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Squire VM J Bass Wiring Mods

M

martarmetal

Guest
Mar 1, 2012
92
1
Belle Vernon
#1
I have has my VM77 J bass for a few years now but I'm not in love with the tone. I usually run each volume pot full on and the tone knob dialed back to about half. I find hat is the only real usable sound settings. I was hoping to modify the electronics a little. After some research I think I would benefit from a blend pot. I would like to run it V/B/T utilizing the volume only as a master volume. I would probably have the blend pot in the center position exclusively considering I currently run both pickups at 100%

I believe that I will need a linear taper 250K volume pot, a 250K M/N Blend Pot (not grounded), and a 250K linear taper tone pot. I would also like to test a .033 capacitor opposed to the traditional .047 capacitor. My goal is to get closer to the sweet spot and eliminate the extreme unusable setting.

I am open to suggestions or insight regarding this small project and I am grateful for any advice that will be given. I have considered a push/pull tone pot with 2 different caps or possibly other options. I can physically wire up what I need to but if you could help me with a diagram I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks guys!
 
#2
Foremost, I will suggest a process - get some alligator clip leads and mess around with different setups before deciding.

Your ideas make sense, although typically an audio taper pot is recommended for tone control (more usable, fine-grained control). Linear works for volume.

I’d consider skipping the blend pot. You can wire a switch in, in case you ever want to use individual pickups, or just wire them to volume directly. Another possibility is a series-parallel switch. Or, all of the above with a 4 position switch (neck-series-parallel-bridge).

If you eliminate the blend and use no pickup switch, you can use a rotary switch to select different value caps (like a Tonestyler).

But again, most useful (and fun) is to experiment, and I find it easiest with alligator clips...
 
#3
I will definitely try the alligator clip idea, thank you for that because it didn't cross my mind. I may have been confused about the linear tone pot, I will run your suggestion (Linear volume, Audio tone).

I did some research into the Tonestyler, I think that was a good starting point but I dont think I need that many cap options.

From personal experience over the years with all my J bass's, I have ALWAYS ran both volumes at 100%. If I could find a way to run them always at 100% and free up space on my control plate for something more useful that would be great!
 
#5
#6
I have one of those too. Changing the bridge (as I did) will have 10 times more impact on the sound than the mods you are considering.

Use a heavy/nickel bridge if you use flatwounds and want a punchy vintage soumd or a Badass II if you use roundwonds and like modern techniques like slapping. It will change the sound more than you can imagine. I actually really like the pickups and I have owned many US made Jazz Basses over the years
 
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#7
Both volume pots on J's kills the tone. Try putting the neck at 100%, then roll the bridge to 100% and back off until you get the best tone. That will usually be about 75-80%. Not saying this will get what you want, but it will improve the tone.
I never cared for J's until I read this somewhere on TB. I tried it and it makes a big difference.
 
#8
I haven’t considered upgrading the bridge but I will definitely look into that. I didn’t realize it would change the tone significantly.

Once I get home I will try to roll off the bridge volume a little and see what that produces. I like the sound of both pickups at 100% (read somewhere here that it produces a bit of a scooped sound due to cancellation, that doesn’t bother me). What does bother me is “wasting” plate space with 2 pots (volumes) that are ALWAYS at 100%. If I could run both pickups full on without a volume pot and implement 3 usable tone controls I would.
 
#9
I tried dozen of bridges over the past 35yrs but one of my favorite has always been the Schaller High Mass bridge. It really adds sustain and weight to the sound without too many shrill overtones like the Badass II. You can find it used on EBay for about $40-50 usually. From experience - I used to mess with my basses a lot - the mods you are considering will only have a marginal impact on the sound. I would not change the pickups either. I find them excellent whether they are the Duncan Design or the new model.

Here is a recording of my Squier wirh GHS flats - turn up the volume the bass is slightly under mixed.

Squier VM70 Jazz Bass - GHS Precision strings
 
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#10
thank you for sharing! For $50 it’s certainly worth a shot. Maybe I’m just being too picky. Just seems like I can produce 100 unusable tones but I’m limited to a very fine sweet spot. Perhaps I need to re-evaluate my thought process and find a place for the tones that I typically dismiss.
 

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