hot rodding a fender jaguar bass

PatO · #1 03-15-2009, 11:02 AM

ok, I'm new to performing my own surgery on basses. Here's what I'd like to do, hopefully you fine folks reading this will have some ideas for how to do it.

Just got a fairly new Fender Jaguar bass.
a) i love it, smaller than my Cirrus basses but with just as much bottom
b) desperately needs hipshot bass xtender (I'm a 5 string player... need the low D)
c) the series/parallel wiring switch isn't needed. I'll most likely never play this in the parallel setting - I just don't like the subtle difference it makes in the low frequencies.

So what I'm thinking is to disconnect the series/parallel switch and replace it with an onboard overdrive. While no I haven't picked out with circuit board to use for the overdrive (I'm leaning toward the OD from the pigtronix disnortion, but don't want to gut mine) I need to make sure that making this change won't mess with the rest of the workings of the bass. It has an active/passive switch (with hi/low adjustment knobs) and the standard P-bass volume/tone knobs. IF I were to successfully add the overdrive, could it be made so that the tone knob would effect the amount of OD?

Anybody follow what I'm trying to get across here? If so, suggestions would be awesome.

bluewine · #2 03-15-2009, 11:38 AM

Fender Jags and Gibson Birds are probably the coolest Rockish looking designed basses on the Market to me. I say leave it alone.

Stealth · #3 03-15-2009, 12:41 PM

Cirrus - if you really don't like the S/P switch, maybe go for the Black Ice distortion - it's actually quite a simple circuit, you can do it yourself and it's accessible with the flick of a switch.

Look it up, it's been around the forums a bit.

PatO · #4 03-15-2009, 01:35 PM

oh nice, I can get the circuit without wasting money on the full box?

I looked up the black ice at
http://www.stewmac.com/FreeInfo/Elec...sc/i-5065.html

I don't really understand the circuitry/install diagrams so I'll probably have someone else do this for me. But, the way that they show this (I think) wired into the pickups would it allow for the individual pickup switches to still work? Would the active/passive capabilities be compromised?

I'm in way over my head on this one.

bluewine - I'm not changing its appearance, just utilizing the features it has to accommodate my master plan. Agreed that its one of the snazziest 'rock' basses out in awhile