Wiring my pickup directly to the jack with a difference

[Delberthot]

I've tried this before but misunderstood what sound I'd be getting - ie the equivelant position of the tone control.

I play with my volume up full and my tone control all the way round on my Warmoth- effectively rolling off all the bass. Is there a way to connect directly to a jack but have the sound exactly like this?

There must be a way of wiring in a cap somewhere to achieve this sound.


I'm far from being an electronics whizz so any help would be appreciated.


Its in pieces right now while I paint the headstock so I have plenty of time

Edited January 24, 2009 by Delberthot

[Buzz]

Unless I'm very much mistaken, it should simply be the job of wiring a correct value resistor in place of the pot, with the tail end of the resistor going to ground. Could be mistaken though.

Edited January 25, 2009 by Buzz

[2x18]

Just wire Pickup direct to Jack socket.

If you do need a tone variation try different vaue Capacitors until you get the sound you like ( Wired between live and ground )


Will.

[~tl]

Um, a passive tone control rolls off the [i]treble[/i] as you decrease the control, not the bass. Do you mean you play with the tone control fully up – i.e. the sound is at it's most trebly?

[Stylon Pilson]

Have you considered leaving the tone control in the circuit, but hiding it inside the control cavity? You'd need to employ the use of a screwdriver to adjust it, but you'd still have the potential (groan) to make adjustments in the future.

S.P.

Edited January 26, 2009 by Stylon Pilson

[Al Heeley]

Yep, tone and vol rolled all the way up to 10, you may just as well wire the pickup direct to the jack, nothing else in the way. Some say this gives better signal, no tone loss as there may alsways be a bit of capacitance and resistance in the circuit even when the potentiometers are on 'full'.
Note: you're not rolling off any bass, you are just not cutting the treble, as ~Tl rightly says.

[Delberthot]

That's it.

I had my other warmoth wired direct to jack and it was very bassy with little treble. That's why I thought that should be wiring a cap in doing it this way.

I am looking for full teble

[neepheid]

[quote name='Delberthot' post='391726' date='Jan 26 2009, 01:34 PM']That's it.

I had my other warmoth wired direct to jack and it was very bassy with little treble. That's why I thought that should be wiring a cap in doing it this way.

I am looking for full teble[/quote]

The cap eats high frequencies. If you want full treble - no cap.

[bremen]

[quote name='neepheid' post='391745' date='Jan 26 2009, 01:49 PM']The cap eats high frequencies. If you want full treble - no cap.[/quote]

This is true.

It's how I have *my* Warmoth wired

[~tl]

[quote name='neepheid' post='391745' date='Jan 26 2009, 01:49 PM']The cap eats high frequencies. If you want full treble - no cap.[/quote]
Indeed. However, that is likely to be even more trebly than the fully up position on the tone control – since even with the control fully up you still loose a bit of the treble through the capacitor and full resistance of the potentiometer. If you're wanting it to sound [i]exactly[/i] like it does at the moment (with the tone control up full) then you need to wire a capacitor in series with a fixed resistor across the output pins. The resistor value should match the values of your pots (i.e. 250kΩ or 500kΩ) and the capacitor value should match the current capacitor in your bass (most likely .047µF).

Also, you loose a bit of treble through the volume pot, even when it's up full. So you should really wire another resistor in parallel with the resistor/capacitor if you're removing the volume control as well and want to achieve the exact sound you have at the moment. So you'll end up with something like this across the pins of the output jack (excuse my bad ASCII art):

[code] C R
+---| |---^^^^^---+
Hot o---+ +----o GND
+------^^^^^------+
R[/code]

Though that may be being a little pedantic. The resistor and capacitor in series will probably do

[Beedster]

I wired a couple of basses straight to the O/P a while back. Although I thought I didn't need vol or tone controls, as soon as I started to rehearse I realised that I most certainly did. I've also found that most of my basses sound better with both volume and tone rolled off a little, they just seem to produce a sweeter tone in that configuration (might be the amp I'm playing through I guess, but this effect seems to hold true irrespective of input gain).
In wiring the PUP to the jack I was striving for the ultimate bass simplicity (single PUP, passive, no controls), but as Einstein said, everything should be made a s simple as possible, but no simpler
Chris

[Delberthot]

I've decided just to rewire the bass as per the same 1957 specs that i had my other Warmoth wired.

I still couldn't find 250k CTS pots with a long enough shaft in the UK. I decided that since I like the sound I get with the 500k ones to just get these again.

[~tl]

These not long enough?

[url="http://www.allparts.uk.com/250k-audio-split-shaft-inch-long-threaded-bushing-p-1545.html?p=product"]http://www.allparts.uk.com/250k-audio-spli....html?p=product[/url]

[Delberthot]

I was going to get them but they don't do the jack socket that i need as well and didn;t want to pay 2 postage charges.


That and I already had 500k ones on the bass and liked them so didn;t want to chance getting them and not liking them. In the grand scheme of tbings their a bit pricey to keep replacing.

[mrcrow]

[quote name='Delberthot' post='390473' date='Jan 24 2009, 04:01 PM']I've tried this before but misunderstood what sound I'd be getting - ie the equivelant position of the tone control.

I play with my volume up full and my tone control all the way round on my Warmoth- effectively rolling off all the bass. Is there a way to connect directly to a jack but have the sound exactly like this?

There must be a way of wiring in a cap somewhere to achieve this sound.


I'm far from being an electronics whizz so any help would be appreciated.


Its in pieces right now while I paint the headstock so I have plenty of time[/quote]

your tone rolls off treble not bass..if its a passive capacitor...
so if you want full treble then you dont need a cap..just wire to the jack

if you need tone cut and arent sure how much start off with an 0.025 or so and work up to 0.100
0.047 is standard..
when you get the tone you want solder that capacitor across the jack terminals live to earth

it all sounds a bit....erm tricky...there is no reason really to do all this just wire the vol pot with a jumper and likewise the tone pot
then you can revert easily back to the 'normal' way we play... by snipping the jumber lead

hope i understood your question ok

cheers

[Mottlefeeder]

I asked about this on another forum (Talkbass?) and the answer I got was that pick-ups are designed to feed into some specified resistance and capacitance. If you take that out completely, you will hear a more peaky, resonant sound from the pick-up, because you have taken the damping out of the circuit. Think of a hi-fi speaker with the wadding taken out.

Some hi-end retrofit preamps have selectable input impedances for that reason.

[mrcrow]

[quote name='Mottlefeeder' post='393170' date='Jan 27 2009, 09:07 PM']I asked about this on another forum (Talkbass?) and the answer I got was that pick-ups are designed to feed into some specified resistance and capacitance. If you take that out completely, you will hear a more peaky, resonant sound from the pick-up, because you have taken the damping out of the circuit. Think of a hi-fi speaker with the wadding taken out.

Some hi-end retrofit preamps have selectable input impedances for that reason.[/quote]


brilliant explanation...makes sense to me...same with engines..you need back pressure to get correct performance

Edited January 27, 2009 by mrcrow

[Delberthot]

That probably explains why my other bass sounded damn all like it did with the tone control in any position.


Looking forward to getting it back up and running again. Need to get the finger out before the Warwick sells as I;ve been relying on that for band practice.