• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Removing tone controls from bass

#43
I have two bass set up close to this
A jazz bass with a selector switch then to the jack with a cap in line.
A single PU that was direct to jack but I am installing a Tone-Styler.
Without the cap the PUs are to bright "brittle" IMO.
Neither bass has a volume or a standard tone pot.
With these I use the amp EQ sound great and very easy to do or change to.
 
#44
Blankandson said:
So if a shorter cable is better, would a wireless system be best? Good ones are not so expensive these days as they were years ago.
Click to expand...

Well when it comes to cables, 12 feet is better than 25 feet. Wireless is designed to not load the instrument or the amp. On the other hand, the potential is there to change the sound because of the complex way that it is handling the signal.

People use wireless on stage because of the obvious advantages related to performance. I've never seen it used when recording. People prefer to keep the signal as intact as possible.
 
#45
call me crazy, but I notice a difference between having a tone control hooked up and not having it hooked up.
The 250K pot changes the load of the pickup which colors the sound.
My favorite sounding bass I have is a P- bass with the pickup wired straight to the input jack. I noticed a difference in output and also addition of high frequencies with a deeper bass response.
 
#48
I never use onboard tone and volume; Got a multi-effects (Zoom B2.1) with tone shaping and a volume (among other things) pedal. So I yank out all the extraneous passive components from my basses.

Others have said that removing a 250K shunt to ground has little effect, but the fact is if there are multiple controls, they act as parallel resistances and can make a huge difference: 4 (2 tone and 2 volume) 250K pots in parallel acts as a 31.25K shunt. Removing one pot raises the resistance to 62.5K, removing two raises it to 125K and so on. Add to that the removal of the tone caps, and it can make for a big change in tone and output.

I notice a huge difference, much brighter tone, after wiring the pickups directly to the jack. If I need to change volume or tone, that's what my stomp-box is for, (and my feet are less occupied than my hands, anyway.) Let's face it, the onboard volume and tone controls are pretty primitive circuits, so all in all, I'd much rather use the more sophisticated ciruitry in my pedal. My next project is stripping the passive parts from my Ibanez 5-string, leaving just the PhatII tone boost. I'm also going to pull out the battery and supply it using a three conductor cable back to my pedal, taking the power directly from my pedal's AC adapter (a beefy 3rd party 1A 9V supply.) No more changing batteries!
 
#49
One of the local bassist in my area has a mim jazz with quarter pounder pickups, badass bridge, and he removed all the pots and installed an on/off toggle. Best fender tone I've heard in person in a hard rock/metal setting.

It's not really an option or thought with my fretted bass (gt7) because it has active pickups that need to be connected to pre to get decent output. On my fretless jazz which is passive i run the bridge pickup wide open but cut down the neck pickup about half way so I've been wondering if i can do this but lower the neck pickup to adjust the balance to where i like.
 
#50
If you don't use your tone control, why not change the cap and turn it into a useful tone control. I like a much smaller cap in a passive bass. .01uF is the largest I'd use.

The tone control takes the resonant peak of the pickup and lowers it. A smaller cap will move the resonant peak into the midrange and can create a punchier, more mid focused tone...almost like having different pickups, rather than just making the bass boomy and unfocused.
 
#51
beans-on-toast said:
With changes in impedance, the bass and mid frequencies are affected less than the higher frequencies. Removing the volume and bass controls from a bass has much less of an effect than that of a guitar where higher frequencies are important.
Click to expand...

Not sure I agree with this. We're not producing sine waves. The bass is a percussion instrument. When I pluck a string, the attack produces an "event" with complex higher harmonics. The "crunch" is just as important than the "woom."

I rarely roll off the highs on passive Fenders and was thinking about bypassing the tone on the old single coil Tele I'm working on. The volume control is kinda useful, tho.
 
#52
What you are saying is very true. Bass does have high frequency content. All I was saying is that it is a lot more evident with a guitar.

For instance, a curly instrument cable will noticeably affect guitar tone a lot more than bass tone. Most bass players can't hear a difference that the added inductance of a curly cable brings. I'm not saying that there is no effect. Just that it is less of a concern for a lot of bass players.
 
#53
This old customised Gibson grabber, hasn't got a tone control but it has a pickup phase switch on the bridge pickup and per pickup volume controls.
mrMraEHdhLYfhEGvdZp9mHbPYkyVidBYeXD1_brDwzQ=.jpg

All maple instead of ash body, Monel metal pick guard so very bright sound love it to bits still, for some things.
Don't know about being compleatly Knobless though!:hmm:
The Bass! Chaps, not Louise she hasn't even got it plugged in:
s_mEUlG_ArQcBUcHBfEmg6btVnQApYbINZYZE-530A5GdIICARpRtw==.jpg

:bassist:
 
#56
I'm in the boat with only using the volume to turn it on or off and never use a tone control. So on my MM pick-up'd P bass I installed two push pull controls. One switches it on and off, the other switches parallel to series configurations.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back