Blender pot instead of a selector switch?

[Alvin Lee Fan]

I had a wild hair the other day when I ordered some parts from Stew-Mac and added a blender pot to my order.

I was thinking, could it be used in place of a pickup selector switch? This would be for a two pickup guitar. I'm thinking to wire both pickups to the blender pot, then from there out to a master vol, master tone setup.

This pot is a 500k audio taper pot with a center detent. Stew-Mac's description says it blends from one source to another, with the center detent being both sources equally. It just sounded like a variable pickup switch to me, I had to order it :laugh2:

Anyone tried something like this?

 

[Artie]

Re: Blender pot instead of a selector switch?

Yeah, I did this exact thing not too long ago. It was "ok", but not great. I removed it after a couple weeks. Here's the things you have to consider:

1. You effectively have a triple-volume control thing happening. If you use a 500k blend pot with a 500k volume control, the pickups "see" a 166.67k pot. That may suppress more signal than you want.

2. It was a bit cumbersome to use. I missed being able to switch instantly from neck to bridge. It wasn't a big deal, just not worth it for the benefit - which wasn't much.

Still, if you ordered the pot anyway, you can try it for yourself and see what you think.

Artie

 

[tone4days]

Re: Blender pot instead of a selector switch?

i have this on my bass and like it alot ... but bass requires a lot less instantaneous switching between sounds (well, the way i play bass it does)

good luck
t4d

 

[ES350]

Re: Blender pot instead of a selector switch?

1 meg linear works quite a bit better as far as loading. I always wanted one on a Tele; there's a lot of sweet spots in there that you can't get to with the stock setup. I agree it takes a little getting used to and you find yourself looking for the switch at first, but it's a lot more flexible than the two control/selector setup.

 

[Artie]

Re: Blender pot instead of a selector switch?

1 meg linear works quite a bit better as far as loading.

Thats true. If you could find a 1 meg blender and a 1 meg volume pot, your total load would be 333k. That would be much better.

 

[Alvin Lee Fan]

Re: Blender pot instead of a selector switch?

Hmmm, thanks for the responses guys. Maybe I'll just keep this mod for a little easier guitar to work on. I was considering it on a semi-hollow, but if it's iffy...I'd rather play around on a solidbody where it's easier to work on the controls.

Thanks bunches!!

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Blender pot instead of a selector switch?

The oldest Broadcasters were set up like that...the volume was still the volume but the second pot was a blend control for the 2 pickups when the 3 way was in the "bridge position" then in the middle and neck the guitar worked like a "normal" early 50's Tele

 

[spkml]

Re: Blender pot instead of a selector switch?

Okay, I was just on this track of putting a blend pot into a Les Paul and thought based off of what I read that a no load pot is possibly what I need to accomplish the blend between neck and bridge, with a center detente as an 'equal' mix of the two... Would I use a audio taper 500k or a linear no load? I'm confused since so few people have embraced this idea instead of a 3-way switch... ugh

 

[Chris Pile]

Re: Blender pot instead of a selector switch?

It's been done plenty of times. With success, I might add.

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Blender pot instead of a selector switch?

You want a blend pot like they use on basses. Not the blender used on Teles.

Blend pots have to be wired the right way, and M/N taper works best. I like Bourns blend pots the best.

Go with 500k because you are introducing an extra resistor to ground. 2 500 k pots in parallel is 250k

I had one of my guitars set up this way. The in between blends were not as interesting as you might think. It’s hard to passively blend two pickups without them loading each other. Especially if they have different resistances.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Artie]

Re: Blender pot instead of a selector switch?

This is one of those subjects that is so frustrating to me. I have developed, and tested, a workable passive mixer solution for any dual-vol guitar. I had to use some cheap Alpha pots for the testing, but it worked great. You can lower the volume of one pup, without affecting the other, and without loading down the one you're attenuating. The trouble is, in order to take this to the next level, I need some Bourns pots, that they make, but nobody sells. Unless I want to buy 5000. (Which I just can't do.) :banghead:

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Re: Blender pot instead of a selector switch?

This is one of those subjects that is so frustrating to me. I have developed, and tested, a workable passive mixer solution for any dual-vol guitar. I had to use some cheap Alpha pots for the testing, but it worked great. You can lower the volume of one pup, without affecting the other, and without loading down the one you're attenuating. The trouble is, in order to take this to the next level, I need some Bourns pots, that they make, but nobody sells. Unless I want to buy 5000. (Which I just can't do.) :banghead:

Just wire the two volumes like a Jazz Bass or Rickenbacker. Then they don’t interact like on a Gibson. Gibson wire the pots so the output is shorted to ground thus muting both pickups.

Just swap the two wires on the pot. Now the pickup is grounded and isolated from the other pickup.

Or just use a blend pot.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Artie]

Re: Blender pot instead of a selector switch?

Yes, but the "problem" with that, is that as you lower the volume, you increase the load on the pup. Altering its tone. It's the age old problem. My solution isolates the two pickups while not loading down either.

 

[skh515]

Re: Blender pot instead of a selector switch?

This is one of those subjects that is so frustrating to me. I have developed, and tested, a workable passive mixer solution for any dual-vol guitar. I had to use some cheap Alpha pots for the testing, but it worked great. You can lower the volume of one pup, without affecting the other, and without loading down the one you're attenuating. The trouble is, in order to take this to the next level, I need some Bourns pots, that they make, but nobody sells. Unless I want to buy 5000. (Which I just can't do.) :banghead:

If you could get 2500 people (like the membership of a certain pickup forum) to each buy two from you, you be in business! Hell, I might even buy four.

 

[Artie]

Re: Blender pot instead of a selector switch?

Thing is, I need to do more testing first. I wish I could get Bourns to send me a couple samples, but they've ignored my emails. Probably 'cause I ain't a big company. I'm not even a small company, for that matter.