Questions regarding tone pot capacitors

[fenderiarhs]

What are the functions of tone pot capacitors?
What are the differences tonewise between a tone pot that uses a .05uF capacitor and the same tone pot with a .022uF capacitor?

 

[MattPete]

Re: Questions regarding tone pot capacitors

A tone pot acts like a low-pass filter. When a tone pot is set to 0, only the "low" frequencies are allowed to pass and the "highs" are filtered out. The capacitor determines which frequencies are considered "high". A capacitor with a relatively high value (e.g. 0.05 µf) will cut out some of the mids when the tone put is rolled down, whereas a capacitor with a lower value (e.g. 0.01µf) will cut mostly just treble frequencies.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Questions regarding tone pot capacitors

A tone pot acts like a low-pass filter. When a tone pot is set to 0, only the "low" frequencies are allowed to pass and the "highs" are filtered out. The capacitor determines which frequencies are considered "high". A capacitor with a relatively high value (e.g. 0.05 µf) will cut out some of the mids when the tone put is rolled down, whereas a capacitor with a lower value (e.g. 0.01µf) will cut mostly just treble frequencies.

That's kind of right...but when the tone control is on zero, "the highs (that are) filtered out" do pass through the cap and then through the tone pot and pass to ground...they return to the planet Earth never to be heard from again. :laugh2:

The lows (and most of the mids) are blocked by the capacitor and stay in the audio signal and head on down your output jack, into the cord leading into your amp and get amplified.

Lew

 

[fenderiarhs]

Re: Questions regarding tone pot capacitors

so is it right to say that if the tone pot is on 10, that tone pot with a .022uF capacitor would sound the same with a tone pot with a .05 one??

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Questions regarding tone pot capacitors

so is it right to say that if the tone pot is on 10, that tone pot with a .022uF capacitor would sound the same with a tone pot with a .05 one??

Yes...but some highs always leak through the pot even when it's on "10".

With no pot at all most guitars sound brighter because of that.

 

[MattPete]

Re: Questions regarding tone pot capacitors

so is it right to say that if the tone pot is on 10, that tone pot with a .022uF capacitor would sound the same with a tone pot with a .05 one??

Technically there should be a difference, but what ever difference there is in inperceptable to me. In other words, you could measure a difference, but you probably wouldn't be able to perceive a difference.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Questions regarding tone pot capacitors

Yes...but some highs always leak through the pot even when it's on "10".

With no pot at all most guitars sound brighter because of that.

... unless you use a no-load pot, which completely removes the capacitor from the circuit at 10.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Questions regarding tone pot capacitors

... unless you use a no-load pot, which completely removes the capacitor from the circuit at 10.

You know, I've been using those in my Fenders and I'm starting to feel like they make the guitar to darn bright...

 

[fenderiarhs]

Re: Questions regarding tone pot capacitors

Thanks everybody...........very useful information as always..........

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Questions regarding tone pot capacitors

You know, I've been using those in my Fenders and I'm starting to feel like they make the guitar to darn bright...

Agreed Lew....I find myself just dialing back my Tone controls a bit...I find I Love the No Load Tone Pots on my Humbucking Gibson type instruments,but that the Strat and Teles really could do without em..

 

[ES350]

Re: Questions regarding tone pot capacitors

a little experiment...try a .1 cap and a .02 cap in a Tele and compare; both with the tone control all the way up and supposedly out of the circuit...

 

[neosadist]

Re: Questions regarding tone pot capacitors

A tone pot acts like a low-pass filter. When a tone pot is set to 0, only the "low" frequencies are allowed to pass and the "highs" are filtered out. The capacitor determines which frequencies are considered "high". A capacitor with a relatively high value (e.g. 0.05 µf) will cut out some of the mids when the tone put is rolled down, whereas a capacitor with a lower value (e.g. 0.01µf) will cut mostly just treble frequencies.

I wonder if there is some way to determine what the "perfect" or most ideal value is for specific pickups based on the resonant peak for the pickup (via the tone chart). Ideas? Oh, and thanks for the info about those no-load tone pots, I'm going to order one with a gold knob and then a DPDT switch

 

[MattPete]

Re: Questions regarding tone pot capacitors

a little experiment...try a .1 cap and a .02 cap in a Tele and compare; both with the tone control all the way up and supposedly out of the circuit...

Done it. I used a .047 and a .01 cap. I had a pair wires leading from a 250k pot to a pair of alligator clips outside the body. This allowed me to try out different capacitors without having to mess with soldering.

The verdict: on 9 (it was a no-load pot), I couldn't tell a difference between .047, .01, and no cap. In fact, it wasn't until the tone pot was rolled down to around 2-3 that I could tell a difference between the .047 and .01 caps. However, with the tone pot rolled down all the way, there was a big difference between the caps.