Jazz bass switch

[Rion]

I have been doing some customizing to my Jazz bass (body and pickups), but i have one final goal. I want to wire a switch in to this mess, choosing between the neck pickup going to the normal jack or to a second jack. Making it possible to take the neck to a clean bass amp and the bridge to a more distorted guitar amp. the only problem is how. I think i need a 2-way switch, but I'm not sure.

 

[tstone]

I assume you're talking about a standard passive Jazz bass with two volumes and one tone control.

You could send the signal from the neck pickup to an alternate jack by intercepting the signal upstream of the master tone control. But then you would have no tone control over the neck pickup when it was switched to the alternate jack. Don't know if that's acceptable to you or not.

Alternatives would be to add a second tone control, perhaps with a dual-concentric pot, or have a resistor/capacitor non-adjustable fixed tone setting on the neck pickup when it is switched to the alternate jack.

 

[Rion]

thanks! im going to go with the resistor so i can keep it all inside and have a good tone. It is only used for a good low end when i switch.

 

[tstone]

You just need a single pole double throw (SPDT) on-on switch. You could also use half of a DPDT, if, for example you want to use a push pull switch on one of your pots. Here's a schematic:

 

[Rion]

Holy ****! thank you! the switch comes in a week or two so i'll post a pic as soon as its done

 

[line6man]

You just need a single pole double throw (SPDT) on-on switch. You could also use half of a DPDT, if, for example you want to use a push pull switch on one of your pots. Here's a schematic:

I would add a second switch pole to switch in a fixed resistor on the bridge pickup's output, to make up for the parallel resistance of the neck pickup's pot that gets removed when you go into dual output mode.

 

[Nev375]

If it were me, I'd install a stereo jack and use a splitter style guitar cord for when you want to do that. You could still use a standard guitar cable for mono operation

I'd use a push-pull tone pot for switching, that way the mod doesn't change the appearance of your bass at all.

 

[tstone]

I would add a second switch pole to switch in a fixed resistor on the bridge pickup's output, to make up for the parallel resistance of the neck pickup's pot that gets removed when you go into dual output mode.

Good point. Here's what that would look like: