Brightest sound from a passive bass- 1M pots or no load tone pot?

GrooveCaptain

GrooveCaptain

Apr 22, 2015
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#1
So I've been digging through old threads :bookworm: and have found some ideas for the p bass I've been modding the last couple months.
I routed out the body and installed a Seymour duncan ceramic basslines mm humbucker to go along with a dimarzio will power P pickup. I wired the pickups to a 3 way selector switch, which then goes to a 250k volume and tone pot. The bass sounds good but I wish I could get a brighter overall tone while keeping it passive.
From what I've been able to find, it seems like 1M pots would preserve more of the treble but the downside would be a loss of smooth sweep. In my case, this isn't a big deal because 90% of the time I'm playing with the tone knob all the way up and always with the volume knob on full.
The other option I found was a no load tone pot so when it's turned all the way up it clicks out of the circuit so there's no treble loss at that point.
Anyone have any recommendations or other options? Also would a killswitch help at all? Instead of a volume pot?
Any help is greatly appreciated :) :help:
 
#3
If you go with a 1M or even a 500K vol pot in a P, then go for a linear taper pot for sure. You have to remember that as the pot gets closer in value to the input z of the amp/DI/pedal or whatever you are feeding, then its sweep becomes more and more abrupt.

If you go with a no-load tone pot, and a 1M vol pot, then yeah with both pots maxed, that's about as bright as you can get with a P. If you are up for some pot modding then you can also make a no-load volume pot. Which is not bad if you are using vintage studio gear or valve stuff etc that doesn't have a very high input impedance. With this and a no-load tone pot, your P pickup will essentially be wired straight to the jack when both pots are maxed. (FYI, the sound sample at the end of this video is not that great. The DI I recorded with actually had a much lower input z that I realised, so the difference in brightness is not so obvious.)

The other thing I'd recommend is trying a few different brands of strings.

Also, you can try a series-parallel switch. In general, P pickups don't sound great in parallel mode, but in a studio, with digital EQ, you can reshape the treble with a LPF. in parallel there'll be more treble there to play with.
 
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#5
My thought is at least wire the pickups (one at a time) to the jack to hear the pure sound of the pickup. This will be the brightest sound the pickup is capable of, so you can compare to what it sounds like through the pots. Any adjustment in the value of the pots can bring you closer to that direct sound.
 
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#6
Thanks for the advice so far everyone. Much appreciated. Was thinking about what I can do without ... And i wouldn't want to just go straight to the jack because I do roll back the tone for some softer songs my bands play, but the volume knob I could probably do without.
Would a killswitch be a good idea instead of the 1M volume pot? Thinking it might be cool to have for some Tom Morello type effects :smug: Or would it be better to just go straight from the pickup selector to the no load tone pot?
Also, I don't think I'd want to do the series /parallel switch. Want to keep things simple as possible. Currently have the mm pickup wired in series, might see how it sounds in parallel and decide which way to leave it.
 
#10
GrooveCaptain said:
Yeah, I've tried all kinds of nickel and steel roundwounds over the years. Still trying to find the perfect string. Something as bright as a stainless string without the rough/sticky feeling and clankiness.
Click to expand...

I really dig the DR Pure Blues strings I currently have on my 5'er, but how bright is "bright enough" is such a subjective thing.
 
#11
Passinwind said:
I really dig the DR Pure Blues strings I currently have on my 5'er, but how bright is "bright enough" is such a subjective thing.
Click to expand...
I'll have to give those a shot next. Currently using a set of billy Sheehan Rotosound and DAddario NYXL. The Rotos aren't bad but a little rough feeling and very clanky. I really liked the NYXL initially but they seem to be going dead already after only a month. And I've been using a string cleaner after practices too. Got a set of LA Bella hard Rockin steels and DR high beams that will be going on next.
 
#12
GrooveCaptain said:
I'll have to give those a shot next. Currently using a set of billy Sheehan Rotosound and DAddario NYXL. The Rotos aren't bad but a little rough feeling and very clanky. I really liked the NYXL initially but they seem to be going dead already after only a month. And I've been using a string cleaner after practices too. Got a set of LA Bella hard Rockin steels and DR high beams that will be going on next.
Click to expand...

I'm very easy on strings, but the Pure Blues set has only started to really go noticeably off by my standards at nearly a year in. I'll be putting a new set on in the next week or so, it'll be interesting to hear the difference.
 
#13
Thanks again for the advice guys. A little update... I ordered a Bourns no-load 500k linear taper tone pot and a momentary killswitch button that I'll be using instead of a volume pot. I'll be able to get some cool buckethead/ Tom morello type effects with it, plus it has a latching feature that if you push the button in hard enough it locks. So I can use it as a mute switch too! :hyper:Can't wait to hook it all up! :bassist:
 
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