Tone Controls

[Janglin_Jack]

I have some Phat Cat P90's that sound very good. They are much brighter than the Gibson P90's that I have heard, (current production Gibson P90's). I am using 500K pots, (volume and tone). I tried .022 uf caps and recently .047 uf.

What would happen if I used a 500K volume pot and a 250K tone pot? I don't want to use a 250K volume pot, (as I believe it will reduce output??)

Any suggestions are welcome.

Jack

 

[Artie]

Re: Tone Controls

Hi Jack. This will be an easy experiment to do.

If your present tone control is an audio-taper, (which it probably is), roll the knob down to about 7.5. That'll be what a 250k tone pot sounds like.

If its a linear pot, put it on 5 for the same affect.

 

[Janglin_Jack]

Re: Tone Controls

Hi Jack. This will be an easy experiment to do.

If your present tone control is an audio-taper, (which it probably is), roll the knob down to about 7.5. That'll be what a 250k tone pot sounds like.

If its a linear pot, put it on 5 for the same affect.

So it will attenuate some of the highs but not to the point of mud. Would you suggest using 500K vol 250K tone with .022 uf or .047 uf cap??) I just want to smooth out the response from the bridge PU.

Jack

 

[Artie]

Re: Tone Controls

I would probably start with a .022uf. You may even want to try a .01uf. Either of those will just trim off the very highest end. The .01 will be a bit more subtle than the others.

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: Tone Controls

Gibson tone circuits use a .0475 which attenuates quite a bit of the high end. The drop in pot resistance will affect your output as well as the brightness. You could also see about some 300k pots. That's what some of the Gibsons used. My LG has 500k pots and a .033 orange drop cap.

Luke

 

[MattPete]

Re: Tone Controls

Hi Jack. This will be an easy experiment to do.

If your present tone control is an audio-taper, (which it probably is), roll the knob down to about 7.5. That'll be what a 250k tone pot sounds like.

If its a linear pot, put it on 5 for the same affect.

Are you sure about that? Maybe I measured my audio taper pot in reverse or something, but resistance didn't go down to 250k until the pot was around 2.5.

 

[MattPete]

Re: Tone Controls

So it will attenuate some of the highs but not to the point of mud. Would you suggest using 500K vol 250K tone with .022 uf or .047 uf cap??) I just want to smooth out the response from the bridge PU.

Jack

Why not keep the 500k tone pot and turn it down a bit until is sounds "good". BTW: .022 will probably work better for you than .047.

 

[Artie]

Re: Tone Controls

Are you sure about that? Maybe I measured my audio taper pot in reverse or something, but resistance didn't go down to 250k until the pot was around 2.5.

Either you measured the "other" terminal, or you have a reverse-taper control. The maximum resistance should be at the "top" of the control. So, at "5", a 500k should read around 50k. (10%)

 

[Janglin_Jack]

Re: Tone Controls

Why not keep the 500k tone pot and turn it down a bit until is sounds "good". BTW: .022 will probably work better for you than .047.

I have the tone control down to about 2, (500K vol 500K tone). I would like some additional sweep of the tone control I don't have much more room to attenuate. I would like the current tone at 2 to be at about 8 or 9 on the tone control. That way I can still roll off some additional highs. I thought a 250K tone pot may help.

Jack