i have an old yamaha bb605 lying around at home, nice playing bass but I don't like the single coils or cheap active electronics, I was going to replace the pups with Dimarzio ultrajazz 5's and the preamp with an audere 4 band eq and passive roll off when it occured to me... why not add a 3rd pup, I've been gassing for a 5 string musicman and after a little photo shop fiddling i think it may be possible to squeeze a 5 string MM pup between the 2 jazz pups:bassist:. hopefully it'd look something like this although mine is black


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a289/adbarker/moddedbb605.jpg

Thoughts?

I'd have to wire the MM and bridge J up to a 3 way mini switch so I can get J-Both-MM option then into the blend to mix with the neck J pup, I'd also love a series/parallel or coil tap option on the MM but since audere comes prewired with mini pots adding a push/pull probably won't be possible. controls would be volume, blend, bass/low mid, high mid/treble, passive tone roll off, z mode switch, J/MM pup selector switch... a lot of wiring and drilling involved!

Thoughts? wiring suggestions? am i crazy? :help::hyper:

Yes, you're crazy. It might actually work. :)

Oh its crazy allright, crazy awesome! :eek:

I would just replace the rear pickup with the MM and wire it so you have single coil option.

I would just replace the rear pickup with the MM and wire it so you have single coil option.

I think this is what I would do as well. My main bass is a Yamaha BB605 with Bartolini pups and preamp. I love it. I watch for them on eBay and thought about different mods, but never thought about a major one like this. Interesting. Keep us posted.

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I don't know, there's a lot of room there for more pickups.

I would just replace the rear pickup with the MM and wire it so you have single coil option.

I like that approach better myself - or Just route the 2 J pickups into soap bar sized and go Nord Big Splits ...

3 pickups and an Audere is going to be messy I think ...

I like that approach better myself - or Just route the 2 J pickups into soap bar sized and go Nord Big Splits ...

3 pickups and an Audere is going to be messy I think ...

Nord Big splits...hmmmmmm

Not sure how the MM will sound in that position. Probably somewhere between the sounds of an HH musicman. Mellower than the bridge Humbucker, but brighter than the Neck humbucker.

Would be interesting. Would be even more interesting if you wire it with a 3-way switch for Parallel/Singlecoil/Series.

You know, I've always wanted a BB605 with Bartolini soapbar pups. Hmm...I may have to research this some more.

There's space for another MM up at the mudbucker position. HMM.

Put a P at the neck and you're all set :D

I would seek the advice of a qualified repairman or luthier to get some good info on the upside and possible downside of having pickups so close together. Some combinations and locations work better than others.

I like that approach better myself - or Just route the 2 J pickups into soap bar sized and go Nord Big Splits ...

3 pickups and an Audere is going to be messy I think ...



I like that even better; a j and a double j.

i thought about the routing them to soapbar size pups and putting barts in but i already have an ibanez that covers the bart soapbar sound very well, with this bass i'm after the most versatile electronics, i'd love to have bart jazz pups but cant find the type in the UK or even online. they need to both be the same length as the bridge pup, the MM pup idea came to mind this afternoon, it's kinda make a ramp out of the 3 pickups lol!!! and yes a series parallel single switch would be great for the MM but 3 switches in an already crowded cavilt would be too much for my mind to cope with i think! it's all in the theory stage atm keep giving me ideas and thoughts tho!!!

4 pickups would be too many and stop slapping if in the mudbucker placement :crying:

update... I've done it! well I've added a bartolini MM pup between the jazz pickups and wiered it into a east U-retro deluxe 5. I'm just waiting on a switch to make the complex control set up work :hyper:

while it worked to a degree yesterday it sounded great but I snapped the toggle switch which is used to select neck, both or bridge coils on the MM and the Jazz pickups and then the blend pot is used to blend between MM or Jazz mode or both in centre position. If the new switch I'm gettin works it's gonna be one heck of a versetile bass :)

I've only had it working in passive mode so far and it sounded great so just gotta get it fully wired up and active and it'll have untold tonal options. :cool:

Oh and once it's complete I'll post pictures but I don't have the means for couns clips, sorry.

expect update with photos on monday or tuesday, depends when I have time to finish the job :)

Nord Big splits...hmmmmmm

Or just install a Nordy humbucker right in between. Might as well replace the sc's with Nordy's too.

I looked into nordy's a lot but none of them matched the BB605's string spacing so they woudln't work I'm afraid

Ok electronics people I need your help! I've wired up my 3 pickups to a DPDt (on-off-on) switch which allots me to get double and both single coils from the musicman pickup while that is selected by the blend pot however it does not allow both jazz pickups to work at one.

I wired it using the little diagram from this thread:
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=548686&highlight=mini+selector

It works in the outside positions selecting either bridge or neck jazz pups but when centred it produces a very weak signal, no mids or bottom end when compared to the single coil tones. is there anything I can do to unlock this middle position, both pickups tone or is it just not achievable with this wiring?

could it be out of phase? and what can I do to solve this?

to sum up I'm using a DPDt (on-off-on) switch for both the MM pickups selection between neck-series-bridge and neck-both-bridge on the 2 single coil jazz pickups... the MM pckup functions perfectly but the Jazz pickups are loosing their middle option.

Please help! :help: