Members fabeon Posted October 15, 2009 Members Share Posted October 15, 2009 How do you determine the quality of the pots in a guitar? I know people like the CTS and Alpha pots, how can you determine whether a guitar has them/doesn't/has {censored} pots? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members missingastring Posted October 15, 2009 Members Share Posted October 15, 2009 Not a hard and fast rule, but if the pot is small, like the size of a dime, it's {censored}. Also, if the volume taper isn't smooth, it's {censored}. Aside from that, if it crackles or something, hit it with some contact cleaner, and failing that, check for bad connections. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members knucklefux Posted October 15, 2009 Members Share Posted October 15, 2009 if your volume/tone controls are always either full on or full off, it doesn't matter what "quality" of pots you have in it. also, CTS pots aren't going to make the guitar sound better. they may have a better taper, and last longer with heavy use, but that's about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members missingastring Posted October 15, 2009 Members Share Posted October 15, 2009 if your volume/tone controls are always either full on or full off, it doesn't matter what "quality" of pots you have in it.also, CTS pots aren't going to make the guitar sound better. they may have a better taper, and last longer with heavy use, but that's about it. This. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NaturalBornBoy Posted October 15, 2009 Members Share Posted October 15, 2009 if your volume/tone controls are always either full on or full off, it doesn't matter what "quality" of pots you have in it.also, CTS pots aren't going to make the guitar sound better. they may have a better taper, and last longer with heavy use, but that's about it. This + 1,000,000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fabeon Posted October 15, 2009 Author Members Share Posted October 15, 2009 Good to know. Outside of the pickups, how much of an impact to the electronics within a guitar have on tone? I sound liek such a n:oob, but I've never actually read up/heard anyone talk about the subject. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members missingastring Posted October 15, 2009 Members Share Posted October 15, 2009 The truth of it is, if they're not giving you problems, don't worry about it. However, if you're doing a pickup swap, it's not that much more $ or time to just go ahead and replace everything with the good stuff, assuming that what you have is cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fabeon Posted October 15, 2009 Author Members Share Posted October 15, 2009 Not planning on swapping everything out, just actually wondering how much of an impact the electronics make themselves Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Slaymoar Posted October 15, 2009 Members Share Posted October 15, 2009 I've had tons of varieties of pots. Quality is mostly felt when you twist; high quality ones will have a smooth motion and will "feel" good. Crappy ones will feel like your using a fork on a chalkboard. Otherwise, its pretty much common sense. If it looks like its made well, better construction, heavier, then its a good quality pot. Tapers always vary from pot to pot, brand to brand etc. You can almost never tell how well the taper adheres to standard log or lin curves. Oh, and BTW, it does make a difference tonal-wise - to a certain extent. I have never heard the difference myself, but in a guitar its virtually impossible to hear the difference between different pots because the signal is so weak. But in a guitar amp for example, if the power of the signal approaches or exceeds the pot's power rating it can introduce some noise. It wont really affect the sound, but it will add some noise. Most 1/2 watt pots are plenty for that application. In the end, for a guitar it doesnt matter. It comes down to how much you want to pay for that smooth twisting action. If you are building a tube amp for fun, just use the cheap alpha pots. If your building a tube amp and you want to pimp it up, then by all means get yourself some mil-spec 2watt sealed potentiometers. -D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members knucklefux Posted October 15, 2009 Members Share Posted October 15, 2009 the only thing that really affects the tone is the cap on the tone pot, and only if you don't have the pot full on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NaturalBornBoy Posted October 15, 2009 Members Share Posted October 15, 2009 So what's all the hoo haa about orange drop caps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Slaymoar Posted October 15, 2009 Members Share Posted October 15, 2009 So what's all the hoo haa about orange drop caps? They oppose change in voltage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NaturalBornBoy Posted October 15, 2009 Members Share Posted October 15, 2009 They oppose change in voltage. And that's important why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Slaymoar Posted October 15, 2009 Members Share Posted October 15, 2009 And that's important why? Clearly it isnt... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NaturalBornBoy Posted October 15, 2009 Members Share Posted October 15, 2009 Clearly it isnt... So in other words it's all snake oil? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Slaymoar Posted October 15, 2009 Members Share Posted October 15, 2009 So in other words it's all snake oil? You got it. Look at the ratings. If it matches exceeds or its kinda close, it works just the same. -D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members missingastring Posted October 15, 2009 Members Share Posted October 15, 2009 What about paper-in-oil? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Slaymoar Posted October 15, 2009 Members Share Posted October 15, 2009 What about paper-in-oil? Oil-filled are just a longer lasting / higher handling cap. The price they go for you might as well get a super high capacitance of the non-oil type. (electrolytic) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members brandass Posted October 15, 2009 Members Share Posted October 15, 2009 Glad this thread went up. Just noticed the small pots in a guitar I'd never opened up, and wondered if I should upgrade, despite the fact that I'm very happy with their action and the guitar's tone. Thanks to this thread my inclination is to leave them be - if it ain't broke... Which means one fewer items on my absurdly long to-do list. Thank you HCAF! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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