StevieD_FenderP2009 Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Guys, I need your help big time here! Basically, I've got a new pre amp for my Tobias but the guy I bought it from didn't know how to wire it in so I've been left to guess but I'm a bit stuck with it. I know it works because I've been able to hook the pick ups straight to the pre amp but when I try wiring in the blend and volume pot, I can't get it to work. There is one wire that goes from the pre amp to the volume pot then one wire from that to the blend pot but no earth wire from either. I'm not too fussed about what set up i have whether it be volume and blend or two volume pots (admittedly, I'd prefer volume and blend but beggars can't be choosers) but I just need some help with how to wire it in. If someone could help me I'd really appreciate it. Cheers Stevie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 what's the preamp? what inputs does it have on it? My guess.... it the blend knob has 3 prongs. take the hot wire from each pup onto the outside toggles. centre prong onto one of the vol pot centre. one side prong of volume into positive on preamp. the ground can go into the pre straight.... maybe earth the cases of the pots too? Thats off the top of my head how I would do it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevieD_FenderP2009 Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share Posted January 11, 2012 The pre amp is a Dave McKeen 3 band pre amp. I've tried contacting the company but the email address just fires back a non delivery email straight away. Apparently they did pre amps for Zon basses for a while which is where this came from. I'll have a go at what you suggested when i get a spare minute. It's just bloody annoying. I have band practise friday and would love to get this bass going again in time for it as it's my favourite of my basses. If I can't get it going properly I'll be getting an Aguilar OBP-3 for it or see if I can get my old Spector pre amp working. Either way, I doubt this pre amp will be staying in the bass. cheers mate Stevie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkBassChat Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 (edited) [quote name='StevieD_FenderP2009' timestamp='1326136567' post='1492808'] I know it works because I've been able to hook the pick ups straight to the pre amp but when I try wiring in the blend and volume pot, I can't get it to work. [/quote]Stevie, Usually blend and volume pots are is such cases connected exactly in the same way as in passive basses. So the pickups are connected to the blend pot, the blend pot is connected to the volume pot, the volume pot is connected to the preamp. It means that you shouldn't connect pickups straight to the preamp (unless it is a very special preamp). Of course there are other types of preamps and I don't know which type you have. A good quality photo could help. Also a meaningful subject of the topic . In the worst case you can connect the pickups as in passive bass (at least for Friday). Mark Edited January 11, 2012 by MarkBassChat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mart Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 [quote name='StevieD_FenderP2009' timestamp='1326242210' post='1494511'] The pre amp is a Dave McKeen 3 band pre amp. ... [/quote] Does it look like this? (Taken from [url="http://www.myspace.com/keenelectronics/photos/721411"]http://www.myspace.com/keenelectronics/photos/721411[/url]) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkBassChat Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 It seems to me that this preamp was already discissed here (a month or so ago). You can clearly see that on the left you have: +Bat - red Ground - black two others are input and output - you have to guess which one is which but there are only 2 possibilities. And the pickups, blend pot and vol pot should be connected exactly in the same way as in any passive bass. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StraightSix Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 [quote name='MarkBassChat' timestamp='1326265839' post='1494567'] Also a meaningful subject of the topic [/quote] I agree - you will get far more help if you title the thread subject meaningfully... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevieD_FenderP2009 Posted January 12, 2012 Author Share Posted January 12, 2012 [quote name='mart' timestamp='1326283547' post='1494837'] Does it look like this? (Taken from [url="http://www.myspace.com/keenelectronics/photos/721411"]http://www.myspace.c...s/photos/721411[/url]) [/quote] Hi Mart, yeah it does look like that but the yellow wire is brown and the green one is blue on mine. I'll upload some pictures on the next post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevieD_FenderP2009 Posted January 12, 2012 Author Share Posted January 12, 2012 As you can see in this picture, I've got the red wire going to the + terminal of the battery and the black wire going to the earthing terminal of the output jack which leaves the brown wire and the blue wire. The blue wire is the output wire so i connected that to the live part of the output jack and the brown wire was already soldered on to the volume pot so I left that as it was. [IMG]http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w99/Stevie_Dewar/cd596f03.jpg[/IMG] Here is a picture of the volume pot. The wiring on this is just the brown wire from the pre amp to the middle terminal then a yellow wire from the right terminal going off to the blend pot [IMG]http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w99/Stevie_Dewar/37c67a0a.jpg[/IMG] Here's a picture of the blend pot. As you can see, there is the yellow wire from the volume pot running to the top right (if you sit it with the shaft pointing upwards) terminal and then a blue wire going from that to the bottom left terminal but no other wires around. [IMG]http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w99/Stevie_Dewar/97758d1b.jpg[/IMG] Just for reference, a picture of the volume and blend pots together [IMG]http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w99/Stevie_Dewar/095a18ef.jpg[/IMG] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mart Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 Ok, for a vol/blend set-up, you just need to sort out the connection from pickups to blend pot, and the earth connections. The hots from the pickups go to the two centre tags on your blend pot (I think you wan to connect the neck hot wire to the tag nearest the shaft, bridge to the other). That leaves you with two tags on the blend pot that still have no wires - one at each corner. You need to link these by another short wire. And on one of these tags you also need to solder another (longer) wire which will join to your ground. The other end of this wire can go to the case on your volume pot. Then also link the earth wires from each pickup to the casing on the volume. And run another wire from this casing to the sleeve of the jack socket. And, finally, the ground wire from the bridge also needs to link to this casing. This is what you want to end up with: (All the black wires ending on the volume pot casing are supposed to be soldered together, and to the casing). Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkBassChat Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 Exactly as Mart wrote; the preamp is already connected correctly. You need to connect the pickups, the volume pot and the blend pot (and this should be done as in any passive bass). Starting from the volume pot: the third tag must be connected to the ground, the others are OK. The pickups should be connected as Mart wrote. The blend pot is connected incorrectly, you have ti move one wire - take a look at the drawing above. Pots should be connected to the ground (by means of the copper shield). Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevieD_FenderP2009 Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share Posted January 14, 2012 Thanks so much for your help guys. Unfortunately, I didn't get chance to sort it out in time for this evening but I used my Spector 5 string instead which sounded absolutely beautiful. I'll have a go at it tomorrow evening and let you know the out come Cheers again! I really do appreciate it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevieD_FenderP2009 Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share Posted January 14, 2012 Oh, quick question, will it matter if I attach the ground wires from the pick ups to the tags on the blend pot that are connected to the casing of the volume pot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mart Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 [quote name='StevieD_FenderP2009' timestamp='1326501820' post='1498300'] Oh, quick question, will it matter if I attach the ground wires from the pick ups to the tags on the blend pot that are connected to the casing of the volume pot? [/quote] No, electrically that'd be fine. The only reason not to is that, in my experience of soldering blend pots, it can get quite fiddly. So for that reason I would avoid having more wires coming in there than necessary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevieD_FenderP2009 Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share Posted January 14, 2012 Okay cheers for that. Only reason is, the pick up wires are wrapped together in a plastic sleeve so it would mean having a lot of bare wire for the earth ones if I attach them to the volume pot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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