1 Meg pots worth trying?

[ghostmaker]

I'm preparing to mod a Les Paul Gothic (mahogany body, ebony board, older model not the newer Morte). I am going to put a '59 in the neck and a Distortion in the bridge.

I recently learned about 1 Meg pots and am curious to try them. From my understanding they will add a bit more treble and volume. I had a few questions. I'm not good at all when it comes to wiring so please bear with me.

- Has anyone tried these same pickups with 1 Meg pots and what were your results?

- I am adding custom covers to the pickups. Will the 1 Meg pots help re-introduce the treble lost due to the covers?

- If I find the sound too harsh, will rolling the knobs back a bit bring me back to the tone I would normally get from 500k pots?

For what it matters, I play a lot of high gain modern hard rock and metal, I'm typically tuned to either Drop D or Drop B. I've always used 500k's and 90% of the time my volume and tone knobs are all the way at 10. Once in a while I do mute one of the pickups to act as a temporary killswitch, so I need to be able to reach total silence when the volume is at 0.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: 1 Meg pots worth trying?

- Has anyone tried these same pickups with 1 Meg pots and what were your results?

- I am adding custom covers to the pickups. Will the 1 Meg pots help re-introduce the treble lost due to the covers?

- If I find the sound too harsh, will rolling the knobs back a bit bring me back to the tone I would normally get from 500k pots?

I need to be able to reach total silence when the volume is at 0.

- I haven't tried those pickups with 1 M pots.
- Yes, they will help counteract the effect of covering your pickups.
- Yes, you can roll back the treble using your tone knobs, and/or your volume knob, and/or your amp.
- 1 Meg pots are off at 0, like other pots.

 

[ghostmaker]

Re: 1 Meg pots worth trying?

Thanks for the response!

Bump for more thoughts. I'll be making the decision in a few days.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: 1 Meg pots worth trying?

I use 1 meg pots for anything past 14K resistance because a 500K pot bleeds to much treble to ground and constricts the dynamic range of the pickup. A 1 meg pot restores the dynamics lost with a lower value pot, while restoring some of the lost treble response.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: 1 Meg pots worth trying?

I used a 1 meg pot with a Kent Armstrong "Ultra Distortion" bridge PU (22k) in a dark sounding basswood guitar & it sounded great. Really opened things up & made it brighter...

 

[RayBarbeeMusic]

Re: 1 Meg pots worth trying?

I've started using 1M volumes on any neck humbucker (assuming the guitar has a separate volume for the neck pup).

That includes, and I might add, ESPECIALLY, '59s. Definitely adds back some definition. I find pretty much all humbuckers bloated sounding in the neck, and the '59 is especially woofy in the low mids.

 

[hamerfan]

Re: 1 Meg pots worth trying?

I use 1 meg pots in the neck of 2 Les Pauls. It really opens up and takes the mud away. On one of these gits i hooked off the tone pot, this adds a bit sparkle in a very mature sounding 82 Les Paul Heritage Elite. Highly recommended.

 

[Josep_cla]

Re: 1 Meg pots worth trying?

I have 1 in my Strat, and 4 in my '76 Standard Les Paul.
Good, but not a big difference.

 

[darthphineas]

Re: 1 Meg pots worth trying?

I've been using a few in a couple of guitars for a while now. they sort of 'open up' the sound a bit. along the lines of doing the 18v mod on EMGs... as in, it can give things a little more room, so to speak.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: 1 Meg pots worth trying?

honestly just try it, some people make 1meg sound like it's super bright and unusable but I used them for years, hell I played stadiums with them.

 

[Bfeeney]

Re: 1 Meg pots worth trying?

I've started using 1M volumes on any neck humbucker (assuming the guitar has a separate volume for the neck pup).

What would you get if you wire the neck without any pots? Run the neck straight to the selector switch. Would this brighten it up?

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: 1 Meg pots worth trying?

What would you get if you wire the neck without any pots? Run the neck straight to the selector switch. Would this brighten it up?

You can do that but a 1 meg pot bleeds very little treble to ground and you have the convenience of a volume control. You could also go with a 2 meg pot for even less treble loss.

 

[jonathane40]

Re: 1 Meg pots worth trying?

I've started using 1M volumes on any neck humbucker (assuming the guitar has a separate volume for the neck pup).

That includes, and I might add, ESPECIALLY, '59s. Definitely adds back some definition. I find pretty much all humbuckers bloated sounding in the neck, and the '59 is especially woofy in the low mids.

Ray, have You tried the 1m pot with any Lollar Imperial on the neck? If so, would you recommend it?

 

[tubecrunch]

Re: 1 Meg pots worth trying?

I use 500k push/pulls and wire it to bypass the vol/tone when I'm in the mood.

 

[Frogman]

Re: 1 Meg pots worth trying?

I think I've made the decision to put a 1 meg in the neck of my LPC (Mean 90).


I don't see any downside....should really open and brighten it up.


Though i think I'm going to replace one of the A5's with an A3 as well.

 

[RayBarbeeMusic]

Re: 1 Meg pots worth trying?

Ray, have You tried the 1m pot with any Lollar Imperial on the neck? If so, would you recommend it?

Yes and yes.

 

[Frogman]

Re: 1 Meg pots worth trying?

For a strat with a H-S-P90 (C/DD A2 - Area 61 - P90), would you all advise for or against a 1 meg (overall/shared) volume pot?

 

[RayBarbeeMusic]

Re: 1 Meg pots worth trying?

Definitely against. I only recommend 1M volumes for a neck humbucker. On anything else they usually sound harsh and brittle.