# Ibanez bass EQ bypass switch mod



## Vostre Roy (Jan 25, 2013)

Hey folks,

Since I'm having the day off, I decided to work on a little mod on my Ibanez bass. Its an SR305, Iron Pewter finish, active EQ but passive pickups. Its a very cool bass for the price I paid, its a B-stock due to some wood stripes being more pale on the back of the neck, far from being a deal at all.

Amyway, the former bassist of my band had an SR405 bass, basically the same but with better wood IIRC, had trouble with the EQ and had to completely bypass it. Thing is, I loved the sound more without the EQ than I did with it. So for a while, I thought about bypassing and removing the active EQ from it, just before I finally thought about simply putting a bypass switch. Googled a little and found this schematic, thanks to jc522 from Talkbass forum:

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=291212&d=1348329395

So I bought the switch, added an hole and wired it exactly like the schematic. Worked like a charm now!

Here are some before and after pictures:

Before:







After:

Switch is the little blue one, middle right of that picture:











Knobs are a little close together, but I can live with that, I don't use them much once my tone is set.

Cheers!


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## migtop (Aug 13, 2014)

[FONT=&quot]Good job[/FONT][FONT=&quot]! I have the same bass and I would like to improve the sound. 

When you did this mod shown in the drawing, did you missing all control functions of EQ (Treble / Bass / Style Sweeper) is this true? 
[/FONT]


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## monkeybike (Aug 13, 2014)

What year was your 305 built? My 305 Iron Pewter has 5 knobs instead of your 4 with one stacked.


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## Vostre Roy (Aug 14, 2014)

migtop said:


> [FONT=&quot]Good job[/FONT][FONT=&quot]! I have the same bass and I would like to improve the sound.
> 
> When you did this mod shown in the drawing, did you missing all control functions of EQ (Treble / Bass / Style Sweeper) is this true?
> [/FONT]



Yup, those basses has an active EQ and passive pickups, so when you bypass the active board you loose the EQ, but you keep the volume and blend pots.



monkeybike said:


> What year was your 305 built? My 305 Iron Pewter has 5 knobs instead of your 4 with one stacked.



IIRC, it was a 2011 (I do not own this bass anymore)

Cheers!


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## jekel666 (Aug 18, 2019)

hi i hope i get a reply i was interested in doing this mod my 305 is a 2010 and was wandering what switch did you use as in change over or double throw i know it has 2 contacts and 2 position cheers


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