Bronco Bass -> Humbucker electronics

[jwbriggs]

I have a Bronco Bass, and have purchased a hot rails neck P/U to replace the stock pickup (following the lead of several people on the interwebs). The question is this: do I replace the stock volume control (which I assume is a 250K pot, I haven't opened it up to look) with a 500K pot? If so, do I need to replace the capacitor (which I assume to be a 0.22 microfarad cap) with a 0.47 microfarad cap to match SD's wiring diagram (http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=1hum_1vol_1tone)? My goal is to reduce the noise of the stock instrument while achieving a general-purpose sound. Any help would be appreciated. To recap, my options seem to be:
1) swap the p/u, keep the pot
2) swap the p/u and the pot, keep the cap
3) swap the p/u, pot, and cap so that I match the SD wiring diagram (which was written for a guitar and not bass).

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Bronco Bass -> Humbucker electronics

Welcome to the forum.

The SD wiring instructions will illustrate where to connect all of the conductor cables. They are not so helpful for getting the best sound out of your bass.

If you expect to hear your new pickup properly, replace the stock Squier pots. On passive bass guitars, the value of the capacitor on the tone control needs to operate at a lower cut off frequency than for guitar. Start at .047uF and work towards higher values. By all means, try .022 as well. You might like it.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Bronco Bass -> Humbucker electronics

I've kept mine bone stock because I don't see much room for improvement; it's pretty much perfect except for the tuners. That said, if I was going "under the hood" for a pickup change anyhow, I'd probably go ahead and spend an extra 10 bucks to replace the pots and jack too. I'd probably stick to 250K unless I specifically liked twangy bass tones. (I don't.)

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Bronco Bass -> Humbucker electronics

Yeah a set of good sealed pots and a decent jack will make that bass way better. I did the same thing for my little sister's when she got really serious about playing (not replacing the pickup, but the pots). I'd replace the cap with an orange drop. A 47 seems to be the go to for guitar and bass players, so that'd be a good place to start. Other than that, wiring the pickup as a standard humbucker (unless you want coil tap and such) will give your bass a great growl. $70 for the pickup, maybe $20 for the new pots and jack, and that's a killer bass you've got.