The Volume Knob on my Kramer 1984 sounds like a tone knob?!!?

W

Wheelbarrow

New member
I've been sort of bothered with my Kramer lately. The volume knob doesn't just reduce the volume, it also takes a ton of high end and mids out as you turn down, like a tone knob. This is a single bridge HB guitar, so I want to use it like a normal volume knob to clean up my sound sometimes, but it just won't do that. I had it looked at by an experienced luthier, and he said it was wired normally, as a volume pot should be. He thought it was the pickup that made the sound change the way it does, but I had the same pickup in a different guitar and the volume knob cleaned things right up with no tone loss.

Is this a problem with the pot itself? With the wiring? Help!
 
Re: The Volume Knob on my Kramer 1984 sounds like a tone knob?!!?

NO it is NOT wired properly and needs to be rewired.
i had one and rewired it. as it says on the SD site.

You CAN use it wired the way it is, but it also takes of highs as you say.

ALSO, take that stupid tone pot off and stick in a normal CTS pot. It will make a world of difference. END OF STORY.
 
Re: The Volume Knob on my Kramer 1984 sounds like a tone knob?!!?

You could try adding a treble bleed cap across the in and the out tags of the pot. This needs to be quite small, but I'm not very sure of the exact value as it would depend on the characteristics fo the pick and the value of the pot.

Try about 10 picofarad to start; I hope that's not too far out...

Also there are peculiarities of wiring which can cause the vol pot to react with the tone cap. Try disconnecting the tone control and see if that makes a difference. If it does, you know that's the source of the problem. The best way of wiring a tone pot is to put the cap between the track end tag and the pot casing. Take the tone pot feed wire from the vol control from the input tag of the vol pot and make sure that the input tag is the track end opposite the one connected to ground and the output comes from the slider.

Can you take a good quality photo and post it here?
 
Re: The Volume Knob on my Kramer 1984 sounds like a tone knob?!!?

Should look like this

untitledimage3tm7.png
 
Re: The Volume Knob on my Kramer 1984 sounds like a tone knob?!!?

Here's a picture I just took. From diagrams I've seen, the wiring might be a little messed up, but the tech that works on all of my stuff is a pretty reliable guy, so I'm just not sure. Tell me what you think:

volumepotedited2tb1.png
 
Re: The Volume Knob on my Kramer 1984 sounds like a tone knob?!!?

you need to flip the wires from the jack and the pickup on the pots hooks or whatever they are called.

Octave doctor. it is only one volume and the volume pot is a crappy one. I had this guitar before and redid the wiring and after that just swapped the pot out for a CTS. made a huge difference.
 
Re: The Volume Knob on my Kramer 1984 sounds like a tone knob?!!?

Yeah, swap the red output jack wire and the lead from the pickup. That should get you going. Did it come from the factory like that? That luthier should have his head examined :)
 
Re: The Volume Knob on my Kramer 1984 sounds like a tone knob?!!?

tone? said:
you need to flip the wires from the jack and the pickup on the pots hooks or whatever they are called.
Click to expand...

Absolutely.

They're called tags by some, or terminals if you're posh.

The diagram i posted is just a generic one; if you ignore the presence of the tone control you can see it's what Tone? was saying...

The configuration shown in the photo is an inverse potential divider; this is used in the Fender jazz because it allows the two pickups to operate independently, but it has disadvantages in a single volume configuration because as the volume control is turned down a part of the track is fed into the signal path. This is then seen by the input of the amp as an open circuit resulting in undamped oscillation of the input stage; i.e. noise, like you get with an unplugged lead. In a two pickup configuration you alweays have the other pickup to keep the impedance down.

With the potential divider when the vol control is turned down the resistance across the amp's input stage drops to zero, shorting it out; no noise!

Get a new guitar tech as well as the guy you took it to doesn't seem to know what he's talking about...
 
Re: The Volume Knob on my Kramer 1984 sounds like a tone knob?!!?

Get a new guitar tech as well as the guy you took it to doesn't seem to know what he's talking about..
Click to expand...

:chairfall


+1

Hear me now and believe me later, Just be done with the pot altogether. it really sucks.
 
Re: The Volume Knob on my Kramer 1984 sounds like a tone knob?!!?

Those pots are used in the Jacksons and Schecters as well and they are junk; i'm always having to replace them.
 
Re: The Volume Knob on my Kramer 1984 sounds like a tone knob?!!?

Why on earth anyone would make a guitar with a OFR in it, plus Schallers and then go and put a crappola pot on it???? what the heck is that all about??
 
Re: The Volume Knob on my Kramer 1984 sounds like a tone knob?!!?

tone? said:
Why on earth anyone would make a guitar with a OFR in it, plus Schallers and then go and put a crappola pot on it???? what the heck is that all about??
Click to expand...


marketing.... cut back on the things you can't see.... but none the less very stupid
 
Re: The Volume Knob on my Kramer 1984 sounds like a tone knob?!!?

the almighty dollar is the reason for cheap dinky pots
 
Re: The Volume Knob on my Kramer 1984 sounds like a tone knob?!!?

Yeah, but you go through all the trouble to make everything cheaper in the mix as well as at the same time keeping the tone as good as possible. So you get half ass wood from a cheap wood source, but it sounds pretty good, you skimp down on the labor, you put quality hardware on the thing, and after all that you take it all away by putting a cheap ass pot on that reduces everything else you did to zero!
Their marketing team needs to be shot!

They could have skimped out on the strap locks instead......geepers.
 
Re: The Volume Knob on my Kramer 1984 sounds like a tone knob?!!?

local repair shop techs have told me many times they have had the whole shaft pull out of a cheap pot while removing the knob off it.. they said they see tons of new axes coming back with pot trouble... too many cheap pots on the market
 
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