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Mod a T-40

J Posega

J Posega

Cat Dad and Dingwall Enthusiast
Inactive
Suspended
Jul 16, 2005
11,796
17,172
38
Portland, OR
#1
While I am extremely please with my Peavey T-40, I feel like I could get just a hint more versatility from it by having some mods done to the electronics.

I'd like to have the pickups wired to individual coil taps, instead of the tone control which sets them as single coils under 7 and humbuckers with the tone knob turned past 7. I'm not good with electronics and schematics, so I'd probably bring it to my local shop for this work. I'm guessing I should use 500k pots. What about capacitors

I'd also like to get a new output jack, since the current one is a little worn. Can anyone suggest a high quality jack that won't wear out in a year like some of the one's that come standard in most instruments?

I'm also considering a Buckethead type push-button temporary-off deal, where when it's pushed in, it kills the sound.
I know someone had a thread asking about that button... I'll have to search for that later.

The last mod I'd like is a series-parallel switch in place of the phase switch.

I'm guessing I could use a modified Les Paul wiring diagram for such a feat, just have to figure out where the S/P switches come into play.

What're your opinions? I plan on keeping this bass a long time... and I'll probably just have the tech remove the entire wiring harness in one piece so that if I wanted, I could more easily go back to the old setup.
 
#3
It's not the tone at all that bugs me... I just want to be able to access sounds of single coils with the tone wide open and humbuckers with the tone knob down.

It came with flats. Sounded good, but I play too many different styles to stick to just flats. Maybe try some TI's down the road, but I had some bad experiences with LaBella.
 
#4
I have considered putting Dark Star pickups in mine, and basically cutting the electronics down to a V/B/T arrangement. Several people have already done this, with excellent results, as the DS is one heckuva pickup. :) It does require modification/rings for the pickguard, though.
 
#5
Hard to actually make it more versatile than it already is. As for the on/off, I'd just use the phase switch which I find pretty useless in real life (I've had exactly one use for mine in 30 years) but leave the circuitry to reenable it later.
 
#7
This may sound far-fetched now, but I really think that at some point in the not-too-distant future those old Peavey basses are going to start getting recognized as classics. I can see the allure of modding it---the thought of some other coil tap mechanism occurred to me too; I was thinking of push-pull pots. But if you do make changes to the electronics, consider taking the old harness out in its entirety and replacing it with new pots, wiring, switches, etc.; that way, if you ever decide to sell it you can replace the old stuff and have all the stock Peavey quirky features.

By the way, your description of how the tone control coil taps work is backwards. The pickups are tapped ABOVE 7 or 8 on the tone knob. Below that you get both coils. Haven't you noticed that the tone gets a lot thicker and louder as you turn the knob down? I'm not sure it actually rolls of any highs before that point; if it does it's pretty subtle.
 
#8
Chuck King said:
This may sound far-fetched now, but I really think that at some point in the not-too-distant future those old Peavey basses are going to start getting recognized as classics. I can see the allure of modding it---the thought of some other coil tap mechanism occurred to me too; I was thinking of push-pull pots. But if you do make changes to the electronics, consider taking the old harness out in its entirety and replacing it with new pots, wiring, switches, etc.; that way, if you ever decide to sell it you can replace the old stuff and have all the stock Peavey quirky features.

By the way, your description of how the tone control coil taps work is backwards. The pickups are tapped ABOVE 7 or 8 on the tone knob. Below that you get both coils. Haven't you noticed that the tone gets a lot thicker and louder as you turn the knob down? I'm not sure it actually rolls of any highs before that point; if it does it's pretty subtle.
Click to expand...

I've seen a few pop up here and there, the latest was John Mayer's bassist on TV sometime last year. I hope they become hot one day because I own this:

Link Removed

and also serial number 32 as well. :D
 

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