Quick yes/no question...

[Basschair]

...of course, if you answer "yes, there's an issue," it'd be nice to get a suggestion for an alternative approach .

I'm wiring up two Nordstrand dual coils. Each pickup will have its own 3 way switch as per a suggestion I got from Carey's shop. Each of these switches will lead to a volume/tone circuit. So, each pickup goes to a 3 way->V/T. My question is this: is there any issue with soldering both hots (one from each circuit) to the tip lug on the jack?

 

[4StringTheorist]

No.

 

[bongomania]

Yes. ...But it's an issue that J bassists have been familiar with from the dawn of time. Passively blending the two circuits means they load each other down, which can cause some loss of signal level at more-or-less equal blend. There can also be some loss of highs, which is sometimes a good thing.

IOW if you are comfortable and happy with traditional passive J basses, then there is nothing wrong with what you described. If OTOH you want to avoid the quirks of the passive J, then use a buffered (active) blend.

 

[PilbaraBass]

Yes. ...But it's an issue that J bassists have been familiar with from the dawn of time. Passively blending the two circuits means they load each other down, which can cause some loss of signal level at more-or-less equal blend. There can also be some loss of highs, which is sometimes a good thing.

IOW if you are comfortable and happy with traditional passive J basses, then there is nothing wrong with what you described. If OTOH you want to avoid the quirks of the passive J, then use a buffered (active) blend.

+1...each pickup into a simple high-impedence buffer, then to the output cicuit...

easy to build, easy to buy, easy to install, easy to use...

I like active basses, personally...IMO, loss of highs is never a good thing unless it's intentional...

 

[4StringTheorist]

Okay. So.. the full answer to "Is there any issue with soldering both hots (one from each circuit) to the tip lug on the jack?" is:

"No, unless the very existence of a passive circuit with two pickups is an issue for you, in which case yes."

I've got an Audere in my bass. I love the active, buffered blend of the pickups. But in the context of an intended circuit which is already stated as being passive, the answer is no, there's no issue.

 

[Basschair]

Okay. So.. the full answer to "Is there any issue with soldering both hots (one from each circuit) to the tip lug on the jack?" is:

"No, unless the very existence of a passive circuit with two pickups is an issue for you, in which case yes."

I've got an Audere in my bass. I love the active, buffered blend of the pickups. But in the context of an intended circuit which is already stated as being passive, the answer is no, there's no issue.

Don't you hate it when you have to elaborate at great lengths?

Thanks for all the help guys: I'm doing this setup passive intentionally, and though I'm sure there are quirks that I'm not familiar with, I like to learn about them through experience. If this circuit doesn't work well (or at all), I'll just have to get better at removing solder after which I'll start looking into wiring an active circuit.

cheers,
Paul

 

[4StringTheorist]

Don't you hate it when you have to elaborate at great lengths?

Thanks for all the help guys: I'm doing this setup passive intentionally, and though I'm sure there are quirks that I'm not familiar with, I like to learn about them through experience. If this circuit doesn't work well (or at all), I'll just have to get better at removing solder after which I'll start looking into wiring an active circuit.

cheers,
Paul

What you're doing is just like a Fender Jazz with a Volume-Volume-Tone configuration. In that setup, the two pickup signals combine before hitting the tone pot, and proceed from there to the output jack. You're just moving the point at which the pickups are joined to the output jack, allowing them both their own tone control.

That being said, this circuit is going to act differently, since the whole circuit is going to get loaded down differently with the pair of tone pots. The electrical response will change on the neck pickup, even if all you're doing is adjusting the bridge pickup's tone knob. However, knowing that it's happening in theory and experiencing what that means in reality are two different things: the effect could be quite small.

The Fender Jazz had the wiring you're describing for a while, so it definitely works electrically.

You might want to experiment with different capacitor values on those tone pots to see what works best for you. The fun bit is that you could have a different cap on the bridge pickup tone pot than on the neck pickup. Find your personal "sweet spot" with the pickups you're using.