500K to 250-350K pot?

shredaholic

New member
How would I go about connecting a resistor to a 500k tone pot to lower the pot's rating? Connect it between the input and middle lugs?

I've got a coil tap switch for my humbuckers, but with a hard ash body and a maple/ebony neck, 500k is too bright for a tapped bridge outer coil. Im thinking if I change the DPDT switch to a 3PDT one, I can wire up the switch to parallel a resistor with the pot in tapped mode.
 
Re: 500K to 250-350K pot?

shredaholic said:
How would I go about connecting a resistor to a 500k tone pot to lower the pot's rating? Connect it between the input and middle lugs?

I've got a coil tap switch for my humbuckers, but with a hard ash body and a maple/ebony neck, 500k is too bright for a tapped bridge outer coil. Im thinking if I change the DPDT switch to a 3PDT one, I can wire up the switch to parallel a resistor with the pot in tapped mode.

Connect another 500k between both outside lugs...This would give you 250k or there abouts.You might not like the taper after the changes though? Better to have both 250k and 500k pots around to try.
 
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Re: 500K to 250-350K pot?

STRATDELUXER97 said:
Connect another 500k between both outside lugs...This would give you 250k or there abouts.

Is 470k the right resistor value for a fixed resistor to get to ~250-300? Seems like it shoud be if 500k pot will do the trick
 
Re: 500K to 250-350K pot?

Marcel said:
That would give about 242 Ohms...

I think the existing pot is likely above the 500k spec so that would be ok.
 
Re: 500K to 250-350K pot?

Get a multimeter to measure it if you're unsure... there's no need to solder it in before checking the value by the way... just hold the resistor in place with the pot and measure the 2 lugs.
 
Re: 500K to 250-350K pot?

thor666 said:
Get a multimeter to measure it if you're unsure... there's no need to solder it in before checking the value by the way... just hold the resistor in place with the pot and measure the 2 lugs.

I know... I've done this before. I just couldn't remember the resistor value
 
Re: 500K to 250-350K pot?

I Like my 500k pots to be a bit over 500k in most cases to squeeze a bit of extra highend from my LP/SG guitars....And I use a No Load Tone pot..
 
Re: 500K to 250-350K pot?

sure kohms... shorrt after wake up ;)! 242KOhms is definitly in the range of a 250kOhm pot ... I think nooone can hear a difference at all
 
Re: 500K to 250-350K pot?

Marcel said:
sure kohms... shorrt after wake up ;)! 242KOhms is definitly in the range of a 250kOhm pot ... I think nooone can hear a difference at all

Gotsta stay on your toes or guys like myself will come along and correct ya! :beerchug: ;)
 
Re: 500K to 250-350K pot?

You can play around with lots of resistor values to hone in on what sounds best with your axe. The formula is:

(1/pot value)+(1/resistor value) = (1/net value).

Or, with a 500k pot, 1meg resistor: (1/500)+(1/1000) = (1/.003).
One divided by .003 = 333k.
500k pot with a 470k resistor you get 242k, or with a 820k resistor you get 312k. Etc.

It's cheap, easy and fun. Hmm, sounds like my first gf, whatever happened to her?
 
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