I use a 100k tone pot in my strat (is this alright?)

[Ray18]

I pulled it out of a rat

 

 

is this bad for my tone some how? (when the tone is all the way up as in NOT cutting any frequencies

 

 

I like the way it sounds to be honest.

[bluesbreaker46]

if you like it then there isn't any thing wrong with it

[angus_old]

if you like it that's all that counts

[Ray18]

Well if it could be better is all I'm saying

 

 

I'm wondering what using a smaller pot value actually does

[PolyFmorf]

If you have it turned to 10 it doesn't matter what you use. I think a lower value pot tends to warm the tone.

[Armitage]

Nope, a 100k tone pot is like a 250k pot turned down more then half all the time. Volume pots act a little different.

[mongrel876]

 

Originally posted by Armitage Nope, a 100k tone pot is like a 250k pot turned down more then half all the time. Volume pots act a little different.

 

 

How would a 100 k volume pot work differently than a 250k? Or a 50k from a 500l?

[Burgess]

If it sounds right, it is right.

[mattburnside]

 

Originally posted by PolyFmorf If you have it turned to 10 it doesn't matter what you use.

 

 

This isn't true. There's still a resistor-capacitor path to ground, even if the tone pot is on 10. That's why Fender (and some others) offer no-load tone pots, that actually take the pot out of the circuit when it's on 10. There's an audible difference.

[PolyFmorf]

Originally posted by mattburnside This isn't true. There's still a resistor-capacitor path to ground, even if the tone pot is on 10. That's why Fender (and some others) offer no-load tone pots, that actually take the pot out of the circuit when it's on 10. There's an audible difference.

My bad! You're right. I'm too used to using no load pots.

[larryguitar]

I'd suspect that you're losing treble ('warming up the tone') quite a bit. Easy check-take the pot out of the circuit (desolder it and connect the wires 'around' it) and if you like what you hear, change the pot. If you don't, you're where you need to be.

 

 

HTH,

 

Larry

[Splendor]

Originally posted by larryguitar I'd suspect that you're losing treble ('warming up the tone') quite a bit. Easy check-take the pot out of the circuit (desolder it and connect the wires 'around' it) and if you like what you hear, change the pot. If you don't, you're where you need to be. HTH, Larry

 

Good advice.

[Armitage]

Originally posted by mongrel876 How would a 100 k volume pot work differently than a 250k? Or a 50k from a 500l?

 

Volume Control;

 

Because the resistance of the pot is always in parallel with the coils, no matter the setting, you change the R/C loading on the coils. Here's a picture originally off Duncan's web site showing the difference between no pot, 1meg, 500k, 250k and 100k pots. You can see the mid spike rise in the resonant freq.

 

 

 

Tone Control;

 

With a Tone Control, it's different. The pot and cap are in series to ground. On 10, a 500k pot has 500k worth of resistance to ground thru the cap, while a 250k has 250k, which is the same as a 500k pot at it's electrical center, (which is not nessisarily 5 on the knob).

 

 

Go to the bottom of the Duncan Tech Tips for more about pots.

 

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/techtips.shtml

[Wyatt]

 

Originally posted by mongrel876 How would a 100 k volume pot work differently than a 250k? Or a 50k from a 500l?

 

 

Armitage nailed the science, but I'll paint broader, more general strokes. Consdier mine the saturday morning science show version.

 

Volume and Tone pots are resistance to ground. When your volume is set to "10", the pot is at full resistance (250K, 500K, 1M, whatever) to ground; more resistnace to ground, more signal goes to the amp instead (as you turn the pot down to "0", the reisitance is lessen and more signal goes to ground, less signal goes to amp). But some signal still leaks by. So the higher the pot value, the more resistance to ground, the less leakage while at "10".

 

In general, the higher the pot value, the more output and brighter the tone, and the opposite is true as you go to lower value pots. But you can have too much in either direction, most people find 1M volume pots let the guitars tone get too bright and shrill, soemtimes this can even happen with 500K pots on already bright single coils (that's why Fender has used 250K pots as standard on most models). 100K volume pots can often make the guitar sound too muddy. Etc., etc.

 

The effect is less dramatic with Tone pots, because the capicator only lets a limited amount of the the tonal range by anyway. But the generization holds true.

 

-Y.

[Djon]

Just what i was looking for.. Tks