500k vs 250k pots

  • Thread starter Thread starter geetarmikey
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geetarmikey
geetarmikey
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Hi, all, I have a Charvel DK24 with 500k pots and the no-load tone pot.

I really feel like the taper on rolling the volume down isn't great - it loses volume too quickly but also gets muddy very quickly even though I have the no-load tone control all the way on.

Is this a common thing with 500k pots and should I switch back to 250k to get more response like how it is on my Suhr Modern for example?

Thanks!

Mike
 
geetarmikey said:
Hi, all, I have a Charvel DK24 with 500k pots and the no-load tone pot.

I really feel like the taper on rolling the volume down isn't great - it loses volume too quickly but also gets muddy very quickly even though I have the no-load tone control all the way on.

Is this a common thing with 500k pots and should I switch back to 250k to get more response like how it is on my Suhr Modern for example?

Thanks!

Mike
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I suspect that you want a treble bleed on the volume to prevent muddiness as you roll it down.

That may also change the sweep, so try that first.

If you want the volume to roll off less quickly, you could try a linear pot (presumably yours is audio taper) or just a different brand of pot, and they all tend to have differences.

What you're describing is not, however, related to the pot resistance value itself, I think.

I assume a Suhr Modern is going to have 500k audio taper pots with a treble bleed on the volume.
 
Thanks, I've always wondered what the difference between 250k and 500k pots is too?
 
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geetarmikey said:
Thanks, I've always wondered what the difference between 250k and 500k pots is too?
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Essentially, how much treble remains. The pot adds a short to the signal. The 250k takes off more treble than the 500 due to the resistance. If you felt that 500 was too bright, you could go with 300k to split the difference
 
What you’re looking for is a linear taper pot. With that, the volume will drop off more gradually when turning it down. It sounds like what you installed was an audio tape or a pot.
 
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Always used 500k and treble bleed on my guitars. If too bright, that's the point of tone pot.

And yeah, it's never too bright.
 
geetarmikey said:
Hi, all, I have a Charvel DK24 with 500k pots and the no-load tone pot.

I really feel like the taper on rolling the volume down isn't great - it loses volume too quickly but also gets muddy very quickly even though I have the no-load tone control all the way on.

Is this a common thing with 500k pots and should I switch back to 250k to get more response like how it is on my Suhr Modern for example?

Thanks!

Mike
Click to expand...
250k will be even more muddy. If you want an even taper use 500k linear
 
Does the guitar have single coils?

Suhr uses 500k pots but they wire in an additional 330k resistor in parallel when single coils are selected, which makes the single coils “see” roughly the equivalent of 250k pots once you figure in the extra resistance of the tone pot, etc.

A side effect of that resistor is the more off-a-cliff effect of turning down the volume.

As for the loss of highs when you turn down, as everybody else has said, that’s completely standard with guitar pots and passive pickups. To counter it, you’ll want a “treble bleed” mod done to the volume pot.
 
Smashedguitaris⸸ said:
I disagree. Tone pot is like tits on a man
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I often use a 200pf cap across 500k volume pots to keep them from getting muddy. I personally prefer the newer ones that Gibson use now, that roll off quicker, so I stay in between 6-10 on the volume knob. The older ones, I'd have to roll down to 2-3 to get as clean.
250k pots suck, but! sometimes the stock 300k Gibson pot isn't so bad with a brighter pickup.
 
Yeah, I'd say the taper is more important here than the resistance value.

I have my Les Paul set up with a 250K volume knob for the bridge (500T) and a 1Meg vloume knob for the neck (Duncan Distortion Neck), no tone. I too hate tone knobs, personally.
 
TheGreatGreen said:
I used to think this way until I got a telecaster.

Play an SS tele or SSS strat and suddenly those tone knobs start to make sense.
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Yeah. I only play humbucker, and the tone knob, when i used to keep them on, would accidentally get rolled down and i would think something was wrong with my amp cuz it sounded like muddy shit
 
Smashedguitaris⸸ said:
Yeah. I only play humbucker, and the tone knob, when i used to keep them on, would accidentally get rolled down and i would think something was wrong with my amp cuz it sounded like muddy shit
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Tone knobs are useful for knocking off a bit of gain with 50s wiring. They don't really roll off treble until down around 5 on the knob. I like to keep the volume and tone knobs around 8 on my 335, then work the knobs for different shades of spank and bite.

And yeah, most def necessary with Tele and Strats.
 
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