will changing pots and cap help?

[Batmensch]

Exactly.

I posted this picture in the other cap thread of my '72 Mustang guitar.

You are hearing the resistance loading of the pot, not the cap. The impedance of the cap in the range of the resonance is a much less than the pot value.

i have a Squier VM P loaded Pickguard, and the cap on it is just like that, except it's brown. The numbers on it are
"2A503J".

 

[dexfx69]

FYI, starting a couple years ago, Fender changed the VM 70s Jazz Bass (Maple) in that they now put in 250k pots rather than the 500k they were using previously. This is verified by the Fender schematics I have for both versions.

 

[bassbenj]

Exactly.

I posted this picture in the other cap thread of my '72 Mustang guitar.

You are hearing the resistance loading of the pot, not the cap. The impedance of the cap in the range of the resonance is a much less than the pot value.

NOT a ceramic cap! And changing a ceramic cap WILL make a difference in tone. Often a CONSIDERABLE difference.

Sure there's a lot of mystique about "orange drop" tone caps and all. And the truth is that any tone cap with a decent dielectric will be indistinguishable from any other of similar quality. So if you think you hear a difference between a paper in oil, an orange drop or a radio shack mylar, it's your imagination!

BUT this rule does NOT apply to the "two cent" ceramic disk caps. These are very poor excuses of caps and in the higher values (.05 -.1 etc.) are designed for power supply filtering. They have MAJOR leakage, the dielectric is crap (that's how they get the high values in a small size) , and values vary all over the map. But unfortunately because they are nearly free, they find their way into lots of cheaper basses. If you have one, rip it out and slap in a radio shack mylar as shown in SDG's photo. It will be worth the effort.

 

[mech]

i have a Squier VM P loaded Pickguard, and the cap on it is just like that, except it's brown. The numbers on it are "2A503J".

That's a .05 microfarad, 100 volt DC, 5% part.

mech

 

[themacinator]

Interesting thread. Sub'd. Reason is I am looking to revamp a couple of my basses and pots and caps is where I am going. I have some knowledge about other bass parts but not much in the way of pots and caps.

Waiting on more replies and then I will ask a few questions.