Well it's all a matter of taste is'nt it?!
I like to have alot of sound possibilites at my service. But that will always mean comprimise.
You you want to be able to say change pick up quick and precise, a bled pot like most basses sport today is'nt the best of options, it's not super quick (I know it's not that slow but still a switch is quicker) and not very precise unless you want to dial it all the way back or forward.
Most bassist don't change pick up during a tunes, well I do. I use alot of different sounds during our tunes, it gives me and the tune alot more flavor.
Currently with a little help from Warmoth and alot of others, I'm building myself a little experriment axe, which has all the features I would like, and should give me a very versitile bass:
*Great balance: Jazz Body
*A little bit of a chunky neck: P-bass (with tele stock...)
*24 Frets: Needed a bigger cutaway (ahh well next time)Looks amazing on a Jazz by the way...
*Massive sustain: AAA Birdseye Maple Neck and fretboard, Gotoh bridge with string through body option, brass nut, Stainless steel frets.
The p/u's: At the moment vintage Basslines P+J, will probaly be changed.
*Pots: Theese will probaly change too. At the moment they are: from the the back: Bass/low mid (stacked), treble/high mid (stacked), Volume/blend (stacked), 3 way p/u switch. The blend is by pased when the swith is in postion 1 and 3, so it only works in position two (middle with both p/u's selected).
As I said I wanted to change pickups quick and smothly during a tune, so this is what we are working on now.
This along with my Bongo should give pretty much what I need soundwise.
A last thing with regards to tweeking sound during a tune, you should be carefull and not over do it. Do it with taste, it will seem like you have a problem if you have this radical sound change in the middle of the song. Also it should still match you role in the band, so if you play a bottom heavy bass sound and all of the sudden have all treble and no bottom, this will screw up your sound, the guitar and the whole bands sound.
Another thing (I know I said last thing in the paragraf above.), the more post and knobs and such you have, the more you can screw up your sound, so unless you are very comftable with tweeking and you bass layout, leave it. Ever seen any of Phill Lesh's old axes modified by Alembic, they have like a gazillion knobs and such, I would hate that.
