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Improved pickup/controls?

T

Terry Protheroe

Feb 27, 2023
25
43
#1
So I have a 1971 Telecaster bass with a guitar humbucker at the neck and a DiMarzio P bass pickup closer to the bridge. I'm replacing the humbucker with a Curtis Novak one and thought I'd just use the Jazz control layout of volume/volume/master tone, but now I'm wondering if there might a better layout. Like master volume, master tone and a sweep between pickups? If that's even a thing...
Has anyone tried another setup, and do you like it? TIA
 
#3
It's all about preferences. The simplest and for many the most practical option is a pickup selector switch + volume + tone. Like tele guitar. It doesn't load the pickups, gives you the variation in sounds (tho no "inbetween" options), and doesn't complicate things too much.

Is the pickguard in original shape, or has it also been modified? I guess it may not matter much given that the DiMarzio has already been added, but I'd try to not further modify anything.
 
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#5
Welcome to the forum Terry!

What you call a “sweep” is commonly called a blend control. It’s a very popular and intuitive way of mixing two pickups.

Lots of people prefer a blend, and some prefer two volume controls instead. Both camps extol the infinite variations available, like 37% neck with 63% bridge, or 87% neck with 13% bridge. Theoretically they’re not wrong, but because of the way passive pickups work in a passive circuit (no battery-operated tone controls), my ears have a hard time hearing any meaningful difference in those slight variations. I have a few basses equipped this way, and I find they only have five basic tones:
  • Full bridge, zero neck
  • Full bridge, a bit of neck
  • Full bridge, full neck
  • A bit of bridge, full neck
  • Zero bridge, full neck
So the theoretical benefit of infinite adjustability gets swamped by pragmatic reality.

And if that’s the case, then I personally would rather just use a switch, and get
  • Full bridge
  • Full both
  • Full neck
Which has the added feature of much less resistance in the circuit, which brightens the tone and maximizes the output.
 
#6
ctmullins said:
Welcome to the forum Terry!

What you call a “sweep” is commonly called a blend control. It’s a very popular and intuitive way of mixing two pickups.

Lots of people prefer a blend, and some prefer two volume controls instead. Both camps extol the infinite variations available, like 37% neck with 63% bridge, or 87% neck with 13% bridge. Theoretically they’re not wrong, but because of the way passive pickups work in a passive circuit (no battery-operated tone controls), my ears have a hard time hearing any meaningful difference in those slight variations. I have a few basses equipped this way, and I find they only have five basic tones:
  • Full bridge, zero neck
  • Full bridge, a bit of neck
  • Full bridge, full neck
  • A bit of bridge, full neck
  • Zero bridge, full neck
So the theoretical benefit of infinite adjustability gets swamped by pragmatic reality.

And if that’s the case, then I personally would rather just use a switch, and get
  • Full bridge
  • Full both
  • Full neck
Which has the added feature of much less resistance in the circuit, which brightens the tone and maximizes the output.
Click to expand...
Thanks Todd, interesting points. So you use the toggle as a tone control?
 
#7
Terry Protheroe said:
Thanks Todd, interesting points. So you use the toggle as a tone control?
Click to expand...

I never use passive tone controls.

So yes, I change basic tones with the switch, and fine-tune with the active tone controls that are in most of my basses. It’s a “ballpark” approach that works well for live use.
 
#8
My plan for my Jazz.
is0cytiaoguhsvmcwia4.jpg

You can probably find a similar set up.
 
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#13
This got me thinking, with the typical Jazz setup, you can get FULL volume on both pickups, but does this blend allow that? Meaning at one end of the rotation, you get full bridge signal and at the other, you get full neck. But in the middle setting, do you only get 50/50 of both? I have a tendency to overthink stuff...
 
#14
Terry Protheroe said:
This got me thinking, with the typical Jazz setup, you can get FULL volume on both pickups, but does this blend allow that? Meaning at one end of the rotation, you get full bridge signal and at the other, you get full neck. But in the middle setting, do you only get 50/50 of both? I have a tendency to overthink stuff...
Click to expand...

Depends on the type of blend pot you get.

With an A/C taper, the middle setting is not 100%/100%.

With an M/N taper, it is.

For that reason most people prefer and recommend the M/N taper.
 

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