V, V, T vs Blend, V, Tone

[kilian]

OK! I like my bass right now, but it is not perfect yet. It is a jazz bass with dimarzio pickups (like many of you might know). The problem is that I play in several bands and they all need their tone. I can say that it is already pretty versatile because it has V, V, T and series/parallel switches for each pickup.

I will install a second tone pot this weekend to get further towards perfection, but I'm still open for options.

So.. I searched around and a blend knob grabbed my attention. What are the advantages from a blendknob over V, V, T? Should I just install one myself to find out? That will cost me like 15 for the pot.. so I would first like to know what the advantages/disadvantages are of a blendpot.

I liked some (active) basses with a blendpot, but I have a passive bass, so that's not really a good way to compare things I suppose.


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[zink182]

hmm.. well I the only advantage you would be getting from the blend knob is that you can lower the volume of both pickups at the same time.. ..

I would though like a blend knob and only one volume.. I though have mine almost always in series so I only use one volume..

[S-Tin-Gray]

How would a blend knob affect noise? In theory you'd think that at the extreme ends of the blend pot there'd be no other pickup to cancel noise. I could be wrong, since they are still technically coupled. Check out www.stewmac.com for some blend wiring... few ways you can do it.

[Linkinbassist]

i hate blend pots personally...You may as well have the VVT layout, cause a blend is just a slightly sophisticated switch...

[blizzard]

i hate blend pots personally...You may as well have the VVT layout, cause a blend is just a slightly sophisticated switch...

My thoughts exactly thought my bass has VVBT :amaze: i'm going to change that to VVseriesparrallelTOne

[kilian]

How would a blend knob affect noise? In theory you'd think that at the extreme ends of the blend pot there'd be no other pickup to cancel noise. I could be wrong, since they are still technically coupled. Check out www.stewmac.com for some blend wiring... few ways you can do it.
Noise? I don't get that one.. I haven't mentioned noise, so did any other here. Can you explain that? :)

[WHoRRID]

im pretty sure hes talking about single coil hum.

[NavyBass]

I'm not much on the blend control either. In my experiences, I have better control over the pickups when they have their own volume controls. Besides, a blend potentiometer costs a bit more than a volume potentiometer. A bit of a waste of money if you ask me.

[Tryxx]

I'm going to go against the grain. On my active basses with humbuckers, I do a good 80% of tone shaping with my blend knob. Going between pick-ups is a whole other world of tone for me. Even my passive 'Vette does great like that.

That said, I don't have very much experience with VVT at all.

[edgebass5]

The key difference between the two is that with a blend knob (theoretically) you could adjust the pickup blend without effecting volume, which would not be possible with a VV setup. Now, in real-life, almost all the time, the neck pickup will have more output than the bridge, so the blend knob will more than likely end up effecting the volume. On top of that, most blend knobs seem to have sweet spots along them where you can notice a difference in the blend, but you won't notice much in between those spots on the pot.

Either way you're going to be fine, and realistically you won't notice much difference tonally.

[zink182]

The key difference between the two is that with a blend knob (theoretically) you could adjust the pickup blend without effecting volume, which would not be possible with a VV setup. Now, in real-life, almost all the time, the neck pickup will have more output than the bridge, so the blend knob will more than likely end up effecting the volume. On top of that, most blend knobs seem to have sweet spots along them where you can notice a difference in the blend, but you won't notice much in between those spots on the pot.

Either way you're going to be fine, and realistically you won't notice much difference tonally.

my bridge pickup is a lot higher by mistake so they have equal volumes.. hehe.. I' just put them in and turns out they were in perfect balance :D

[bbbbass]

I love the blend pot, as Tryxx said, the two pickups give two different sounds with the blend.

[edgebass5]

my bridge pickup is a lot higher by mistake so they have equal volumes.. hehe.. I' just put them in and turns out they were in perfect balance :D

On my custom I have the bridge pickup substantially higher than the neck, and have hardwired it so the bridge is in series and neck is in parallel. Ended up being a very even tone between the two pickups. In fact, it worked so well that I got rid of any pickup blending and run them both on full, all the time :lol:

[kilian]

Either way you're going to be fine, and realistically you won't notice much difference tonally.
By saying that, you mean that you can achieve the same things with a VV setup as you can with a blend?


I could go with Blend, VV (stacked), TT(stacked) and a switch to bypass the blend.. But that might be an overkill..? Although I can really check it out. The problem that I have right now is that when I turn one volume a bit down, that it will lose a lot of output/growl right away. That's what I really want to get rid of, so that I have a better control over the pickups.

[edgebass5]

^^^You can definitely achieve the same things with VV as you can with VB. One thing to adjust in accordance with that is the gain on the front end of your amp to compensate for the increase or decrease in output gain from your bass. That should resolve any issues you're having with altered tone due to a change in the gain structure of your signal path.

Honestly, doing a VV/TT stacked setup with an additional blend control seems overkill to me. On top of that, every pot and switch you add to your signal path the more you "dirty" the signal. Less stuff in the way equates to higher output and a more clear tone, so keep that in mind when you're adding stuff to a tone circuit.