Vol, Tone switches instead of pots?

[iamthebassman]

On, let's say a P-Bass, can you replace the Volume pot with an On/Off switch, and the Tone pot with a switch that switches between tone on "10" and tone on "1"?
If I touch my Volume knob it's to turn the signal off, and the only settings I have the Tone knob is wide open or all the way down, can I just replace them with switches? Maybe even "rotary" switches so I can still keep the normal look?

[ctmullins]

Though this is probably better asked in the Pickups & Electronics forum, the answer to your question is "yes".

[NKBassman]

But, if you're going to be replacing the original pots with rotary switches, why not just leave the original pots in place? You may be an "on-off" type of player right now, but you might not always be, and replacing pots with on-off rotary switches just seems silly to me. My two cents.

[sonic assassin]

you could fit this all on one put. pull to kill, knob for tone.

i use a similar setup with my tone knob. its either full bore or washed out. you could wire resistors onto a mini switch for this no problem.

unless you wire a resistor into the kill switch, your bass will get brighter due to the lack of a pot.

[Basschair]

Moving this one over to pups/electronics

[T-MOST]

Why would you want pre set volume increments?? There would be huge jumps in vol from setting to setting with no in between.

[iamthebassman]

Originally Posted by NKBassman

You may be an "on-off" type of player right now, but you might not always be

Yes but you see, I'm an old fart who's been playing since 1976, so I kinda have an idea of what would work for me.

Thanks for moving this to the proper forum.

The rotary thing was a bit of an afterthought, switches that I can eyeball and quickly see what my settings are qould actually be better for me now that I think about it a bit more.

[line6man]

There was a guy with a P-bass a while back that did exactly this, but he wanted the tone control bypassed rather than on full.

Here was the diagram I drew him:


If you want the tone to be on 10 rather than bypassed, you can run a capacitor in series with a 250K/500K resistor on the other side of the tone switch.

[iamthebassman]

Originally Posted by T-MOST

Why would you want pre set volume increments?? There would be huge jumps in vol from setting to setting with no in between.

Actually, I just want to switch between full volume and no volume. And switch between tone wide open and tone completely "rolled off". Forget I mentioned the rotary switch, I just want 2 "lever" switches. Do I need switches with specific qualities/ratings? Can I just use the capacitor that's already in the bass's circuitry?

[NKBassman]

Originally Posted by iamthebassman

Yes but you see, I'm an old fart who's been playing since 1976, so I kinda have an idea of what would work for me.

Ahhh, well that I did not know. My bad.



EDIT: Also, what would the tonal differece be between "Tone at 10" and "Tone Bypassed"? I'm guessing even more treble?

[iamthebassman]

Originally Posted by NKBassman

Ahhh, well that I did not know. My bad.

Ha, no problem! Just trying to make my life easier in my old age(51)!!
We go song-to-song pretty quickly, and it would be quicker to just look down and see where my tone switch is and then flip it if needed, than it is turn the knob to see where it's set, etc. While that's not a big deal, it would be nice to just flip a switch for tone(as I only ever use the two settings), and then to just switch off my signal at the end of the set.
Convenience.

[iamthebassman]

Originally Posted by NKBassman

Ahhh, well that I did not know. My bad.



EDIT: Also, what would the tonal differece be between "Tone at 10" and "Tone Bypassed"? I'm guessing even more treble?

Perhaps my terminology is incorrect, but what I mean is, on a passive bass with one Tone pot(say a P-Bass), I only use the settings Fully Clockwise and Fully Counterclockwise.

[NKBassman]

Being the vigorous player that I am, I would be worried about bumping the switch and cutting my signal mid song... at least if I bump my volume control there will still be some sound...

I get where you're coming from though. Should be an easy enough mod. Listen to Line6Man, he's really good at all this stuff.

Originally Posted by iamthebassman

Perhaps my terminology is incorrect, but what I mean is, on a passive bass with one Tone pot(say a P-Bass), I only use the settings Fully Clockwise and Fully Counterclockwise.

Yep, got that, but someone else mentioned earlier they had done a mod to bypass the tone control completely, and I was just curious

[iamthebassman]

Originally Posted by line6man

There was a guy with a P-bass a while back that did exactly this, but he wanted the tone control bypassed rather than on full.

Here was the diagram I drew him:


If you want the tone to be on 10 rather than bypassed, you can run a capacitor in series with a 250K/500K resistor on the other side of the tone switch.

Thanks!! I'm on it.

[Rick Auricchio]

Since you're only talking about full on/full off settings, why is a knob position an issue? Either the knobs are full on or full off.

If you were talking about minor adjustments, a multi-tone mod might make more sense to me. But with full on/full off knob settings, it isn't rocket science. Just put a good marker on the knob and you'll always know where it's set.

At 57, I've never found it especially difficult to turn the volume knob "off" at the end of a set. Think seriously whether your proposed mod is really going to make a difference in your playing.

[FunkMetalBass]

nvm.

[iamthebassman]

Originally Posted by FunkMetalBass

The volume is a simple kill switch. Get a couple SPDT toggle switches. Wire the pickup wire to the center of the toggle. On the left, wire a wire to the ground. Wire the other one to the center of the second toggle. On the left, wire it directly to the output. On the right, wire it to a 250k/500k capacitor and the to the output. Done.

Awesome, Thanks!!

[iamthebassman]

Originally Posted by Rick Auricchio

Since you're only talking about full on/full off settings, why is a knob position an issue? Either the knobs are full on or full off.

If you were talking about minor adjustments, there would be a good reason. But with full on/full off knob settings, it isn't rocket science. Just put a good marker on the knob and you'll always know where it's set.

'Cause I wanna.
Hope there's not a problem asking questions around here.

[line6man]

Originally Posted by FunkMetalBass

The volume is a simple kill switch. Get a couple SPDT toggle switches. Wire the pickup wire to the center of the toggle. On the left, wire a wire to the ground. Wire the other one to the center of the second toggle. On the left, wire it directly to the output. On the right, wire it to a 250k/500k capacitor and the to the output. Done.

No it isn't!

Wiring the pickup straight to the output without the resistance from the pot or a fixed resistor drastically changes the tone.
If you want the same tone as with the controls on full, you need to incorporate fixed resistors.

Also, there is no such thing as a 250K/500K capacitor.
Capacitance is measured in Farads, not ohms. I have never seen any such thing as a 250,000 or 500,000 Farad capacitor. A P bass should have a 0.047uF capacitor.

And also, it does not go in series with the signal, it goes parallel to ground.

[NKBassman]

Originally Posted by iamthebassman

'Cause I wanna.
Hope there's not a problem asking questions around here.

Of course not. Everyone just has their own way of doing things.
It's an interesting mod, but not one that most would choose to do. That doesn't make you wrong for asking about it...