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Installing a cap selector switch in a Precision Bass
- Thread starter petrus61
- Start date
Both Circuits are good options. Note that whether you have two or three settings depends on the switch you buy. I prefer an on-off-on 3 position toggle rather than the two cap on-none-on 2 position toggle.
The idea is that the center position has NO cap and hence is as bright as the bass goes. And you can select that without twiddling the tone knob. So you can go from bright to a pre-set tone setting just by flipping the switch.
I have not done this on my P/J 5er yet, but many of my jazz clones have it. Now my preference is to go lighter in tone rather than heavier so my choices are .047 and .015 mfd. (and of course none). But that is for a Jazz bass and you just have to play with values. For a P-bass it might be a different thing.
My switch is an ON/ON so I can choose caps and then roll up the tone on a given selection. I thought about wiring ON/OFF/ON but didn't want to render my tone knob redundant. Still, it's a good option to have, but why not wire a third cap and still have the tone sweep for all three? I have to admit that there is indeed a little bit of capacitor bleeding through (or taking away), even with tone on "10", so I guess the option you're suggesting would basically be a straight to jack? I thought a no load pot was required for that but I'm still very new to this so I'm probably missing something.
Yes, cavities shielded as well and continuity checks out on all connections. Everything works perfectly.
Maybe the switch is bad or got cooked when soldering? Not really sure. If. you're following the diagrams it seems it would be mechanical.
Try to ground the body of the switch?
Edit: sorry, you've told it was done already. I have no idea why it is hapenning then.
Edit: sorry, you've told it was done already. I have no idea why it is hapenning then.
And these are still huge compared to the surface mount types like used on these
But they are tricky to solder and require printed boards. No point-to-point soldering with SMDs...
(the caps and the resistors are smaller thant the solder blobs there)
Yup. Check out the diagram in my post above. I used that configuration on my two-pickup P/J. As long as you only have one tone knob, it'll work just fine.
Ok...wasn't the final version! I decided to grab an ON/ON/ON to add a third cap to the mix. I played around with the .0047 but it didn't bleed enough treble for my taste, so I tried a .022. Bam! The .022 is exactly the sound of my tone knob rolled full on but minus the final ringing fret noise! I think I've found my magic potion
I have another 3 way switch, some more VitaminQ's and a Mallory 150 on the way for what I'm thinking will be the most obnoxiously cost inefficient/tone irrelevant/gratuitous cap mod ever!
Test circuit:
Try this
[/IMG]
This is what I was given when doing the same thing, just different values. I haven't tried it yet but do have a two cap version running with .047 & .022.
What kind of switch is this? 2P, 3P ... ON ON / ON ON ON / ON OFF ON
Thanks
On on on. This is an alternative wiring to another that tonebrulee posted, with the same result.
Ok...wasn't the final version! I decided to grab an ON/ON/ON to add a third cap to the mix. I played around with the .0047 but it didn't bleed enough treble for my taste, so I tried a .022. Bam! The .022 is exactly the sound of my tone knob rolled full on but minus the final ringing fret noise! I think I've found my magic potion
I have another 3 way switch, some more VitaminQ's and a Mallory 150 on the way for what I'm thinking will be the most obnoxiously cost inefficient/tone irrelevant/gratuitous cap mod ever!
Test circuit:
View attachment 366322
Man those caps are so uselessly big
Man those caps are so uselessly big
I couldn't find anything bigger
It's totally excessive, but I figured since I had a few PIO accumulated, why not? I'm thinking of making an outboard cap tester/switch. What do you think? Maybe some Allesandro pots and handmade paper in oil caps with ivory knobs and gold plated jacks in diamond encrusted, quilted maple enclosure
My brother in laws family owns a home electronics repair shop, so I've got the pick of the litter as far as old tubes and caps go. They've got a tremendous stockpile. When I asked them about the PIO caps, they gave me what they had and told me I was lucky they had any at all, since they're are the first thing that get ripped out of old radios and such because of their tendencies to leak in those applications. It's funny how the radio repair community views PIO caps as the most unreliable crap in the universe while misguided tone snobs will pay upwards of $50 a pop for NOS bumblebees.
In my research, I was amazed to discover that Gibson actually sells repro bumblebees that they claim to be paper in oil, but actually are standard Mylar caps in a bumblebee housing for $50 a pair! That's just shameful. Is there a tonal difference? Maybe, but that would more likely be the result of varying degraded tolerances as opposed to construction. Still, many claim that there is an absolute difference and that the PIO are superior...to the extent that entire forums are devoted to the subject.
I couldn't find anything bigger
It's totally excessive, but I figured since I had a few PIO accumulated, why not? I'm thinking of making an outboard cap tester/switch. What do you think? Maybe some Allesandro pots and handmade paper in oil caps with ivory knobs and gold plated jacks in diamond encrusted, quilted maple enclosure
My brother in laws family owns a home electronics repair shop, so I've got the pick of the litter as far as old tubes and caps go. They've got a tremendous stockpile. When I asked them about the PIO caps, they gave me what they had and told me I was lucky they had any at all, since they're are the first thing that get ripped out of old radios and such because of their tendencies to leak in those applications. It's funny how the radio repair community views PIO caps as the most unreliable crap in the universe while misguided tone snobs will pay upwards of $50 a pop for NOS bumblebees.
In my research, I was amazed to discover that Gibson actually sells repro bumblebees that they claim to be paper in oil, but actually are standard Mylar caps in a bumblebee housing for $50 a pair! That's just shameful. Is there a tonal difference? Maybe, but that would more likely be the result of varying degraded tolerances as opposed to construction. Still, many claim that there is an absolute difference and that the PIO are superior...to the extent that entire forums are devoted to the subject.
I've heard of old electronics being scavanged for useful electronic components. Is it just radios or can you get them from other old electronics as well?
They (were) commonly found in the consumer grade electronics up to the 60's. Afterwards, mylar and later polyester caps became cheap enough, and cheap ceramics became reliable enough so no one bothered to use big, unreliable and leaky PIOs...
Can I salvage any useful electronic components from anything nowadays? Like old tvs, radios, vcrs, etc?
TV's, radios, organs...before solid state became the norm they all utilized many of the same components as guitar and bass amplifiers. Some can contain very valuable tubes and other components desirable to tone geeks. The conditions in a television or amp tend to be fairly different than a bass or guitar, so a NOS cap that tests within tolerance is just as good as a brand new metal film cap that tests within tolerance and vice versa. The conditions that cause a PIO cap to leak never really occur within a bass guitar and certain ones, such as the Sprague Vitamin Q and Russian KY049 were designed to military spec and tolerance which accounts for at least some of their desirability. That said, there is tonally no perceptible difference between two caps that share the same exact tested values and even if they were apart by a 15- 20% tolerance (like some ceramics are), the differences are most likely negligible.
