Fender Precision S-1 switch

[loend68]

I tried the search function but it doesn't like 'S-1'...

I just acquired a beautiful 2005 US Precision (sunset orange) and it has the S-1 switch. Does anyone use this? I've heard it on a Jazz and liked it, but didn't think it did much for the P. Am I losing any signal by leaving it in? I read a review that said that they compared to a regular V/T setup.

It's the first P that I liked the neck on and I thought it was much better than the 2010 hanging next to it.

 

[Chrisk-K]

My US P had the S-1 switch. With it engaged, the P sounded very thin. Why would anyone want to get a thin tone from a P?

Anyways, I didn't like it and disabled it.

 

[line6man]

The general consensus seems to be that it's worthless, though some have found uses for it.

Remember that a P bass pickup is a split coil, wired in series to "add up" to a full output. In parallel, it's essentially half a pickup's output.

 

[dannybuoy]

It makes no difference to the sound having the switch there, so no need to remove it. I agree, it sounds thin when pushed in, so I rewired mine to be a volume/tone bypass switch so that the pickup is connected directly to the output jack when pushed in, giving a much brighter sound. Another option would be to switch them around and use the push button pot as the tone control, hooking up two different value capacitors to switch between.

 

[Slowgypsy]

I have an MIA Precision with the S-1 switch. As best I can tell, if you don't engage it, the sound of your instrument is exactly as it would sound if you just had a V/T control without the S-1 switch. Unless you want to re-wire and do a modification, if you don't like the sound of your instrument with the S-1 engaged (I don't)... just ignore the switch and don't turn it on.

 

[loend68]

Cool. With it so thin sounding, I wondered if anyone used it. Wondered even more why Fender put it in?

 

[Bass4LifeRS]

Cool. With it so thin sounding, I wondered if anyone used it. Wondered even more why Fender put it in?

Just regular capitalism

 

[SnakeKappele]

Cool. With it so thin sounding, I wondered if anyone used it. Wondered even more why Fender put it in?

The idea was to give P-Bass owners a switch to make the bass sound more like a Jazz Bass. The standard P-Bass is wired in series to give more mids and volume. When wired in parallel you should get less volume, fewer mids, and more treble.

 

[NashStudioBass]

I found many uses for it back when I owned this bass. Especially in the studio. It gave it a jazz bass vibe but still with the punch of a p. it's just some different tone options. I miss that bass.