Bass Cut Circuit on the Jaguar..

kidmag

Hi - I'm building myself a guitar from Warmoth parts (it's the jazzmaster body & scale neck). I want to install either mini-toggle or push-pull pot to cut the bass on the bridge pup.

My Jaguar in the lead mode has a switch which I'm assuming goes to some circuit which cuts the lows, but leaves the highs. That's what I want.

Anyone know what that circuit is, and where I can get one??

Thanks!

Bob_the_godly_dude

Yep, I know exactly what the circuit is, and it's really really simple, it's pretty expensive though, it'll cost you somewhere in the region of...

...12 pence! That's right, 12 measly little pennies, probably even less than that. All it is is a capacitor wired in series to the pickup (as opposed to wired in paralel which would cut the highs). I did the same thing on a switch for the 1/4 pounder in my strat neck. I'm not very good with values, but about the same as what you have for your high cut tone controll will be fine!

echelon

here's the wiring diagram from seymour duncan

It's a .003 tone capacitor wired in series.

Can anyone explain why this setup cuts bass though? Obviously the cap actually cuts highs..so the guitar signal is going through the cap, coming out bass-y and then mixing again with the original signal (cos it's in parallel).

Shouldn't this make the sound MORE bass-y?? (unless the two signals cancel out - but they shouldnt cos there in phase).

Wish i knew more about wiring and stuff...i did an electronic engineering module at uni, but we were designing circuits for calculators and vending machines and stuff.

echelon

oops, i completely got my wired crossed (figuratively!).

So a capacitor normally cuts bass? So in the guitar tone control, how does it cut highs????

aaaaaah!

Bob_the_godly_dude

Nope, if you read my post I kinda explained it. Basically the way it works is like this:

Capacitor in paralell (normal tone controll, the cap goes from the live to the ground)= Low pass filter, I.E. it cuts highs.

Capacitor in series with pickup (the cap goes between the pickup and the ground, or between the pickup and the live)= High Pass Filter, I.E. cuts the lows.

So basically the same components wired differently has the opposite effect. Capacitors can be used to do both depending how you wire them!

kidmag

Thanks! you guys are great. (also nice to know this is a pretty simple thing to get accomplished!).

GP

As an oversimplification, capacitors act a little like frequency dependent resistors. If you consider the extremes, at some high frequency the signal will pass with virtually no opposition, and at some low frequency the cap acts like a brick wall allowing virtually nothing through. Everything else is in between, though in the above application only lows/lower mids will receive attenuation (they won't be totally blocked).

If you stick a large value pot in parallel with the cap (which is used in series with your pickup) then you can set it up to short the cap as you rotate the knob, which will control the amount of bass you cut. 1M should be fine, but you might end up using a smaller value - all a matter of taste.