Pickup switches - why not?

[Ancient Mariner]

Coming from the world of guitar where almost every instrument with more than 1 pickup (except the Godin Radiator: each PU has it's own volume) has pickup selection on a switch, I've realised that basses almost never do. Bass players have a reputation for being innovative and not bound to tradition, so this omission surprises me. Is there a good reason or is that just 'how it is'? A simple 3 way selector seems an obvious addition to a jazz bass.

[simon1964]

[quote name='Ancient Mariner' post='695677' date='Dec 29 2009, 04:05 PM']Coming from the world of guitar where almost every instrument with more than 1 pickup (except the Godin Radiator: each PU has it's own volume) has pickup selection on a switch, I've realised that basses almost never do. Bass players have a reputation for being innovative and not bound to tradition, so this omission surprises me. Is there a good reason or is that just 'how it is'? A simple 3 way selector seems an obvious addition to a jazz bass.[/quote]

With a Jazz bass you have a separate volume control for each pickup. That means you have the option of soloing either pickup if you wish, or having both on full. But you can also blend the pickups by, eg having the front pickup on full volume, and the back pickup half volume. That's actually a lot more versatile than a three way switch.

Other basses will have a blend control, where you can dial in different amounts of each pickup. Again, more versatile than a three way switch.

FWIW Rickenbackers have a three way switch, and separate volume controls - which I've never quite understood!

Edited December 29, 2009 by simon1964

[lemmywinks]

Most people who use a bass would see it as unnecessary as you get the sounds you want from blending the pickups rather that having one on and the other off

I had a pickup switch on an old Dean bass and it got in the way tbh

[maxrossell]

I think it's also because realistically bass players won't often change their pickup configuration during a track. I've in fact personally never seen a bass player do that, closest I've seen is guys rolling their master volume down.

There are several MusicMans that have selector switches on them.

[Ancient Mariner]

Max has the answer I guess - people don't change their sounds mid song.

FWIW a 3 way switch will allow you to blend 2 pickups together exactly as you already can with a J type, but will allow you to quickly solo either PU without fiddling with a volume pot. This strikes me as more useful: all the sounds you already have plus 2 more. The same thing could be achieved with push-pull pots on each volume, but without changing appearance from the front.

[lemmywinks]

Bassists are often just looking for one or two really good sounds.

With a Jazz for instance, if i need a rockier tone i'll roll the bridge pickup off slightly. For the cleaner stuff i often do the opposite. The pickups on their own are two tonal extremes, only very rarely have i used a pickup on it's own, even then i had to eq the amp differently to get back the frequencies i lost (you lose quite a bit of low end with the bridge pickup solo'd)

Changing your tone so drastically would alter where the bass sits in the mix, however the plus point is that it would annoy the sound engineer!

[Sibob]

On my Shuker/Parts Jazz, I have a stacked knob arrangement (2x vols & 2x tones), as well as a three way switch. This allows me to have neck/both/bridge pickups on. It just means that if I'm ever in a situation where I'd prefer one volume for ease of use (teaching etc), I have the option.

On my MIA Jazz, I use the S1 switch in a similar way, because it cuts out the bridge pickup, I can just use the one volume (neck) to control the whole bass.

Si

[Tinman]

[quote name='Sibob' post='695730' date='Dec 29 2009, 05:08 PM']On my MIA Jazz, I use the S1 switch in a similar way, because it cuts out the bridge pickup, I can just use the one volume (neck) to control the whole bass.

Si[/quote]

Does it? I was under the impression that it put both pickups in series, making them work together and giving a more 'P' sound. I could be wrong though.

[tarcher]

[quote name='Tinman' post='695750' date='Dec 29 2009, 05:26 PM']Does it? I was under the impression that it put both pickups in series, making them work together and giving a more 'P' sound. I could be wrong though.[/quote]


Nope,your on the money there Tinman.Thats definately what the S1 switch does.

[Sibob]

Well, on mine, it makes the whole bass sound PHATer, and voids the neck pickup volume. So whether it's still on or not, only the neck pickup volume seems to work.

Si

[XB26354]

As far as I understand it, the S1 switch is both pickups on, but wired in series instead of parallel. As now have a one pickup bass, only the volume with the S1 switch works when it is pressed.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='Ancient Mariner' post='695702' date='Dec 29 2009, 04:39 PM']FWIW a 3 way switch will allow you to blend 2 pickups together exactly as you already can with a J type, but will allow you to quickly solo either PU without fiddling with a volume pot. This strikes me as more useful: all the sounds you already have plus 2 more.[/quote]
On a Jazz bass I can quite successfully 'fiddle' with two volume pots at once using one hand if I need to but it's very rarely necessary. The three way switch is just irrelevant to me.

My Tony Franklin fretless Precision with P/J pickups has a three way switch and a single volume control - the one thing I would change about the Franklin is to remove the switch and have two separate volume pots.

[simon1964]

[quote name='XB26354' post='696166' date='Dec 30 2009, 10:52 AM']As far as I understand it, the S1 switch is both pickups on, but wired in series instead of parallel. As now have a one pickup bass, only the volume with the S1 switch works when it is pressed.[/quote]

yep - with the S1 switch engaged, the two single coil pickups are effectively acting like one twin coil. So only one of the volume controls works (the front one from memory).

[Bassassin]

One of my favourite basses (particularly for recording) is an early-80s Ibanez RS924 Roadster - which has only single passive volume & tone, plus a 3-way selector. There's no way of blending the pups and it's massively frustrating. As a JapCrap geek, I'm a bit of an anorak about keeping things original (and this one's near-mint) but every time I play it, I'm tempted to rip out the selector & replace it with a pan pot.

Jon.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='Bassassin' post='696201' date='Dec 30 2009, 11:41 AM']One of my favourite basses (particularly for recording) is an early-80s Ibanez RS924 Roadster - which has only single passive volume & tone, plus a 3-way selector. There's no way of blending the pups and it's massively frustrating. As a JapCrap geek, I'm a bit of an anorak about keeping things original (and this one's near-mint) but every time I play it, I'm tempted to rip out the selector & replace it with a pan pot.

Jon.[/quote]
That's the same issue as on my Tony Franklin - frustrating.

[mrcrow]

[quote name='simon1964' post='695682' date='Dec 29 2009, 04:11 PM']With a Jazz bass you have a separate volume control for each pickup. That means you have the option of soloing either pickup if you wish, or having both on full. But you can also blend the pickups by, eg having the front pickup on full volume, and the back pickup half volume. That's actually a lot more versatile than a three way switch.

Other basses will have a blend control, where you can dial in different amounts of each pickup. Again, more versatile than a three way switch.

FWIW Rickenbackers have a three way switch, and separate volume controls - which I've never quite understood![/quote]

i used to wonder why as well and came to this conclusion

set the volume for each pup...then combine??..still seems a bit odd...

Edited December 30, 2009 by mrcrow

[pete.young]

My G&L 2500 has a 3-way selector switch - neck, both or bridge. No way to blend sounds. Still manages to nail most of the sounds you'd want to make with a bass.

[Lfalex v1.1]

I've always preferred blend pots to switches. Separate Volume and tone per pick-up is better still.
Coil switching is where it's at! Series/Parallel (and single-coil) or coil selection options can be very useful, and can give some really good tonal options that need not necessarily upset the soundman!

There's plenty of designs that incorporate (coil) switching of some sort;

Stingray 5, Sterling, Sabre, Warwick $$ (Streamer and Corvette), Dolphin/Infinity/Vampyre, Roscoe Beck Signature, Ibanez ATK, some G&Ls, S1 Jazzes and Precisions.. the list is quite extensive.

[Tait]

my taitycaster has a 3 way switch, but thats for 2 reasons -

1) i think switches look loads cooler than knobs.

2) the bass has a precision pickup and a stingray pickup. when i built it i had a precision and a stingray (well, my dad had a stingray). i used the precision when i wanted a precision sound, and the stingray when i wanted a ray sound. i figured i'd put them both into one bass. i never planned to blend the 2 pickups, i planned it so i could use it as a ray or use it as a P.

tbh i may as well have had a 2 way switch, i never use it on the centre setting at all. its always precision pickup or stingray pickup. simples.

[skankdelvar]

[quote name='Ancient Mariner' post='695677' date='Dec 29 2009, 04:05 PM']A simple 3 way selector seems an obvious addition to a jazz bass.[/quote]
Agreed. One could still 'blend' the front and back pick-ups with the switch in the centre position. Better still, put a 5 way switch in and have some fun with wiring configs - e.g. series / parallel, taking the tone pot out, killswitch, etc.

[quote name='Ancient Mariner' post='695677' date='Dec 29 2009, 04:05 PM']Bass players have a reputation for being innovative and not bound to tradition.[/quote]
Urban myth propagated by the bass community and mostly untrue, as scrutiny of this forum will demonstrate. 51 P re-issue - phwoar! Valve Head - drool! Flatwounds - fnargh!

Edited December 31, 2009 by skankdelvar

[JPJ]

On the JPJ frankenhamm, I have three pickups and a five-way switch. The idea was to build a bass capable of giving both 'P' and 'J' tones at the flick of a switch. After years of playing I realised that I only ever use my J basses with the bridge pickup on full and the neck pickup just backed off a little from full, so one of the switch options has a resistor on the neck pickup which matches the setting on my favourite jazz. With the switch, I am able to adjust from 'P' to 'J' to P+J and a few other combinations as well all at a flick of the switch.