Each and every setting of a VVT can be matched by a VBT. Whatever your issue is it isn't a limitation of VBT.
Therefore your statement is incorrect.
Therefore your statement is incorrect.
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V/V/T = Why?
- Thread starter LeonD
- Start date
A volume knob does not kill the output evenly, it cuts the highs before the lows, so operating a pickup at 50% makes it sound darker. Therefore if you want to play 25% one pickup and 50% another for a tonal reason, it's a LOT easier to do this on VVT. I believe it's still possible to do this with VBT if you set the blend 2/3 to one, and drop the master volume to match. However, that's MUCH harder to get just right with a VBT setup, which is why VVT is preferable to some. But in some circumstances this is difficult to do.
I suppose what it really comes down to is personal preference. You can argue all you want on which YOU like more, but there's gonna be someone on the other side of the fence who likes it the other way.
With all due respect to a TB veteran (is the French term grognard?), how does one keep a 100% level on one pickup and roll in varying percentages of the other in a VBT setup?
I only ask as my favourite tones are one pickup full, and the other somewhere between 70-90%. I'm thinking of picking up a 5 string Jazz bass soon, and I'm planning some serious wiring mods. Strip the pre-amp out of a MIM Deluxe V, and there's 4 holes on the control panel to go crazy with
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It's different. It simply is, like it or not.
For one thing, and people forget this all the time, a V/B/T setup places four pots in the signal, where a V/V/T setup gets by with only three. Different loading is the result.
For one thing, and people forget this all the time, a V/B/T setup places four pots in the signal, where a V/V/T setup gets by with only three. Different loading is the result.
I just did some research, and for a few blend pots, what you say is true. But most blend pots are just two audio taper pots reversed, so at the center neither is at 100%. Remember, in a passive circuit when a volume pot is less than 100% it loses some high end, therefore MOST blend pots in the center won't even get the same tone as two volume pots at full.
However there are some blend pots (Stewart Mac makes some) are designed so that in the center both are at 100%, and that one pickup is at 100% as you blend the other in. In this case, you can get any tone combo from a VVT (not including loading issues...). However, very few basses have these types of pots.
Wouldn't a V/V/T load the circuit more than a Vol - Switch - Tone?
By that I mean, would a bass with the same pickups have less output wired V/V/T vs. with a 3-way switch?
By that I mean, would a bass with the same pickups have less output wired V/V/T vs. with a 3-way switch?
It depends on the values. Two 500k Ohms volume pots is equal to one 250k Ohms volume pot, so a VVT setup with 500k Ohms volumes would be the same as a VT3 setup with a 250k Ohms volume.
Ah, these should be 330k Ohm, so moderately less attenuation than two 250k Ohm pots, but more than a single 330k Ohm with a switch.
Jazz basses were not originally VVT. They were VTVT. Leo simplified the scheme when it became apparent that VVT was superior.
Bassists, in general, want the versatility to mix pickups in varying proportion, rather than the convenience of switching between lead and rhythm, as guitarists often do with switch-based schemes. VVT, VTVT, and VBT are all imperfect, but the are a step in the right direction, toward the goal of pickup blending.
Yes, the first JB's used stacked pots so each pickup would have its own V and T. They didn't change it because it became apparent VVT was superior, they changed it because VVT was cheaper than using the stacked pots and fancy knobs.
If Leo really cared about tonal versatility he would have used the LP wiring circuit on the JB instead of the VTVT or VVT, but he was too cheap. It's not like there wasn't enough room.
The Strat is a classic example of Leo's minimalist approach to circuitry.
3 pickups
3-way switch which only allows one pickup at a time (by design)
1 volume
2 tone controls (no tone for the bridge pickup)
1 cap
Sure, it works, but I'd like to have the money spent on changing it.
I usually immediately change every V/V/T to V/B/StellarTone. Even if I don't use the StellarTone I still change them to V/B/T. Think it's a better electronic system and gives you much better control over the pickups.
Cost is part of the reason VVT was superior.
Everyone always has some theory on how Leo could/should have done things differently. Saying that Leo would have chosen a LP setup if he cared about versatility is just an opinion. There is no consensus on which control scheme is best for a bass, because every player has their own preference on what is most practical. Ask ten people what control scheme is most versatile, and you will probably get ten different answers.
I have 2 different P/J basses, one works very well V/V/T, and I get a lot of different sounds out of it, all good, I was never happy with the other..tried V/V/T, and V/B/T, I wound up with V/T/ 3 way sw., that one sounds better now at any setting than it did before. (very different pickups in the 2 basses)
Yeah it's just an opinion, and look how many 2-pickup guitars and basses are made that way. I can think of no guitars with the JB control layout.
Leo's low-buck approach is well documented, and it's part of his charm.
I'd be willing to bet that if someone prefers the sound of VVT over VTVT in a particular bass and pickups it's because the pots/caps have different values (whether they know it or not).
Remember Leo's early bass amp? An open back combo with four Jensen 10s. That'll roll out the thunder.
In reality, the V/T/V/T only has separate tone control if the pickups are being used separately. Once you're using both pickups at once, the caps are introduced from both sides.
In other words, both tone controls would be controlling the tone for both pickups, and not individually.
In other words, both tone controls would be controlling the tone for both pickups, and not individually.
