one I'll recommend the

Delano JC5 AL/M2

For the bridge

MC5 AL/EB 

That is for a direct replacement. But there is other choices, like closed caps, or even better, choose a Hybrid or JayRay for the bridge one. If you need some help to change pickups just contact me, I might have a good deal for you. Oh and you'll find the prices of these Delano's on Fred Guitar parts, bassdirect (expensive choice), bassparts.de (best choice)

Cheers

Marco

PS: @Hellzero thanks Tony see you soon!