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Stacked Volume Pot from BBG ... Wiring Help

CH Design

CH Design

Supporting Member
Apr 25, 2007
2,975
2,443
Ottawa, ON
#1
Hello there,
Can anyone help me out with a wiring diagram or instruction for the Stacked Volume Pot w/ Center Detent (250K) that BestBassGear sells? I've tried asking the folks at BBG a few times and am having a hard time getting a reply. If it matters, I'm wiring it up to a set of Dimarzio J pickups (three wires from each PU) and then out to an EMG BQS Control preamp. Thanks in advance!
 
#2
Which Dimarzio J pickups are they? The only ones I see have either two or four conductors.

If they are three conductor then two will be hot and one ground. If it's a split coil then then two hot conductors should just be wired together into the volume pot. The stacked volume pot can just be wired like two single volume pots. There's a wiring schematic on the dimarzio website under the J pickups for a vol/vol configuration ([Invalid or Expired Link Removed]). You can just ignore the switch as you can't use one unless it's a 4 conductor if it's a split coil or if it has stacked coils. Since the dimarzio Js seem to be single coil or split coils, I assume it's neither of those. It seems weird to me to have a center detent on a volume pot, but it makes no real difference (makes sense on a b/m/t control or a blend).
 
#3
Thanks for the reply!

I am using the Dimarzio Ultra Jazz™ Pair DP149. I'm pretty sure there are only three wires coming out of each pickup. I don't think any of them was a shielded wire, but I'll double check.
 
#5
I think it's probably the 549 here: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

This has the red, green and grey wires as described. For a normal installation you can just connect green and grey. If you need to reverse the phase of the pickup you connect red and grey to ground. Grey is the ground and red and green are the ends of the coils that are internally connected in series. The switching in the pdf is phase switching so the switch just flips red and green to either hot or ground. Hope this helps.
 
#8
Ok, so if I have this right... The top set of lugs should be wired input (from the pickup), output (to the preamp) and ground. Because the volume pots are in parallel, the second set of lugs is reversed (output, input and ground). That's straight forward.

To connect to the preamp (EMG BQS Control), I only have one spot to connect too (one white wire and one black wire). Does that mean both outputs from each set of volume lugs get connected together and then go to either the white or black wire. I assume the ground goes to the other.
 
#9
I did a little more reading which has led to a little more confusion. Do both volume pots get wired backwards (output, input, ground) when they are in parallel?

Also, despite what it says on the BBG website, this pot does not have a center detent on either control.
 
#10
I think I have it figured out now. Inputs from pickups go to the center lugs. Output from top pot goes to output on bottom pot to the white wire off of the board. The black wire from the board goes to the ground on the pots. Maybe? I'll hook it up tonight and see what happens.
 

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