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Fender bass tone control failed


Fat Rich
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The tone control has packed up on my old Jazz bass (it's a volume, volume, tone), it seems to now cut the overall volume of the bass.

My guess is the capacitor has failed, but could it be the pot? There are no crackles or cutting out, it's just not a tone control any more.

I'd normally replace both pot and cap but it's the last remaining '73 pot in the bass so would like to keep it if it's still working.

Edited by Fat Rich
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[quote name='Fat Rich' timestamp='1378920150' post='2206557']
The tone control has packed up on my old Jazz bass (it's a volume, volume, tone), it seems to now cut the overall volume of the bass.

My guess is the capacitor has failed, but could it be the pot? There are no crackles or cutting out, it's just not a tone control any more.

I'd normally replace both pot and cap but it's the last remaining '73 pot in the bass so would like to keep it if it's still working.
[/quote]

Yup, sounds like the cap, sounds like everything is going to ground instead of just the high frequencies. Either it's shorted out somehow or it's bust and is just letting everything through.

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Wow, quick reply! Thanks for that, that's pretty much what I was thinking.

I've got some spare caps and a soldering iron, and some plasters for when I burn my fingers! What could possibly go wrong? :huh:

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rr7bPmGTQUk"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rr7bPmGTQUk[/url]

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It could also be one of the pickups opening up in the coil. When you pop the control plate off, have an ohmmeter ready and since you have the soldering iron already out, undo the "hot" lead from each pickup's volume control and measure it to ground. Each pickup should read @ 7 to 9 kohms DC to ground. Make sure you get a steady, stable reading in that range before you go changing the tone control pot or cap. Then after that, instead of changing out the components, since the tone control is not used as often, it could just be some corrosion in the pot. Get some contact cleaner and spray only the slightest bit in the pot and rotate the knob so the wiper cleans the wafer to see if that helps. If none of the above work, then it's time to change the pot and cap.

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Unfortunately I don't have an ohmmeter, I've twiddled and jiggled the pot to see if it cuts out or crackles so I'm pretty confident cleaning it won't help. Now it's a volume control it works smoothly and progressively so I think the pot is OK.

I think I'll try the cap first, then the pot and if that doesn't work I'll borrow a meter and check the pickups.

Thanks!

Edited by Fat Rich
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