WAY too much lows on an S-500

[nachoharriague]

So I've changed my pups to humbuckers and the lows are just too much for me. Even with all the bass rolled off it's still incredibly bassy.

I know the PTB system has it's tricks, so I'm wondering if there is any cap that I could add/take out to try to reduce the lows a little? Maybe changing the pot for a 500K one?

Looking forward to your knowledge

[nachoharriague]

Further clarification:

I need nothing to "add" bottom end to the pups. But I do want to keep the PTB system which I love.

Also, I noted the cap on the treble pot which I'm assuming works as a treble bleed type thing?

Thanks!

[Craig]

So I've changed my pups to humbuckers and the lows are just too much for me. Even with all the bass rolled off it's still incredibly bassy.

I know the PTB system has it's tricks, so I'm wondering if there is any cap that I could add/take out to try to reduce the lows a little? Maybe changing the pot for a 500K one?

Looking forward to your knowledge

How many and what kind of humbuckers did you install?
Did you keep the stock S-500 wiring and did you convert the expander switch to a coil splitter or keep it as an expander function?

Can you post some photos of your current wiring?

[nachoharriague]

Thanks for the quick reply Craig.

I installed DP187 Cruiser Bridge in the neck and middle and a Tone Zone S in the bridge.

So far I've kept the stock wiring so it's still an expander although I'm considering the coil split. Given the nature of the pups (pretty "stratty") I might just keep the expander.

I don't have a picture right now, seem to have lost the ones from when I made the changes. If the pictures are a must-have I'll just revive the topic in a few weeks when I re-string the guitar

[Craig]

Thanks for the quick reply Craig.

I installed DP187 Cruiser Bridge in the neck and middle and a Tone Zone S in the bridge.

So far I've kept the stock wiring so it's still an expander although I'm considering the coil split. Given the nature of the pups (pretty "stratty") I might just keep the expander.

I don't have a picture right now, seem to have lost the ones from when I made the changes. If the pictures are a must-have I'll just revive the topic in a few weeks when I re-string the guitar

I ran your posts by Paul Gagon and here's what he says:

Hi Craig,

One thing that comes to mind is that there was a time when a .001 microfarad loading capacitor was soldered across the output of the MFD pickups to help warm them up a bit. It was either soldered across the Volume pot or across the bass pot. When on the bass pot you would see two capacitors. A .0022 (Which is the bass roll off cap) and the .001 (Which is the pickup loading cap). The .001 microfarads cap is the one that would need to be removed as it would really darken any non MFD pickup. Another thing would be to reduce the value of the bass roll off capacitor from .0022 microfarads to .001 microfarads. That would help pull out more bass frequencies.

Hope that helps,
Paul

Here's the link to the S-500 schematic showing the caps:

S-500 Schematic Block Diagram.pdf

Hope this helps.

[nachoharriague]

Thanks a lot. Since we're at it, would you suggest changing the volume pot to a 500K one or would you say the sum of all this could make the guitar excessively bright?

[Craig]

Thanks a lot. Since we're at it, would you suggest changing the volume pot to a 500K one or would you say the sum of all this could make the guitar excessively bright?

Here is Paul's reply:

It would be best to keep all the control values as is, however, no harm in trying a 500K volume control and see if you like it better.

Paul

[nachoharriague]

Thanks to both. I'll share the results of my experiments

[nachoharriague]

Thanks a lot. Since we're at it, would you suggest changing the volume pot to a 500K one or would you say the sum of all this could make the guitar excessively bright?

Here is Paul's reply:

It would be best to keep all the control values as is, however, no harm in trying a 500K volume control and see if you like it better.

Paul

All done. Love how it's playing now. The bass is still prominent, but that's probably just because of the pups and the fact that it was thought out for MFDs. Not sure how to upload pictures, but happy to share how it's now wired and what I've changed.

Thanks a lot!