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Passive wiring help needed

Timmy-Watts

Timmy-Watts

I like bass. And airplanes.
Nov 12, 2010
3,185
2,061
Cincinnati, Ohio
#1
Hey all. I happened upon a Delano Xtender 2-coil pickup and want to install it in a project. I want to wire it up passive. I have a few questions for those of you who know more than me.

It will be a single pup bass, in the MM sweet spot.

I want to run it through a 3-way coil selector switch, series/single (neck coil)/parallel.

Then volume-tone. And the tone knob will affect one of 3 different value caps to be selected by another 3-way switch.

Q: can I wire it up pickup-coil select-tone (with cap selector switch)-volume-output jack? That way the full pickup signal is running through the tone pot?
-or-
Coil select-volume-tone (with cap selector)-output? That seems more traditional...

Q: does the pickup impedance changes with the different coil selecting options affect the volume, tone, and output too much?

Could anyone please post a wiring diagram of this setup. I can follow a diagram but I'm not electrically literate enough to come up with one.

Thanks all.
 
#3
1.) You can wire it both ways ...
From the PU-selector come HOT and GND and it doesn't matter if volume (tone) is first or second.
The Volume at the jack makes sense, because the short-cut of the bass happens right at the jack.

2.) Compared to series mode, the SC mode has 1/2 the impedance and parallel has 1/4 of the impedance. SC is still okay, but series is much louder than parallel.
BUT many MMs are "just too much" in series mode! So you might normally use parallel and SC and use series as an "overdrive" / "solo" setup.
Try it like you wanted to do it and find out what's best for you.

3.) You want the PU-selection AND the capacitor-selection via mini-switch?
The PU-selection HB/SC/parallel has been standard for more than 40 years now.
The 3 capacitor-selection selection can be done via mini-switch but it is a bit tricky ...

I have no time at the moment but the answers are all in my witing compilation ...
http://161589.homepagemodules.de/t2...chaltplan-Sammlung-fuer-passive-E-Baesse.html
Maybe line6man, Stealth or someone else already has the components? So I'll wait a bit and see if anyone else can help you. Otherwise, I will help ...
 
#5
Cadfael said:
1.) You can wire it both ways ...
From the PU-selector come HOT and GND and it doesn't matter if volume (tone) is first or second.
The Volume at the jack makes sense, because the short-cut of the bass happens right at the jack.
Click to expand...

It does matter. Remember that the volume pot places a variable impedance load on the output in a setup wired with a master volume. The only time you see tone controls wired to be affected by the volume pot's load is when there is no other way to wire it, such as VVTT with no switch. P basses are always wired with the tone control parallel to the pickup, and though Jazz basses have the tone controls after the volumes, the volumes are wired with the wiper terminals setting input impedance, because there are two of them.

Cadfael said:
2.) Compared to series mode, the SC mode has 1/2 the impedance and parallel has 1/4 of the impedance. SC is still okay, but series is much louder than parallel.
Click to expand...

No, if we assume the coils have an equal output impedance, then series is twice the impedance of single coil, and parallel is half the impedance of single coil.
 
#6
Wow thanks for the quick replies. I love my Stingrays for the pickup placement and overall tone, but I'm not crazy about how the electronics compress the sound, and i usually only cut treble anyways. I prefer the function of my passive P-Bass.

So...if I first go through the coil splitting switch...then from there wire it like a standard P-Bass, just with the cap/switch module spanning the gap where the single cap would be in the P, it should work just fine, right?

Also, the Delano Xtender is a unique shape with its own template. It is oval shaped.
 
#7
TimWatson said:
Wow thanks for the quick replies. I love my Stingrays for the pickup placement and overall tone, but I'm not crazy about how the electronics compress the sound, and i usually only cut treble anyways. I prefer the function of my passive P-Bass.

So...if I first go through the coil splitting switch...then from there wire it like a standard P-Bass, just with the cap/switch module spanning the gap where the single cap would be in the P, it should work just fine, right?
Click to expand...

Yes.
 
#11
Hmmm. I'll have to figure that out. I know the coil switch on my stingray 5 is buffered out of the preamp so the tone changes but the output is about the same all 3 ways. How would I wire in a resistor without changing the tone? Just in series jumped between the series leads on the switch?
 

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