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Idea for a mod

Doodaddy

Doodaddy

Supporting Member
Jan 11, 2005
1,542
80
West Monroe, LA
#1
I feel as if my sound is limited by a simple 3 way pick up selector. I wish I had some more options so I got to thinking. My bass (Yamaha RBX-775) is always active. I never switch over to passive, so that makes that switch pretty obsolete.

My idea: hard wiring the bass to permanent active and removing that switch. Removing the pickup selector and adding a volume knob for each individual pickup using the space on the body in the original locations for the Active/Passive switch and the 3 way selector.

I would then have a master volume, tone, and two individual volumes for each pick up.

Is this feasible or just plain ********?:hiding:
 
#5
ehque said:
i would leave out the master volume. I find it pretty much useless except as a kill switch. Going vol-tone vol-tone is my recommendation, if you want real versatility.
Click to expand...

I was actually thinking this earlier this afternoon post-sushi and pre-Transformers.

I'm not sure how I would go about doing another tone knob? Would I have to purchase another on board pre?
 
#7
Doodaddy said:
I feel as if my sound is limited by a simple 3 way pick up selector. I wish I had some more options so I got to thinking. My bass (Yamaha RBX-775) is always active. I never switch over to passive, so that makes that switch pretty obsolete.

My idea: hard wiring the bass to permanent active and removing that switch. Removing the pickup selector and adding a volume knob for each individual pickup using the space on the body in the original locations for the Active/Passive switch and the 3 way selector.

I would then have a master volume, tone, and two individual volumes for each pick up.

Is this feasible or just plain ********?:hiding:
Click to expand...

With a pickup mix pot and a volume pot you can do anything you could with two pickup volumes and a master volume, but with one less pot.
 
#8
cosmicevan said:
with a master volume though, you can do vol swells with the knobs.
Click to expand...

i could do swells fine with my last vol-vol stack. I agree with you, however. A vol - blend setup would be better for swells, but somehow im stuck on the vol-vol thing. I have seperate vols now.

Doodaddy, you don't need an on-board pre for tone knobs. Check out some wiring diagrams online, but basically its just having a dedicated tone knob for each pickup, not having 2 tone knobs for the mix of both.

pickup -> vol -> tone -> output jack
pickup -> vol -> tone -> output jack (same jack)
 
#13
danomite64 said:
I've been gigging with active basses for the last 19 years, and that hasn't happened to me yet.
Click to expand...

It's happened to me once with a Duracell Procell. They are fine for a while, but they have an extremely quick drop off rate. The 9V was powering my in-ear amp. It didn't completely die on me, but everything started to fuzz on me, so I toughed it out and changed between songs. :cool:

PilbaraBass said:
Ruston, Louisiana

Oh how I do love those Ruston peaches...yum!
Click to expand...

:eyebrow: They make it out that far?! Wowwers.
 
#14
Oh crap. I just realised your bass is active and you want to keep it that way.

Im really not sure how the tone-circuit works if its active. I can recite the wiring diagram off the top of my head if it was passive, but these active, non-EQ things really throw me off.

Ever considered getting a 2 band EQ installed instead?
 
#18
cosmicevan said:
what would you do if your battery dies during a gig?
Click to expand...

It wasn't so much a gig, but a church worship service. The 15 minutes from end of pre-worship practice to live was enough for the battery to die on me!!:bawl:

Never had this happen so i didn't know what to expect; it was a farty sound and i thought the amp died!! I got the backup amp in back and same thing! Crapola, i hope both amps are ok!! After thinking my Monster cables could've been the culprit, I switched them out too!!! (a monster cable actually died on my during a practice session once). A minute later I figured it could've been my battery, so I got my extra battery out and changed it in back. SAME THING!!! :help: The worst case scenario? Both the amps died and so did my Zon and my wires. :spit: So what am i to do? Do i just "Air bass" and hope no one notices? Do i at least sing and worship w/o a bass? Do i just go sit down?? hahaha.. so many thoughts running thru my mind.

Turned out even my backup battery was dead. (Folks at TB, DON'T keep a used pedal battery as a backup!!! :atoz: )

Luckily, a buddy had his MTD on him and came to the rescue!! Praise God!! He doesn't normally come to that service so God really provided!

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Anyways, after that I contemplated adding an active/passive switch mod... which is why I'm here.. haha I'm considering it still.. please keep us updated!
 

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