Question about a vol pot.

Joeyfingers

New member
I recently purchased The SD IM-1 Pickup.It`s got a great tone to it but I`m still not getting the responce when I back off on the volume pot to get a clean sound and still have some volume to it. I want to be able to back off on the vol pot with my overdrive on and get a clean tone with out having to switch to a clean channel on my amp. It would just make it eaiser to just lower the vol to get a clean tone . I`ve played other guitars that have this responce but I`m not sure what kind of pot was in the guitar.What kind of pot do I have to use to get that responce? Anyone have any suggestions?Thanks Joe...
 
Re: Question about a vol pot.

no pot will do that. I am not sure what picklup that it. A high output pickup generally does not clean up well.
Welcome to the forum
 
Re: Question about a vol pot.

Try a linear pot vs. audio taper and see what happens. There are no hard and fast rules, but audio tapers are usually used for volumes and linear taper are usually used for tone controls (I think)
 
Re: Question about a vol pot.

no pot will do that. I am not sure what picklup that it. A high output pickup generally does not clean up well.
Welcome to the forum

Thanks, glad to be here! Actually I`ve played a guitar that when I backed off on the volume while playing through a high gain amp it cleaned up the sound quite a bit. Not entirely of course but what ever pot Fender has installed in the frankenstrat does it! Think about the song "Hot for Teacher" When Ed is playing the begining with the vol & gain cranked up then he lowers the vol to play the softer part. Thats what I`m looking for . I know there out there but I`m not sure if it`s a 250k or a 500k or something entirely different?
 
Re: Question about a vol pot.

Are you playing thru a tube or solid state amp? Tube amps are more responsive to playing dynamics, and you can change the amount of distortion by how hard you pick. Solid state amps have a more consistent distortion across the volume spectrum.

I don't know that a 250K or 500K volume pot makes a difference in this. Their impedence value determines how much treble they let thru and how much is bled to ground (250K's are warmer, 500K's brighter).
 
Re: Question about a vol pot.

It can be done. Check out that 1975 Michael Schenker video on youtube. That guy goes clear, crunch and lead with a flip of the pots (both vol and tone).

You definitely want to start at 500 Kohm to keep the resonance peak high when it's full open, it gives you a more pronounced difference when you roll it down.
 
Re: Question about a vol pot.

Are you playing thru a tube or solid state amp? Tube amps are more responsive to playing dynamics, and you can change the amount of distortion by how hard you pick. Solid state amps have a more consistent distortion across the volume spectrum.

I don't know that a 250K or 500K volume pot makes a difference in this. Their impedence value determines how much treble they let thru and how much is bled to ground (250K's are warmer, 500K's brighter).

I`m playin through a Marshall 1971 super lead 100 w tube amp,
The Mojave Peacemaker,(also tubes)
A Metro plexi replica of a 68 plexi,(tubes)
Also the new Hand wired Marshall SLP... (All tubes all the time) I found out the hard way that solid state just doesn`t cut it for me as far as tone goes!

Thanks guys for all your input! Joe...
 
Re: Question about a vol pot.

Your using too much gain either on your od pedal or your amp.
To prove if this is correct,... plug into the clean channel without an od pedal and back off the git vol.
I set my gits vol to the point where it's clean unless you pick quite hard. At this point the extra output from the pickup overdrives the amp into distortion.
 
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Re: Question about a vol pot.

Your using too much gain either on your od pedal or your amp.
To prove if this is correct,... plug into the clean channel without an od pedal and back off the git vol.
I set my gits vol to the point where it's clean unless you pick quite hard. At this point the extra output from the pickup overdrives the amp into distortion.

YEa back off the gain and it will work. Depends on the pickups though how much
 
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