fretmeister Posted August 5, 2019 Share Posted August 5, 2019 I have a lovely Fender American Special with the Greasebucket tone circuit. The circuit is crap. In fact I've had 2 basses with it on, and it's crap on both of them. I've seen various diagrams showing how to turn it into a regular tone control using the existing capacitors. As I understand it, the 0.1uF is the vintage choice and the 0.22uF is the modern one. I've found a few ebay demos of the capacitor swaps but either they have not been recorded very well or my ears can't tell the difference. Is there really much of a difference? Which one to I go for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vinny Posted August 5, 2019 Share Posted August 5, 2019 Isn't .47 micro the usual Fender cap? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretmeister Posted August 6, 2019 Author Share Posted August 6, 2019 No idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannybuoy Posted August 6, 2019 Share Posted August 6, 2019 Yeah I think .47 is vintage, .22 a bit brighter, .1 rarely used but brighter still? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretmeister Posted August 6, 2019 Author Share Posted August 6, 2019 I don't have a .47 so I'll try with the .22 then. On P basses without this silly circuit I tend to adjust the tone control quite a lot for different songs. Hopefully the .22 will do the job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmo Valdemar Posted August 7, 2019 Share Posted August 7, 2019 On 05/08/2019 at 11:45, fretmeister said: I have a lovely Fender American Special with the Greasebucket tone circuit. The circuit is crap. In fact I've had 2 basses with it on, and it's crap on both of them. I've seen various diagrams showing how to turn it into a regular tone control using the existing capacitors. As I understand it, the 0.1uF is the vintage choice and the 0.22uF is the modern one. I've found a few ebay demos of the capacitor swaps but either they have not been recorded very well or my ears can't tell the difference. Is there really much of a difference? Which one to I go for? I'm not familiar with the Greasebucket. What does it do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooky_lowdown Posted August 7, 2019 Share Posted August 7, 2019 On 06/08/2019 at 08:55, dannybuoy said: Yeah I think .47 is vintage, .22 a bit brighter, .1 rarely used but brighter still? 0.1 is vintage (as used in the original single coil P basses), 0.047 is standard, which I believe were introduced in late 60s and especially the 70s. 0.022 is guitar standard, so very bright! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretmeister Posted August 7, 2019 Author Share Posted August 7, 2019 2 hours ago, Cosmo Valdemar said: I'm not familiar with the Greasebucket. What does it do? It’s an ineffective tone control, that doesn’t do a lot. Or at least does nothing like the description of it about letting clarity through as you turn down the tone. It’s crap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmo Valdemar Posted August 7, 2019 Share Posted August 7, 2019 1 hour ago, fretmeister said: It’s an ineffective tone control, that doesn’t do a lot. Or at least does nothing like the description of it about letting clarity through as you turn down the tone. It’s crap. Most of my tone controls are little more than on/off knobs... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mazdah Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 I really liked greasebucket in Am. Special P I had at home for a few days. Can't see anything wrong in it. I have vintage spec. P with .1 cap and it's unusable mud city when tone knob is closed for more than 1/3 of range - with a lot of volume loss. I've modified it to more modern specification (.47) and was much better, but eventually few months ago got back to original - I love this bass just as it is I use it with 10-years old LaBellas 760 FL. But removing sould be fairly easy - just throw away everything that is not a pot or cable and put .47 cap in the right place The capacitor costs less than a single bubble gum, you can buy a few and experiment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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