redstrand
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Post by redstrand on Mar 8, 2015 10:01:52 GMT -5
Love this site, been lurking here forever and has been big help on other projects. I have a jazz bass wired V V T to jack...standard stuff...how can I add a three way switch or dpdt to it for series/para ? it's an old ibanez with a fourth hole already drilled from the old preamp. Any help would be greatly appreciated
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Post by newey on Mar 8, 2015 22:25:50 GMT -5
redstrand-
Hello and Welcome to G-Nutz2!
Not sure what you're thinking of in terms of a "3-way switch". A DPDT is all you need for series/parallel, so what would the third switch position be doing?
This should be doable, but you may have some interactions with your controls, as we have been discussing in Lord Quilton's thread on his HSS Strat
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redstrand
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Post by redstrand on Mar 9, 2015 6:01:30 GMT -5
I had some 3 way switches hanging around, I'll just put a dpdt switch in the open hole, I'll look up the other discussion when I get the chance. Trying to sift through all the info on here can be daunting.
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Post by asmith on Mar 9, 2015 7:32:32 GMT -5
What's the 3 way switch? A Double-Pole, Triple-Throw?
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redstrand
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Post by redstrand on Mar 9, 2015 10:20:41 GMT -5
Triple pole Gibson style
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Post by cynical1 on Mar 9, 2015 12:55:59 GMT -5
Seymour Duncan has it all drawn out for you: Jazz Bass - Series\Parallel wiringAs far as the switch, any DPDT ON-ON switch would work....like this one: This is the same thing I'm doing on a fretless Jazz bass project in the works. K.I.S.S. Happy Trails Cynical One
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redstrand
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Post by redstrand on Mar 9, 2015 14:08:25 GMT -5
I saw that diagram, so just wire it just with the switch mounted elsewhere?
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Post by cynical1 on Mar 9, 2015 14:55:03 GMT -5
The drawing shows a push\pull, but can locate the switch anywhere you physically have room for it. As long as the neck black and bridge white are soldered correctly and you make the rest of your solder connections per the drawing it doesn't matter where you put the switch.
This is a nice mode for a Jazz bass. I first did this on a P\J bass and liked it. The parallel is more pretty, where the series in your face.
Happy Trails
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Post by newey on Mar 9, 2015 15:14:57 GMT -5
Forget the gibson-style 3-way toggle. You need 2 poles for series/parallel, so a DPDT switch is what you want. There are diagrams around here for how to do this, I'll try to dig one up but I'm at wokr at the moment.
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Post by reTrEaD on Mar 9, 2015 16:35:05 GMT -5
Seymour Duncan has it all drawn out for you Yeah that will definitely work. One caveat: In series mode, the Neck volume is the only one that does anything.
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Post by ashcatlt on Mar 10, 2015 12:43:35 GMT -5
Seymour Duncan has it all drawn out for you Yeah that will definitely work. One caveat: In series mode, the Neck volume is the only one that does anything. Yep, it bypasses the BV, so there's no possibility of blending between the two pickups in series mode. That pot is still in circuit loading the output, which is kind of ugly. Unfortunately, there really isn't a good way to have two V pots working well in both S and P modes without another pole or two.
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Post by cynical1 on Mar 10, 2015 15:09:48 GMT -5
The pickups I used were low output (or "vintage" if you're trying to sell them on eBay) and the series option really put a bit of spank on their @ss. Normally I'd be using some overdrive or distortion when using the series option, so the single neck pot acting as the main volume works well to quickly tame some of the more obscene edges of said OD\distortion.
I probably only use the series option about 25% of the time, but it does make a nice and simple mod to the traditional Jazz bass circuit...plus it makes it sound mean...
HTC1
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Post by sumgai on Mar 10, 2015 16:53:32 GMT -5
I have to say, I'm surprised that John hasn't yet chimed in..... For those of you who've been here longer than a day or two, you'll recall just how many times I have banged newey over the head about thinking outside of the box. S. Duncan's people don't get paid enough to think in such a manner, hence the simplistic overlay on the standard JBass layout, and thus the limitations noted so far. All of which can be overcome. .... OK, here's a hint - How many versions of a Jimmy Page mod do we need? And redstrand; Welcome to The NutzHouse! Hope you remembered to bring your own towel! sumgai
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Post by reTrEaD on Mar 11, 2015 20:19:38 GMT -5
That pot is still in circuit loading the output, which is kind of ugly.. Ugly indeed. In series mode you would want less loading on the pickups if possible. This doesn't do that for you. Unfortunately, there really isn't a good way to have two V pots working well in both S and P modes without another pole or two. I think switching from parallel to series, retaining separate volume controls, is possible with the DPDT switch. You would just treat the volume controls the same way you would treat a pair of pickups or a pair of coils with a series/parallel switch. Of course the volume control that is stacked on "top" in the series mode can't have a tab bent against the case and soldered directly to ground, but that's easy enough. It's less desirable to have the pot wired "backward" with the wiper connected to the pickup in a series configuration but it's necessary to wire them that way to allow for using just one pickup when the switch is in parallel mode. If wired normally, the other volume control would shunt all signal to ground when it's turned to zero. Perhaps John or Asmith has a better idea on how to manage this. I only see two sensible paths. The SD scheme as-is or retaining separate (backward-wired) volume controls when series mode is selected.
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Post by ashcatlt on Mar 11, 2015 22:41:23 GMT -5
Normal wired is better for series, but the NV is always going to act like a master. I think it's actually better to use the pot as a rheostat across each pickup.
Reverse-wired is theoretically better for parallel, because neither one can kill the whole thing. Problem there is that you can't ever get true shorted-jack silence out of the thing. And, as I believe JohnH has said a few times in the past, if you're in the middle position it's generally because you want to hear both pickups.
JohnH has posted a scheme or two that switches the action of the pots with the S/P switch, but it ends up with more poles. I think that might be what sg was hinting at, but I don't really care about Led Zeppelin, so...
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Post by sumgai on Mar 11, 2015 22:50:44 GMT -5
Perhaps John or Asmith has a better idea on how to manage this. Indeed, John treated this very topic over 8 years ago, in JH's Jimmy Page thread. That same thread has been visited a lot over the years, in fact the latest posting was just a month ago. All redstrand needs to do is simply short all of the terminals of the standard LP pickup selector switch on that circuit (meaning, no switch is installed on his axe), and he has a custom-designed circuit for his Jazz Bass - and it's even already tested in the real world. John has even taken care of the "forwards/backwards" pot wiring issue, and explains such in his notes. Thanks, John! sumgai
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Post by JohnH on Mar 11, 2015 23:05:36 GMT -5
I did? Oh sure! You are welcome...!
Perhaps I'd better read this thread...
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Post by JohnH on Mar 12, 2015 2:48:22 GMT -5
That backwards pot wiring seems to be traditional in such basses. But one does not feel compelled to describe it as being a good idea. For this project, with its extra hole to be filled, I think I would make it more guitar-like by adding a normal guitar toggle for pickup switching in parallel mode, with forwards volume controls with treble bleed. Then use a pp switch on a pot to do serles/parallel as on my LP. This thread also describes ways to mix in series and this would be type C guitarnuts2.proboards.com/thread/6762/blending-coils-series
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Post by reTrEaD on Mar 13, 2015 8:12:26 GMT -5
That backwards pot wiring seems to be traditional in such basses. But one does not feel compelled to describe it as being a good idea. John, we can force ourselves to describe it as a good idea if we try very hard. If we limit our view of the two volume controls as being a two-knob parallel blender, it functions rather well. It allows us to get all the gradations from 100% bridge --> both pickups --> 100% neck almost seamlessly (although it requires shifting the hand from one knob to the other) and requires no pickup selector switch. And as long as one pickup or the other is at maximum, the tone control tends to be predictable. BUT In terms of controlling overall volume, a reverse wired volume control arrangement is covered in ugly warts. If neither volume control is at maximum in an effort to decrease overall volume, there are several "tone dulling" effects that occur. - Severe loading effects on the pickups as volume is decreased. - Resistance in series with the output that allows cable capacitance to become an issue in high-cut filtering. - Resistance in series with the tone cut circuit that causes a much stronger high-cut when volume is decreased. To make a short story long, if we stay within the realm of what this configuration does well, it's a pretty good idea. If we stray from that, things go South in a hurry.
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redstrand
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Post by redstrand on Mar 21, 2015 10:23:13 GMT -5
Got back from NOLA, finally had the chance to slug the switch and it works like a champ...it's like having a boost switch in the bass, One less hole to look at too...lol
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Post by ashcatlt on Mar 21, 2015 12:48:40 GMT -5
Got back from NOLA, finally had the chance to slug the switch and it works like a champ...it's like having a boost switch in the bass, One less hole to look at too...lol I like all of that except for the part where you went to New Orleans without me. I really dig switching to series as a boost because it also darkens up a little bit so that if you're already kind of pushing an amp in parallel mode, then switch to series to hit it harder, it doesn't get quite so fizzy and nasty at the top end. A lot of booster/OD/distortion pedals do something similar where as you turn up the gain, you're also lowering the cutoff of a low-pass filter one way or another. I haven't actually got S/P on a bass yet, though..
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