Members lowendnyc Posted September 22, 2007 Members Share Posted September 22, 2007 Hola folks. Got an early 70s Fender Precision Bass with some wiring problems. Googled around and didn't really find the answer, so I ask you: what were the specs on volume and tone pots for my instrument? I noticed my tone pot, which was replaced by a guy who I don't think knew what he was doing, says 250K. Something seems off about it, given that rolling the tone down just kills the volume. Any help with this is quite welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OneBassNut Posted September 22, 2007 Members Share Posted September 22, 2007 Needs 500k. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lowendnyc Posted September 22, 2007 Author Members Share Posted September 22, 2007 For both? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OneBassNut Posted September 22, 2007 Members Share Posted September 22, 2007 For both? Sorry, let me correct myself. P-Bass needs (2) 250K pots one for volume and the other for tone through a .050mF capacitor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OneBassNut Posted September 22, 2007 Members Share Posted September 22, 2007 Here: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OneBassNut Posted September 22, 2007 Members Share Posted September 22, 2007 Most likely there's some wires soldered to the wrong spots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Kindness Posted September 22, 2007 Moderators Share Posted September 22, 2007 250k audio taper pots for each and a 0.047 uF cap to ground on the tone pot. Can you post pictures of the wiring? I can probably troubleshoot it from them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Westsailor Posted September 22, 2007 Members Share Posted September 22, 2007 Here's a good, easy to comprehend illustration of how a P and P/J is wired. http://www.seymourduncan.com/images/products/basslines/501030-100.pdf according to the above, they should both be 250K. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lowendnyc Posted September 22, 2007 Author Members Share Posted September 22, 2007 Just curious, if you want to wire the pickup output directly to the output jack, bypassing the pots, how do you do that? Part of what I'm trying to work out is why this old bass has such low output, and doing this would allow me to rule out the pots as the problem. Given that the pick up is stock and thus "vintage" it would be nice to try to keep it rather than replace it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members birdboy7007 Posted September 22, 2007 Members Share Posted September 22, 2007 Here: I believe these were the links you wanted to post: http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Supplies:_Wiring_kits/1/Wiring_Kit_for_P-Bass/Pictures.html#details http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Supplies:_Wiring_kits/1/Wiring_Kit_for_P-Bass/Instructions/I-0139.html#details And for future reference, in SI units a mF, like you had, would be a millifarad (1x10^-3 Farads), what you wanted was a microfarad, uF (1x10^-6 Farads) like Kindness put in. And as Kindness said, I believe that 0.047 is a more accurate value for the period, if you care about that stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sixis9 Posted September 22, 2007 Members Share Posted September 22, 2007 Just curious, if you want to wire the pickup output directly to the output jack, bypassing the pots, how do you do that? Part of what I'm trying to work out is why this old bass has such low output, and doing this would allow me to rule out the pots as the problem. Given that the pick up is stock and thus "vintage" it would be nice to try to keep it rather than replace it. Try raising the pickups. That will boost your volume and tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Kindness Posted September 22, 2007 Moderators Share Posted September 22, 2007 Just curious, if you want to wire the pickup output directly to the output jack, bypassing the pots, how do you do that? Part of what I'm trying to work out is why this old bass has such low output, and doing this would allow me to rule out the pots as the problem. Given that the pick up is stock and thus "vintage" it would be nice to try to keep it rather than replace it. The pickup's live wire connects to the output jack's signal lug (connected to the tip) and pickup's ground wire attached to the output jack's ground lug (connected to the sleeve). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Crescent Seven Posted September 22, 2007 Members Share Posted September 22, 2007 The pickup's live wire connects to the output jack's signal lug (connected to the tip) and pickup's ground wire attached to the output jack's ground lug (connected to the sleeve). This is the first post that Kindness has posted that I completely agree with. Usually he's completely off base. I did this with my P bass and it sounded awesome for hard rock, but now that I want to bust some dub styley, I'm going to wire the pots back in. It made my signal supa-dupa-hawt. C7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrcrow Posted September 22, 2007 Members Share Posted September 22, 2007 wiring to the jack is the way to really hear and set up the bassif you dont use tone..as i dontyou only need to use the amp vol to cater for any differences but if you keep a vol pot going ..as indicated..make sure its 250k also as suggested set up the bass first regarding pup heights and string set up...action etc..with all the variables out of the way..then you can concentrate on the tone and vol..meter the pup if you can to see if its up to factory resistance..12k or thereaboutsif possible meter the separate coils...they can be disconnected for that purpose..then both should be 6k or half the total..and both the same... a pot is a pretty rough attempt at attenuating a signal... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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