Effect on 1 mega ohm volume (maybe tone) pot on sound?

  • 10 Replies
  • 9760 Views

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

*

Offline Rabelais

  • Newbie
  • *
  • 42
  • 2
    • View Profile
Effect on 1 mega ohm volume (maybe tone) pot on sound?
« on: March 20, 2018, 12:44:34 PM »
I want to get more oohmph out of my Super Distortion/PAF Pro combo. I know a 1 mega ohm volume pot would make them scream, but I’m wondering about the effect of a 1 mega ohm tone pot on the sound. Will it be much brighter?. A friend of mine has two 1 mega ohm tone/volume pots for his X2N/Tone Zone pups.
« Last Edit: March 20, 2018, 12:46:41 PM by Rabelais »

*

Offline DarthPhineas

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • 707
  • 20
    • View Profile
    • Darth Phineas Guitar Gear Reviews
Re: Effect on 1 mega ohm volume (maybe tone) pot on sound?
« Reply #1 on: March 20, 2018, 02:31:18 PM »
There are some interesting articles out there about how different value potentiometers in V and/or T positions can have specific results.

Probably best to get some 1 MegOhm pots and give it a go.



As for getting the most out of a pickups.....For my experience, I typically get the most out of a pickup by using quality switches, pots, wires, and jacks....as well as removing the tone knob (and any other caps and resistors) from the circuit.
Gear Reviews   |  Facebook   |   Twitter   |   Instagram

*

Offline Rabelais

  • Newbie
  • *
  • 42
  • 2
    • View Profile
Re: Effect on 1 mega ohm volume (maybe tone) pot on sound?
« Reply #2 on: March 20, 2018, 04:35:21 PM »
There are some interesting articles out there about how different value potentiometers in V and/or T positions can have specific results.

Probably best to get some 1 MegOhm pots and give it a go.



As for getting the most out of a pickups.....For my experience, I typically get the most out of a pickup by using quality switches, pots, wires, and jacks....as well as removing the tone knob (and any other caps and resistors) from the circuit.
That’s another option. Many metal guitarists do that: single volume pot and that’s it.

Re: Effect on 1 mega ohm volume (maybe tone) pot on sound?
« Reply #3 on: March 22, 2018, 11:55:16 AM »
I want to get more oohmph out of my Super Distortion/PAF Pro combo. I know a 1 mega ohm volume pot would make them scream, but I’m wondering about the effect of a 1 mega ohm tone pot on the sound. Will it be much brighter?. A friend of mine has two 1 mega ohm tone/volume pots for his X2N/Tone Zone pups.

The tone will get brighter; it's just a question of how much, which is dependent on the other specs of your guitar, e.g. body wood, neck & fingerboard wood , single or double-cutaway, 24.75" scale vs 25.5" scale, hard-tail or trem, etc.

*

Offline Rabelais

  • Newbie
  • *
  • 42
  • 2
    • View Profile
Re: Effect on 1 mega ohm volume (maybe tone) pot on sound?
« Reply #4 on: March 25, 2018, 11:25:35 AM »
I want to get more oohmph out of my Super Distortion/PAF Pro combo. I know a 1 mega ohm volume pot would make them scream, but I’m wondering about the effect of a 1 mega ohm tone pot on the sound. Will it be much brighter?. A friend of mine has two 1 mega ohm tone/volume pots for his X2N/Tone Zone pups.

The tone will get brighter; it's just a question of how much, which is dependent on the other specs of your guitar, e.g. body wood, neck & fingerboard wood , single or double-cutaway, 24.75" scale vs 25.5" scale, hard-tail or trem, etc.

It’s a bolt on, Basswood body, Maple neck, 24.75 single cut guitar.

*

Offline DavidSchwab

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • 82
  • 6
    • View Profile
Re: Effect on 1 mega ohm volume (maybe tone) pot on sound?
« Reply #5 on: March 26, 2018, 01:16:04 PM »
A 1meg volume will be brighter... until you turn it down. To illustrate this, let’s suppose you are using a linear taper pot.

If you turn it to 50%, you have 500k to ground, but you also have 500k series resistance. That can dull the tone more that a 500k pot turned down.

I rarely play with my volume on anything but 10, but some people like to use that to clean the sound up.

A treble bleed circuit fixes it however.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

*

Offline jcknowles89

  • Newbie
  • *
  • 12
  • 0
    • View Profile
Re: Effect on 1 mega ohm volume (maybe tone) pot on sound?
« Reply #6 on: March 29, 2018, 02:11:50 PM »
So I have always used 500k Pots in both my spots. However I use resistors to get different pot values for each pickup. through my use of resistors I have my neck value with a value of 250k and my bridge at 333k both going into the same 500k volume pot. So if youre using a 1M volume pot you have more options.

I have heard that alot of vintage gibson pots were actually higher than 500k. So if you have 1M Pots through a combo of resistors you have more options available to you for experimenting with Pot values.

*

Offline DavidSchwab

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • 82
  • 6
    • View Profile
Re: Effect on 1 mega ohm volume (maybe tone) pot on sound?
« Reply #7 on: March 29, 2018, 02:23:52 PM »
So I have always used 500k Pots in both my spots. However I use resistors to get different pot values for each pickup. through my use of resistors I have my neck value with a value of 250k and my bridge at 333k both going into the same 500k volume pot. So if youre using a 1M volume pot you have more options.

I have heard that alot of vintage gibson pots were actually higher than 500k. So if you have 1M Pots through a combo of resistors you have more options available to you for experimenting with Pot values.

Keep in mind that if you have both pickups on at the same time, those different pot values are out the window!

More precisely you end up with 142.8k across both pickups.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

*

Offline jcknowles89

  • Newbie
  • *
  • 12
  • 0
    • View Profile
Re: Effect on 1 mega ohm volume (maybe tone) pot on sound?
« Reply #8 on: March 29, 2018, 04:10:02 PM »
I do it before the switch so not sure how that effects the resistance but It still lets quite a bit of high end through the way I do it. But your probably right though.

*

Offline DavidSchwab

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • 82
  • 6
    • View Profile
Re: Effect on 1 mega ohm volume (maybe tone) pot on sound?
« Reply #9 on: March 31, 2018, 10:05:22 AM »
I do it before the switch so not sure how that effects the resistance but It still lets quite a bit of high end through the way I do it. But your probably right though.

It’s just the way it is with two volume controls. Same with tone controls. It’s pointless having two because they interact.

That’s why I use a single volume and tone on my guitars. I rewired my ‘81 LP Standard that way too. Replaced the other two knobs with a Varitone and bass roll off.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

*

Offline darkbluemurder

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • 1590
  • 52
    • View Profile
Re: Effect on 1 mega ohm volume (maybe tone) pot on sound?
« Reply #10 on: April 18, 2018, 04:34:01 AM »
So I have always used 500k Pots in both my spots. However I use resistors to get different pot values for each pickup. through my use of resistors I have my neck value with a value of 250k and my bridge at 333k both going into the same 500k volume pot. So if youre using a 1M volume pot you have more options.

I have heard that alot of vintage gibson pots were actually higher than 500k. So if you have 1M Pots through a combo of resistors you have more options available to you for experimenting with Pot values.

Keep in mind that if you have both pickups on at the same time, those different pot values are out the window!

More precisely you end up with 142.8k across both pickups.

That is because the volume pots are in parallel to each other in that scenario.

Cheers Stephan
Area 67, Area 58, Area 61, VV Pro 54, Injectors, VV HB2, Virtual Solo, SDS-1, Area T, Area Hot T, Area T 615, Virtual Hot T, Chopper T, Bluesbucker, Breed set, Air Norton, Super Distortion, DLX+ set, DLX-90, DP240, DP198, DP168, VPAF b, AT-1, Mo' Joe, FRED, Super 2; GS b