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Post by cedarchoper58 on Jun 11, 2020 16:22:05 GMT -5
i need to replace the volume pot on my old strat and was wondering if I use one of the same/correct value will it change the tone and how? i have measured some and they vary a little that is why i ask thks
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Post by Leftee on Jun 11, 2020 16:34:43 GMT -5
I doubt it would be noticeable. Maybe if the original was *quite* bad it would be.
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Post by cedarchoper58 on Jun 11, 2020 17:11:06 GMT -5
My original one from 1962 measures 284 and the two replacements measure 229 and 239 would there be any difference is sound thks
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Post by Leftee on Jun 11, 2020 17:21:07 GMT -5
I’d go with the 239 for sure.
I don’t know if your ears would hear it. I don’t think mine would.
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Post by cedarchoper58 on Jun 11, 2020 17:24:42 GMT -5
what does the higher ohm actually do sound wise? I had the orginal one repaired and am considering putting it in but not sure if it will last its a working/gigginh guitar but it ohms out at 280k what is the actual difference in sound thks
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Post by Tinkerer on Jun 11, 2020 17:30:15 GMT -5
If you are able to hear a difference tonally, a pot with a lower resistance value than the original unit would make the guitar sound less bright. The higher the resistance value of the pot, the more resistance/restriction there is to treble frequencies being bled off to ground, so less treble is bled to ground.
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Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Jun 11, 2020 19:27:00 GMT -5
Technically, lower-value pots apply more capacitance to the signal than higher-value pots do.
This is useful if your pickups are a little too bright or too dark for your ears. Instead of swapping the pickups ($$$), you change the $3 pot to a different value. Example: if you want your guitar to sound a bit brighter and it currently has 250 kOhm volume pot, replace it with a 300K or a 500K. 1M pots are generally considered too bright for most pickups.
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DrKev
Wholenote
It's just a guitar, it's not rocket science.
Posts: 416
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Post by DrKev on Jun 13, 2020 14:09:19 GMT -5
Technically, lower-value pots apply more capacitance to the signal than higher-value pots do. Technically, the capacitance comes from your cable, and it's the *combination* of the resistance to ground of the pot and the cable capacitance that causes the high frequency roll off. However, I otherwise totally agree with my esteemed Goo-ness. To answer the question, can you hear a difference between 284 kΩ and 229 kΩ? If you made recordings of you playing with each, and played them back, not knowing which one you were listening to first, could you distinguish them? Maybe. Between 250 kΩ and 500 kΩ, I certainly can, and most guitarists can. Other musicians? Sometimes not. Non-musicians? Usually never and they think we're weird for caring so much about it. And at the end of the day you'll be listening and turning knobs to get the sound you like. Small differences due to variance of nominal potentiometer values, even if you can distinguish them in a blind A-B TEST, without a way to directly compare them, it's just not relevant. And I'll laugh in the face of anyone who swears how important it is but then reach for whatever cable is closest when different brands/lengths of cables can have much bigger effect on tone. (p.s. so glad I went with Goo-ness, and not the other option). |
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Post by funkykikuchiyo on Jun 13, 2020 16:53:20 GMT -5
To answer the question, can you hear a difference between 284 kΩ and 229 kΩ? If you made recordings of you playing with each, and played them back, not knowing which one you were listening to first, could you distinguish them? Maybe. My experience is that a layman (that is, someone who isn't perpetually tinkering with this stuff) will hear it on a guitar they know pretty well. So, if you have a guitar you've played every day for 20 years, you're going to notice if something is a little off. If you grab a guitar off the showroom wall and it has an off pot value, you're not in a million years going to say to yourself "this pot is too low of a value". At our shop we'll every so often get someone bring a guitar back insisting it doesn't sound the same. We'll pull the pot out and find that it is in fact dramatically off. It is rare though. The second question after "will you notice" is "will you care". Heck, you might like it more. 250k is the spec for the pot, not necessarily its ideal value. Fun observation: A lot of the time on import guitars (think Squier price points) single coil pickups will sound brash and nasty. They very often are wired up with 500k pots. I have no idea why, but it is very common. Maybe 500k is cheaper than 250k? Who knows. If you swap the pots out (or add a resistor), it will suddenly stop sounding like a Squier. It won't turn into your dream guitar, but it kinda sounds like a different set of pickups. If you REALLY want to go down the rabbit hole, put in a very high value pot like 1M (or hardwire it bypassing the volume), and solder wires with alligator clips, one to the hot and one to ground. Buy a variety of resistors, and then you can change them out to hear the difference. This is a waste of time for most players, but if someone is a die hard tinkerer, it is worth doing so you can hear the difference and then you know exactly what sounds change when those values change. What actually happens electronically is a bit more complicated (and over my head) than brighter vs. warmer as the resonant peak and Q will change in the circuit, not just the high end roll off, so it can be helpful to have an audio reference. You can do similar things with tone caps. |
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Post by Pinetree on Jun 19, 2020 22:59:00 GMT -5
Depending on how old the guitar is, you may have the finer splines (24 instead of 18) on the pot shaft, so be sure to count them lest your knobs no longer fit.
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Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Jun 20, 2020 9:30:57 GMT -5
"So glad I went with Goo-ness, and not the other option."
Now THAT is funny stuff!!!
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pdf64
Wholenote
Posts: 556
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Post by pdf64 on Jun 20, 2020 12:09:13 GMT -5
Components have a range of acceptable manufacturing tolerances. Standard tolerance for pot tracks is 20%, 10% would be special order or a premium range.
So a standard 250k nominal pot could actually be anywhere between 200k and 300k.
Hence it’s beneficial to check the spec of what you’re buying, and so if you’ve a lowest acceptable value that’s different to the manufacturer’s spec, then ask your vendor nicely to check what they send out to you.
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Post by LTB on Jun 23, 2020 1:52:39 GMT -5
As a rule 250K Pots go with Single Coils (less brightness-tone them down due to impedance changes caused by loading of the pickup ) while 500K with Humbuckers that need a little more brightness( due to less loading of the pickup)
The important thing to remember is buy Quality Pots and don't burn them out by overheating with a soldering iron.
Quality pots are going to do two things for you:
A. Increased Longevity
B. Better/smoother operation.
I sometimes use a pair of Hemostats (locking surgical pliers) and clip them onto the Pot's terminal close to the pot as possible that I am going to solder. This provides some heatsinking when soldering to the wire lug so the pot is not damaged. In addition I use about 40 watts or less here and tin the end of the wire before I solder to the lug. When soldering a wire to the back of a Pot's case I turn my soldering iron to max. Tin the wire lead to be soldered there then solder and get off as quickly as possible. Setting the soldering iron to higher wattage or temp will melt the solder more quickly so you can get on and off of it quickly. Holding the iron on the back because you have a low wattage iron is how people tend to burn or damage the pots as it sits there longer.
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Post by cedarchoper58 on Jun 25, 2020 19:01:50 GMT -5
Depending on how old the guitar is, you may have the finer splines (24 instead of 18) on the pot shaft, so be sure to count them lest your knobs no longer fit. its a 62 when did they change thks |
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Post by Pinetree on Jun 26, 2020 4:53:02 GMT -5
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