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Westone Thunder II active bass wiring diagrams

This wiring diagram is taken from my 1982 (Version 1) Thunder II active bass. It should also be suitable for the version 2 Thunder II active bass, and the Thunder III - as far as I know the only difference between the circuits for these guitars is that the later models have a different pickup in the bridge position

The volume and passive tone pots are 500K log/audio, the active tone pot is 500K with a centre detent. The tone capacitor is 0.022 microfarad Mylar.
The active on/off and phase switches are DPDT mini toggle switches, the dual tone switch is a 4 pole changeover mini toggle.

1 - This battery negative lead connects to the switched earth terminal on the jack socket, the power supply circuit is completed when a jack is inserted.
2 - These two wires are soldered to the backplates of the pickups

The original switches have an earth wire soldered to the metal parts of the switch body - this is not necessary and if you are replacing the switches with modern ones (Which usually have plastic bodies) is not advisable - connect the earth wire directly to the back of the active tone pot and not
to the switch bodies as shown below -

Page last updated 23rd February 2009