JapanAxe

Just re-read your OP and noticed ‘read tab fluently’. I think that’s quite unusual, but unfortunately not that useful (in this context). With one tribute band I have had the keyboard player send me the ‘bass pad’ in standard notation, to learn before the gig; otherwise I’ve been expected to learn the set myself.

Yes there are some 'genre' tributes but I think it can be trickier to pitch. For instance, if you did a Britpop show, you would somehow need to differentiate your act from a thousand pub bands knocking out covers of Oasis, Pulp, Blur etc. It's important to have a unique selling point (USP). If all this sounds very business-oriented, that's because it is!

Be aware that is a long and expensive road. You need to pick an artist with enough well-known material (with maybe some album 'deep cuts') to fill a 2-hour show, and a strong enough base of diehard fans and/or well-heeled (usually mature) punters to pay for tickets. Some acts really require lookalikes as well as soundalikes. If the material is heavily produced/orchestrated, you may need synched tracks to fill out the sound. Then you'll want a professional-quality showreel for you or your booking agent to send out to venues. If a venue already has a tribute to your chosen artist, they may not wish to take a chance on an alternative. Just some things to think about...

It’s about who you know really. I dep on rhythm guitar (mostly) and bass (occasionally) in a Dire Straits tribute that plays theatres and arts centres all over the UK. I met the BL through a mutual friend who was putting together a scratch band for a wedding - not something I recommend btw!

Yes I'm trying to avoid that. Here's the P-bass circuit. The pickup is connected to lugs 1 and 3 of the 250k pot so always sees that impedance (in parallel with whatever it's plugged into). Here's the VVT Jazz bass schematic. Each pickup is connected to lugs 2 and 3 of its corresponding volume pot, so it sees everything from 250k (volume up full) to zero (volume at minimum). At (say) 20% it is seeing just 50k resistamce to ground. The OP circuit avoids this by adding resistance in series with the volume pot, forming a potential divider that can be used to reduce the output of either pickup. As I said in the OP, there are plenty of people who are happy with this, and it sounds like you get on with your blend setup. That's all good, I'm just looking for something that works for me

Thanks, I came across these when I was looking into options. I drew out the circuit in the OP and added in the second cross-connection as per the lower diagram, then compared the two. The OP circuit simply puts a resistance (let's call it R) in the path of one of the pickups at a time, to attenuate its signal. The effect of adding the cross-connection is to add a second resistive path in parallel: At zero attenuation there is no difference. At maximum attenuation the resistance in series with the pickup is now ½R instead of R. At the halfway point, it becomes ⅜R instead of ½R, so the taper of the blend has changed. Also with this circuit you wouldn't get the effect of completely disconnecting a pickup if you cut the resistive tracks near the end. It would be a quick and easy thing to try though. In the upper diagram, the second cross-connection is tied to ground, which is a different approach altogether and has the effect of loading the pickups, which the OP circuit doesn't.

I mentioned earlier today I had 'another idea' - I've implemented it, and it works! When thinking about what didn't work for me about the stacked-knob setup, the main issue was the tone pot taper, where there was little effect until the bottom quarter turn of the pot. I removed the extra 56nF caps and added a 510k resistor between the wiper and the 'hot' lug of each tone pot, thereby converting the existing 500k tone pots to 250k with a somewhat different taper. The tone pots behave much better! Curent plan is to to stick with this, but also acquire a 3-control plate and build it as Vol/Switch/Tone or Vol/Blend/Tone. Watch this space...

That’s the thing, once you back off a stacked volume control or a VVT volume more than one notch out of 10, I don’t hear any further change. EDIT: Hoping for more variation on a blend…

Well spotted! The bass came without the correct 6-32 intonation screw (actually a bolt). The original would be 1 7/16in (39mm) long. I sourced some 2in bolts and cut one a bit longer, as I suspected the original had been lost because it didn’t adequately engage with the bridge saddle. This topic is crying out for a PhD thesis!

What does the Turbo switch do? I’m kind of afraid to ask…

Yes that may be the way to go. I keep having to remind myself that this bass is basically a MIM Roadworn with some extra relic’ing, not a vintage instrument! A couple of Christmases ago I woke at 4am, and was still awake at 5am, so I got up and (with the help of a YT video) replaced the heater roller in my laser printer. That put me in a good mood for the rest of the day. In the meantime I’ve had another idea…

I decided it would be good to keep at least some of the stack-knob look by turning one volume/tone pair into master controls, and replacing the other with a rotary pickup selector or blender, using just the chromed volume knob. But can I hell get the volume knobs off? It feels like the screws have been tightened with one of those air tools that tyre fitters use. I have tried WD40 and heating the knob with a soldering iron, so far without success. The grub screws are slot-head types, and as I apply more torque the screwdriver blade starts to distort, or the blade cams out of the slot - you can only do that so many times before the screw is mullered. Any tips folks? And if you're wondering why I'm sat doing this on Christmas Eve, we've just had tea with the grandkids, and Mrs JapanAxe has sent me to my music room while she does some last-minute wrapping!

Exactly what I was going to recommend. I recently put one on my main lead guitar pedalboard to mix in wet-only signals from two delay pedals. It works a treat and was stupidly inexpensive - less than £50 on Amazon, even cheaper on eBay. It’s a clone of the discontinued OBNE Signal Blender.

I’ve never hankered after the series option, in fact I rarely use it on my Dingwall NG2. I’d be interested to see how the two volume controls interact in series mode.

With this circuit, centre position on the blend control means both pickups are connected direct to the master volume and tone controls, so that would be equivalent to both volumes maxed in a VVT setup as you say, needed to reject RF interference. Neck full / bridge 20% should also be achievable.

I've just finished reading most of the 18-page Talkbass thread, which runs from 2014 to August 2025! I'm going to go for a 100k MN blend pot and cut the traces for full isolation at the extremes, so I've ordered a pack of 5 via eBay. If I don't like it, I've found there's room in the cavity to fit a rotary selector switch.

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

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

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

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: Vol/3-way/Tone 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?

I play guitar in a rockabilly band where the double bass player wraps sticking plaster around each of his plucking fingers before playing. I don’t play double bass so I’ll leave it to others to comment on the pros and cons of this approach!

No, it’s never occurred to me to think like that! I decide which bass I think will work best for the gig and take that, and sometimes a spare.

I currently have ongoing involvement with the following, in no particular order: - Bowie tribute 7pc - 2nd guitar (member) - gig booked in January, more in 2026 subject to confirmation - Rockabilly/country/originals 4pc - lead guitar (member) - gigs in 2026, BL actively seeking quality work including R’n’R festivals - Glam covers startup 4pc - lead guitar & MD (member) - showreel completed, BL now looking to launch us into theatres - Dire Straits tribute 6pc - rhythm guitar or bass (dep) - played about 10% of their 2025 gigs, more booked for 2026 - Pub covers band 4pc - lead guitar (dep) - covered for long-term illness but they have a new guitarist for 2026 - Rock’n’roll band 4pc - guitar or bass (dep) as required - nothing in the pipeline with them but they just call me if they’re stuck - Swing band 17pc - bass (or potentially guitar) (dep) - I cover their Monday night rehearsal if the regular guy can’t make it - Prog/pop covers band 5pc - bass (dep) - one member quite well known in the YouTube guitar scene - saw them, loved the set, familiarised myself with the set, dropped shameless hints to the keys player who I know, ended up covering 2 of their rehearsals Also-rans from 2025: - One-off jazz and jazz-adjacent gig on guitar, with the keys player mentioned above and a female vocalist, at a charity fundraiser that was a logistical nightmare - Asked to dep on bass for a theatre gig with a classic rock covers 6pc, suggestion of more opportunities next year - got well into learning the set but then the gig got pulled and I suspect the band is no more (website has gone) - Not long after that gig got cancelled, I got a request to stand in on bass with a blues band for the same night, which of course I did! EDIT: Forgot a dep gig on bass with a 4pc country band!

Yep. keep it short and to the point - a minute is plenty! I couldn't get to them before when I was on my phone, but here are a couple of shots from the stalls taken by the singer's husband. I'm stage left, playing the red Tele. The videographer also used a drone to get shots from angles that couldn't otherwise be achieved. The whole thing cost us about £400 at mates' rates, but if you are paying full professional price you will be lucky to get much change from a grand.