Directions for a continous 4001 cap control.
Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2004 11:17 am
This allows you to leave your cap in your 4001 (or put one in a newer 4003 if you like) and control the amount of bass and mid that comes from the treble pickup, a presence control if you will. It is fully reversable and uses no new parts.
1. Take off the pickguard, you can do this without detuning if you are careful.
2. position it upside down with the circuit showing so the tone controls are at the top with bass tone on the left. This is actually the only way you can position it unless you want to unsoldier it and take it right out, which I wouldn't do unless it were a mint bass.
3. Unsolder the ground wire that goes to the middle lug of the treble tone control and back of the pot that comes from the bass tone control and pull it right out (unsolder it from the back of the pot first). Resoldier it to the back of the bass volume control so the bass tone is still grounded, there should be just enough wire.
4. Unsolder the the .047 uf cap that goes to the treble control and resolder it to the same place the .047 uf cap goes to on the bass control. The bass tone control now is your (treble) tone for both pickups, they sound exactly the same as before, only thing is that they are always equal now (which I always did anyway)
5. Leave your .0047 cap in the way it was from the factory (if you want to try this on a late model 4003 replace the solid wire that goes from the middle lug of the treble volume to the three way switch with a .0047 uf cap. Your treble tone control now should only have a ground wire attached to the back of the pot coming from the treble volume control. There should be nothing attached to the three lugs.
6. Solder a wire to the same lug on the treble volume control that the cap is attached to (middle lug).
Solder the other end of that same wire to the middle lug of the treble tone control.
Now solder another wire to the other end of the cap (where it is soldered to the three way switch is best)and solder the other end of that wire to the lug that is to the right of the middle lug of the treble tone control. The left hand lug should have nothing attached to it.
You are finished, tuck the wires in and use shielded wire like the stuff that is on the pickups so that the wires do not pick up noise, and you need only ground one end of the shielded wire preferably to the back of the pot.
I would make these wires as short as possible but
leave enough room to work with.
Put it back together and plug it in.
Your bass tone control now will control the amount of treble from both pickups and your treble tone will control the amount of bass and middle that is allowed into the circuit from the treble pickup.
This is how it works:
The pot works like a continously variable switch, that is how I got the idea, I already had a switch in this bass which I was not happy with as it was either all or nothing, and as I was gazing at it, I though why won't a pot work like a variable switch? It does.
When the pot is fully clockwise no current goes through it, it is forced to go through the cap which cuts all the bass and a lot of mid from the circuit. The more you turn it counterclockwise the more current is going to flow through the pot as electricity takes the path of least resistance always and more bass and treble will go into the circuit.
Try it it works! I was amazed, you can get all kinds of nice tones from it too. you can leave the treble volume on full and back off the bass volume and then dial in more fullness with the cap control as you lower the volume.
If anyone has any problems or questions just e-mail me, it is in my profile.
The best part of this in addition to it being variable is that it is fully reversable, does not show and uses no new parts, and gives a whole new dimension to a Ric bass. As you dial in more cap you can hear the bass coming alive with more presence (CCW), if you want the traditional 4001 sound turn it all the way the other way (CW)
In between you can strike a nice balance between the top and bottom, it is almost like having a third pickup somewhere in the middle of the neck and bridge pickup.
1. Take off the pickguard, you can do this without detuning if you are careful.
2. position it upside down with the circuit showing so the tone controls are at the top with bass tone on the left. This is actually the only way you can position it unless you want to unsoldier it and take it right out, which I wouldn't do unless it were a mint bass.
3. Unsolder the ground wire that goes to the middle lug of the treble tone control and back of the pot that comes from the bass tone control and pull it right out (unsolder it from the back of the pot first). Resoldier it to the back of the bass volume control so the bass tone is still grounded, there should be just enough wire.
4. Unsolder the the .047 uf cap that goes to the treble control and resolder it to the same place the .047 uf cap goes to on the bass control. The bass tone control now is your (treble) tone for both pickups, they sound exactly the same as before, only thing is that they are always equal now (which I always did anyway)
5. Leave your .0047 cap in the way it was from the factory (if you want to try this on a late model 4003 replace the solid wire that goes from the middle lug of the treble volume to the three way switch with a .0047 uf cap. Your treble tone control now should only have a ground wire attached to the back of the pot coming from the treble volume control. There should be nothing attached to the three lugs.
6. Solder a wire to the same lug on the treble volume control that the cap is attached to (middle lug).
Solder the other end of that same wire to the middle lug of the treble tone control.
Now solder another wire to the other end of the cap (where it is soldered to the three way switch is best)and solder the other end of that wire to the lug that is to the right of the middle lug of the treble tone control. The left hand lug should have nothing attached to it.
You are finished, tuck the wires in and use shielded wire like the stuff that is on the pickups so that the wires do not pick up noise, and you need only ground one end of the shielded wire preferably to the back of the pot.
I would make these wires as short as possible but
leave enough room to work with.
Put it back together and plug it in.
Your bass tone control now will control the amount of treble from both pickups and your treble tone will control the amount of bass and middle that is allowed into the circuit from the treble pickup.
This is how it works:
The pot works like a continously variable switch, that is how I got the idea, I already had a switch in this bass which I was not happy with as it was either all or nothing, and as I was gazing at it, I though why won't a pot work like a variable switch? It does.
When the pot is fully clockwise no current goes through it, it is forced to go through the cap which cuts all the bass and a lot of mid from the circuit. The more you turn it counterclockwise the more current is going to flow through the pot as electricity takes the path of least resistance always and more bass and treble will go into the circuit.
Try it it works! I was amazed, you can get all kinds of nice tones from it too. you can leave the treble volume on full and back off the bass volume and then dial in more fullness with the cap control as you lower the volume.
If anyone has any problems or questions just e-mail me, it is in my profile.
The best part of this in addition to it being variable is that it is fully reversable, does not show and uses no new parts, and gives a whole new dimension to a Ric bass. As you dial in more cap you can hear the bass coming alive with more presence (CCW), if you want the traditional 4001 sound turn it all the way the other way (CW)
In between you can strike a nice balance between the top and bottom, it is almost like having a third pickup somewhere in the middle of the neck and bridge pickup.
