Jazz Bass control circuits (passive) - what works for you?

[JapanAxe]

I recently acquired a lovely Jazz (having sworn off them for a good few years) and I find myself facing the same first-world problem that I always have - quick changes to the sound.

 

I know that many people swear by the Volume/Volume/Tone (VVT) setup, and like to juggle the volume controls for subtle changes. Frankly I find these too subtle to be worth bothering with, and I converted my last Jazz to Volume/3-way switch/Tone, a bit like a lot of the passive Yamaha BBs. My current Jazz is a stack-knob with the later variant control circuit (no mixing resistors) and I'm starting to think a little modding might be in order. The everything-on setting alone is worth the price of admission but I have the same issue as with the VVT in that there is only any tonal change over about 1/10 of a turn of either volume knob. It has 250k volume pots but 500k tone pots, so very little happens to the tone until the bottom quarter of the pot rotation. For now I have tacked a couple of 56nF resistors in parallel with the existing 50nF ones, which has improved things from my point of view.

 

I'm currently considering getting a 3-knob control plate and setting it up in one of the following ways:

1. Vol/3-way/Tone
2. Vol/Blend/Tone as per the diagram below - I originally found it on Talkbass but then found that @TRBboy had posted this thread about it last year.

I could easily try both and see which I liked best of course

 

So - what passive blends have members had success (or not) with, and who gave up and either fitted a 3-way switch, or returned the bass to stock?

 

 

 

 

[itu]

Where's you ser/par switch? Push/pull pot? 

[Beedster]

This is my solution, single PUP wired to jack 🙂 

[JapanAxe]

48 minutes ago, itu said:

Where's you ser/par switch? Push/pull pot? 

Just because you could do something doesn’t mean you should!

[Lozz196]

I prefer traditional VVT, that way I can of course get all things Jazz but also get very near Precision if needed by neck full, bridge 20%-ish, tone 80%-ish. 

[PaulThePlug]

2x Vol is a Juggle, Blends often too Subtle or All or Nothing

 

SR500 Passive, Vol and 3 way pup switch - simple

and Hohner B2, Vol and 3 Way Pup switch.

 

I'd give Simple a try.

Edited 1 hour ago by PaulThePlug

[JapanAxe]

17 minutes ago, PaulThePlug said:

2x Vol is a Juggle, Blends often too Subtle or All or Nothing

 

SR500 Passive, Vol and 3 way pup switch - simple

and Hohner B2, Vol and 3 Way Pup switch.

 

I'd give Simple a try.

I’m on board with ‘simple’ but I do like to ride the tone control from song to song.

[HeadlessBassist]

Whichever is the most convenient, I've found that there is a difference in sound between V/V/T and V/Blend/T, so I always leave mine as V/V/T.

 

I really liked the passive tone on the John East J-Tone system, which can be had either way.

 

Never really got on with the concentric Vol/Tone stacks. There's something missing from the sound there and they always sound too bright to me. 

[JapanAxe]

15 minutes ago, HeadlessBassist said:

Whichever is the most convenient, I've found that there is a difference in sound between V/V/T and V/Blend/T, so I always leave mine as V/V/T.

 

I really liked the passive tone on the John East J-Tone system, which can be had either way.

 

Never really got on with the concentric Vol/Tone stacks. There's something missing from the sound there and they always sound too bright to me. 

My stack-knob Jazz is definitely bright compared to my Precisions, but I enjoy the contrast.