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Bought a cheap SX p bass as a backup, decided to upgrade a few parts.

Upgraded machine heads, then bought a mullard tropical fish cap swapped out the the green cap.

The pots are cheap and the mini size, when i installed the new cap it actually made the bass sound worse, seemed to to lack a certain p bass vibe that it had. Could it be that the new cap didnt work well with the existing pots?

I put an old green cap back on that i had hanging around and it was back to normal, not sure its going to be worth spending anymore on it.

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Possibly the existing caps are 500k which are usually quite harsh and 'middly'. The best P bass tone I've found is with both pots at 250k and a .47 cap. CTS are very good, stick an orange drop in and you should get every P bass sound up and down the tone pot. If you really want to experiment, fit a 0.1 cap in if you want to grab that swampy reggae rumble any time.

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[quote name='LITTLEWING' timestamp='1501011545' post='3341814']
Possibly the existing pots are 500k which are usually quite harsh and 'middly'. The best P bass tone I've found is with both pots at 250k and a .47 cap. CTS are very good, stick an orange drop in and you should get every P bass sound up and down the tone pot. If you really want to experiment, fit a 0.1 cap in if you want to grab that swampy reggae rumble any time.
[/quote]

Corrected. LW is right. Check the pots.

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[quote name='garry warrington' timestamp='1500920608' post='3341118']
Bought a cheap SX p bass as a backup, decided to upgrade a few parts.

Upgraded machine heads, then bought a mullard tropical fish cap swapped out the the green cap.

The pots are cheap and the mini size, when i installed the new cap it actually made the bass sound worse, seemed to to lack a certain p bass vibe that it had. Could it be that the new cap didnt work well with the existing pots?

I put an old green cap back on that i had hanging around and it was back to normal, not sure its going to be worth spending anymore on it.
[/quote]
Although I confess I often mod things for the sake of modding them, I am also, at times, quite pragmatic. If the existing post and cap give you the tone you want and the pots don't crackle, then I would leave well alone....anything different is going to sound, well, different ;)

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[quote name='garry warrington' timestamp='1501002755' post='3341723']
The Tropical fish cap was meant to be 0.047 ,(perhaps it didnt get on with the SX pots. The tone sounded harsher and less defined, Sx basses are half decent for the money, and usually give a passable p bass tone.

Would it be worth my while getting some CTS pots with a orange drop cap.
[/quote]Don't waste your money. CTS pots are just pots,reasonable quality but nothing special. Go for Bourns or the bigger OMEG ones if you can get them. Orange drop caps are just orange coloured. No magic The mullard caps will be circa 40 years old and 20% tolerance. So the value could be anywhere between about 425K and 575K. The best think is to look on the other place where many people have SX basses and I am sure there are stories of successful upgrades.

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[quote name='garry warrington' timestamp='1501002755' post='3341723']
The Tropical fish cap was meant to be 0.047 ,(perhaps it didnt get on with the SX pots. The tone sounded harsher and less defined, Sx basses are half decent for the money, and usually give a passable p bass tone.

Would it be worth my while getting some CTS pots with a orange drop cap.
[/quote]

0.047 ie 47nF or 0.47 ie 470nF. 0.047 as stated seems rather tiny for a passive bass tone circuit ?

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