3 Knobs (Like Strat) for Vol, Tone, Bass cut for JM/Jags?

[Iffymiffy]

Hi all,

I really like the strangle switch on my Jag and was thinking of ways to add various levels of Bass Cut like the Johnny Marr Jag, and I was wondering if a simple 3 knob strat array with a Reverse taper 500k pot as a Bass Cut would work?

I thought of the PTB circuit mod but apart from having to rewire everything, the reverse taper mini pot is rather difficult to find.

On the other hand, it is cheap and easy to get a Cobain control plate with 3 pots for my Jag, or I could drill a hole in my Jazzmaster pickguard for a third knob.

In my mind this sounds easy and (in “theory”) useful to shape tone that there MUST be a reason you don’t see much people doing it.

Is this idea in reality not very useful or worth the trouble?

[bodhi]

I really like the strangle switch on my Jag and was thinking of ways to add various levels of Bass Cut like the Johnny Marr Jag, and I was wondering if a simple 3 knob strat array with a Reverse taper 500k pot as a Bass Cut would work?

Yes, it'll work, the range is not quite the same as the 1 meg variant, but might not be at all lacking. If I recall correctly, the Reverends tend to use 500k pots instead of 1 meg in their guitars, so it's completely feasible.

I thought of the PTB circuit mod but apart from having to rewire everything, the reverse taper mini pot is rather difficult to find.

Are you trying to find something that'll work with the roller pot in the rhythm circuit? In that case, it might be considerably easier to look for mini metric pots (16mm or smaller), either with a knurdled shaft you might be able to fit the existing roller knob on, or get a pot with a 6mm round shaft and a knob for this (f.e. eyguitarmusic or probably Reverb and the like).

I have ordered directly from the G&L store to get the larger c1m pots with the taper that they specify, but you should be able to find generic C1M pots in different sizes at least from larger dealers...

On the other hand, it is cheap and easy to get a Cobain control plate with 3 pots for my Jag, or I could drill a hole in my Jazzmaster pickguard for a third knob.

In my mind this sounds easy and (in “theory”) useful to shape tone that there MUST be a reason you don’t see much people doing it.

Is this idea in reality not very useful or worth the trouble?

Really depends on a lot of things in your signal chain and the specific pickups you're using... And bass cuts are still fairly uncommon in production guitars, outside of G&L and Reverend, so it might well be a question of familiarity more than anything else. A bass control pot on a guitar is perhaps most useful as a set and forget kind of thing (where you then can perhaps use it with a switch, such as with the Johnny Marr setup), or if you're playing
(more or less straight) into an amp with restricted EQ controls. Or thirdly, depending on your signal chain, into a distorted sound a bass pot can work kind of like a gain pot, since a lot of the overdrive tends to happen based on bass frequencies that causes signals to clip in pleasing ways...

Usefulness is probably pretty context-dependent, but you'll never find out unless you try But in that same breath, an EQ pedal can achieve similar things and more, but you won't have the controls at your hands when playing even if you have one with presets...

[Iffymiffy]

Usefulness is probably pretty context-dependent, but you'll never find out unless you try But in that same breath, an EQ pedal can achieve similar things and more, but you won't have the controls at your hands when playing even if you have one with presets...

Thanks so much for your detailed reply!

I thought the bass cut mini-roller for a PTB had to be a 1meg reverse taper, which I read here is hard to find and reaming the Roller knob may be needed. I saw the 1meg reverse pot from G&L has crazy high international shipping for something that can fit in an envelope.

Thus the cheapest and most accessible thing for me to try happens to be a 500k Reverse Taper CTS full size pot.

However you raised a VERY good point about using an EQ pedal as I was already thinking a pedal solution would be more versatile and would work with all my other guitars too.

Maybe set-and-forget strangle switches on push-pull pots would be a cheaper and more simple way to get where I want.

[Ceylon]

If I had a #1 guitar that I used for most everything, live and studio, I'd definitely put a bass cut pot in it. I had it in a G&L S-500 and it was supremely useful, especially with the MFD pickups that offered a bit more range, attack and fidelity than most everything else I've tried.

I think they'd be more common if more people had ever tried them

[bodhi]

Thanks so much for your detailed reply!

I thought the bass cut mini-roller for a PTB had to be a 1meg reverse taper, which I read here is hard to find and reaming the Roller knob may be needed. I saw the 1meg reverse pot from G&L has crazy high international shipping for something that can fit in an envelope.

Thus the cheapest and most accessible thing for me to try happens to be a 500k Reverse Taper CTS full size pot.

However you raised a VERY good point about using an EQ pedal as I was already thinking a pedal solution would be more versatile and would work with all my other guitars too.

Maybe set-and-forget strangle switches on push-pull pots would be a cheaper and more simple way to get where I want.

A lot of shipping is based on not putting things in envelopes, unfortunately, since they can break, but in general international shipping is more expensive now than a few years ago...

With regards to what kind of control you'd like, the reverse taper 1 meg pot ( == C1M pot) gives the range of the original PTB design and turns the same direction as the other controls on a guitar. You can however achieve the same effect with a linear or audio pot taper pot, but it might not be as easy to control. But in this case this also gives you the option to use the existing rhythm circuit volume pot as a bass pot instead, meaning you probably have the necessary parts in hand, except maybe a bit of extra wire and a resistor... And the lower resistance alternative should work to test out as well. If you want to get really technical, the guitarfreak excel file should contain some graphs that allow you to see the difference in cut based on the resistance range of the pots, but that's not the same as hearing it, of course...

I'm not 100% certain, but I believe typical 16mm pots should fit in the rhythm circuit cavity, so essentially if you google for "c1m 16m pot" or "potentiometer" you should get a decent amount of alternatives from where to order. Shipping costs etc. will vary as well as the delivery time, so perhaps try some local electronics store if you can find one, shouldn't be a particularly expensive ordeal. I'd certainly expect to pay much less than 10€ if sourced locally.

[Iffymiffy]

If I had a #1 guitar that I used for most everything, live and studio, I'd definitely put a bass cut pot in it. I had it in a G&L S-500 and it was supremely useful, especially with the MFD pickups that offered a bit more range, attack and fidelity than most everything else I've tried.

I think they'd be more common if more people had ever tried them

Alright, this is the encouragement I need to try it out

[Iffymiffy]

I'm not 100% certain, but I believe typical 16mm pots should fit in the rhythm circuit cavity, so essentially if you google for "c1m 16m pot" or "potentiometer" you should get a decent amount of alternatives from where to order. Shipping costs etc. will vary as well as the delivery time, so perhaps try some local electronics store if you can find one, shouldn't be a particularly expensive ordeal. I'd certainly expect to pay much less than 10€ if sourced locally.

Edit* Thanks for the advice and tip on 16mm pots, found these from Europe with very reasonable shipping as you said less than 10 euro:

https://www.op-electronics.com/en/solde ... gc-1m.html

The shipping alone for one single reverse CTS Pot on G&L was $55usd LOL!

I will do some research to see if they would work

[bodhi]

Yeah, it's really unfortunate. Some sellers no longer offer non-insured shipping alternatives, whereas earlier that was maybe 20 USD or so a couple of years ago with USPS, which isn't too bad if you buy a couple at a time.

[MayTheFuzzBeWithYou]

My „Liquid Thunder“ Jazzmaster has a Bass-cut instead of the rhythm circuit‘s tone pot (I used a 50k resistor instead of the pot because the rhythm circuit per se is dark enough for me and I‘m not turning that one knob).

The Bass Cut works fine - but I don‘t use it as often as I thought I would.
The C1M pot in that size was rather easy to find.

[Iffymiffy]

The Bass Cut works fine - but I don‘t use it as often as I thought I would.

Sounds like 75% of my mod/gear purchase ideas

[MayTheFuzzBeWithYou]

Haha. True. That sounds about right.