Bass Oddity- Tone control does next to nothing

[coughingskunk]

I just knew there had to be a capacitor somewhere!

I hate those SMT buggers, no values written on them. I put those on PCBs all the time. By hand. Under a microscope. With tweezers. Mostly 0603s. A few I populate the boards with are large enough to have some writing on them.

I recently did my first 0402 board and got to experience the goodness of reflow. never will I ever do another smd board with out.

 

[Jeff Scott]

Lead free solder? Do you mount and solder anything by hand using lead free solder, too? Do you populate your boards manually like I do with tweezers and a microscope?

 

[Al Dente]

I like the title of this thread--very clever!

 

[Terracite]

Running 15s with no tweeter, GZRs in my P. Tone control has only a small effect at bedroom/solo practice levels. But cranked up on stage, it does the job nicely.

 

[mistergoats]

Here's the thing. I swapped the pickups for a passive GZR set (which sounds great), and still the tone control doesn't really do much at all to the tone.

Is it possible that the density of the body is causing this phenomenon?

I legit just put a set of GZRs in my P bass and I thought I was just not hearing the tone control. At first, I thought it was not working. Then I listened some more and it's really, really subtle. It's like the middle of the sweep doesn't move; just the mud and the bright at the very ends of the pot's range.

 

[bassdrop]

It might be a linear tapered pot from the sound of it. Putting in a logarithmic/audio tapered pot instead should help.

 

[Rip Topaz]

I used EMG's quick connect pots. Maybe when I refinish it in the spring, I'll rewire it with non-EMG pots.

 

[mistergoats]

... I'll rewire it with non-EMG pots.

I was thinking about doing this, myself. Thanks for posting this thread. I thought I was going crazy.

 

[mark beem]

I used EMG's quick connect pots. Maybe when I refinish it in the spring, I'll rewire it with non-EMG pots.

Hope you get the problem resolved. I had a similar problem with my Lakland Skyline 55-60; lifeless sound, almost no tone variation when adjusting the tone pot. I tried several things and ultimately decided to install a set of EMG J5s. Now she sings! I wanted to keep it passive and the mod did require routing and installing a battery box but I couldn't be happier with the results.

 

[Antisyzygy]

The tone control is essentially a low pass filter which we all colloquially know as "it rolls off the highs". Since the pickup is picking up the string vibrations and not the wood vibrating I'd think the tone knob should work regardless of the wood. BTW I am not saying wood does or doesn't affect "tone", let's not go there!

Maybe it has the wrong kind of pot? If you make subtle changes around 0-3 does it sound different?

 

[ggunn]

My money is on some sort of wiring fault or error. If it were the wrong pot it shouldn't make that drastic a difference. A passive tone control is not that complex; it's just a pot and a cap in series to ground. If it is wired correctly but the pot is the wrong value the rate of tone change will be different, but it's still a virtual short to the cap when the pot is at minimum R - maximum high frequency cut. I'm guessing that either the connection to ground is faulty, one of the cap terminals is loose, the cap is connected to the wrong lug on the pot, or the connection to the rest of the circuit is broken. Something like that or the cap is open circuit whacked.

 

[Rip Topaz]

It's all connected properly. Using EMG's pots there's no soldering and it's really easy to wire. The tone pot works but is very subtle. Not the "blanket over the amp" sound that I'm used to.

But it is all wired correctly.

 

[rolandm]

What value was the cap on the tone control? Was it listed?

 

[Rip Topaz]

It wasn't listed but I'm assuming the "normal" .047. Like I said, the set uses EMG's proprietary solderless pots.

When I first got the set, the first try showed defective pots. They sent me a new set and everything works fine.

The tone control does work. It just doesn't have the range I'm used to.

 

[ReidK]

It might be a linear tapered pot from the sound of it. Putting in a logarithmic/audio tapered pot instead should help.

Having the wrong taper would not change how bright the tone is at the top or how dull it is at the bottom, it only affects what happens in-between.
Of course, if the pot is defective, putting in any new pot could help.

Reid

 

[mistergoats]

Hey @Rip Topaz I sold my GZRs on Reverb this week and the new owner emailed me this morning with a photo that showed the pots that came with the pickup were 25K when they were supposed to be 250K. The instructions actually state that they are supposed to be 250K and that makes a LOT of sense when I think about it now. 25K pots are meant for active pickps. They would roll pretty much nothing off.

Check your pots - it's highly possible they shipped you the wrong ones.