Want More Scoop On The "Blender Pot" Mod

[STRATDELUXER97]

Ok...So I now have my guard all set up for this mod just like Fralin's drawing...I have No Load tone pots in both positions,a .002 on the tone pot etc...

Questions...
Why is that tone cap only a .002(Small value)? Does It work great with the .002?
Has anyone experimented with making that tone cap value bigger?
What are the results of raising this value?

I've elected to try Fralin's treble bleed mod,except I'm using Seymour's values of a 100k resistor in parallel with a .002 cap across the volume pot instead of Lindy's values of 220k and a .0025 cap...The Seymour treble bleed works great and is very transparent..

So give me alot more scoop on this Blender Pot..I've never used it but I'm going to try it out...My Surfers should arrive Wed. according to Lew...

John

 

[Kent S.]

Re: Want More Scoop On The "Blender Pot" Mod

Ok...So I now have my guard all set up for this mod just like Fralin's drawing...I have No Load tone pots in both positions,a .002 on the tone pot etc...

Questions...
Why is that tone cap only a .002(Small value)? Does It work great with the .002?
Has anyone experimented with making that tone cap value bigger?
What are the results of raising this value?

I've elected to try Fralin's treble bleed mod,except I'm using Seymour's values of a 100k resistor in parallel with a .002 cap across the volume pot instead of Lindy's values of 220k and a .0025 cap...The Seymour treble bleed works great and is very transparent..

So give me alot more scoop on this Blender Pot..I've never used it but I'm going to try it out...My Surfers should arrive Wed. according to Lew...

John

John, I don't know about the cap, that sound's odd, apparently it would just be to trim the upper highs and shift the pups resonant peak lower when fully rolled back. Ahola incorporated something similar on his version of a passive mid control, although that was with the higher impedances of humbuckers. Personally, I think it's a just typo , I think it's supposed to be .02uF instead of .002uF (2nF), as that would offer the full range of a tone control ... raising the value to be .02uF makes it act as a standard tone control, you roll off more highs of course (in use of the control that is) ... after probably 5nF you start to get into normal tone control range, although that is still pretty midrangey with distortion, you can actually get some cool psuedo fixed wah type tones with it crank all the way down with a lot of distortion. The .02uF to .047uF range is a pretty standard range and gives you pretty much the effect that you've become accustomed to, cool thing with the no-load tone control in there also, you can set the cap as dark as you want and not have it interfere with the siganl when at *10* ... :cool3:
Concerning the treble bypass, if the mood hits ya try a 300k resistor in parallel with a 560pF cap ,give that a whirl and tell me what you think ...
Back to the blender pot, really everything has basically been said on it, the only place it isn't active of course is when the middle pup is on by itself; any time either the neck or bridge is on, it lets you blend in the other pup with it, and like I said the 2 & 4 positions really gets some interestingly glassy and airy tones. All being said, your going to enjoy this set up a lot!

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Want More Scoop On The "Blender Pot" Mod

John, I don't know about the cap, that sound's odd, apparently it would just be to trim the upper highs and shift the pups resonant peak lower when fully rolled back. Ahola incorporated something similar on his version of a passive mid control, although that was with the higher impedances of humbuckers. Personally, I think it's a just typo , I think it's supposed to be .02uF instead of .002uF (2nF), as that would offer the full range of a tone control ... raising the value to be .02uF makes it act as a standard tone control, you roll off more highs of course (in use of the control that is) ... after probably 5nF you start to get into normal tone control range, although that is still pretty midrangey with distortion, you can actually get some cool psuedo fixed wah type tones with it crank all the way down with a lot of distortion. The .02uF to .047uF range is a pretty standard range and gives you pretty much the effect that you've become accustomed to, cool thing with the no-load tone control in there also, you can set the cap as dark as you want and not have it interfere with the siganl when at *10* ... :cool3:
Concerning the treble bypass, if the mood hits ya try a 300k resistor in parallel with a 560pF cap ,give that a whirl and tell me what you think ...
Back to the blender pot, really everything has basically been said on it, the only place it isn't active of course is when the middle pup is on by itself; any time either the neck or bridge is on, it lets you blend in the other pup with it, and like I said the 2 & 4 positions really gets some interestingly glassy and airy tones. All being said, your going to enjoy this set up a lot!

Thanks Kent..Your posts are always very informative....Well, the Fralin drawings always show the .002 cap value at the blender pot and a .0025 as a treble bleed cap? Lew should be able to give us the deal on the .002 vs .02 cap values though...To me,.002 just seems to small? I don't understand the mod yet and so that's why I'm asking..I always like to at least try to have a grip on any changes I Make to anything...I'll keep nagging until I get these answers! Squeeky wheel gets the grease! :dance: Thanks Kent..

John

 

[Kent S.]

Re: Want More Scoop On The "Blender Pot" Mod

Thanks Kent..Your posts are always very informative....Well, the Fralin drawings always show the .002 cap value at the blender pot and a .0025 as a treble bleed cap? Lew should be able to give us the deal on the .002 vs .02 cap values though...To me,.002 just seems to small? I don't understand the mod yet and so that's why I'm asking..I always like to at least try to have a grip on any changes I Make to anything...I'll keep nagging until I get these answers! Squeeky wheel gets the grease! :dance: Thanks Kent..

John

Oh the mod itself,all it (again I don't know about the cap values, I mean I know what changing the values does to the filter cutoffs, and the res Fc peak, and what not) does is it's really a variable jumper that connects the bridge and neck hots together, so that when one either one is selected the other is also. Except of course unlike a switch (which G&L used on the S-500), it's completely variable ... it also lets you get all three pups on when at zero in either the 2 or 4 position.
Say your have your neck and middle on, with the blender at 10 it's just that, as you roll it down it blends in the bridge pup with the other two, until a 0 all three are equal volume.
If you had the bridge and middle on, it would do the same except the neck pup would be the one blended in; Same deal if just the bridge pup is on, then the neck gets blended in; if the just the neck pup is on, the bridge gets blended in.
The cool thing is that say your volume is at 10,your selector switch is on the neck pup(that's full volume), and you got the bridge blended in about 1/2 volume with the blender, if you switch the selector switch to the bridge pup, now your bridge pup is at full volume, and your neck pup is at 1/2 volume.
I think that's what you were asking,unless I missed something (it wouldn't be the first time ... ). Later John ...

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Want More Scoop On The "Blender Pot" Mod

Oh the mod itself,all it (again I don't know about the cap values, I mean I know what changing the values does to the filter cutoffs, and the res Fc peak, and what not) does is it's really a variable jumper that connects the bridge and neck hots together, so that when one either one is selected the other is also. Except of course unlike a switch (which G&L used on the S-500), it's completely variable ... it also lets you get all three pups on when at zero in either the 2 or 4 position.
Say your have your neck and middle on, with the blender at 10 it's just that, as you roll it down it blends in the bridge pup with the other two, until a 0 all three are equal volume.
If you had the bridge and middle on, it would do the same except the neck pup would be the one blended in; Same deal if just the bridge pup is on, then the neck gets blended in; if the just the neck pup is on, the bridge gets blended in.
The cool thing is that say your volume is at 10,your selector switch is on the neck pup(that's full volume), and you got the bridge blended in about 1/2 volume with the blender, if you switch the selector switch to the bridge pup, now your bridge pup is at full volume, and your neck pup is at 1/2 volume.
I think that's what you were asking,unless I missed something (it wouldn't be the first time ... ). Later John ...

Yes...Now the lights are finally coming on Kent..Realize that I have the guard all wired up,but I'm waiting on the Surfer pickups from Lew to get here(Hopefully this Wed)...Once I get the guard onto my guitar,I'll then realize how everything works..Meantime I can ask about how things work and fill my head with more useless knowledge! LOL :smack: Guess it's just that .002 cap that has us both wondering? Right Kent? :32:

John