blend knobs - yay or nay?

[Bass V]

plainly there's a percentage of players who really hate them, maybe those who'd rather set it and forget it prefer the less-is-more theory which I adhere to as well but I also find them quite handy in dialing in tonal options and feel a loss without one on some basses. still, despite the many who use a blend manufactures tend to ignore them.

 

[flojob]

I feel like more basses are made with blend knobs. A jazz is really the only bass I can think of that uses 2 volumes exclusively. I'm sure there are more

 

[Volker Kirstein]

Every one of my basses with multiple pickups is/was either V/T/V/T or V/V/T. I've never owned a bass with a blend pot.

When I hear "blend", I think "pan between the pickups"... Is this correct? How is B/V/T different from V/V/T?

 

[king_biscuit]

Nay. Passive VVT. Don't reinvent the wheel...

 

[BBQV]

I like to have a master volume knob to silence the bass in one move, but I don't like blend knobs...
My solution is to have one pickup basses only!

 

[40Hz]

They make sense on an active bass. On a passive bass I don’t think they work out that well in actual practice.

YMMV.

 

[SleepyShark]

I’m a Jazz Bass dude who runs both pickups at max almost exclusively. I use my tone knob to make the highs bite a bit less when I’m slapping but I rarely touch the pickup mix.

On my Ric 4003 I’m more of a fan of the selector switch. I wouldn’t like having a blend knob on that, not sure why.

I used to own some more “modern” style basses with big EMGs and the blend knob worked well on those, made a very noticeable difference that was easy to change on the fly without affecting the overall volume (I do miss the master volume knob those Basses tend to have).

tl;dr - blend knobs are cool on modern-style basses, but I don’t like them on tried and true classics. Can’t really explain why.

 

[Volker Kirstein]

I like to have a master volume knob to silence the bass in one move, but I don't like blend knobs...
My solution is to have one pickup basses only!

I'm thinking of putting a "kill switch" between pots and jack to do the "silence at one fell swoop" thing. That way, I can leave it "pre-set" and simply on/off.

 

[Nashrakh]

I like blend knobs because, to me, they're a reliable way of remembering pickup blends. No futzing with two pots. Master volume is nice too.

However, my next bass will have VVT because each pickup gets its own output jack (for that dual mono biamping). I don't know if blends would really work with that configuration.

 

[Basically Bob]

My primary bass has V/B/T pots. Nordstrand NP4 at the neck and a Big Split at the bridge. I like it - but that being said, the P pu is at 100% most of the time.

 

[Slevage]

Yeh

 

[jj.833]

I like blend knobs because, to me, they're a reliable way of remembering pickup blends. No futzing with two pots. Master volume is nice too.

Same here. I had VVT on jazzbass, tone always full on, and volume only in 'full on' or 'just a little back' option. Worked very fast, as the jazzbass knobs were very easy to turn. Practically I had three sounds in full volume. If I needed to get louder for a solo, I needed a stomp box for that. Now I got audere preamp in the bass, which is V+B+4xEQ. I can control the overall volume effectively - not just for solos; some songs want to be louder, some less so. I can have the blend just like I had it last week. The blend button however turns a bit less easily whan the original Fender 'breeze-turning' knobs, which is good for that it's more stable, and bad when you remember to tweak it just when the drummer says 'four!'.

This said, I remember fondly the simplicity of VVT, with T stabilized by tape. If you can't turn the knobs, you need to play it with your fingers ... The active preamp is so practical however, I don't plan to turn back.

 

[DaveAceofBass]

I prefer blend pots. This one works great:

Noll 250k Blend Control - Best Bass Gear

 

[Aloe]

I have a two volumes setup, the thing I like about it it’s very versatile, you can dial a lot of tones.

I also have a blend pot set-up, the thing I like about it is that I set and forget the blend pot and just use master volume knob them. it was wired to two volumes once, and yes, it sounded differently.

both are good. the only thing I didn't understand was v/t/3-way switch, I'd prefer two volumes or balance.

 

[ELynx]

I like blend knobs because, to me, they're a reliable way of remembering pickup blends. No futzing with two pots. Master volume is nice too.

However, my next bass will have VVT because each pickup gets its own output jack (for that dual mono biamping). I don't know if blends would really work with that configuration.

I did a combination of blend and dual mono output, in my latest iteration it has two volume controls (I found this to be a must) and other stuff.

Only thing that it gives signal to "secondary" output only when blend is maxed to either side.

I am about to add this blend control to my BB415, and while wondering how it works I have thought of a way to add a "bonus" output via stereo jack.
I added a picture of how I see it electrically, and describe it below.

When pot is fully rotated into one or another direction, isolated pickup is essentially connected to remaining pin, via small resistance (if cut is done in position that allows outer viper to "land").
I want to connect currently not-connected pins together, load them into 220k resistor to emulate usual volume pot wide open, and connect that to ring of TRS jack.
When mono jack is inserted, pickup is grounded from both ends. When stereo jack is inserted "isolated" pickup is actually on ring.

Since I already use no-load pot (made in same manner) for tone, I expect signal to be pretty consistent in stereo with tone wide open.

Will try to do it, and post results.

 

[India_Sierra]

I prefer the overall control of individual volume knobs, but they're fairly rare in the bass world. Blend controls/pickup pan works very well, but not all blend controls are equal. It takes a bit of getting used to the control to work out just what the rate of blend or taper is. Rarely, if ever, have I found the blend control to be 1:1 when moving between pickups.

Overall though, I play with just the bridge pickup running over 95% of the time, I think.

 

[kleinenenten]

I prefer blend to two volumes. 2 of my 3 basses have blend, the 3rd has 2 volumes. I can do the same thing with both, just prefer blends I guess. I always blend slightly to bridge. All of my basses are active, though, so I have nothing to add on the passive blend front.

 

[Bass V]

not all blend controls are equal

thx for picking up on this, I meant to include it in my op cos it can make all the difference.

 

[equill]

Yea from here.
I like separating the tonality from the volume, which is partly why I prefer electric instruments to acoustic ones, and why modelling amps make me happy.

Just a preference so far, though, not a deal-breaker. My one passive (and fretted) bass has VVT controls; I only plan to change that by replacing the existing pickups with a single Alumitone, because it's my travel bass.

 

[two fingers]

I own several kinds of passive basses with two pickups.

I own a V/V/T, a V/B/T, and a master volume and tone with a selector switch. Each has it's quirks. I tend to prefer the selector switch for quick changes. I can be in the middle of a song and if I want to accentuate on riff it's a flip of the switch. But the most versatile is V/V/T for sure.... if that's what you're into. Infinite variations of pickup combinations are at your fingertips.