Well, from what i’ve read so far, a tone knob still cuts some of the treble from the signal, even when turned all the way up. I want to eliminate that.
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Simplest Possible Jazz Bass Controls?
- Thread starter DBMcCully
- Start date
Well, from what i’ve read so far, a tone knob still cuts some of the treble from the signal, even when turned all the way up. I want to eliminate that.
Use a "no-load" tone pot... when turned full up it is completely disconnected from the circuit
OK, but is the same thing true of all "resistance" in other parts of the circuit?
Maybe you should just remove all off the controls and adjust the volume from the amp.
Haha! That’s not such a radical idea. But I feel I should hold onto the volume knob for quick adjustments. I am often told I am too loud. (Mostly by guitar players)
I’ve more or less concluded that passive blends on J’s are overrated. My favorite option is a simple pickup selector+vol+tone, but the standard VVT has more versatility than it’s given credit for, IMO. I’ve found the trick is to never dime the volumes. Good pots and the right cap value mated with the right pickups can have worlds of versatility just under “full on”.
Thanks for all of the great information! Remember, this isn’t just a strive for tone it’s also minimalism. I’m trying to see how simple I can make it. Does anybody have a diagram of how to wire one volume and a 3-way switch?
Worth a go, I say! Although unless you hardwire the pickups to both be on at all times (either in series or parallel), you'll still have more options than one pickup/one volume knob offers.
This would give you several tone options but keeps it simple by using switches:
Series/parallel switch
And/or
Three-way pickup switch
And
Master volume (or kill switch)
Yep, that is indeed the (oft-overlooked) trick for optimizing the blend on two-pickup basses: set the dominant one at about 8 or 9, and dial in the other to suit. But it is fiddlier than switches.
Resistors (pots) in the circuit (even full up) will indeed bleed off a bit of treble. Whether that's a bad thing is up to your ears; to my ears, the sound of unloaded pickups is too spiky and harsh. If you find that to be the case but want to keep the electronics/controls stripped down, just add a small fixed resistor across the output jack (from hot to ground). Somewhere between 125K and 500K Ohms (the higher the value, the more treble remains) will tame the harshness. Or if you use a master volume pot alongside your switches, skip the fixed resistor and use a 500K pot for maximum treble (or even 1 Meg, although the difference is likely to be subtle) or 250K for a little more warmth.
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Just to throw another possibility into the mix, you could wire it up for two-channel output (either a TRS jack or two TS jacks). You could wire each pickup directly to the jack(s). No pots, no switches, no nothin' on the bass itself...but potentially more complicated downstream.
I don't think this is true. I think it depends on how the kill switch is wired. If it's wired to kill the signal by grounding it, there shouldn't be a pop.
(I intentionally left things a bit wishy-washy because I'm no expert and I'm not 100% certain.)
The pickup switch is a good mod IMO, but you don't need to change the controls much to get it.
Just install no-load pots. Add a Gibson pickup switch where the neck volume is now, and move every knob down a hole on the plate. Add a jack plate to the side of the bass to accommodate the displaced jack.
If you really never use your tone knob, then just go V/V, and you don't need to move the jack to the side.
In lieu of no-load pots, you could just go for 1M pots, which would sonically be effectively the same thing.
Just install no-load pots. Add a Gibson pickup switch where the neck volume is now, and move every knob down a hole on the plate. Add a jack plate to the side of the bass to accommodate the displaced jack.
If you really never use your tone knob, then just go V/V, and you don't need to move the jack to the side.
In lieu of no-load pots, you could just go for 1M pots, which would sonically be effectively the same thing.
Why not get rid of the knobs altogether? Use the volume on your amp to control the volume. Then you could just have one blend pot or a three-way switch to control which pickup you use.
The reason I’m putting the jack on the side is because I have an American Deluxe and that’s where the jack was originally anyway.
Absolutely untrue.
My favorite bass has a single pickup and a kill switch as the only control. Absolutely silent operation. You just have to send the signal to ground in the mute position.
As for OP's idea, a kill switch for each pickup would be the simplest, least resistance setup. Personally I'd rather have a 3 way switch for the neck pickup that would give me a preset rolloff of the neck pickup since I use a 70/100 mix a lot.
In such a case, I'd go with invisible complexity and a single 4 position rotary switch. Bass-series-parallel-neck.
That's 4 different tones with a single knob. I wouldn't even bother with a volume although if I had to, I'd add a push pull to it simulating a tone pot turned to 0.
No cut at all when pushed, low pass filter when pulled. I did that on several instruments with great success.
That's 4 different tones with a single knob. I wouldn't even bother with a volume although if I had to, I'd add a push pull to it simulating a tone pot turned to 0.
No cut at all when pushed, low pass filter when pulled. I did that on several instruments with great success.
I'd be curious to try this on my Mikro that has two J pickups. Any chance you've got a wiring diagram?
Edit: To be clear, I wouldn't necessarily need the push/pull part. Just the four-way selection.
