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J bass electronic upgrade(not a pup question)

S

soundtweakers

Oct 22, 2010
32
1
#1
I've got a 2008 Am. Std. Jazz bass that needs a bit of electronic attention. I've replaced the tone cap with a good ol' Russian made paper in oil type(and it sure made a HUGE difference in my tone!), rewired the controls to a volume-blend-tone configuration, shielded the pickguard although I still get a bit of hum from time to time.

I'm loving this bass, and but it's low quality factory electronic components are starting to wear out and it's time for an electronic overhaul.

What would you guys consider to be the best components money can buy? I'm really just talking about the best quality pots, wires and everything else under the pickguard.

thanks
 
#3
the original CTS pots were top-of-the-heap, and will last for decades. don't know about the blend pot you added, though.

for my money, it's a CTS linear taper volume and bournes M/N blend pot from allparts, and a dimarzio CTS audio taper for the tone.

for extra "life" in the tone, run the blend pot "ungrounded", with just the two pickup inputs, a jumper across the pot lugs, and the out to the volume pot. this eliminates the tone loss from the blend pot load to ground and gives you smoother shading between the two pickups.
 
#5
Thanks guys, I've looked up the John East retro and it does look pretty cool, however I'm trying to keep it passive.

Also, few corrections after doing a little more digging on my bass, it's a 2006 Am. Std. originally came with the S-1 switch which I had since removed when I rewired it for the V-B-T configuration. The 250k Blend pot was from StewMac. If the bournes M/N blend pot is way superior I wouldn't mind upgrading, as well as the other parts recommended. And I did wire it up ungrounded the way Walter suggested, I believe it was Walter who recommended me wiring it this way 2 years ago. So thank you again Mr. Wright for chiming in!

Also, I used scrap wires I had laying around to wire this bass up, any recommendation for the better options?
 

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