LiamPodmore Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 Evening all, I'm just wondering if anyones ever wired a P bass pickup straight to the jack, and whether it sounded usable or not. I want to pull all the pots out of my bass as they're getting in the way now. I have seen some people mention that it might be sensible to add in a resistor and/or cap to make the signal similar to what it would be with the pots, so if anyone knows how i'd do that? Thanks, Liam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_5 Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 There's nothing wrong with doing this. Provided that you like to run the bass with the tone control all the way up then you won't need any resistors or capacitors in here, just wire and a socket. The sound will be a little bit more 'toppy' but not by much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 you can go straight if you want - will (probably) sound more open with less roll off of high freq. Also depends on the input impedance of your amp. I quite like the straight to jack sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 To replicate the effect of the tone control on full (minimum treble cut) wire a 250k or 500k depending on what the pot value in there is in series with the capacitor (0.047µF) and then connect them between the signal lead and the earth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiamPodmore Posted August 15, 2013 Author Share Posted August 15, 2013 Thanks for the quick replies. I was just wondering if anyone here had done it. It's only a practice bass so i'm not that fussed on sound, i was just wanting to know that it wouldn't destroy anything in any of my pedals or preamp. Liam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_5 Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 Nah, it's all good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertbass Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 Been there, done that on a Hoyer I once owned. Wired the pickups straight to an on/off switch then on to jack. Sounded great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 [size=4]I had to do that with my first bass, a Framus, when the electrics completely failed.[/size] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiamPodmore Posted August 15, 2013 Author Share Posted August 15, 2013 (edited) Thankfully the electrics still work (One of KiOgon's lovely wiring looms), just the pots and knobs get in my way now i've decided to make it lefty due to boredom. Does anyone know the best way to wire it? Liam Edited August 15, 2013 by LiamPodmore Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Rich Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 The Fodera Anthony Jackson Contrabass is wired straight to the jack, a snip at just $22,500.00. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grangur Posted August 16, 2013 Share Posted August 16, 2013 [quote name='LiamPodmore' timestamp='1376606308' post='2176882'] Thankfully the electrics still work (One of KiOgon's lovely wiring looms), just the pots and knobs get in my way now i've decided to make it lefty due to boredom. Does anyone know the best way to wire it? Liam [/quote] I've done it on a bass I was building where it had a real thin sound. So I wired the Bartolini P pups straight to the jack. It sounded good to me. White wire to the jack-plug end terminal, black wire to the earth terminal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
operative451 Posted August 16, 2013 Share Posted August 16, 2013 Mine's like that, knobs annoy me and the electrics were dead as it's a rescue from a friend's dad's shed. I like it, looks clean, very little to go wrong and sounds nice and throaty! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jezzaboy Posted August 17, 2013 Share Posted August 17, 2013 I have done the same thing recently with my Yam RBX 374. Something went kaput with the active circut, so I just ripped everything out and wired it straight to the jack. I put the pots back in so the bass looks the same and it sounds better to me than before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rumple Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 My fretless is wired like that at the moment, just the P pup straight to the jack, sounds a lot better then when it was active. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer of the Bass Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 (edited) I did this with a bandmates' bass, because we had zero budget for new pots. It was a cheapy Encore, fitted with a decent alnico pickup of unknown origin. It sounded fine, but it was definitely at the grindy/clanky rockish end of P-bass tone - I liked it but it was hard to dial out the clank with the simple EQ on the old valve amp we had in the rehearsal room. Edited September 3, 2013 by Beer of the Bass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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