Bass cut/contour control for neck humbucker works great!

Setup, repair and restoration of Rickenbacker Instruments

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Trés Mellow
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Bass cut/contour control for neck humbucker works great!

Post by Trés Mellow »

I recently picked up a 2005 Blue Boy 620 with factory humbuckers and felt the neck pickup needed to be "opened up". It's not that the pickup is muddy, but it is just as responsive in the bass and lower mid frequencies as it is with trebles so it makes for a boomy bass--especially when combined with the bridge pickup. Using a 500K tone pot would only affect the trebles and I didn't want to put a fixed cap in series with the neck to cut bass. And yes, to the inevitable question: I did properly set and adjust the pickup height.

Since I found it very easy to balance the neck and bridge volumes without using the blend knob, I decided to use the blend knob as a variable bass cut, or bass contour, control. After experimenting with values, I settled on a .0022uF cap across the outer lugs of the pot. The "full on" counterclockwise position is unfiltered. As you roll the pot clockwise, more and more bass is filtered out and the sound really opens up. The clean tone is excelletn, not thin, and it also works particularly well with a pedal or overdriven amp. With it rolled all the way off and the pickup selector in the middle position for both pickups, I can get plenty of jangle, too.
Personally, I prefer the tone to coil-tapping because the signal stays strong and there aren't any impedance change issues. Plus, since it's still in humbucking mode, it is dead-quiet.

The cool surprise is that I can now roll the tone knob back to roll off highs, roll the bass off with the blend knob, and get a really cool, open, middy sound. I didn't expect that would work so well.

Just wanted to post here because I was wary getting the humbuckers based on descriptions of "dark" and "muddy" and I even got a set of new-style high gains (which I will be selling), thinking I would change at least the neck pickup. However, these humbuckers are so full-frequency that they open up a lot of options for tone-shaping. Based on my experience with a 360 I used to have, the older style gain neck pickups could benefit from this, too.

Apologies to purists, but this mod really makes the neck humbucker more versatile, and it's still all Rickenbacker sound.
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Trés Mellow
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Re: Bass cut/contour control for neck humbucker works great

Post by Trés Mellow »

Well, after experimenting, I decided to go with new style (2011) hi gains in this guitar after all, just for versatility, and the bass contour mod works just as well with the new style hi gain neck pickup. Happy me!
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cjj
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Re: Bass cut/contour control for neck humbucker works great

Post by cjj »

Interesting idea, I may have to try that out on one of my basses...
I have NO idea what to do with those skinny stringed things... I'm just a bass player...
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Dom
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Re: Bass cut/contour control for neck humbucker works great

Post by Dom »

A low cut can really help the neck pickup fit in a live mix too & still have some meat on it. I don't know why they aren't more common. With a bass contour, a high cut and a volume knob you pretty much have full EQ control. And I'd bet that is handy for taming unruly pedals.

I have a low/hi cut on my 350 and there is a sweet spot where it enhances the mid peak on the neck & mid pickups. Great for slide. A bass contour on top of that would be sweet. I've been itching to add one, but I'm not sure where I want everything go yet.
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