where to get REAL 500k pots,not undrated ones

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black sunshine

black sunshine

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i just got 4 audio tapers,cts brand,and boy are they crap,i measured them with a multimeter and they didn't even come close to 500k,i'm taking them back for sure.
anyway my question is,where to get real 500k pots and not crap ones? i'm scared to order off the net cause i can't test them,is there a good brand out there,that you don't need to test.....any help would be appreciated,thanks
 
Re: where to get REAL 500k pots,not undrated ones

If you're getting CTS pots, that's the ones to get:

EP088 500K 0946 CTS

Not even one of the several hundreds I've gotten over the years measured less than 500K.

Once I got 50 of the Di Marzio branded CTS pots... NOT EVEN ONE of those went over 480K... mostly 440-475K.

HTH,
 
Re: where to get REAL 500k pots,not undrated ones

Haha...I have seen guitarists on forums complain about some ridiculous **** before, but this is by far the weirdest....Did you Seriously post this?

hahaha....Jesus Christ...Why don't you measure the number of Wraps on your strings next? the EXACT impedance of your pickups (check each coil while your at it, to make sure they're even)? Measure your guitar cables to make sure you are getting EXACTLY 10ft. Not a millimeter less?! How about counting the number of wraps on the tuning peg when trying out guitars?
If any of those things aren't perfect, you should probably just throw that **** right in the garbage, cause thats obviously what it is, Garbage.

Seriously, some of you guys really need to chill the **** out...hahaha
 
Re: where to get REAL 500k pots,not undrated ones

Low_fidelity2100 said:
Haha...I have seen guitarists on forums complain about some ridiculous **** before, but this is by far the weirdest....Did you Seriously post this?

hahaha....Jesus Christ...Why don't you measure the number of Wraps on your strings next? the EXACT impedance of your pickups (check each coil while your at it, to make sure they're even)? Measure your guitar cables to make sure you are getting EXACTLY 10ft. Not a millimeter less?! How about counting the number of wraps on the tuning peg when trying out guitars?
If any of those things aren't perfect, you should probably just throw that **** right in the garbage, cause thats obviously what it is, Garbage.

Seriously, some of you guys really need to chill the **** out...hahaha
Click to expand...

I like this post. :D
 
Re: where to get REAL 500k pots,not undrated ones

Low_fidelity2100 said:
Haha...I have seen guitarists on forums complain about some ridiculous **** before, but this is by far the weirdest....Did you Seriously post this?

hahaha....Jesus Christ...Why don't you measure the number of Wraps on your strings next? the EXACT impedance of your pickups (check each coil while your at it, to make sure they're even)? Measure your guitar cables to make sure you are getting EXACTLY 10ft. Not a millimeter less?! How about counting the number of wraps on the tuning peg when trying out guitars?
If any of those things aren't perfect, you should probably just throw that **** right in the garbage, cause thats obviously what it is, Garbage.

Seriously, some of you guys really need to chill the **** out...hahaha
Click to expand...


This is going to be fun.....

How about the strings....Are they really 10s.....or maybe using a micrometer they are actually 0.010045673 instead of 0.01000000000......Now check the other five if they are not exact better return them for a refund.....
 
Re: where to get REAL 500k pots,not underrated ones

Re: where to get REAL 500k pots,not underrated ones

Low_fidelity2100 said:
Haha...I have seen guitarists on forums complain about some ridiculous **** before, but this is by far the weirdest....Did you Seriously post this?

hahaha....Jesus Christ...Why don't you measure the number of Wraps on your strings next? the EXACT impedance of your pickups (check each coil while your at it, to make sure they're even)? Measure your guitar cables to make sure you are getting EXACTLY 10ft. Not a millimeter less?! How about counting the number of wraps on the tuning peg when trying out guitars?
If any of those things aren't perfect, you should probably just throw that **** right in the garbage, cause thats obviously what it is, Garbage.

Seriously, some of you guys really need to chill the **** out...hahaha
Click to expand...

I like people like you. I can sell all of my crap to you. A ebayer's dream come true. I have a guitar I would like to sell you. The volume controls are not balanced very well, creates some weird tones sometimes but that should not bother you. OH, the neck has some extra relief in it, that I cannot get just right, but again that should not bother you. OH, two of the frets are off by a mm or two, again that should not bother you. Don/t worry about the brand name, has nothing to do with quality control, so I just sanded it off, should not bother you.

OH, and the rest of you that agreed with him. I can make extra guitars so you can have one too!!!!!! I can't wait for you guys to grow up!!!!
 
Re: where to get REAL 500k pots,not undrated ones

Hey. We are talking about relatively crude electronic components here. IMO, manufacturing tolerances of plus or minus five percent would not be unreasonable. The OP appears to be expecting zero percent tolerances.

The only time that I have ever bothered to put a meter on a pot was when something appeared to be wrong with it. Even then, I was testing for evidence that the resistance taper was operational, NOT ascertaining the exact resistance value. That would be like counting the number of flakes in your breakfast cereal packet.

Personally, I am more bothered about how smoothly the pot shaft rotates and how well it controls the valve saturation on my amplifier. In both of these respects, I have always found CTS to be good.
 
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Re: where to get REAL 500k pots,not undrated ones

you guys are ******bags and dont know anything about anything! Guitarelectronic.com has bournes and alpha pots exactly at 500k. I've bought from them and tested their pots. I prefer the bournes as it doesn't feel as broken in as the alpha.
 
Re: where to get REAL 500k pots,not undrated ones

Funkfingers said:
Hey. We are talking about relatively crude electronic components here. IMO, manufacturing tolerances of plus or minus five percent would not be unreasonable. The OP appears to be expecting zero percent tolerances.

That would be like counting the number of flakes in your breakfast cereal packet.
Click to expand...

the original poster states it wasnt even close to 500k.
 
Re: where to get REAL 500k pots,not undrated ones

I state that it doesn't matter a pig's burp.

If the pot incrementally shuts off the signal from a guitar, it is doing its job. If the pot is of approximately the right value not to have any adverse loading effects on the pickup(s), it is good enough. If the signal that leaves my pickup, passes through the "below spec" pot and makes my amp rock sounds good, it is good.

I'm weird, I guess. I'm more interested in how music sounds than in statistics.
 
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Re: where to get REAL 500k pots,not undrated ones

Funkfingers said:
I state that it doesn't matter a pig's burp.

If the pot incrementally shuts off the signal from a guitar, it is doing its job. If the pot is of approximately the right value not to have any adverse loading effects on the pickup(s), it is good enough. If the signal that leaves my pickup, passes through the "below spec" pot and makes my amp rock sounds good, it is good.

I'm weird, I guess. I'm more interested in how music sounds than in statistics.
Click to expand...

there are reasons there are specs on things, its so people could figure out what value does something sound good. 500k or 250k or 333k seems to sound good. No offense but I think people would want a good and reliable way of figuring it out than relying on your incredible ears.
 
Re: where to get REAL 500k pots,not undrated ones

No offense taken. I would agree if you if it were not for the fact that electric guitars are not arithmetically predictable devices.
 
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Re: where to get REAL 500k pots,not undrated ones

I have an EVH Bournes low-friction pot and it read 498. That's about the closest you're going to get to "exact" readings. These are analog devices and there is no way to ensure perfection. Most readings are nominal on almost any analog electric device. I've never read a pickup that measures EXACTLY what the manufacturer rates it at. Such is true with pots. Heck, even the multi-meters I use aren't perfect since they both read a little differently... I generally average the two readings.
 
Re: where to get REAL 500k pots,not undrated ones

If I took one of your guys guitars and took out your high e string and replaced it with 1 gauge number thinner, I bet you'd notice a difference. Being anal and wanting all pots at 500k is ridiculous, but thats not what was stated. If I buy pots I'd expect them to be fairly close, I don't mind 480k reading or so, but 440 or some other numbers that were stated is bad quality no matter if its a $5 pot, an $8 set of strings or a $2500 guitar. I hear people complain all the time about strings breaking and so on, to me this is the same which is a bad quality product. Simple
 
Re: where to get REAL 500k pots,not undrated ones

I've been watching this thread and I must say, it's ridiculous (sorry if that sounds harsh, but it's the truth). I wonder what the tolerance of the OP's pots are. Most are +/-20% unless you specify you want +/-10% or +/-5% and pay more for them or if they are marked as such.

Guess what +/-20% of 500k is? 100k. 440k falls right in there so it meets spec for a pot in that grade. It's simple math. The tighter the tolerance, the closer to the number on the package.

There are even +/-1% tolerance which range from 495k-505k but IMO, they're not worth the extra money. I can't hear the difference between a +/-10% or +/-20% pot anyway.

Just throw the suckers in the guitar and play. Some get way to anal about such things.
 
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