250K pots

[jon]

Hello all,

I read in a thread here, a while back, that the JB + Jazz were designed with 250K volume pots in mind. As I find the JB a little sharp and aggressive with the 500K pots, what differance would using a lower value pot make? My guitar has 1 Vol + 1 Tone, the tone pot is a 250k at the moment, would a 250K - 350K volume pot help take the sharpness out of the pups? (My music style is Blues/jazz/blues-rock)

Jon :question:

 

[Artie]

Re: 250K pots

Hey Jon; If this will help, here's a simple mp3 I made with my Genny with "special" wiring on the volume control. I can go from a 100k pot to a 600k pot at the twist of a knob.

It starts with a 100k setting, then goes to 600k. Its a subtle difference:

JB load test

 

[azzyazzborne]

Re: 250K pots

well generally, as you said the 500 k pot will give more sharpness to the pickup while the 250k pot will be more on the warm side so i guess its all on preference

 

[NT02]

Re: 250K pots

Jon,

I upgraded my Les Paul with new pickups and electronics a while back. I went with 500k CTS pots based on a lot of posts here. I ended up going back to the stock Gibson 300k volume pot for the bridge pickup because I found the bridge became to trebly and lost some balls with the 500k when playing with overdrive, which is all I do with the bridge pup. The difference was much more noticeable than in the soundclip Artie provided. Slap a 250k pot in there and see the difference for yourself. Add an Orarnge Drop or Hovland tone cap while you're in there to make your tone knob more useful.

 

[Artie]

Re: 250K pots

The difference was much more noticeable than in the soundclip Artie provided.

You know, I wondered about that myself. I would've thought the difference to be more pronounced. I think I'm going to install one of those dual 250k/500k pots with a selector switch, and try the test again.

 

[NT02]

Re: 250K pots

The pickup is a Seth Lover, playing through a trebly PV Classic 30. Maybe cranking the treble on your amp will produce exaggerated results in a comparison?

 

[jon]

Re: 250K pots

Thanks for all the replies, I now have a 250K pot that I will try.

 

[BowerR64]

Re: 250K pots

If your guitar has a volume and tone, do you need to replace them both with 250k pots? or can you leave one or the other stock 500k?

I have a guitar made of maple i wanted to add some warmth to it but it has 2 500k volume and tone.

 

[Jocelyn]

Re: 250K pots

I use my jb with 250k pots and it sounds nice and warm yet cuts...Kew prefers the Jb with 500k pots....but yes try it out you will know what u like....

 

[BowerR64]

Re: 250K pots

Dang it, im so lost. can i run a 250K volume and a 500k tone? or 500k volume and a 250k tone? wich would be better? or do i need 250k in volume AND tone?

some one tell me somthing.

 

[Artie]

Re: 250K pots

You can mix them up any way you want, but they have slightly different jobs. The value of the volume pot will affect the "load" on the pup, and thus its overall character. (Although, subtle.) The tone pot just controls how much high-end content goes to ground. A 250k tone pot is exactly the same as a 500k on "5". (Assuming linear pots.)

An easier way to look at the tone pot is like this: All tone pots are electrically identical when on zero. As you turn up the treble, you'll hit the 250k point on all of them. With a 250k pot, you stop there, of course. With a 500k, you can keep going up.

 

[BowerR64]

Re: 250K pots

Thankyou!

 

[Amateur]

Re: 250K pots

I think the capacitor is the main element that controls the roll off of the tone. The 500k pot will make the tone darker than a 250k pot as you increase the resistance. The norm for humbuckers are 500k pots on both the volume and tone controls with a 0.047 uf capacitor and single coils have 250k pots with 0.022 uf cap.

 

[Artie]

Re: 250K pots

I think the capacitor is the main element that controls the roll off of the tone. The 500k pot will make the tone darker than a 250k pot as you increase the resistance.

You're correct about the cap, but not about the pot. The tone is "darkest" when the pot is removed from the equation. That is, shorted out. The tone gets brighter as you roll in resistance. Ergo, you can place twice as much resistance between the cap and signal with a 500k than a 250k.

 

[Amateur]

Re: 250K pots

You're correct about the cap, but not about the pot. The tone is "darkest" when the pot is removed from the equation. That is, shorted out. The tone gets brighter as you roll in resistance. Ergo, you can place twice as much resistance between the cap and signal with a 500k than a 250k.

You're right, the word "increase" should actually be "decrease". I was not think when I was typing.