Volume Pot Question
- Thread starter MattPete
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Scatterwound
New member
Re: Volume Pot Question
I do not know about this so I cannot comment on this sorry..
A few years back when I had my first humbuckers installed in my Strat I had 250k volume pots...The pickup literature said use 500k volume pots to get the full potential of your pup...So I did.....And I did not notice a difference...I do not care what anyone says....Maybe if I had the sensitivity of an oscilloscope I might have noticed I difference but I did not..........So at that time I just changed back to 250k for originality.......
Now I use a 50k volume pot in my Strat.........
MattPete said:
I do not know about this so I cannot comment on this sorry..
MattPete said:
A few years back when I had my first humbuckers installed in my Strat I had 250k volume pots...The pickup literature said use 500k volume pots to get the full potential of your pup...So I did.....And I did not notice a difference...I do not care what anyone says....Maybe if I had the sensitivity of an oscilloscope I might have noticed I difference but I did not..........So at that time I just changed back to 250k for originality.......
Now I use a 50k volume pot in my Strat.........
HolyDirt
New member
Re: Volume Pot Question
yes, a 500k pot can be rolled back to sound almost the same as a 250k pot but, if the 500k pot is audio taper, you will have to go by ear to find the 250k resistance because in an audio taper pot when the pot is on "5" it isnt at 50% of the pots true potential.
yes, a 500k pot can be rolled back to sound almost the same as a 250k pot but, if the 500k pot is audio taper, you will have to go by ear to find the 250k resistance because in an audio taper pot when the pot is on "5" it isnt at 50% of the pots true potential.
Artie
Peaveyologist
Re: Volume Pot Question
Actually, it will depend on how you've got the volume control wired. On most guitars, and those with a single volume control, the pickup is wired across the outside terminals of the volume pot. So, the load will always be 500k, (with a 500k pot). The output is taken from the wiper, and turning it down to "5" won't affect the sound charateristics of the pickup.
If, on the other hand, you have two volume pots, and they're wired in the typical "LP" style, with the pickup across the wiper and the ground lug, then yes, turning the pot down to 5 will have the affect of a 250k pot.
So, it depends on which of these scenarios you have.
Actually, it will depend on how you've got the volume control wired. On most guitars, and those with a single volume control, the pickup is wired across the outside terminals of the volume pot. So, the load will always be 500k, (with a 500k pot). The output is taken from the wiper, and turning it down to "5" won't affect the sound charateristics of the pickup.
If, on the other hand, you have two volume pots, and they're wired in the typical "LP" style, with the pickup across the wiper and the ground lug, then yes, turning the pot down to 5 will have the affect of a 250k pot.
So, it depends on which of these scenarios you have.
L
Lewguitar
Guest
Re: Volume Pot Question
Thanks for clearing that up Artie!
Lew
Thanks for clearing that up Artie!
Lew
MattPete
New member
Re: Volume Pot Question
Hmm...I've got the volume pot wired like this:
http://www.seymourduncan.com/website/support/schematics/sgl_coil_1vol.html
...with a treble bleed capacitor between the right and center lugs.
The reason I ask is for 2 reasons. The first reason has to do with the general difference between 500k and 250k on the sound. I've got a 250k no-load pot in my single-coil strat right now. When I open it up, there is a huge difference in ouput and presence (both highs and lows). I was wondering if it might make more sense to have a 500k pot in there, so I can have a smoother transition from 250k to a higher resistance (yeah, I know that 10 technically has not resistance on a no-load pot). However, it sounds to me like you're saying that a 500k pot set to 250k will have a 500k load, and therefore sound different from a 250k pot at 250k.
Secondly, I had wired up a pickguard (this with humbuckers) to experiment with treble bleed circuits. I had aligator clips hanging out of the pickguard so I could experiment with caps and resistors externally. I also had a push-pull pot set up so I could switch between the conventional .001 circuit and the experimental one.
It's no surprise that when I had no bypass circuit connected, the 250k setting was not as loud and sounded more muffled than the 500k setting. But what really concerned me was the effect of the treble bleed circuit. At 500k, I noticed little or no difference between different circuit designs, or whether a treble bleed circuit was connected or not. However, rolled back to 250k I could notice quite a difference (which is what I expected). So, going from this logic to a strat with a 250k volume control...does a treble bleed circuit have an effect on the tone, even when the volume is wide open (250k), like it does when using a 500k rolled back to 250k?
Hmm...I've got the volume pot wired like this:
http://www.seymourduncan.com/website/support/schematics/sgl_coil_1vol.html
...with a treble bleed capacitor between the right and center lugs.
The reason I ask is for 2 reasons. The first reason has to do with the general difference between 500k and 250k on the sound. I've got a 250k no-load pot in my single-coil strat right now. When I open it up, there is a huge difference in ouput and presence (both highs and lows). I was wondering if it might make more sense to have a 500k pot in there, so I can have a smoother transition from 250k to a higher resistance (yeah, I know that 10 technically has not resistance on a no-load pot). However, it sounds to me like you're saying that a 500k pot set to 250k will have a 500k load, and therefore sound different from a 250k pot at 250k.
Secondly, I had wired up a pickguard (this with humbuckers) to experiment with treble bleed circuits. I had aligator clips hanging out of the pickguard so I could experiment with caps and resistors externally. I also had a push-pull pot set up so I could switch between the conventional .001 circuit and the experimental one.
It's no surprise that when I had no bypass circuit connected, the 250k setting was not as loud and sounded more muffled than the 500k setting. But what really concerned me was the effect of the treble bleed circuit. At 500k, I noticed little or no difference between different circuit designs, or whether a treble bleed circuit was connected or not. However, rolled back to 250k I could notice quite a difference (which is what I expected). So, going from this logic to a strat with a 250k volume control...does a treble bleed circuit have an effect on the tone, even when the volume is wide open (250k), like it does when using a 500k rolled back to 250k?
Re: Volume Pot Question
Jumping in ... A treble bypass (bleed), doesn't have any effect when at *10*, the reason is that both ends of the capacitor or resistor/capacitor are shunted to each other. It's the resistance of the pot track that in parallel with them that allows them to work. A higher valued pot will be a bit brighter. Not sure about your referrence to the no-load control here, as that is used as a tone control, and yes, a no-load will be brighter than a 500k. The manner in which the tone control is wired into the circuit plays a big part in how much highs the volume loses when turned down, now with a no-load tone control the point becomes moot;except for the issue of whether the volume pot is wired as a constant load, or variable load volume control. Artie is dead on about the tone change when the pup is hooked to the wiper, of course this is not a bad thing, just depends on what you want ... also worth noting, the C or RC treble bypass, has only a minimal effect on the sound when the volume is wired as a variable load. Please bear in mind though that, the exact results are dependent on the pup impedance,(and other traits), the pot value used, and of course the taper.
MattPete said:
Jumping in ... A treble bypass (bleed), doesn't have any effect when at *10*, the reason is that both ends of the capacitor or resistor/capacitor are shunted to each other. It's the resistance of the pot track that in parallel with them that allows them to work. A higher valued pot will be a bit brighter. Not sure about your referrence to the no-load control here, as that is used as a tone control, and yes, a no-load will be brighter than a 500k. The manner in which the tone control is wired into the circuit plays a big part in how much highs the volume loses when turned down, now with a no-load tone control the point becomes moot;except for the issue of whether the volume pot is wired as a constant load, or variable load volume control. Artie is dead on about the tone change when the pup is hooked to the wiper, of course this is not a bad thing, just depends on what you want ... also worth noting, the C or RC treble bypass, has only a minimal effect on the sound when the volume is wired as a variable load. Please bear in mind though that, the exact results are dependent on the pup impedance,(and other traits), the pot value used, and of course the taper.
