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blend knobs - yay or nay?

#101
I put a blend pot on two basses that had 3 way selector switches. Both those basses have very trebly bridge PU (very close to the bridge)

There is definitely a sweet spot to find and get used to but at least i can get more than with the selector.
Prior to installing the blend knob my options were.
Neck PU - big sound but muddy at times
Both pups - scooped sound
Bridge PU - no bass

Can’t judge againt V/V/T but I’d take a blend over a selector any day.
 
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#103
thetragichero said:
bourns 500k mn pot was life changing and cheap
Click to expand...


Can't say regarding bass, but both of my Rickenbackers (a 2009 360/12 string and a 2011 330/6 string have the blending pot, and I like it, but I wouldn't call it a deal-breaker if I was looking at something I liked. It's a nicety but not an absolute must-have). Off-hand I can't think of any stock Fenders or Gibsons with it, but could probably be added on (with the correct caps) without too much difficulty if desired.
 
#105
Conceptually they're simpler to me, but my main-squeeze active 4-string bass is a V / V / 3-band EQ, which is a little ironic since blends are a lot more characteristic of active basses. It wasn't my custom choice but it does keep me thinking, so that's not bad haha... and also, my passive J is master V / Bl / T / series/parallel. I'm backwards. But I do really like the blend on the passive J, and know I'd like it if I switched the active bass to V / Bl / EQ. I might.
 
#107
You tech-kinda guys would know, but I once heard that VVT instead of VBT was purer in sound. My first Lull came that way and I couldn't hear a difference so I went an changed to my preferred VBT.
 
#108
Not that they always get it right but I have only one bass that came set up VVT.
Then there's messes like this. I play this bass all the time but I'm only interested in
one type of sound it makes.
_8051128.jpg
 
#111
For most of my bass playing years I had a toggles with & volume & tone for each pickup--but since I got my fretless just over 5 years ago I have been using a blend pot--and prefer it in some ways
Even before then I considered modding one of my guitars to have a blend pot.
I find it easier to blend
 
#113
Of my current 6 dual-pickup basses:
3 have active electronics, 3 are passive
5 have blend, 1 has V/V/T/T (3-way switch)

Over time I have owned several others with VVTT or VVT.

So having played a lot of both, I can say it depends on the bass, but I generally would say "Yay" to blend.
 
#114
Passinwind said:
In both cases, not necessarily.
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Maybe you're right. Can you give me an example of that? Always learning :-)

Certainly every bass I've worked on has had the pickup volume(s)/pan before the preamp, and the preamp is single channel. There are boards where pickups attach to preamp board directly, but the actual active preamp is after the passive volumne/blend knobs still, from my experience.

And I'd really like to know of any blend knob that isn't wide open for both sides in the middle position... otherwise it's not a blend knob. That would be the worst bass in the world if you couldn't run both pickups wide open ever LoL.
 
#115
dkelley said:
Maybe you're right. Can you give me an example of that? Always learning :)

Certainly every bass I've worked on has had the pickup volume(s)/pan before the preamp, and the preamp is single channel. There are boards where pickups attach to preamp board directly, but the actual active preamp is after the passive volumne/blend knobs still, from my experience.

And I'd really like to know of any blend knob that isn't wide open for both sides in the middle position... otherwise it's not a blend knob. That would be the worst bass in the world if you couldn't run both pickups wide open ever LoL.
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Buffered blends are a thing. Audere and EMG use them, for starters.

There are plenty of blends that aren't wide open at center. The Noll A/C one is a well known example. The idea is to prevent the volume drop that other wise happens at the centered position, IOW to smooth the effective sweep taper.. Pan pots in mixing boards often have this type of arrangement as well. I'm usually not fond of it for bass, but I tend to prefer V/V for most pf my own basses in any case. One man's "worst ever" is another's "just use makeup gain."
Yel_wink.gif
 
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#117
Passinwind said:
Buffered blends are a thing. Audere and EMG use them, for starters.

There are plenty of blends that aren't wide open at center. The Noll A/C one is a well known example. The idea is to prevent the volume drop that other wise happens at the centered position, IOW to smooth the effective sweep taper.. Pan pots in mixing boards often have this type of arrangement as well. I'm usually not fond of it for bass, but I tend to prefer V/V for most pf my own basses in any case. One man's "worst ever" is another's "just use makeup gain."
Yel_wink.gif
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Ok... cool info thanks. I'm aware of your point on pan pots because I've used them in certain mixing boards. Never in a bass though, but then I've never heard of noll either lol so that's another piece of info to study :-)

I've never seen buffered pans on emg.... interesting. I mean, the pickups are buffered already.... dunno why there would be another buffer. But then they do have buffers in their vmc and bq whatever it's called... so I guess they built a buffered pan too?

I can't see anything but standards
Disadvantages to a bassist to have a design other than center full on both pickups..... particularly since again I've only seen passive pans on basses.

Certainly there are exceptions to every common way to do something.... look at alembic.

Cheers, thx for info.

For sake of this thread though, nearly every system matches my description, and the assumptions against pan pots tend to be based on incorrect info, was my point. Like those who feel it's never fully on in the middle.... that's just not true in nearly every common design in bass.

That's directed at the detractors... not at the informative person I just replied to, though :-)
Cheers
 
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#118
dkelley said:
I've never seen buffered pans on emg.... interesting. I mean, the pickups are buffered already.... dunno why there would be another buffer. But then they do have buffers in their vmc and bq whatever it's called... so I guess they built a buffered pan too?
Click to expand...

Yep: Invalid Link Removed

IIRC Bartolini does/did one too. It's on my long list of things to build myself, but being a slacker seems easier somehow.
 
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#120
I am admittedly ignorant on the finer points of guitar electronics, but I'd pose a counter question: What's so good about 2 volumes? I always found it aggravating to fiddle with two volumes, which necessarily changes tone, when all I really wanted was a volume change. I disliked it enough that I used a volume pedal to bypass the whole mess. I suppose with practice you could employ some kind of two-fingered volume control trick, but what's the real or perceived advantage to NOT having a blend? Not trying to troll by any means, but I never saw an advantage to two volume controls. What am I missing? I've been a Ric player for many years, and the 2V/2T setup was always my least favorite aspect of the bass.
 
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