Hi everyone,
I have set my eyes on a passive Fender Jazz Bass MIJ Hybrid II. When trying it out, I noticed that the potentiometers of the volume don’t increase the volume gradually, but almost abruptly when turning up the knobs.
Is that normal for this type of bass?
Interesting. I had the Hybrid II Precision Bass and it did not have this issue. Sounds like maybe the one you are looking at may be wired with different pots than my P-bass.
Is it possible for you to try a different one of the same model?
It is a Jazz bass model that I have received temporarily from Thomann to try out. I guess if it turns out to be an anomaly I’ll contact them and eventually I’ll return it
Changing a potentiometer is really minor,
No, that sounds like a bad pot.
It’s weird, both of the volume pots behave exactly in the same way. Basically, the volume turns up only towards the end of the knob travel. I’ll have to return it then.
Being new and still in the return window, I think I’ll just give it back. Pity, though.
Is the big jump in the first half or the last half? It’s possible they used a linear pot and not audio taper. They behave differently. Both styles have their uses.
Nothing really wrong with either but it’s more personal preference.
In the second half. Basically what happens is that the volume is inaudible for the first half, until I roll up the knobs well over the half and all the way up, when the volume suddenly reaches the top. It’s like I have control over the volume only at the very end of the knob travel.
The effect of audio taper on volume should be to have a more natural kind of feeling to the knob action. Linear would seem to do very little for a long time and then do a lot more at one end.
Just looked at my Hybrid II P-bass post and it definitely had an audio taper volume:
The markings vary, sometimes they say “250K AUD” like there, sometimes “A250K”.
Do you think mine were mounted inversely or are more likely to be faulty?
I think they were linear. Neither faulty nor wired wrong. Just a different choice.
Your ears hear logarithmically- it takes increasingly more attenuation to reduce volume by the same apparent amount as you roll off the pot. This is how an audio taper pot works; at 50% it will have only added maybe 15-20% of its resistance. At the same point a linear taper will have added half its resistance.
So, in your view, how does this affect one’s playing and why would fender make such a choice anyway?
It is mostly preference. If you want to kill the volume quickly, linear might work better there, for example.
It is also possible that you got faulty pots or the wrong parts (like the C-type curve reverse taper pots you showed) but for both to be that incorrect is unusual.
@terb any other ideas for pot choice/behavior here?
Do you think this is what might be happening here?
Will need to watch later
I can’t replicate this for some reason.
Usually people use the bridge pickup on the Jazz bass to add brightness to the tone and I do that as well. I don’t set my brightness then add warmth from the neck pickup so I’ve never ran into this issue at all. My G&L CFL SB2 has 2 volume knob no tone knob and that’s how I adjust brightness, I do the same with my Joe Dart II bass.
I have a 4 string Bongo HS Piezo, I have Stingray HH as well as Sabre bass I love them all but I can say without hesitation that a 6 string Bongo HH is definitely not more versatile than a 4 string Jazz bass.
Mij is a good bass for sure. I’m not familiar with this model, I guess it’s a vintage body and neck and modern pickups and electronics. If the pots are not linear you can change them out. Bring it up to the shop or the seller and get some discount 
Usually, volume pots are logarithmic. Personnally I much prefer linear volume pots.
Also on a JB (or other instruments with blendable pickups where each pickup has its own volume pot), the pots are not wired as normal variable voltage dividers, to allow to set one volume to zero without cutting the signal (the other pickup remains active because the output is not grounded, even with one volume set to zero). This wiring behaves less progressively than a divider, at least on a passive instrument.
Linear pots could be a good choice, but it’s all about personnal preference.
I would especially want a linear taper on a guitar.
No it’s a modern body, neck, and electronics in a classic J or P configuration.
It’s a perfect modern take for those of us that want that - very much not vintage
