Strange volume pot behavior

[kruspemsv]

Hi there,

Recently I bought a epiphone custom silverburst loaded with a JB (bridge) and SH59 (neck). I never had a Seymour before and I really love The sound of these ones. My problem here is that I usually play with hi gain distortion and control the gain of my drive in the volume knob. That always worked fine for me with my other guitars (Classic Jaguar and Gibson Studio with original caps and a Edwards with EMG 81/85.

But with the JB I really don't have the same control. With my other guitars if I drop the volume knob to a 8, for example, I get a distinctive sound, on a 6 other and so on, until close to 2 or 1 I get an almost clean sound depending of my gain level on my amp. On the JB I really only notice some change when I drop until 4 more or less, which is really unpleasable for my playing style.

So I've read a lot about LIN and LOG pots and realize that this should be my problem, then I got my guitar into a local luthier of my trust and he said to me that my pots where just fine, they were LOG pots and he showed me the guitar in a clean amp tone. On a clean tone all the volume changes where really noticeable, so my pot is really working as expected. But when I'm on a hi gain distortion I can't get the same feel, even that I can on my other guitars. He said that maybe the JB wasn't designed for a hi gain distortion, but the tone is amazing for me D:

There is anything that I can do or check to solve my problem? I really liked the Seymours tone, but this little behavior is affecting me seriously.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Strange volume pot behavior

Welcome to the forum.

You have adequately demonstrated that your guitar is not faulty. Therefore, the problem must be something further along the signal chain. i.e. Cable(s), pedals, amplifier circuitry or loudspeaker(s).

What equipment are you playing through and how do you usually set the controls?

Have you made any direct comparison between the newly-acquired guitar and the others in your collection?

 

[kruspemsv]

Re: Strange volume pot behavior

Welcome to the forum.

You have adequately demonstrated that your guitar is not faulty. Therefore, the problem must be something further along the signal chain. i.e. Cable(s), pedals, amplifier circuitry or loudspeaker(s).

What equipment are you playing through and how do you usually set the controls?

Have you made any direct comparison between the newly-acquired guitar and the others in your collection?

Thanks for the answer.

The usual setup I use at home is: Guitar -> UX2 -> Amplitube.

I've made comparisons with all my guitars, I've just made one again with my Classic Jaguar and the Epiphone with JB/59 and here is what I got:

Classic Jaguar with Original Caps: I have a normal hi gain distortion at position 10, then if I drop to 8 I get a hot drive. At 6 a more crunch sound and at 3 until 1 I get an almost clean sound, until 0 what mutes my guitar.

Epiphone with JB/59: Normal hi gain at 10 and the sound keeps THE SAME until I reach position 4. There I got a more crunch side and then at position 1 I get the almost clean and then is mute. That's really really awful because when I'm playing live and want a tone change with the volume knob I would take longer to reach 4 from 10 and if I miss a step I'll simply mute my guitar.

The "almost" clean tone range with my Jaguar (and the Gibson too) is from 1 to 3 more or less, with the JB is at 1 and that's it. It's impossible to reach this spot live without the danger of muting my guitar during the show.

It is important to say again that the JB with a clean preset I can notice the tone change normally at 10, 8, 6, 4 until 1. With the hi gain distortion, it's just like I mentioned above.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Strange volume pot behavior

Please post some photographs of the wiring in the control cavity of the silverburst Epiphone. This might explain why the pots are responding as you describe.

My inclination would be to repeat the guitar comparisons through a professional quality valve amplifier.

In my opinion, the problem lies in the analogue-to-digital conversion realm. The JB hits the input with more signal than some of your other guitars. Have you tried adjusting the Gain/Trim control on the UX2 in/out box?