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[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1247410' date='May 27 2011, 06:08 PM']Are you saying that you can chose to make one pup louder that the other while in series? [/quote] Yes. The idea is to attenuate the volume of one pup before mixing it with the other. That way you get a different proportion of the two pups, whether you're in parallel or in series. [quote name='Ou7shined' post='1247410' date='May 27 2011, 06:08 PM']At first glance it seems this circuit looks very close to what I have done to mine - resulting in each end of the blend (on full extent) offering equal volume from both (obviously as they are in series - a loop if you like) and the middle section boosts the two as a side-effect of my fix to create the two channels for my Schack.[/quote] I'm afraid I couldn't understand your comments about your Schack preamp, so I don't know how closely my circuit resembles yours. At each end of the blend, you get the signal from just one pickup. The other pickup has been reduced to zero volume. I'm not sure what you mean by "both". Both pickups? Or both serial and parallel? [quote name='Ou7shined' post='1247410' date='May 27 2011, 06:08 PM']Grrr, I was looking forward to a quiet evening in, now I've got to go and build a whole new bass to try this out... after my tea like. [/quote] Hey, I'm really sorry for ruining your evening! Please apologize to your missus on my account [quote name='Ou7shined' post='1247842' date='May 28 2011, 02:00 AM']With just one problem.... I don't think it works. Well it kind of does - it produces similar results to what you'd expect (ie. panning bridge to neck in both switching modes) but there's just something fishy that I can't quite put my finger on.[/quote] I didn't have time to put together some sound samples of how the circuit is working on my bass. From a quick play the sound seemed to be roughly what I expected in each position. In particular, in both series and parallel modes, with the blend pot fully clockwise only the neck pickup was on (checked by tapping the polepieces with a screwdriver - only one pickup produced the tap through the amp), and similarly when fully anti-clockwise only the bridge pup was on. [quote name='Ou7shined' post='1247842' date='May 28 2011, 02:00 AM']I bodged together bits and bobs I had lying around to make a test bed. The results were inconclusive (only a noticeable volume drop) so I had to coble together a whole bass to see if I could actually hear the difference in tone. Much noodling later (oops) I still can't hear a distinct series or parallel shift, all I hear is the drop in volume. What you get here is a sort of "quite switch". I think the signal is being bled to earth somewhere but I'm just too tired to work it out tonight.[/quote] I'll be interested to hear what you think the circuit is doing, when you've got time to work it out. But please don't stay up specially for this [quote name='Ou7shined' post='1247842' date='May 28 2011, 02:00 AM']Think of it in these terms, if you are in series mode (which means they physically share the exact same rail) then you "blend" one pup out to solo the other, [b]what is the remaining pup in series with?[/b] It's still physically connected with it's buddy but the muted pup's signal is being lost somewhere... presumably to earth.[/quote] It's being lost somewhere, sure, but it doesn't have to be lost to earth. Put it this way: take your pickup, and join the two wires together. If you pluck a string, it produces a signal in that pup. Where is the signal going to? Well, it's just getting lost in the wire (dissipated as an infinitessimal quantity of heat). It doesn't have to go to earth. And that's essentially what I'm doing with the signal when each pickup is attenuated (by the blend control) before being mixed (in the series/parallel switch). At the extremities, in series mode, I've got one pickup with its wires shorted together, joined to the end of the other pickup. Unfortunately, it's not actually quite so simple, because the blend puts an extra 250k resistance in there. That's probably the cause of the volume drop you're hearing. And in the cold light of morning, it doesn't seem a very desirable feature. Originally I had the blend pot wired differently - for each track the 3 tags were wired as: negative, out hot, in hot, instead of -, in, out. In other words each track was acting as a traditional single volume control. But of course that doesn't work well in parallel - when you blend out one pickup you end up shorting out both. (That sounds like something you were describing in your circuit, so maybe this is where the difference is?) So I switched the wiring round to avoid this problem in parallel mode, but perhaps things work better the other way round. That way, in series mode, when one pup is blended out, the other one is in series with nothing. [quote name='Ou7shined' post='1247842' date='May 28 2011, 02:00 AM']Seeing as I've spent all night on this, I'll selfishly post some pics. ...[/quote] Well, a pic is worth a thousand words!

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='1247751' date='May 27 2011, 11:49 PM']Mart thanks for the diagram that's really good, but I don't want to use Delano pickups - could you do me a diagram for Fender pickups? [color="#FFFFFF"]j/k![/color] Also, this business of the blend centre position being much louder, is that true with both series and parallel settings or just one or the other? Thanks again for the diagram that is boss. [/quote] The centre position is louder ONLY when it's in series mode. In parallel you get a constant volume, but a change in tone as you rotate the blend pot.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='1235618' date='May 18 2011, 12:57 PM']I did a series/parallel mod on a Jazz earlier this year, now I've got another Jazz and I'd like to add series/parallel switch to that too, plus a blend pot, so the knobs would go... V (push/pull) - B - T Does anyone have a diagram for this? Cheers, - Kev[/quote] Ok, finally, here's a diagram for what you want: I've heard so many people say that you can't have a blend control with a series switch, that I had to try it myself. And it turns out that that's an urban myth: this circuit shows that you can have a blend control with a series configuration. The only problem (as you will discover with this circuit) is that the mid-point - with both pickups on full - is MUCH louder than when the single pickups are soloed. Incidentally, since the bass I tried this out on has 4 pots with a V/B/T/T config, I also tried adapting this circuit, with individual tone controls for each pickup before the blend control (like Ou7shined mentioned above). This also works, and when you have both pickups on, the two tone controls act cumulatively, just like they do in the original circuit this bass was built with. If you have both pickups on, and one tone control fully anti-clockwise (taking off as much treble as it can), then you will notice a little more treble go when you roll off the other tone control. Here is the V/B/T/T version of the circuit: Have fun with your soldering iron!

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1243981' date='May 25 2011, 10:29 AM']The one would choke the other. Say you have one set to fully roll off the treble, what can the other one do? Nowt. Not to mention the relative ineffectiveness of having two caps bleeding your signal to earth at the same time - ok you just half their value. In an active EQ circuit there is no problem, as you preselect isolated frequency ranges and boost or cut that specific frequency range without affecting other frequencies - you could probably even have two pots selecting the same frequency ranges and produce a strange (probably unusable) compressed tone by cutting one and boosting the other. In passive circuit you can only remove top end not add anything (there is one exception - a bit of crazy wizardry that effectively produces a passive bass boost... and I use it in my circuits. )[/quote] Ok, that makes sense. Thanks.

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1243634' date='May 24 2011, 10:58 PM']In theory... but not really because in order for them to work independently you will have to have your tone pots before your s/p switch. What then happens when you switch them to series? Uh-oh two tone pots on the same line. You could set a switch to by pass one of the pots but then your simple DPDT switch just became a whole lot more complicated.[/quote] How much of a problem is it to have two tone pots on the same line? Doesn't it just give a wider range of tone roll-off? Or is there some loop problem?

[quote name='Monckyman' post='1243932' date='May 25 2011, 09:42 AM']OK, but I wasn`t intending fitting a series switch, that was the OP. If there was no complications from a switch would the two tone thing work? EG: Master Vol/Blend/Tone neck/ Tone Bridge. Are there any basses set up like this? Apologies to OP for the hi-jack, am hoping this is all relevant to him too. MM[/quote] Yes, Vol/Blend/Tone/Tone is fine. The link I posted above (diagram SP RB 127R on [url="http://www.warwick.de/modules/infos/info.php?rndtop&katID=17090&cl=EN"]http://www.warwick.de/modules/infos/info.p...17090&cl=EN[/url]) has exactly that config.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='1243047' date='May 24 2011, 03:32 PM']... Thank God it's not a 1956 ... that would present me with a serious decision to make. ...[/quote] But it was made in the second half of 1955. What month were you born in? YOC bass perhaps?

Fair enough. If you want help wiring up a 6-tag blend control, then just copy the first diagram (SP RB 127R) on this page: [url="http://www.warwick.de/modules/infos/info.php?rndtop&katID=17090&cl=EN"]http://www.warwick.de/modules/infos/info.p...17090&cl=EN[/url]

[quote name='therose789' post='1241807' date='May 23 2011, 04:15 PM']it has one 4 ohm and 2 8 ohm outs ...[/quote] From the manual on the Orange website I don't think it'll cope with a 4 ohm cab and 2 8 ohm cabs at the same time. The manual says it can handle 1 8 ohm cab (plugged into the "8 ohm" output), or 1 4 ohm cab (plugged into either of the "4 ohm" outputs) or 2 8 ohm cabs (each plugged into one of the 2 "4 ohm" outputs). So it looks like the 2 4 ohm outputs are designed for a TOTAL load of 4 ohms, not for 4 ohms in each output. So I read that as saying that it'll happily work at 8 ohms or 4 ohms. But you'd need it to cope with 2 ohms in order to run the 3 cabs you suggest, and I don't think the head is designed for this. Edit: Oh, it looks like MythSte beat me to it!

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='1239360' date='May 21 2011, 02:52 PM']Whatever works I guess?[/quote] Both work, but a 6-tag blend control gives less attenuation in the middle position. But it's probably more expensive and takes twice as long to wire up.

Just bought a pedal from PauBass. Excellent pedal, excellent price and excellent service - a great person to do business with!

Aw, thanks guys! Up close you can see the flaws in the paintwork more - the photos are not as revealing as they could be. I did sand down the gloss, but just enough to rough it up - I didn't take it all off, and I didn't spend that long sanding. The "during" photo is after just one layer of primer. That's why it looks a bit matt, and why the headstock still shows where I sanded off the hideous RockBass logo. The final finish is gloss.

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' post='1237795' date='May 20 2011, 09:47 AM']... Looks like a twiglet! ...[/quote] Brilliant observation!

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='1237587' date='May 19 2011, 11:30 PM']Well I was planning to replace the two volume pots with a volume w. push/pull 2PDT switch and a blend pot, so the only original pot left will be the tone pot (and I think I'm putting a .1uF cap on that). Thanks for the log/lin info that was really starting to bother me. [/quote] Are you planning to use a 3-tag blend pot or a 6-tag pot?

[quote name='lobematt' post='1237085' date='May 19 2011, 04:45 PM']... Anyone got any before and after pics of refins they've done?[/quote] Before: during: and after: and several more [url="http://forum.warwick.de/17-rockbass/13065-great-rockbass-renovation-project.html"]here[/url]

Yep, that's probably true. Although a bass that's "white with a hint of rose" would probably go down very well with the ladeez

[quote name='lobematt' post='1236970' date='May 19 2011, 03:09 PM']How would I go about stripping a bass? One of the tough ones, not sure what its called, but a colour with a clear coating. Is it chemical, heat, sanding or a mixture of them all? And also how hard is it to get a good looking solid colour put back onto it?[/quote] Somebody with more expertise will probably come along and clarify this, but my understanding was that if you want to put a solid colour on, then you probably don't need to strip all the old coating off. You just need to sand it enough to make it rough so as to provide a good surface for the paint to grip to. How hard it is to get a solid colour on will depend on 1) what experience you have of spraying, 2) how fussy you are - i.e., what you mean by "good looking". I found it quite easy spraying my bass, but a) I've done quite a bit of spray painting and I wasn't too fussy. Oh and c) I didn't mind spending a bit of time with t-cut rubbing the paint down after I'd finished spraying.

The volume and tone controls are not shown on that diagram - they are off the bottom. The two wires at the bottom connect to the outside tags on your volume, and the middle tag and the earth wire are connected to the output socket, with the tone pot wired across them. Putting that another way, take that diagram, with its two wires coming out the bottom, and imagine that as a single pickup. Now take any wiring diagram for a P-bass (or any other single pickup bass) and put that diagram in the place of the pickup. I [i]think[/i] volume pots are usually log and tone are linear, but it won't be a disaster if you get the wrong sort.

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='1236487' date='May 18 2011, 11:51 PM']Buy ANY [b][u]SECOND-HAND[/u][/b] non-budget Warwick now and glory in the fact that you'll have a cracking bass that seriously can't dip in value any lower than it presently is but rest assured WILL be worth more in years to come! [/quote] Fixed one tiny detail for you.

[quote name='Big_Stu' post='1235231' date='May 18 2011, 09:13 AM']I've seen that "[i]I purchased it from and authorised fender dealer in the States"[/i] a few times in such ads & had it said at a guitar fair. I would doubt very much whether any Fender dealer was authorised to have them, or whether Fender let them leave the factory. But I'm guessing, does anyone know if it's a possibility? ...[/quote] No hard facts, but [url="http://www.fender.com/support/articles/fender-instrument-replacement-decal"]this[/url] (and common sense) would strongly suggest that you are right in thinking that Fender don't sell decals. It certainly would be difficult to understand why they would.

Depends on how you do it. I refinished a bass in plain white for about £30 using some rattle-cans from Halfords. OTOH I remember reading a great quote from the Manchester Guitar Tech people that basically said that if you want them to re-finish your bass, it'd be cheaper to sell your bass and buy a new one in the right colour!

[quote name='topo morto' post='1230473' date='May 13 2011, 09:47 PM']...there's another one of the [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVdmxA59qY"]VT and the blonde[/url] but that one turned out a bit quiet. I am still trying to work out how best to record for youtube! Hope someone might find them interesting...[/quote] Nice videos, and very helpful. Unfortunately your last link was broken: it should be [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVdmxA59qYs"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVdmxA59qYs[/url]

[quote name='son of frog' post='1229554' date='May 13 2011, 02:03 AM']...I think the Andertons website may just have it wrong, I may just pop in and give one a go with two basses. ... I mean it wasn't on the main product page the quote... that took some finding, and im sure i would have bought one a lot sooner and this whole confusion could have been avoided. [/quote] The EHX website is pretty clear about this: On the main product page it says "No power supply required" In the instructions pdf it says "The Switchblade is capable of carrying out all of your simple switching needs, [b]without having to worry about batteries and power adaptors[/b]" and "The Switchblade is a passive device and requires no power supply, such as a battery or power adapter" I think it's safe to say that Andertons are wrong. But you are near enough to be able to pop in and check. And tell them to correct their website!