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I have just replaced the four pots on a Spirit bass guitar. This is a 5 string bass, with the skulls decorations. The original setup, which I suspect may not be original design, was a separate volume and tone control for each of the two pickups, thus four controls, no switch. I looked around the web, and found a number of schematics for this sort of setup, but none of them satisfy me. They are set up in such a way that if one of the volume controls is set to zero, this grounds the output. So I am wondering how this can possibly work, if the player wanted to use, say, the neck pickup only? He would set the bridge pickup to zero. Granted some guitars have a switch, which would have to be used to select that one pickup. But, no switch here. I suppose I could design my own circuit, but wondering...there must be some standard way to wire this setup? Any ideas? Here's a typical schematic I have found on the web:
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I think there's no "perfect" wiring without a switch.
But you could try to reverse the vol. pot input and wiper lugs and connect the tone controls as well as the hot PU leads to the wipers.
This reverse pot wiring is used with the Fender JB.- Own Opinions Only - -
I thought of that. The problem with that is the tone controls will not be isolated to their designated pickups. If either volume control is set to full volume it's tone control will essentially be connected to both "channels". I think some sort of passive mixer circuit?Comment
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That's why I thought I would try this forum. I thought perhaps some genius came up with a solution for this. There are solutions, such as an active circuit, but I don't want to deal with batteries. Then there is always the classic mixer circuit, but I wonder how much loss there would be, as that requires more resistance in the signal path. I have looked at circuits that use a switch, but they are not perfect either! If both pickups are selected, the tone controls are no longer independent. The best I have found so far is one tone control on the output, and a volume control for each pickup. That's how my own bass guitar is set up, and it works fine for me. But the bass in question has four holes, so I need to come up with a way to use four pots, and of course, the customer has to be happy with what I come up with.Comment
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Well, passive always means compromising.
If you can live with one master tone control, you might use one hole for a toggle switch.- Own Opinions Only -Comment
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This is the best I can come up with. In this circuit, if one pickup is set to zero, the other pickup will work along with it's independent tone control. And vice versa. But, if both pickups are in use, the tones will alter.
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Maybe you should confer with the customer for some options if you want to stay in line with him /her being happy.
nosajsoldering stuff that's broken, breaking stuff that works, Yeah!Comment
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How about one tone, two volumes, and a blend pot?If it still won't get loud enough, it's probably broken. - Steve Conner
If the thing works, stop fixing it. - Enzo
We need more chaos in music, in art... I'm here to make it. - Justin Thomas
MANY things in human experience can be easily differentiated, yet *impossible* to express as a measurement. - Juan Fahey
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Yes, I thought about that too, and that may be what I end up with, depending on what the customer wants. However, with two volume controls, a blend pot is really redundant. I may just do two volumes, and one tone, and a pickup selector switch.Comment
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Yes, that's what I described in post 2.Originally posted by johnhoef View Post
All passive wirings have drawbacks.
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Yes, Helmholtz, your suggestion inspired me to draw the schematic...thank you.
Indeed, there are always losses in passive circuits, so the challenge is to minimize the losses, and your idea is probably the best we can do.Comment
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