Hey there folks,

I've been doing some reading of the posts made by DavePlaysBass and Sunbeast and took it upon myself to modify my L2K Tribby to allow all 4 modes at once. Those modes being Series, Parallel, Inside Single Coils and Outside Single Coils. After quite a lot of getting-my-head-round-it, I've succeeded.

I've made a web page with sound samples that you can listen to just in case you're wondering if the mod is for you or not. It sure was for me. It's made this L2000 which is a versatile instrument, tone-wise as it comes from the factory into a very versatile one.

Here's the link to my L2K mod page. (http://www.brandnewanalogues.com/jt/l2k-basstaster/)

Thanks go to DavePlaysBass and Sunbeast for the inspiration. http://www.brandnewanalogues.com/jt/smileys/all-hail.gif

Here's a photo of my L2K Tribute with the extra 3-way switch:
http://www.brandnewanalogues.com/jt/l2k-basstaster/l2k_after_sc_mod.jpg

Greeeeeaaaaaaattt job man, nice clip and nice diagram to
Francis

Yeah, well done. Very interesting mods.

Very surprising how much variation there is from inside to outside coils !

Excellent job all around !

hmmmm........i might need to get out my tools.............

Nicely done. I think your clips capture the essence of the mods well. You should get your page linked up top.

The one thing I will add is that if you add the bass boost caps things will not work as expected. This is because the series setting is not like the orignal Leo wiring. Which is fine if you do not use the bass boost caps.

Sweet.

Nicely done. I think your clips capture the essence of the mods well. You should get your page linked up top.

Thanks Dave. Glad you like the clips. The page is gonna be there permanently and if I move to a different webspace provider (which I have no plans to) the link will be maintained.
Also, it'd be an honour to have my post stickied. :smug:

The one thing I will add is that if you add the bass boost caps things will not work as expected. This is because the series setting is not like the orignal Leo wiring. Which is fine if you do not use the bass boost caps.

Yeah, I realised that the bass boost caps would affect the circuit in such a way that it would no longer function but in all honesty, I can't see anyone needing a bass boost on these instruments. I find my L2K Tribute to have an abundance of low-end anyway and I sometimes have to dial the lows down a bit - especially in Series mode.

The new single coil modes give, in my opinion anyway, a selection of very useable tones. Both pickups together, set to the outside coils seem very close in tone to a Jazz Bass, which I'm quite pleased with. As for the inside coils, the clarity of the tone in that setting is really quite impressive. Those inside coils have a tone all of their own.

I was worried at first that the way I've modified the circuit, i.e. intercepting the ground wires and selectively lifting either the outside or inside coils' grounds would produce a hum but as you will have heard in the clips, fortunately, there is none. Even when using headphones, the only noise is a slight hiss from my Roland amplifier's preamp.

By the way Dave, I've updated my page with your comments so thank you for that. I've also sent you an email with your document attached but I've converted it to a PDF file just in case some people don't have a program that opens Word docs. :)

Femto, I think you're my new hero.

I'm going to see if i can figure out a way to do this with a push/pull pot. I modded to have SC inside as an option with the big switch, and have OMG mode (i.e. single coil with bass-boost, using the capacitors) available using a push/pull. However, I've found OMG mode to be a bit unwieldy...yes, I can simulate earthquakes with it, but it doesn't seem practical. So I want to see if I can reappropriate the push/pull for this purpose instead.

As requested I added a link to this thread in the stickied G&L FAQ and links thread.

Femto, I think you're my new hero.

I agree totally. Really an inspiration, and nice to hear the clips so you can really get a sense of how worthwhile the mods are.

I'm going to see if i can figure out a way to do this with a push/pull pot. I modded to have SC inside as an option with the big switch, and have OMG mode (i.e. single coil with bass-boost, using the capacitors) available using a push/pull. However, I've found OMG mode to be a bit unwieldy...yes, I can simulate earthquakes with it, but it doesn't seem practical. So I want to see if I can reappropriate the push/pull for this purpose instead.

That's close to what I want to do... I haven't done the mod yet, but this is how I mapped it out based on DavePlayBass's chart. Got some help from Sunbeast as well.

I am had to "connect" the wires to see how everything worked, so the ugly additions to DavePlayBass's nice diagram are mine...

http://image1.frappr.com/pix1/i/20090206/3/2/1/3218c5657f477d1318f6bf3f164109cf0_large.jpg

This is DavePlayBass's SC-inside/parallel/series mod with bass boost on the Series and SC-inside settings. The DPDT switch adds SC-outside without bass boost.

I bought a 1 meg pot with a push-pull switch that I plan to put in the bass eq position. The idea is to leave it down (on-on) all the time except when I want single coil-outside without bass boost. To do that, I need to put the "big" switch in "parallel" mode, and put the push-pull into the "up" position.

The proveso is that the push-pull switch will only work in the parallel position, but I think I can live with that ;-)

That will work. I have considered doing exactly with a 250K push pull on the volume pot. And if you want the series mode bass boost caps, this will not interfere with them.

But I have two kids and a job that make it hard to find practice time, let alone time to rewire.

That sounds cool, fender3x. But where'd you find a w meg push/pull pot? I didn't even think such a thing existed...

My idea for outer coils is to use a push/pull to kill the inner coils. In parallel mode, when the switch is thrown, it'll leave just the outer coils. In the other modes, it will act as a kill switch. I wouldn't even need to remove my bass-boost mode to do this (the two options wouldn't interfere, and I have an extra p/p pot lying around).

...where'd you find a w meg push/pull pot? I didn't even think such a thing existed...

http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/electrical_pushpullpots.htm

It's even solid shaft--the only push/pull pot I could find that was. The main reason for putting it on the bass pot, however, was that it seemed to require moving the least amount of stuff in that overstuffed control cavity.

That will work. I have considered doing exactly with a 250K push pull on the volume pot. And if you want the series mode bass boost caps, this will not interfere with them.

Nice to have that endorsement!

But I have two kids and a job that make it hard to find practice time, let alone time to rewire.

Me too. That's why I am still planning this, but haven't started. I have all the parts, been playing my backup bass while the back stays off my ASAT... just need to find the time to do it ;-)

I'm very interested in doing this mod on my L2500 Tribute, but I've got some wiring questions. Hopefully someone here can help me with it.

Here are the wiring diagrams:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b342/fourstringbliss/Series-Parallel.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b342/fourstringbliss/SCSwitch.jpg

It looks to me like the black neck pickup wire goes to pin 2 on the series/parallel switch and pin 11 on the single coil switch. Is this right? Should I attach it to pin 2 and run another wire from there to pin 11, attach it to pin 11 and run another wire from there to pin 2, or should I run separate wires from each pin and solder them to the end of the neck black wire?

The single coil switch diagram says that on the neck side I should connect the "green + bridge backplate wire" to pin 8. Would that be the neck green + bridge backplate wire or the bridge green + bridge backplate wire? I assume it's the neck green wire because that's the neck side of the switch, but I just want to be sure.

Thanks!

Anybody?

More solid shaft push-pull pots:

http://www.torresengineering.com/ampsolshafpu.html

1 Meg available.

Anybody?

I am not an EE, but I think it will work. You are basically disconnecting the ground on the coil you don't want to hear from. What I am not sure about is the wisdom of disconnecting the ground plate. I wonder if it would be better to break the connection to the yellow when you don't want the neck-facing coil, than to break the ground. I have been reluctant to chime in, though, since I figure other's "get" this better than I do!

This has given me ideas, though...

This is a wiring diagram of Dave's circuit I used for Series/Single-Outer/Parallel.

Click the image for a PDF suitable for high quality printing. Or, seeing as how my hosting has decided to go all latent & crap, click the friendly link.

http://www.bassesbyleo.com/images/l2500/modded/parallel_single_series_outer.jpg (http://www.bassesbyleo.com/images/l2500/modded/parallel_single_series_outer.pdf)

http://www.bassesbyleo.com/images/l2500/modded/parallel_single_series_outer.jpg

http://www.bassesbyleo.com/images/l2500/modded/parallel_single_series_outer.pdf

Ken...

Here's another parts question:

DavePlaysBass specifies the CKN1139-ND switch ($17 from DigiKey) and Femto mentions 1M46T1B5M1QE ($4.65 from Newark). They are, for our purposes, equivalent, right?

Here's another parts question:

DavePlaysBass specifies the CKN1139-ND switch ($17 from DigiKey) and Femto mentions 1M46T1B5M1QE ($4.65 from Newark). They are, for our purposes, equivalent, right?

They appear to pin out the same, switch the same, and look to be of similar or the same materials.

Pick one.

Ken...

Here's another parts question:

DavePlaysBass specifies the CKN1139-ND switch ($17 from DigiKey) and Femto mentions 1M46T1B5M1QE ($4.65 from Newark). They are, for our purposes, equivalent, right?

But this one goes to 11

But this one goes to 11

You, good sir, are trouble. :D

Ken...

Here's a transcript of a PM I sent off to Sunbeast - our resident G&L wiring expert:

Yeah- I think you have it! Just wire the backplate wires directly to ground and the pickup grounds go to the "-" connections on the Audere.

I'll be interested to hear how it all works out- sounds like it'll be a pretty amazing setup!

Karl

The black coil wires from the pickups should only go to the single coil/parallel switch. The black wires on the series/parallel switch are replaced by the 2 jumper wires that go between the 2 switches. It is easy to understand if you look at what is occuring in the different orientations of each switch. When the series/parallel switch is in parallel normally, there is one end of each coil going to hot and one end of each going to ground (a total of 4 coils, 2 per pickup). When you add in the single coil/parallel switch, in each (up and down) position one of the grounds gets lifted (ungrounded) and one of the hots gets grounded.
I'm actually splitting the outer singles/parallel/inner singles switch into two on-on-on DPDT switches. You're saying that each of the on-on-on DPDT switches should have a green pickup wire left-center and a black pickup wire right-center, right? The black wire at pin 2 and 8 of the series/parallel switch are the wires from pin 10 of the neck singles switch and pin 3 of the bridge singles switch, right? This helps so much!

As far as the 2nd question about the green wires- the neck green wire should go on the neck part of the switch, and the bridge to the bridge side. I'm not sure what the "backplate wire" refers to, but I'm assuming Tributes must have a ground wire soldered to the copper plate on each pickup? If so, it is my opinion that these should always be grounded, and not subject to changes in the coil switches- they are acting to shield the pickups, and therefore don't need to be "lifted" from ground for any reason. Especially with the Audere preamp, where the "ground" connections from the pickups are not actually wired to ground. I have never had a G&L that had these "backplate wires" wired independently of the coil wires from the factory- on both my US L2000 and L2500, the backplate wires were hard-wired to the green coil connection on each pickup, so I needed to add a new permanently grounded backplate wire to each pickup to do the single coil modification. It is quite possible that Tributes are wired differently to begin with though...

Hope that all makes sense :cool:,
Karl
The backplate wire comes from a copper plate behind each of the pickups. There are five wires coming from each pickup area - a black, green, yellow, and white pickup wire and a thicker black backplate wire. Right now the two backplate wires are soldered together - should I connect them to cavity ground? The pickups grounds are connected to the Audere, right?

Thanks again! I'm so glad I got your PM before I started work on this project.


http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b342/fourstringbliss/Series-Parallel.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b342/fourstringbliss/SCSwitch.jpg

So, the "black" wires on the series/parallel switch only come from the single coil/parallel switch. The backplate wires need to be grounded.

Cool.

You, good sir, are trouble. :D

Ken...

I do what I can. :D

I wired my switches just like your (Femto) wiring diagram and it didn't work. I was very careful to wire it up just like the diagram and no go. Then I discovered that my DPDT ON-ON-ON switches worked the opposite way as the ones that Daveplaysbass used in his wiring diagrams - and probably opposite of they way your (Femto) switches worked.

Attached is the original wiring diagram and a diagram of how my switches work. Could you please tell me how to change the wiring diagram so it will work with my switches? Do my DPDT ON-ON switches work like yours? Do I just need to reverse the wiring on the DPDT ON-ON-ON switches?

Thanks!

Success!

I wired up separate DPDT ON-ON switches for series/parallel and separate DPDT ON-ON-ON switches for outer coil/parallel/inner coil switches. I tried this a few weeks ago but I didn't know that DPDT ON-ON-ON work in reverse of 4PDT ON-ON-ON switches, and my wiring didn't work.

Now I can individually choose series, parallel, outer coil, or inner coil for each pickup. The controls are a bit busy looking but I like the variety.

I'll post pics soon.

When I originally did this project I pulled the pickups out to copper foil shield the pickup cavities. I figured that the thick black wire that comes from each pickup cavity was somehow connected to the pickups themselves, but instead it's connected to a ring terminal and screwed against the shielding paint in the pickup cavity. I connected those to the control cavity ground and things are running pretty quietly - even in soloed single coil mode.

When I originally did this project I pulled the pickups out to copper foil shield the pickup cavities. I figured that the thick black wire that comes from each pickup cavity was somehow connected to the pickups themselves, but instead it's connected to a ring terminal and screwed against the shielding paint in the pickup cavity. I connected those to the control cavity ground and things are running pretty quietly - even in soloed single coil mode.

Apparently G&L wires and shields the Tributes better than the US models! All my US G&Ls have had the pickup chassis ground connection is series with the ground from one of the coils, and also had absolutely no pickup cavity shielding from the factory!

Karl

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b342/fourstringbliss/Matt020.jpg

The controls area is a bit busy with the two extra switches, but there's no tone I can't get now! Three band Audere 3ZB preamp with active blend. Z-mode switch. Separate series/parallel and coil tap switches for each pickup so that I can choose series, parallel, outer coil, or inner coil for each pickup. It's great!

I've now joined the club!

A while back, I made DavePlaysBass's mod to add the option for single coils (inner).

Last night, I replaced my original volume knob with a push/pull, that cuts the inner coils. So in parallel, I can have just the outer coils. In either series or inner-coil mode, the new switch acts as a kill.

I also put the 10k resistor in front of the pre-amp, so I don't accidentally fry it. And of course, this is all in addition to me already having swapped out my original treble pot for a push/pull that give me the option of OMG mode.

Now, my only problem is trying to get the cover back on the cavity...

Now, my only problem is trying to get the cover back on the cavity...

I solved this problem by using really thin wire!

Wow! You guys beat me to it! Nice! I am impressed that you dudes were willing to drill with such beautiful finishes. It's a lower threshold for me, since the finish is bubling up...

I have heard about putting in a resister...but I can't remember where. Can someone share a reference to this...and clue me in to exactly where the resister goes?

Thanks!

Wow! You guys beat me to it! Nice! I am impressed that you dudes were willing to drill with such beautiful finishes. It's a lower threshold for me, since the finish is bubling up...

I have heard about putting in a resister...but I can't remember where. Can someone share a reference to this...and clue me in to exactly where the resister goes?

Thanks!

Actually, I didn't even need to drill...the bass boost and the inner-coil cut are operated vial push-pull pots. Though I did need to bore out the existing holes slightly to accommodate the new pots. Until you get up really close, the instrument appears stock.

The resistor goes in line between the volume pot and the pre-amp (inserted into the white wire). 10k.

I think I'm the only one with extra holes in his bass. I don't regret it, though - lotsa tones I got!

Actually, I didn't even need to drill...the bass boost and the inner-coil cut are operated vial push-pull pots. Though I did need to bore out the existing holes slightly to accommodate the new pots. Until you get up really close, the instrument appears stock.

That makes sense... I want to be able to control each pup individually or that's the way I would do it too. I figured out a way to do it with rotary switches, without drilling any new holes, but it would have involved replacing EVERYTHING in in the control cavity pretty much and just seemed like too much work. The finish on my bass is shot, anyway, so hole is no biggie.

The resistor goes in line between the volume pot and the pre-amp (inserted into the white wire). 10k.

Thanks! Any particular kind/brand of resistor you favor?

I think I'm the only one with extra holes in his bass. I don't regret it, though - lotsa tones I got!

Don't forget Femto, who started this thread ;-) I am guessing that mine will be the biggest offense. I plan to put a battery box in, and put the new switch in the battery cavity. I have made a jig, and once I do a couple more practice runs with the router, I'll be putting that in.

Thanks! Any particular kind/brand of resistor you favor?


As long as it's 10k ohms, I don't think it makes alot of difference...I just got the 5/dollar from Radioshack. I didn't notice any effect on tone, and it's nice knowing that I'm not going to accidentally cook my preamp.

I plan to put a battery box in, and put the new switch in the battery cavity. I have made a jig, and once I do a couple more practice runs with the router, I'll be putting that in.

I eventually want to install a battery box on the back of my L2500 Tribute because I never want to try and pack all those wires inside again!

As long as it's 10k ohms, I don't think it makes alot of difference...I just got the 5/dollar from Radioshack. I didn't notice any effect on tone, and it's nice knowing that I'm not going to accidentally cook my preamp.

Thanks! Was out shopping and got a couple of both. The good news is that they were really cheap. For what it's worth to others, even the 1/2w resistors are larger than any resistor on the pre or in the cavity, for that matter. I suspect that means that even 1/2w is overkill.

I eventually want to install a battery box on the back of my L2500 Tribute because I never want to try and pack all those wires inside again!

Then we'll just have to see who is the biggest offender of the Bass Gods. I'll have one less hole than you in the front. Mine's an ASAT with a finish that's bubbling up, cracking and chipping.

Then we'll just have to see who is the biggest offender of the Bass Gods. I'll have one less hole than you in the front. Mine's an ASAT with a finish that's bubbling up, cracking and chipping.
I'm not too worried about offending anyone with my bass. I do wish there was a way to do what I did without extra holes but I couldn't think of how.