Jazz bass capacitor reccomendations?

[jtc_hunter]

I have a MIM Fender Jazz that I would like to improve but want to start w/ some cheap projects. From reading here I think that a new capacitor and sheilding the cavity might be good to do. I play classic rock w/ a pick, so what would be the best capacitor to install and what shielding material and where to get them? Maybe changing out the pots would be good to do at the same time? Thanks

[jtc_hunter]

I am thinking about an Orange drop .047 cap and 3-250 cts pots. Would that be better than the stock ones?

[Nighttrain1127]

The first question is what are you trying to achieve? If the pots are noisy then replace them but if they are not what are you going to gain? The orange drop caps are very good caps but if you like the tone and the pots are not noisy Why mess with it? CTS 250 audio taper pots are good replacements and the .047 cap is probably close to what is in there . If you are looking to change the tone then you would put in a higher value cap if not then stay with what is probably in there.

[J.Stone]

There are several things you can do to a Jazz. Replace Volume/Volume/Tone with Blend/Volume/Tone. Add a Series/Parallel switch. EM Shield the Cavities and use reduced hum wiring techniques. So on and so forth. How ever, if you like the bass the way it is...Don't bother.

[HMZ]

If your going to do the work of changing pots and caps I would recommend getting some better pickups. Humbucking pickups would get rid of most of the single coil noise.

[jtc_hunter]

Thank you all for your help. It is very apreciated.

[4Mal]

Originally Posted by HMZ

If your going to do the work of changing pots and caps I would recommend getting some better pickups. Humbucking pickups would get rid of most of the single coil noise.

... and of course the single coil tone....

$150 - keep watching to the left, eventually the Audere ad will pop up. Click on that and you'll see my recommendation. My #1 is a J with Audere JZ3B - its's just great.

Shielding is always a good idea. Easiest and probably best is the copper foil tape method. Stewmack has a kit that somes with the stuff and good instructions for a first timer. I would recommend that as well.

[i2k]

IMHO, shielding will improve the bass more than replacing the caps brand. I've switch the caps on my Geddy JB to Orange Drops and notice no difference.

[kyral210]

This is what I use:

• 0.047uF Orange drop capacitor for tone
• 0.001uF between volume input and output arms on the volume pots
• 250k V good quality pots
• Vintage wire (pull back braiding with duel (tinned) strands
• Good quality soldering
• Sturdy, high quality input jack
• A good squirt of WD40 into every pot
• Loose wires gaffa tapped down to the inside of the cavity to prevent movement

[doktorfeelgood]

Originally Posted by kyral210

This is what I use:

• 0.047uF Orange drop capacitor for tone
• 0.001uF between volume input and output arms on the volume pots
• 250k V good quality pots
• Vintage wire (pull back braiding with duel (tinned) strands
• Good quality soldering
• Sturdy, high quality input jack
• A good squirt of WD40 into every pot
• Loose wires gaffa tapped down to the inside of the cavity to prevent movement

Could you please tell why you use a 0.001uF cap on the volume pot? I can't recall ever hearing that one...
I'd appreciate it... )-(

[horak]

+1 on adding a parallel/series-switch... when you say you mostly play rock w/ pick this is the first mod i would suggest. it will give your tone a very "throaty" quality. at least it's my favoured pick-sound on my modified squier vint.mod.
choosing a lower cap value, say 0.022u, will give you a higher roll off frequency, so you might want to experiment w/ diff. values there.
furthermore i've compared orange drops and some cheap no-name caps (of the same value) on my jazz bass, but couldn't notice any significant tonal difference in the sound... hope this is of any help...

[i2k]

Originally Posted by doktorfeelgood

Could you please tell why you use a 0.001uF cap on the volume pot? I can't recall ever hearing that one...
I'd appreciate it... )-(

that's called treble bleed mod. It is used to avoid treble loss when you turn the vol knob down.