potted v. unpotted?
- Thread starter hellatone
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idsnowdog
Imperator of Indignation
Re: potted v. unpotted?
Some "Vintage" or "Scatterwound" or "Boutique" manufacturers claim that if you wind a pickup right it doesn't need to be potted. I don't know about that?
A pickup that is unpotted or aged has a tendancy to be a bit warmer but they have less clarity. They are slightly microphonic so they are more sensitive to volume and distortion levels. They also feedback easier and have a subtle warble. But that sensitivity is random and not controlled. Potting controls a pickup. I have found that unpotted pickups are a double edged sword. They work well in a low volume studio setting but don't work that well with stage volumes and high distortion. So you back off the volume and the distortion and you end up with a more vintage sound. Is that what your really after?
A good example is my experience with old Les Paul Deluxes and SG's with p90's. I love the sound of old mini humbuckers and p90's. They have a lot of random overtones that make them great at lower volumes and distortion for recording but they become uncontrolable at higher volumes and distortion like you find onstage. That's why many pro's use vintage gear in the studio. They can engineer out the undesirable elements in a studio. Live you don't have a net.
Snowdog
Some "Vintage" or "Scatterwound" or "Boutique" manufacturers claim that if you wind a pickup right it doesn't need to be potted. I don't know about that?
A pickup that is unpotted or aged has a tendancy to be a bit warmer but they have less clarity. They are slightly microphonic so they are more sensitive to volume and distortion levels. They also feedback easier and have a subtle warble. But that sensitivity is random and not controlled. Potting controls a pickup. I have found that unpotted pickups are a double edged sword. They work well in a low volume studio setting but don't work that well with stage volumes and high distortion. So you back off the volume and the distortion and you end up with a more vintage sound. Is that what your really after?
A good example is my experience with old Les Paul Deluxes and SG's with p90's. I love the sound of old mini humbuckers and p90's. They have a lot of random overtones that make them great at lower volumes and distortion for recording but they become uncontrolable at higher volumes and distortion like you find onstage. That's why many pro's use vintage gear in the studio. They can engineer out the undesirable elements in a studio. Live you don't have a net.
Snowdog
Last edited:
Gearjoneser
Gear Ho
Re: potted v. unpotted?
Unpotted sounds more open and alive, and if it's a factory installed cover by Duncan, there's little chance of squeal, even on highgain. One of it's characteristics is that if you tap on the body of your guitar, you'll hear a bit of the 'boink' through your amp.
Potted is more dry and focused, and even when at extreme gain levels, you hear a lot less transient noise when the guitar gets bounced around, or if you tap on it's top. Just a more controlled and less airy sound. The only way to know what you really like is to compare something like a 59 Nickel to a Seth nickel.
Unpotted sounds more open and alive, and if it's a factory installed cover by Duncan, there's little chance of squeal, even on highgain. One of it's characteristics is that if you tap on the body of your guitar, you'll hear a bit of the 'boink' through your amp.
Potted is more dry and focused, and even when at extreme gain levels, you hear a lot less transient noise when the guitar gets bounced around, or if you tap on it's top. Just a more controlled and less airy sound. The only way to know what you really like is to compare something like a 59 Nickel to a Seth nickel.
Re: potted v. unpotted?
To my ears, the unpotted pickups I use have more harmonic complexity. They are more open and articulate and just "feel" better. Now, other factors such as magnets, wind, etc may go into that also, but for the most part, they respond better to my touch and playing style. I don't play with mega gain, but certainly "up the wicket" on occasion with a cooking amp, several overdrives and a fuzz pedal. Even in a chambered and semi-hollow guitars, I have no problems with squeel or noise. Both guitars that have the unpotted pups are very easy to coax into controlled feedback..
That said, I also use some potted buckers that are certainly toneful, articulate and complex little buggers.
A wee bit of microphony works for me. YMMV
To my ears, the unpotted pickups I use have more harmonic complexity. They are more open and articulate and just "feel" better. Now, other factors such as magnets, wind, etc may go into that also, but for the most part, they respond better to my touch and playing style. I don't play with mega gain, but certainly "up the wicket" on occasion with a cooking amp, several overdrives and a fuzz pedal. Even in a chambered and semi-hollow guitars, I have no problems with squeel or noise. Both guitars that have the unpotted pups are very easy to coax into controlled feedback..
That said, I also use some potted buckers that are certainly toneful, articulate and complex little buggers.
A wee bit of microphony works for me. YMMV
octavedoctor
New member
Re: potted v. unpotted?
Potting affects the capacitance of a pickup and therefore subtly alters the tone.
I don't care what the "Boutique" manufacturers say, if you don't pot a pickup then it will squeal at high gain as all the windings vibrate at different resonant frequencies. The tighter the pickup is wound the worse the problem will be.
The trick is to formulate the wax correctly. Ordinary paraffin wax,, like candle wax is hard and has a micro-crystalline substructure which makes it paradoxically a good conductor of sound.
I use a blend of LMP wax (a dermatological grade wax) and anhydrous lanolin. The resulting sludge has virtually zero acoustic transmissibility in the audible spectrum and has a melting point low enough that it can safely be used with butyrate bobbins without distorting them. Seymour uses a blend of paraffin wax and beeswax for a similar effect.
Potting affects the capacitance of a pickup and therefore subtly alters the tone.
I don't care what the "Boutique" manufacturers say, if you don't pot a pickup then it will squeal at high gain as all the windings vibrate at different resonant frequencies. The tighter the pickup is wound the worse the problem will be.
The trick is to formulate the wax correctly. Ordinary paraffin wax,, like candle wax is hard and has a micro-crystalline substructure which makes it paradoxically a good conductor of sound.
I use a blend of LMP wax (a dermatological grade wax) and anhydrous lanolin. The resulting sludge has virtually zero acoustic transmissibility in the audible spectrum and has a melting point low enough that it can safely be used with butyrate bobbins without distorting them. Seymour uses a blend of paraffin wax and beeswax for a similar effect.
octavedoctor
New member
Re: potted v. unpotted?
One of the nicest sounds i ever heard from a guitar was from an old Roger guitar; these were, I'm told, an east german offshoot of the Hofner family and looked very similar. The pickup was little more than a loose coil wound like a hank of hair, bobbinless, and positioned around (bizarrely) just five ceramic disc magnets similar to the ones used in modern fridge magnets. No potting obviously, just a thin embossed metal casing.
It had no power but the most beautifully faithful acoustic tone.
Do you remember when Fender's sales material for the execrable Lace sensors described them pretentiously as "not pickups, rather acoustic emission sensors"
"Hang on a minute", I thought, "isn't an acoustic emission sensor a microphone!"
My friend Gareth of the Welsh band The Henrees went nuts when he got his new Epiphone Flying V and found that they'd double waxed the pickups so that he couldn't do his favourite trick of singing into the pickups... LOL!
teleblooz said:
One of the nicest sounds i ever heard from a guitar was from an old Roger guitar; these were, I'm told, an east german offshoot of the Hofner family and looked very similar. The pickup was little more than a loose coil wound like a hank of hair, bobbinless, and positioned around (bizarrely) just five ceramic disc magnets similar to the ones used in modern fridge magnets. No potting obviously, just a thin embossed metal casing.
It had no power but the most beautifully faithful acoustic tone.
Do you remember when Fender's sales material for the execrable Lace sensors described them pretentiously as "not pickups, rather acoustic emission sensors"
"Hang on a minute", I thought, "isn't an acoustic emission sensor a microphone!"
My friend Gareth of the Welsh band The Henrees went nuts when he got his new Epiphone Flying V and found that they'd double waxed the pickups so that he couldn't do his favourite trick of singing into the pickups... LOL!
