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on bass passive diode distortion questions

Discussion in 'Effects [BG]' started by Will_White, Dec 24, 2014.

  1. Dec 24, 2014 #1
    Will_White

    Will_White

    Jul 1, 2011
    Salem, OR
    I'm thinking of adding an on bass passive diode distortion to one of my basses, and I don't want to give up one of my tone knobs, one option I'm considering using a switch (push-pull pot) to switch between tone control and overdrive on the bridge pickup with two seperate knobs so that I can blend the clean and overdriven tone using the volume knobs and (this is only something that's been in the back of my head) use another push pull to change the neck tone cap to a higher value so it leaves mostly just the low end rumble. Problem is I'm not sure how I could do that and if it would work the way I'm thinking, do you guys(& gals) have any thoughts on this?

    Merry Christmas
     
    Last edited: Dec 24, 2014
  2. Dec 25, 2014 #2
    bongomania

    bongomania Supporting Member Commercial User

    Oct 17, 2005
    PDX, OR
    owner, OVNIFX and OVNILabs
    So you're saying four knobs total, yeah?

    --Neck tone push-pull for high and low cap
    --Bridge tone push-pull for cap versus diode
    --Neck vol
    --Bridge vol
     
  3. Dec 25, 2014 #3
    Will_White

    Will_White

    Jul 1, 2011
    Salem, OR
    Yep, sorry If that wasn't clear in the OP
     
  4. Dec 25, 2014 #4
    bongomania

    bongomania Supporting Member Commercial User

    Oct 17, 2005
    PDX, OR
    owner, OVNIFX and OVNILabs
    Then it should work fine. The one issue I can foresee is the wiring of the bridge pot and switch, since the cap is parallel and the diode is series. You might end up with a situation where the bridge tone cap doesn't switch off, just the diode is switched in and out. So it's "tone plus diode" or "tone without diode". I don't know for sure though.
     
  5. Dec 26, 2014 #5
    Will_White

    Will_White

    Jul 1, 2011
    Salem, OR
    Could I put the tone caps and diodes on the volume push-pulls and have it work as cap or diode?
     
  6. Dec 26, 2014 #6
    bongomania

    bongomania Supporting Member Commercial User

    Oct 17, 2005
    PDX, OR
    owner, OVNIFX and OVNILabs
    If you used push-pulls for all four knobs then you could have a lot of options. E.g. the vols could each have a diode on/off, while the tones could each have hi/lo cap selection.
     
  7. Dec 27, 2014 #7
    Will_White

    Will_White

    Jul 1, 2011
    Salem, OR
    So would it work how I'm thinking if I did that? Also would you do what I'm describing, or would you just put the distortion circuit after all the control s
     
  8. Dec 27, 2014 #8
    bongomania

    bongomania Supporting Member Commercial User

    Oct 17, 2005
    PDX, OR
    owner, OVNIFX and OVNILabs
    Personally, I remove as much onboard electronics as I can get away with, go bare minimum, and add distortion or tone alterations using pedals. But if I got hit in the head and suddenly wanted a lot of passive electronics onboard, then I probably would do the thing I described with four push-pulls. It gives you the most options given the two ideas you described. Then you could add a toggle for reversing the phase, and a kill switch, and a stutter button. :)
     
  9. Dec 29, 2014 #9
    Will_White

    Will_White

    Jul 1, 2011
    Salem, OR
    I'm probably going to stop at OD and a kill switch :) but thanks for your time
     
  10. May 15, 2017 #10
    BaileyMan

    BaileyMan

    Jan 8, 2012
    San Francisco
    @Will_White, I love your idea! What ever happened with it? Did you build it?

    I've got a 60s Japanese project bass that I want to put an on-board fuzz or something on it. I've got an empty spot in the pickguard. Just discovered passive, diode distortion. That's an option, if it's the right sound. Maybe, some other type of fuzz. Would love to hear your bass and about your project.
     
  11. May 15, 2017 #11
    Will_White

    Will_White

    Jul 1, 2011
    Salem, OR
    My experiment bass, the one I used for this project, is on the bench again because I'm thinking of adding another pickup to it and putting in a tone styler with some diode positions. But before that it worked really well and I've used it on guitars as well and it's a funky, Lo-Fi fuzz type effect that works well in conjunction with other effects and I'm also going to add it to two other basses, one with a tone styler, and one on a tone/kill switch when that happens I'll try to get a couple sound-clips.
     
  12. May 15, 2017 #12
    Will_White

    Will_White

    Jul 1, 2011
    Salem, OR
    One thing I'll add is that it definitely benefits from being paired with high output pickups. I've tried them with a series wired PJ (previous iteration of the experiment), 15k Blade Humbucker, and a bass with 7k Mini-Humbuckers and it definitely responded better to the blade Humbucker and Series PJ. I'm going to put them in a bass with 3 high-output J pickups wired red special style, and for this present iteration of the experiment it's going to have a 16k blade Humbucker at the neck and two J pickups mounted thumb style in series at the bridge.