Are all Tone Pots the Same?

[Jeff5]

Not even sure if this is the right forum but here goes. Got an Epi Les Paul a few months back. Replaced the pups, but I left the tone pots alone as they were already 500K. My question is, are tone pots tone pots? Is one 500K nob the same as another? Or should I look at replacing them? I'm fairly impressed with the Epi, it even has Grover tuners which are pretty nice. But I don't want to be cheating myself out of tone, especially when I invested in a good set of pick ups. So are all Tone pots the same? (besides the K rating) Or are there good brand name ones I should look into just like replacing the stock pick ups with Duncans, etc.?

[beandip]

Re: Are all Tone Pots the Same?

the Epi pots seem to wear out fairly quick, I would say invest (yeah, ok) in some CTS pots, they last forever and are really cheap. So I would really call it an investment, I would call it a must have.

[rhmcfarland]

Re: Are all Tone Pots the Same?

No, all pots are not the same. I sat and tested a bunch of CTS 500k pots. The actual values were all over the place. Some were 500k, some were 480k, etc. If you can match them, then maybe its worth it.

[Kent S.]

Re: Are all Tone Pots the Same?

Some pots a better manufactured than others, and will last longer, some are sealed (no dust getting inside), some are better tolerance, and some tapers are simlilar, but not exact. The smaller the tolerance the colser the pot is to the actual rated impedance, the taper varies from manufacturer, some use two or three section approxiamations in the *audio tapers*, others use actual logarithmic, or semi log. tapers, some use reverse log, and what not, some are linears, or modified linears. The taper has a pronounced effect on the *action*or *sweep* of the tone control, personaly taste. The higher values reduced the amount of highs being bleed off, and sound a bit brighter when all the way up (for that very reason). Generally with pots, you get what you pay for. Look up some pots in an electronics suppliers catalogue in the tapers, tolerances, and values that you want is often a better way to go, generally you break even or pay just slightly more, for better pot than the CTS stock pots (20% tolerance ... pretty rough), not htat those are bad pots mind you. Personally, even though you pay a bit more (company packaging and what not), for regular pots, for general guitar use that is, I like
the DiMarzio custom taper pots, they have an altered taper, good specs, and well made. As a general rule, avoid anything Chinese or Korean made, or anything that just looks *lightweight* or *cheap*, often times a cheap pot, will look just that ... cheap.