920D Concentric Pot Jazz Bass Control Plate

[Garret Wheeler]

920D Custom JB-CON-CH/BK+T Upgraded 62 Jazz Bass Concentric Control Plate w/ Toggle

Does anybody have any experience with these?

My number one bass right now is a Jazz, and I'm thinking about modding it in the near future. Previously my number one was a Precision with a Jazz neck, and I wasn't crazy about the feel, but I had a SD quarter pounder installed and it sounded great with chromes. Now I'm using my Jazz bass with a USACG roasted birdseye maple Precision neck and it feels amazing but I'm not thrilled with the tone. The body is a Classic 60s Jazz body I bought loaded with stock pickups from the Stratosphere. I'm thinking about putting a SD quarter pound P pickup in the neck position and then copping this harness for it since it's already gonna be at my luthier's place. I'm a big Bobby Vega fan, and I know his Shark bass has concentric pots- that's my main reason for being interested. Plus Flea and some other great players use early Jazz basses with that setup.

The one I'm looking at also has a series/parallel switch but they make them without it. I figured it'd just be another flavor to add.


Basically, does anyone know if these are any good?

 

[Crater]

There's no tone magic to be had from "boutique" pots or capacitors. Having said that, I looked at the control plate in the link, and it looks to be very well made, if a bit pricey. It should be fine.

Remember, dual tone controls will interact with each other, and in series mode only one volume control will work.

 

[Garret Wheeler]

Remember, dual tone controls will interact with each other, and in series mode only one volume control will work.

They will interact with each other as in the tone setting is going to be the same for both pickups regardless, or will it just change the tone?

I don't expect these pots to totally change the overall tone of the bass, I just figured that this way I could have a tone setting for each pickup. I really only plan to solo them anyway.

Thanks!

 

[RedBadger]

Ordered one, currently on the way. plan of installing in my shell pink American jazz bass.

 

[akrachanko]

920D Custom JB-CON-CH/BK+T Upgraded 62 Jazz Bass Concentric Control Plate w/ Toggle

Does anybody have any experience with these?

My number one bass right now is a Jazz, and I'm thinking about modding it in the near future. Previously my number one was a Precision with a Jazz neck, and I wasn't crazy about the feel, but I had a SD quarter pounder installed and it sounded great with chromes. Now I'm using my Jazz bass with a USACG roasted birdseye maple Precision neck and it feels amazing but I'm not thrilled with the tone. The body is a Classic 60s Jazz body I bought loaded with stock pickups from the Stratosphere. I'm thinking about putting a SD quarter pound P pickup in the neck position and then copping this harness for it since it's already gonna be at my luthier's place. I'm a big Bobby Vega fan, and I know his Shark bass has concentric pots- that's my main reason for being interested. Plus Flea and some other great players use early Jazz basses with that setup.

The one I'm looking at also has a series/parallel switch but they make them without it. I figured it'd just be another flavor to add.


Basically, does anyone know if these are any good?

920D Custom, although I haven't had any of their products personally, use the some of the best available components (CTS pots, Pure Tone jacks, etc.), so their final products should be decent quality, and provide proper performance.

Now with that being said, there is a common misunderstanding with concentric tone pots on jazz basses that has already been mentioned. Each of the tone knobs will adjust the tone for the pickup, but it will also interact with the other tone pot, causing your tone to change on both pickups when adjusting one tone knob. If you really wanted to have each tone knob only adjust the one pickup, you would need to isolate the signal paths with resistors. This is not commonly done because it lowers the output volume of the bass, and nobody wants that. I'd recommend you look up some videos of people demonstrating a jazz bass with concentric tone knobs, so you can see how it sounds before dropping $130 on the electronics. If it floats your boat, then go for it.

Another wiring configuration you should consider is Volume, Blend, Tone. You'd have a master volume knob, a blend knob for the pickups, and a master tone. It's a pretty useful wiring I've found, and it may help you get closer to what you're after than the concentric tone pots would. Good luck!