How is the Suhr BPSSC working?

[Alan0354]

Does it really work as good as the true humbucking pup and truely retain the single coil sound? From my experiment, it can be directional sensitive, nothing like the true humbucking pup that has two almost identical coil side by side. Because of the shape difference of the pup and the coil, they really see different magnetic fields.

[Mike Sulzer]

Does it really work as good as the true humbucking pup and truely retain the single coil sound? From my experiment, it can be directional sensitive, nothing like the true humbucking pup that has two almost identical coil side by side. Because of the shape difference of the pup and the coil, they really see different magnetic fields.

If it is strongly directionally dependent, it really is not working very well. After all, you can aim a single coil to get rid of nearly all the hum.

[David Schwab]

I posted this in the other thread:

Sounds pretty good to me.

[Mike Sulzer]

I posted this in the other thread:

Sounds pretty good to me.

So did I.

The amount of hum cancellation at the beginning of the video is really not all that much. This is a promotional video intended to sell a product, a product which will work better or worse in different circumstances. Do you think the video shows, best, typical, or worst performance?

[Mark Hammer]

I tried one out at a display booth at the Montreal Guitar Expo about 4 or 5 years ago. I made a point of standing right beside the power transformer side of the large tube amp being used to demo stuff. I was quite impressed. Not DEAD silent, but more than quiet enough.

As Mike notes, dummy coils of any type are directionally-dependent. You have to think of them like antennas, and for complete cancellation, the 60hz "reception" coming from the dummy coil and the string-sensing coil have to be identical. That's easiest to do when the coils are stacked atop each other or right beside each other, but other spatial arrangements can also do the trick. Naturally, the further apart the string-sensing (and I hesitate to call it "active", because that carries confusing surplus connotations) and dummy coil are, the more directionality starts to play a role. For something like a dual rails pickup, it is hard to imagine that the two coils it contains would differentially sense the EMI source, depending on where you face.

[David Schwab]

The amount of hum cancellation at the beginning of the video is really not all that much. This is a promotional video intended to sell a product, a product which will work better or worse in different circumstances. Do you think the video shows, best, typical, or worst performance?

I think it's typical. I've seen other videos that were done by end users. They were a little quieter in some cases. I think if they wanted this to be better than it was he would have sat farther away from the amp, or could have angled himself to lose a little more noise.

I've played with plenty of guitarist with Strats, and that loud hum when the amp was cranked is pretty typical. In a few cases it was almost louder than the notes coming from the guitar! But I have to say that 99% of all the guitarist I play with that use Strats, and guitars that I set up for people have some form of hum canceling pickups. The most popular being the Duncan or Dimarzio rails.

But this system seems to sound a little more like single coils, while also being a little noisier. So it;s not as quiet as something like EMG pickups, but it's a good compromise.

[Mike Sulzer]

I think it's typical. I've seen other videos that were done by end users. They were a little quieter in some cases. I think if they wanted this to be better than it was he would have sat farther away from the amp, or could have angled himself to lose a little more noise.

I've played with plenty of guitarist with Strats, and that loud hum when the amp was cranked is pretty typical. In a few cases it was almost louder than the notes coming from the guitar! But I have to say that 99% of all the guitarist I play with that use Strats, and guitars that I set up for people have some form of hum canceling pickups. The most popular being the Duncan or Dimarzio rails.

But this system seems to sound a little more like single coils, while also being a little noisier. So it;s not as quiet as something like EMG pickups, but it's a good compromise.

I agree; it is much better than no cancellation at all.

[Alan0354]

I posted this in the other thread:

Sounds pretty good to me.

Yes, that I my experience, it just reduce the noise, but no where close to hum cancelling at all. You can hear it. The important thing is he only sit in one position, if you start walking around and put the switch on and off, you will find dead spot where there is no help at all and one or two spot that is even worst. It is just so much easier to find a good spot than without the cancelling coil and is much easier to live with. I experimented extensively before I posted.

BTY, I can hear the distinct difference in the tone quality when he had it on vs off. This is not what I called perfect.

[Mike Sulzer]

BTY, I can hear the distinct difference in the tone quality when he had it on vs off. This is not what I called perfect.

Me, too. I think I hear it on both clean and dirty, but I trust the difference more on clean since you do not notice the hum and buzz that could be distracting and degrade the apparent dirty tone. There is a fairly distinct loss of sc "bite" on the clean. However, I do not think the difference is a showstopper.

It must put a significant impedance in series with the pickups.

I seem to remember a schematic around somewhere. Anyone remember where?

[Kindly Killer]

David, which other thread? Noise canceling is the thing I'm most interested in right now, and I've been doing a lot of searching. This is the first I've seen of this vid.

I.e. may I have the link to the thread referenced?

[Alan0354]

Here is the link of the patent:

Magnetic pickup device for a ... - Google Patents

I am not impressed at all. Yes, it might be better than the stack coil hum cancelling pups, but nothing single coil about it. And it is not hum cancelling in my book. Call it noise reduction, not cancelling.

[David Schwab]

...but nothing single coil about it.

How so?

[Alan0354]

How so?

Don't you hear the sound difference in the video? It sound very different to me in all position between on vs off.

You ever try splitting the Dimarzio Area? I did with a switch to short out the lower coil, not much worst than the demo in the tape and they really cancel the noise.

[David Schwab]

Don't you hear the sound difference in the video? It sound very different to me in all position between on vs off.

You ever try splitting the Dimarzio Area? I did with a switch to short out the lower coil, not much worst than the demo in the tape and they really cancel the noise.

I hear an extremely small difference on some settings, such as the bridge soloed clean. It's such a small difference that you wouldn't notice it when playing with a band. Also, its mostly a slight reduction on the extreme high end, and that can be fixed at the amp. It's apples and oranges. It's not like one tone is right or wrong.

I like the DiMarzio Virtual Vintage pickups. They sound like single coils without hum.

But it's like what I say about hum canceling Jazzbass pickups. They do sound like single coils, but people get into their heads that a single coil has a singular tone. But they don't. A single coil, even of the same type, can sound all kinds of ways. I also don't get why people want their guitar to sound like everyone else's. So if your Strat doesn't sound like some other Strat, who cares? As long as it sounds like you, that's what counts.

[Chuck H]

You might also notice in the vid that about the time the difference become notable there are some simulaneous gating and volume issues with the film itself. I made it a point to try and listen around that. I think the difference between the hum cancelling and non hum cancelling clips is small and the noise reduction pretty good. But I'll admit that I probably wouldn't use one only because of the fractional difference in tone. I did indeed think the non hum cancelling demo bits were better sounding, if more noisy. But we're all gear heads here that live for that fractional improvement... And we all have opinions about what that means.