My hunch is they have a negative effect on the sound. Wouldn't a full signal to a good head be better controlled by the head?
What dovyou all think?
What dovyou all think?
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Removing tone controls from bass
- Thread starter rberry7777
- Start date
It's a lot of work for zero gain IMO. You'll have to remove the pre-amp and some pickups are powered as well.
Aren't there quite a few bass players who removed their tone control on their passive bass? The Tim Schmitt carvin comes to mind.
Will achieve exactly nothing compared to leaving the tone knob all the way up, in the case of just about every bass. Removal of the remaining 250k-to-ground might imperceptibly change the resonant frequencies, but you'll get more tonal variation by choosing a different patch cable. A lot more.
There are some that do it. However you will see a minimal change if any at all. with the tone at 100% your signal doesn't actually travel through much so it really doesn't have the ability make much changes.
Also I think the tone control gives you a sound control that an amp really doesn't. You can mimic the sound of a rolled off tone with an amp but its not quite the same. I think a better pot and maybe a new cap (maybe try different values) would help more than removing it.
Also I think the tone control gives you a sound control that an amp really doesn't. You can mimic the sound of a rolled off tone with an amp but its not quite the same. I think a better pot and maybe a new cap (maybe try different values) would help more than removing it.
I bought my Precision at a significant discount because the pickup was DOA at Guitar Center. Not wanting to mess with too much soldering, and wanting a nice celluloid tortoise pickguard, I ordered a custom pickguard from Warmoth with no holes for the tone or volume knobs and wired a replacement pickup straight to the output jack.
It works great for me, I never use the knobs on a passive bass anyway. A mute switch on the amp or an inline tuner takes care of the on/off function I would use the volume knob for... and I think it looks nice. It's a bit brighter than it would be with the pots wired in and turned up all the way, which is fine.
It works great for me, I never use the knobs on a passive bass anyway. A mute switch on the amp or an inline tuner takes care of the on/off function I would use the volume knob for... and I think it looks nice. It's a bit brighter than it would be with the pots wired in and turned up all the way, which is fine.
I bought my Precision at a significant discount because the pickup was DOA at Guitar Center. Not wanting to mess with too much soldering, and wanting a nice celluloid tortoise pickguard, I ordered a custom pickguard from Warmoth with no holes for the tone or volume knobs and wired a replacement pickup straight to the output jack.
It works great for me, I never use the knobs on a passive bass anyway. A mute switch on the amp or an inline tuner takes care of the on/off function I would use the volume knob for... and I think it looks nice. It's a bit brighter than it would be with the pots wired in and turned up all the way, which is fine.
View attachment 365499
I absolutely love this......I've been thinkin about doing something like this for a while now.
Really? I haven't tried it on a bass, but it makes a huge difference on an electric guitar (for both Humbucking and single coil pickups).
i'll repeat what I said earlier: a lot of work for zero gain. With the tone control removed the difference will be almost imperceptible. Easiest way to check is to unsolder one end of the tone cap. That will effectively delete the pot from the equation.
What kind of amp is that?
That's my new 810e.
<3
I don't even look at other basses or cabs... but the head will eventually be replaced by a SVT.
Yeah, it's just a little bit brighter, not enough to really make a difference, especially without tweeters.
Wow middy, I can't say I've ever seen a bass without knobs. At all. It's not very common. But I do like it. It's very simple and to the point. It would be cool to have a bass laying around like this. But I'm so used to some type of onboard EQ, I think I'd really miss it. Or it would take me a hell'ava long time to adjust to the no knob style.
Volume controls have pretty much no detrimental effect but the tone control eats a lot even full on.
I use an on/off tone switch, there also are zero loss tone knobs with switches or adapted tracks.
I use an on/off tone switch, there also are zero loss tone knobs with switches or adapted tracks.
I've done this on both one bass and one (treble?) guitar. This was just some experimenting I did in the course of repairs. In both cases it made the sound brighter, in the case of the bass it seemed to make the signal louder as well.
Not worth it though, I think. Volume and tone knobs on bass are necessary for switching between fingers and pick, in my opinion.
Not worth it though, I think. Volume and tone knobs on bass are necessary for switching between fingers and pick, in my opinion.
I switch between fingers and pick in several of our songs. I have a bit of compression going to compensate. It doesn't take much... I don't like playing with a pick without compression anyway. I use the pick for bright or aggressive or loud passages/songs.
How much difference you will hear depends largely on the impedance of the pickups, the value of the pot, and the frequency cutoff of the filter. In some cases, there is no perceptible difference, but in others, there is an extreme difference.
It would help if you specified the value of the tone control. If it is 250k, there will be a noticeable difference. If it is 500k, there probably won't be much difference.
As a side note, a 500k pot on "10" is a bypassed 250k pot, and a 500k pot on "8-ish" for audio taper or "5" for linear taper is a 250k pot on "10."
It would help if you specified the value of the tone control. If it is 250k, there will be a noticeable difference. If it is 500k, there probably won't be much difference.
As a side note, a 500k pot on "10" is a bypassed 250k pot, and a 500k pot on "8-ish" for audio taper or "5" for linear taper is a 250k pot on "10."
