Hi Everyone! This is my first post here.
I am looking to complete my dream instrument, a Fender Bass VI, with two discrete outputs correlating to two separate pickup configurations that output to a single stereo 1/4 inch cable. One channel will be used by the bridge pickup exclusively, while the other will connect to the neck and middle pickups. The two separate channels will go to two separate amplifiers.
You’re probably thinking “This is crazy. Why bother with this instead of just going directly out to a Y splitter?”
The reason is that I am playing bass and backing guitar parts simultaneously. Right now the signal is currently split to a guitar amp for distortion and a bass amp for low end. The bridge pickup is usable for distortion to the guitar amp, however the addition of the middle or neck pickups introduce muddiness below 500hz that destroys the midrange crunch. The inverse is true with the other pickups. After some mods, the instrument now sounds fine at the middle or neck pickups through a bass amp after some compression and EQ, but the bridge pickup introduces some pitchy attack that gives me some mid-to-high frequency weirdness that I’m not particularly fond of.
So thats a long winded way of saying that I would like to isolate the two individual wirings, attach those to a single volume pot, and then output both those to a left and right channel via a Stereo TRS cable.
My first question is if this is even possible? I have only a base level understanding of guitar electronics, however I am a relatively quick learner, can read schematics, and have done a lot of soldering in the past. I did a cursory evaluation of the stock Bass VI components and feel confident in my ability to figure the stock configuration out, but after reading through here realized there are a lot more intelligent and experienced people here who might have useful insight to offer.
The second question is what pickups would be the most practical for this type of set up? I’m used to active pickups on a majority of my guitars which I like due to their somewhat sterile sound, but am trying to stay away from that in this build due to its overly-complex nature. I was planning to upgrade to a SHR-1b or a Dimarzio Fast Track 2 at the bridge, but other recommendations are appreciated! I like very high gain at the bridge and something that can sound like the active bartolinis that Ibanez puts in their basses at the neck and middle, however I know my options are extremely limited thanks to the single coil guitar design. Another thread recommended the SJAG-2 or SJAG-3B. I’m looking for something with more gain and body below 200hz than the stock junk Fender puts on there. I know I’m not going to get the lows that a full scale would give me, but I figure I can either supplement it with creative mixing or a rack mount subharmonic synthesizer in a worst case scenario. If you need a more comprehensive idea of my sound, you can find it here.
Im not 100% married to any of these plans, so if someone has any ideas/suggestions/comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
I am looking to complete my dream instrument, a Fender Bass VI, with two discrete outputs correlating to two separate pickup configurations that output to a single stereo 1/4 inch cable. One channel will be used by the bridge pickup exclusively, while the other will connect to the neck and middle pickups. The two separate channels will go to two separate amplifiers.
You’re probably thinking “This is crazy. Why bother with this instead of just going directly out to a Y splitter?”
The reason is that I am playing bass and backing guitar parts simultaneously. Right now the signal is currently split to a guitar amp for distortion and a bass amp for low end. The bridge pickup is usable for distortion to the guitar amp, however the addition of the middle or neck pickups introduce muddiness below 500hz that destroys the midrange crunch. The inverse is true with the other pickups. After some mods, the instrument now sounds fine at the middle or neck pickups through a bass amp after some compression and EQ, but the bridge pickup introduces some pitchy attack that gives me some mid-to-high frequency weirdness that I’m not particularly fond of.
So thats a long winded way of saying that I would like to isolate the two individual wirings, attach those to a single volume pot, and then output both those to a left and right channel via a Stereo TRS cable.
My first question is if this is even possible? I have only a base level understanding of guitar electronics, however I am a relatively quick learner, can read schematics, and have done a lot of soldering in the past. I did a cursory evaluation of the stock Bass VI components and feel confident in my ability to figure the stock configuration out, but after reading through here realized there are a lot more intelligent and experienced people here who might have useful insight to offer.
The second question is what pickups would be the most practical for this type of set up? I’m used to active pickups on a majority of my guitars which I like due to their somewhat sterile sound, but am trying to stay away from that in this build due to its overly-complex nature. I was planning to upgrade to a SHR-1b or a Dimarzio Fast Track 2 at the bridge, but other recommendations are appreciated! I like very high gain at the bridge and something that can sound like the active bartolinis that Ibanez puts in their basses at the neck and middle, however I know my options are extremely limited thanks to the single coil guitar design. Another thread recommended the SJAG-2 or SJAG-3B. I’m looking for something with more gain and body below 200hz than the stock junk Fender puts on there. I know I’m not going to get the lows that a full scale would give me, but I figure I can either supplement it with creative mixing or a rack mount subharmonic synthesizer in a worst case scenario. If you need a more comprehensive idea of my sound, you can find it here.
Im not 100% married to any of these plans, so if someone has any ideas/suggestions/comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
