Working blend pot with series/parallel switch?

[Killed_by_Death]

The neck pickup would go into a short when switched to series.
Good effort, though.

 

[JKos]

Good catch. Will revise. Might be a few hours, though. I've deleted the image to prevent confusion. Please do the same.

Thanks,
John

 

[JKos]

The neck pickup would go into a short when switched to series.

Actually, KBD, that's a valid state in series mode as that's how you blend out a pickup. And what's drawn is only with the pot in certain position. However, I still think it needs a tweak.

- John

 

[Max3000]

I just drew this up really quickly (so sorry about the illegibility), series mode basically a danelectro setup I saw but without tone knobs (that’s a whole other thing), roast me

 

[Killed_by_Death]

that's a valid state in series mode as that's how you blend out a pickup

Yes, I realize independent volume means shorting the output in series (to control the volume or silence it), so it can bypass the pickup & still provide continuity for the next/previous pickup.
However the way it was, it would go silent when you switched from parallel to series.

I've wired a couple of basses in series.

 

[Max3000]

Yeah the pickup doesn’t short but rather acts as a resistor in parallel with an (essentially) zero-resistance path, so the other pickup can essentially bunny hop it

 

[JKos]

I've got it figured out. Still just as simple, still 4PDT. Won't be able to redraw it for couple hours.

- John

 

[Max3000]

I've got it figured out. Still just as simple, still 4PDT. Won't be able to redraw it for couple hours.

- John

What’s wrong with 3pdt

 

[JKos]

What’s wrong with 3pdt

Too many things need switched for a 3PDT to handle.

- John

 

[RobbieK]

M/N blend pot and a parallel/series switch such the blend can tweak the balance between two pickups whether they are wired in series or in parallel with each other?

Yeah I'm pretty sure this is possible. I've wired a 500K linear pot as a blend for series pickups and it works well, although you obviously get a volume swell in the middle because series coils are louder than individual singles. (I ended up using a dual gang and having the 2nd gang as an attenuator. There's a thread from a couple of months ago where I posted some diagrams.)

A 250K MN with its wipers connected, will (kind of) work like a 500k single gang pot. So with the right switching, you could do it.

Another approach would be to use two 500K linear single gang pots as vol/vol, then have it switch to vol/blend in series. Again, the switching would be a bit convoluted. I'd have to think about this and devise a diagram. Hopefully you could do it with 4 poles, so a mini toggle would work. Otherwise you'd need a rotary switch I guess.

 

[alder]

To make it switchable between series and parallel would require an enormous switch. Biggest I've ever used is 4PDT. I think you would need 6PDT, enough to switch all six connections on the double pot. I'm not going to try to figure it out. It would be a mess in any case.

Link Removed

Link Removed

bonus:

post edited to remove bizarre series wiring - not sure what I drew

both of these blend wirings have a natural symmetry

 

[JKos]

I think you would need 6PDT

No, just 4PDT as I already said.

- John

 

[Max3000]

Too many things need switched for a 3PDT to handle.

- John

Pics?

 

[RobbieK]

I've sketched a few things, but at the moment I can't see this happening with only 4 poles...

 

[AndyPanda]

There is a really simple and elegant way to do series with a blend (but not switch between series and parallel). I did this on a couple basses and like it a lot. You don't use an actual "blend pot" you just use an ordinary linear taper pot (100K works great) and use the wiper to short across one or the other pickup. I modded my pot to be no-load in the center (both pickups full) position but you don't need to do that.

 

[JKos]

Here you go. Please poke holes in this one.

Shown in parallel mode. Not no-load parallel blending as shown but I believe the cut-the-pot-resistive-track method would work for that.

There is a really simple and elegant way to do series with a blend

Very nice.

- John

 

[RobbieK]

Shown in parallel mode.

Excellent! I never thought to wire the bottom half of the pot that way. I was also trying to have the parallel blend unearthed, so I was running out of poles. But cool, yeah this'll work.

Now, has anyone actually tried an MN wired this way for series blend? It looks like it would work, but does it actually blend smoothly?

 

[40Hz]

I'm not saying it can't be done, but I think it will get over-complicated.

True that! With passive wiring gymnastics you reach a point where you either run out of patience - or room in the control cavity.

 

[Wfrance3]

I messed with it a bunch and have had independent parallel and series with one vol for several months now. It’s pretty darn good. I tried to imagine what the real gain would be if I was capable to blend seres independently. To me, in consideration of the effort to get there, the subtle difference would NOT be wirth it. I have a solid-reliable bass, that does not hum or buzz. That’s worth more than the former... now, I did pull off that little shenanigan using 4-wire soap bars on my other bass. It’s single coil /series, but again, 4-wires, so, basically cheating. I can live with that....

 

[Deleted member 165050]

A dual-gang balance pot puts the pickups in parallel. I don't know any way around that.

revising this statement:
Yes you can use each gang of the pot independently, but then your problem becomes switching it back to parallel operation.

That's exactly it - you can use a dual-gang pot in parallel or series, but not both as in parallel you are joining the two gangs but in series they would need to be isolated... so not achievable unless you do some fairly complex switching and I doubt there's a single switch with enough poles to accomplish it.

[Edit] just saw the various drawings Still not sure...