Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

Wiring a set of Nordstrand Big Singles


largo
 Share

Recommended Posts

I just got a new set of Big Singles for my bass, which has a J-Retro deluxe.

Now the old pickups (anyone want to buy a set of 19mm Big Singles) has 2 wires, black & white plus an extension to the black wire which is grounded to the pickup cavity using a little grub screw. Fair enough !

The new pickups however has 3 wires, black, white & grey where the grey wire is soldered to some copper tape on the bottom of the pickup, I presume pickup shielding. Can I twist the black & grey together and solder them to the appropriate connections on the J-Retro circuit to ground them. Each pickup has a different connector so not sure if it's common ground ? Or, should I ground the grey wire to the pickup cavity or maybe even do something else to help minimise buzz as much as possible.

All help gratefully appreciated. (Hope you all follow that)

S

P.S. Sorry I also posted this in the John East section as I hoped Mr East would help me out personally but thought the techies probably hover around this forum more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd doubt it as these are single coil pickups. You should check them out, absolutely amazing for Jazz Bass tone if you like that sort of thing :0)

Got word back from Brian @ Best Bass Gear in the US and this is his reply ....

The additional ground wire is something new and meant for some of the
newer preamps out there. You are correct in your assumption that the
grey wire should be connected to the jack ground. The black wire should
go to the pickup ground on the East preamp.

In case anyone else wonders.

Stephen

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='largo' post='91284' date='Nov 20 2007, 09:41 AM']I'd doubt it as these are single coil pickups. You should check them out, absolutely amazing for Jazz Bass tone if you like that sort of thing :0)

Got word back from Brian @ Best Bass Gear in the US and this is his reply ....

The additional ground wire is something new and meant for some of the
newer preamps out there. You are correct in your assumption that the
grey wire should be connected to the jack ground. The black wire should
go to the pickup ground on the East preamp.

In case anyone else wonders.

Stephen[/quote]

Interesting. It [i]could[/i] lead to hum/buzz problems. They've obviously tried/tested this and found it to be ok.

Hamster

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, got an email back from Carey @ Nordstrand ...

First question was, did you not get the wee card that gets sent with all our sets of pickups ? Er, no as it would have saved me 3 days of searching.

So, this new "ground" wire on the pickups is an earth signal for the new preamps that have buffered(!) amp circuits.
Just like the Audere and John East preamps.

So, conclusion is, the grey wire is connected direct to the ground on the jack socket and the black (pickup) ground goes to the connector on the preamp circuit. Don't know why, or even what a buffered preamp is but that's what it's for.

And yes, would have been nice to have the wiring diagram on the Nordstrand website too !

S

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hummn buffer pre-amps eh?' thats quite clever....... not entirley convinced its neccasary, but I guess lots of folks said that about pre-amps when they first came out.....

Oh and explaination is here:-


[url="http://www.electronics-tutorials.com/amplifiers/buffer-amplifiers.htm"]http://www.electronics-tutorials.com/ampli...-amplifiers.htm[/url]

Hope its not too techie for you! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...