Blender pot value?

[Hank-]

I had an idea of using a small size pot with a small knob as a blender for neck & bridge. That would allow me to fit it more easily in the cramped space left in the cavity of my strat copy, the electronics arent mounted on the pickguard.

Which brings me to the question of whether any value pot would work. I have tried it with the 500k no load pot already, it works fine. So if I went lower like 100k or less, would it also lower the blend range? I don't think it would matter but I'm not sure, I need second opinion from you guys.

Help!

[Jacew]

Re: Blender pot value?

I had an idea of using a small size pot with a small knob as a blender for neck & bridge. That would allow me to fit it more easily in the cramped space left in the cavity of my strat copy, the electronics arent mounted on the pickguard.

Which brings me to the question of whether any value pot would work. I have tried it with the 500k no load pot already, it works fine. So if I went lower like 100k or less, would it also lower the blend range? I don't think it would matter but I'm not sure, I need second opinion from you guys.

Help!

Yes, it would lower the blend range, you would have more "parallel sounding" combination with blend fully on either end. That's probably not a big deal though, you'll have smoother and more "precise" control with lower value pot as well.

Use a linear pot. Audio pot will not behave correctly as a blender.

[beaubrummels]

Re: Blender pot value?

I've always matched the value to the standard volume pot value for the pickup. Doesn't work well with independent volumes due to resistor artifacts. Master volume type guitars are best.

[dystrust]

Re: Blender pot value?

I typically use a 250K no load pot for a blender in a Strat.

[ArtieToo]

Re: Blender pot value?

We need a little more info here. Are you talking about using a blend pot in conjunction with a "normal" volume pot? The lower the pot value, the more "load" you place on the pickup. Which means, the more highs you suck out, and the lower the voltage output. If you want the blend pot to be transparent in the signal path, you want the highest "ohmage" value you can find. 1-meg would be good. 10-meg would be better. But those pots are hard to find. Which is why blend pots aren't popular. Tone suckers. It's not a bad idea. But you really want to add a buffer, when you do the "blend" thang.

P.S. Maybe I missed what you were asking.

[dystrust]

Re: Blender pot value?

We need a little more info here. Are you talking about using a blend pot in conjunction with a "normal" volume pot? The lower the pot value, the more "load" you place on the pickup. Which means, the more highs you suck out, and the lower the voltage output. If you want the blend pot to be transparent in the signal path, you want the highest "ohmage" value you can find. 1-meg would be good. 10-meg would be better. But those pots are hard to find. Which is why blend pots aren't popular. Tone suckers. It's not a bad idea. But you really want to add a buffer, when you do the "blend" thang.

P.S. Maybe I missed what you were asking.

My understanding is that the OP wants to do the 7-sound Strat mod with a pot instead of an on/off toggle switch. I have my Strat wired that way and can't say I notice much tone suck, even when using the blender.

[Hank-]

Re: Blender pot value?

The config. would be neck & middle tone, bridge tone, master volume, a small sized blender pot for neck & bridge, 5 way switch. So the 7 sound strat thing.

So considering the blender works as a volume for the neck or bridge in all positions except 3rd, I would need to match its value with the master volume pot value?

I want to have a separate tone for the neck&middle and the bridge & not a master tone for all. Thats why a small sized pot for the blend function would be easier to drill & fit & easier to work with for me. I tried the usual wiring for blend but could not deal with having to readjust the tone knob for bridge. So I'm looking for alternate ways, a dual pot came to mind but the dual knob looks kinda ugly & would prefer not to go with it.

Having a no load blender is ideal to take away any tone suck in the normal 5 positions, that isn't a problem since I can convert regular ones to no load.

[Jacew]

Re: Blender pot value?

We need a little more info here. Are you talking about using a blend pot in conjunction with a "normal" volume pot? The lower the pot value, the more "load" you place on the pickup. Which means, the more highs you suck out, and the lower the voltage output. If you want the blend pot to be transparent in the signal path, you want the highest "ohmage" value you can find. 1-meg would be good. 10-meg would be better. But those pots are hard to find. Which is why blend pots aren't popular. Tone suckers. It's not a bad idea. But you really want to add a buffer, when you do the "blend" thang.

P.S. Maybe I missed what you were asking.

I don't quite understand this. It shouldn't add any load if blend pot is simply added between pickups, without connection to ground, and before master volume. It does add resistance to hot side, but you would want low value pots to minimize that effect, not high.

Independent volumes make things more complex, but I don't really see the point of adding blender in that case.

[PicoRiveraTele]

Re: Blender pot value?

I had an idea of using a small size pot with a small knob as a blender for neck & bridge. That would allow me to fit it more easily in the cramped space left in the cavity of my strat copy, the electronics arent mounted on the pickguard.

Which brings me to the question of whether any value pot would work. I have tried it with the 500k no load pot already, it works fine. So if I went lower like 100k or less, would it also lower the blend range? I don't think it would matter but I'm not sure, I need second opinion from you guys.

Help!

The stock 250k pot will bleed some volume from the other pickup through. 500k is better, 1 meg would be best. You can get an idea how much bleed through there is by wiring it up and tapping on the pole pieces with a screw driver, and comparing the relative amplitudes.

[Clint 55]

Re: Blender pot value?

That's why you no load it.

[Jacew]

Re: Blender pot value?

I don't quite understand this. It shouldn't add any load if blend pot is simply added between pickups, without connection to ground, and before master volume. It does add resistance to hot side, but you would want low value pots to minimize that effect, not high.

Independent volumes make things more complex, but I don't really see the point of adding blender in that case.

To my defence, I was tired when I wrote this...

Yes, obviously you do need the ground connection to the blender, or before it, for it to work. Note that volume pot value also adds to it. -> 500k vol + 500k blender would have same load than 250k on the ends and around 133k on "full blend" (or middle). 500k and 1M might be good compromise, like others have already said.

Another option would be to simply add independent volumes for the blend effect.

[PicoRiveraTele]

Re: Blender pot value?

I had a no load pot on hand, so I just installed it as a blender into a Strat. I tried to see if I could perceived a difference with the switch over happens from the detent to the being "in circuit", and I can't hear it at all. As mentioned above, I can hear tapping on the pole tops go from nothing to something, but as far as the heard tone, I can't hear any difference. In the future I'd be fine using a normal pot in place of a no load. It's nice that the no load as the detent, though. It sort of makes the knob feel like a switch as well as a knob.

[79adam79]

Re: Blender pot value?

We need a little more info here. Are you talking about using a blend pot in conjunction with a "normal" volume pot? The lower the pot value, the more "load" you place on the pickup. Which mens, the more highs you suck out, and the lower the voltage output. If you want the blend pot to be transparent in the signal path, you want the highest "ohmage" value you can find. 1-meg would be good. 10-meg would be better. But those pots are hard to find. Which is why blend pots aren't popular. Tone suckers. It's not a bad idea. But you really want to add a buffer, when you do the "blend" thang.

P.S. Maybe I missed what you were asking.

Are you refering to the single or stacked blend pot needing a high value for transparency? I've been having a hard time finding a no load/no detent pot w/ a linear taper. Emerson makes one... literally, just one at 250k; both my volume and tone pots are 500k. I was under the impression that the blend should match the volume value, when doing the mod with a single pot. I'm not interested in the stacked version.

Thanks.

[Clint 55]

Re: Blender pot value?

^ It doesn't matter what value the blend pot is. It behaves proportionally like a volume pot, not to the absolute amount of resistance like a spin a split. All you have to do is no load it yourself. That's what I do with all my blenders and spin a splits. This is how you do it. It takes about 5 or 10 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN3SlH-cEAg

[ArtieToo]

Re: Blender pot value?

When I posted that, (many moons ago), I think I may be referring to something different than everyone else. A blend pot can refer to two different things. One, is the dual-stacked linear pot, like a bass uses, that has no carbon element for half of the rotation. That way, you can fade from one pickup to another. That's the pot that, IMHO, is sensitive to pot value because it's used in parallel with a master volume pot. All three of those pot values combine in parallel to load down the pickup.

The other, is the Lindy Fralin style blend pot, on a Strat, that's normally used to just dial in the bridge, to the other switch positions of the 5-way, to be able to have N/B or all three pups on at once. That one may not be as sensitive to pot value. I should actually try it one day to know for sure.