Wiring a three pickup bass

[edwin]

Not really troubleshooting but it seems like the best fit.

I'm trying to figure the best way to wire a bass with three Alembic pickups. Currently I have a 2 pickup setup with an active blend and filter. I moved the front pickup much closer to the neck and consequently have a hole I'd like to fill with another pickup and am thinking about all the options. Perhaps the most intriguing is to have the middle and back pickup on the blend and then be able to bring the neck pickup in to whatever that combination is to add some deepness.


Has anyone done a three pickup bass? What options have you explored?

[tbrannon]

Pretty sure Flip's custom elan is a PJP and that there are some electronics discussed somewhere in his build thread or showcase thread

[adriaan]

Dave Houck's 3 pickup Essence comes to mind, with a nifty solution for the wiring.

[StephenR]

Wiring the neck pickup to its own volume pot sounds like a good option. My three-pickup Alembicized Quantum bass came with, and still has, on/off switches for each pickup so no blending possible. To be honest I prefer the sound of one pickup at a time. It may be that I can't blend them to taste but when I engage more than one pickup at at time the sound is a bit out-of-phase to my ears, possibly due to where the pickups are placed. I also can't remember ever using the rear pickup by itself and I have had the bass thirty years. Originally the activator chassis only had a volume and low-pass filter. When I recently added the Q-switch and variable bass/treble pots the range of tones available increased dramatically and with the bass boost the rear pickup is suddenly a viable option.

Link to Dave's Essence isn't working for me. Curious to see how his bass is wired.

[StephenR]

Okay, found the showcase thread for Dave's 3 pickup Essence....  Interesting way to wire a 3 pickup bass.

"Three position Q switch; and a three position pickup selector switch.  Plus the regular volume, pan, and filter.  Apparently, the bridge pickup is always on and routed to one side of the Pan.  The selector apparently chooses between the neck, the mid, and what appears to be the sum of the neck and mid.  That choice is then routed to the other side of the Pan.  Lots of tone choices!"

[adriaan]

Fixed the link ...

[dannobasso]

http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=7201.120


Here is what Alembic did for me.

[edwin]

I like it! How does it work in practice?

[dannobasso]

It works really well. It add so much tone and gives you a lot more options. Personally I like it with all 3 on and the controls wide open. Boost/cut in middle position.