Quarter Pound

[redhabu]

So I threw a set of Quarter Pounders in my tele. I used 500k pots as everyone seemed to recommend scrolling posts. It's loud.....very very loud. I love the bridge pickup. It is good clean and rocks with high gain. I can't imagine a better bridge pickup for rock on a tele, sounds amazing. Neck pickup can be bassy with closed back cabs. To play clean I need to turn the volume knob down at least half way or it's to loud and starts to overdrive the amp.

Question can I put a 250k volume in and keep the 500k tone to retain the highs but tone back the volume?

 

[ericmeyer4]

Re: Quarter Pound

This is from another thread and it may help:

The guitar with the 500K volume pot and 500K tone pot is both higher in output (louder) and has more highs. The guitar with the 300K volume pot is both lower in output (quieter) and has less treble than the other.

Even when the guitar's volume control and tone control are on "10", some of the pickup's output signal and treble will leak through it and escape the audio path. More signal will leak through a 250K or 300K pot then will leak through a 500K pot because the 500K has more resistance and resists the signal from leaking through it.

If your pots are higher in value, 500K for example, they will have more resistance and resist the pickup's output from leaking through the pot and escaping the audio path and going back into the planet earth (ground). Instead, more signal will go into your amplifier and be produced as music.

 

[redhabu]

Re: Quarter Pound

Hmmmm so hot oil massage is pounders with a lowered volume pot?

 

[ericmeyer4]

Re: Quarter Pound

That second quote is my signature line.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Quarter Pound

Unfortunately finding the happy medium with the QP can be challenging. With a 500K pot they can be a bit too bright and loud, while with a 250K they are too dark. You can however add a resistor in parallel with your 500K pot to bring the value of the circuit down to a value you can live with like 375K which is half way between a 500K pot and 250K pot. To do that you would add a 1,500 kohm resistor across the outer lugs on the pot. You can use the parallel resistor calculator below to calculate the various value resistors you would need to arrive at different values like 350K or 300K and use alligator clips to test before you commit to soldering anything. You can also strategically place the resistors on your switch so that the neck position sees 500K and the bridge sees 375K in order to smooth out the bridge without darkening the neck. For example here's one of my Tele's with a 1,000Kohm resistor to give the bridge 333K and the neck 500K. It also has a bass trap for the neck pickup to keep it from sounding too dark.

http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-paralresist.htm

 

[redhabu]

Re: Quarter Pound

So would putting a 300 k volume pot in have the same effect

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Quarter Pound

So would putting a 300 k volume pot in have the same effect

The lower the value of the pot the more treble that is bled to ground. This is why I suggest experimenting with the value of resistor combined with your existing pots and using the parallel resistance app to try different values until you hear something you can live with. If you want all positions on the switch to have the same value of resistance then wire the resistor across the outside lugs of the volume pot. If you only want to change the value of resistance for the bridge pickup only wire it to the lug on the switch for your bridge pickup.

 

[DreX]

Re: Quarter Pound

I have 500k pots for both volume and tone in my QP Tele. IMO, lowering the pot values will only make the tone worse, and it might be necessary to get a different type of pickup altogether if you don't like how it is now. It's got a strong upper mid range, not quite mid, not quite treble, somewhere in between, sort of like a JB in that respect. IMO, it's a hard pickup to love, because a Tele is usually very versatile and has a lot of character, but the QP set turns it into more of a loud, one-dimensional, less dynamic player. I would say the same is true of a Strat with the SSL-4 or SSL-5 if not for the 2,3,4 positions, which are still pretty interesting, even with a hotter pickup. It's great for smooth jazz, warm and lots sustain. With a Tele, you live in the neck and bridge positions, so the loss feels greater.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Quarter Pound

I have 500k pots for both volume and tone in my QP Tele. IMO, lowering the pot values will only make the tone worse, and it might be necessary to get a different type of pickup altogether if you don't like how it is now. It's got a strong upper mid range, not quite mid, not quite treble, somewhere in between, sort of like a JB in that respect. IMO, it's a hard pickup to love, because a Tele is usually very versatile and has a lot of character, but the QP set turns it into more of a loud, one-dimensional, less dynamic player. I would say the same is true of a Strat with the SSL-4 or SSL-5 if not for the 2,3,4 positions, which are still pretty interesting, even with a hotter pickup. It's great for smooth jazz, warm and lots sustain. With a Tele, you live in the neck and bridge positions, so the loss feels greater.

Though I tried the QP in a Strat, I agree with the above, more or less. My Stratnalsonhad 500 kohm pots, and I do not think any lower value would've sounded better.

 

[JOLLY]

Re: Quarter Pound

I was just playing my quarter pound loaded Telecaster last night. it sounded great.

 

[redhabu]

Re: Quarter Pound

I was just playing my quarter pound loaded Telecaster last night. it sounded great.

I love the bridge pickup, do you use 500 or 250k pots?