blend knobs - yay or nay?

[bigtone23]

When I was full time touring, our band usually didn't waste much time between songs. I found my Ibanez basses with blend controls very handy along with T/M/B controls to get a quick change in tone. Imagine going from a deep throaty tone to a more midrangey tone like on "Talking in Your Sleep." If you understand your bass's wiring configuration intuitively, then it's easy to make big tone modifications in seconds. That brings another good point. Blend controls are very intuitive once you're used to them. Not to mention very effective.

This is why I prefer active basses in a variety/cover situation. My US Dlx Precision V and Jazz V basses are similarly equipped and either one can cop the wide variety of tones needed for those gigs. This is also why my passive P/J was wired VBT, as it follows suit.

 

[James Collins]

Epiphany!

I haven't run into a situation (yet) where this would matter, but I can see how it can. I have a PJ in queue that I'll be getting to in the next few months. I had originally thought to go regular V/V/T for the harness, but now I want to try the B/V/T. I've already contacted "my wiring harness guy" about this.

I don't think it does for most. Most people seem to run all one, all the other, or both full. In which case a 3 way switch works.

My real only complaint with the VVT setup is that I tend to play something like a little bridge with full neck and total volume at 75% max. Then I like to roll up the volume for a boost to cut through or increase overdrive. It is hard to do that with two volumes

 

[HolmeBass]

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?

There are some sonic losses with a blend knob. But I like being able to adjust my volume without changing the tone (or at least not changing it too much) so I really a single volume knob with a blend knob better than V/V/T and other multiple volume knob setups.

 

[Maxdusty]

It makes more sense on more basses than others- I personally prefer it over two volume knobs on any bass.
On a basses with two different types of pickups like my Schecter Stealth (with the P Bass neck and MM bridge), the blend knob makes much more sense than two separate volume knobs imo. Especially if both pickups are going to have different output levels - you can keep the blend knob on your preferred setting for that perfect mix of both and adjust the master volume if you have to adjust the overall volume. If you had two volumes, trying to adjust both volumes in the same increments to keep that tone just uses up too much in the way of brain cells when on stage.

 

[interp]

I like blend knobs, especially on basses with two pickups

 

[Yellow Bang66]

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 personally don't like them, because never got them to work right, even after taking it to a reputable tech. seemed redundant, because of a 3-way switch & 2-Vol's & master tone (p/j bass). with 2 vols I could dial it in(fine tune) more accurately.YMMV.the blend was kind of a PITA to dial in.

 

[JSandbloom]

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.

Why don’t you just wire to a stereo jack so you only have one cable out of your bass? The stereo cable will have two mono ends on the other side.

 

[aborgman]

I prefer VVT. With a blend pot you can't turn up one pickup without turning down the other. I have passive humbuckers in my basses and I usually have the bridge pickup on 100% and the neck on around 25%-50%.

Actually - most blend pots are both signals 100% on at center, and each direction rolls one pickup off.

You can be at 100% neck + 0-100% bridge.

You can be at 100% bridge + 0-100% neck.

...but one of the two pickups is always full on.

 

[Nashrakh]

Why don’t you just wire to a stereo jack so you only have one cable out of your bass? The stereo cable will have two mono ends on the other side.

I think I wrote that wrong, I want a mono (mixed) and a stereo output on that. There may be some scenarios where I just want a simple nonsplitted signal without lugging a LS-2 around. So depending on my situation, I'll use the stereo output for biamping and the mono output for conventional settings.

I know there are switchable jacks for that (which would be what I need), but I'm conflicted. My perception of them is of a frail piece of hardware that may be the weakest link. Don't want to change them more often than I want to.

 

[Bassamatic]

Definitely blend or balance or fader or whatever you want to call it. This was the first mod I made to my new Mustang P/J - replacing the 3-way switch with a 250K M/N pot.

The blend pot serves 2 purposes -
1. It allows an infinite variation between the pickups that is hard to manage with 2 Volumes and impossible with a 3 way switch
2. The pot adds isolation between the 2 pickups - in this case the 250K of the each pot section. With a 3-way switch, especially, when both pups are on, they are wired directly in parallel with each other, and their impedances are fighting one another. With the blend pot in the middle, the bass sounds WAY better than the center of the 3-way switch did. My genius engineer recommends always putting a 50K resistor in series with with each pickup when there are two, just for this reason. and NO it does not cut your output level.

 

[Magthegrate]

The first time that I played a bass with a blend instead of two volume pots, I was sold.

 

[Wes K]

I have basses with both of these options. I prefer the blend pot. Mostly for easy silencing between songs and sets.

 

[EmuBass]

There are some sonic losses with a blend knob. But I like being able to adjust my volume without changing the tone (or at least not changing it too much) so I really a single volume knob with a blend knob better than V/V/T and other multiple volume knob setups.

There is sonic loss with every poti - as I declared before. You turn down the vol a tiny bit and get drastic loss of treble. Physics at work!

 

[ole Jason]

Doing volume swells on a J bass when you want to use both pickups can be a little awkward. I generally prefer a simple blend.

 

[roller]

I'm a blend/pan fan.

Set your pickups to your liking with the pan... and then have a single master volume to control everything = easy. You can turn down when you need to and never lose how you have your pickups set.

I once asked Roger Sadowsky why he didn't make V/V/T stock on his basses... and hearing him explain why simply made a lot of sense.

Done.

 

[B-Mac]

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.

I'm going to say nay. They don't all seem to work the same. Some seem to drop off the other pup really rapidly.
What I like better than V/V/T is Master Vol V/V/T like on my Thunder Jet.

For passive basses I think that is the best. YMMV as always.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

This is the blend pot I used, seems to work well. Maybe somebody more versed in the minutiae of electronics can recommend something better
https://www.bourns.com/docs/ProAudi...ce_guitar_pots_appnote.pdf?sfvrsn=f3258ef1_13

 

[JoeWPgh]

Blend knobs took a while for me to make friends with. I used to detest them. But now that I'm used to them., I actually prefer them

 

[Solarmist]

I never use the blend on my active basses, and would just assume swapping them out for a 2-way toggle -or- maybe a selector switch like on a Dingwall.

 

[jerry]

I'm a blend guy!