250K pots with humbuckers??

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napalmdeath

napalmdeath

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My Tele came with Wide Range humbuckers, and 250k pots. It's a bright guitar..

I'm upgrading the pickups to Duncan '59's. I've read that some prefer the 250k pots to lessen the bright character. I'm not going to mess with a new 500k wiring kit if I don't have to. I'm already $300 into tuners and pickups!
 
Tone suckers! I just went through this process on my Tele build and strat build. 250K pots totally choke out the humbuckers. Muddy undefined mess. Some may like that , but I certainly didn't. 500k pots are like $5 a piece. Totally worth it. Believe me.
 
prs is putting a 300k pot on that swamp ash model with one hb and 2 sc's. not sure why. has a treble bleed as well....seems strange to me but wtf do I know?
 
The video below is set to a certain section where he talks about using a 250K pot with a humbucker and it's a sound to die for .



The pickup he is using is called the Jalen (Fair Warning) pickup , you can checkout how it sounds below:

 
I tried one on the EVH 5150 standard.

Stinketh
 
In my experience, a 250k pot is good for taming single coils, they can get a bit too sibilant and ice-picky with higher value pots, but 250k is too dark for humbuckers. I'd think this would be especially true for something like a Telecaster where part of the appeal of that kind of guitar is a brighter tonality.

Besides, if you want 250k out of a 500k volume pot, all you have to do is turn the knob down just a little bit.

Also, there's really nothing to changing them out. They cost like $2-3 a piece and even if you don't want to solder it yourself, a single volume knob should only take a minute or so for a decent tech.
 
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TheGreatGreen said:
In my experience, a 250k pot is good for taming single coils, they can get a bit too sibilant and ice-picky with higher value pots, but 250k is too dark for humbuckers. I'd think this would be especially true for something like a Telecaster where part of the appeal of that kind of guitar is a brighter tonality.

Besides, if you want 250k out of a 500k volume pot, all you have to do is turn the knob down just a little bit.

Also, there's really nothing to changing them out. They cost like $2-3 a piece and even if you don't want to solder it yourself, a single volume knob should only take a minute or so for a decent tech.
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Well, if I swapped, I wasn't going to screw around. I was going with a 920D Custom full wired kit with a Pure Tone jack. The jack alone is an upgrade. So, I'm looking at $130. I want quality shit.
 
napalmdeath said:
Well, if I swapped, I wasn't going to screw around. I was going with a 920D Custom full wired kit with a Pure Tone jack. The jack alone is an upgrade. So, I'm looking at $130. I want quality shit.
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Whatever you decide to do, you could always just buy a handful of $3 pots and try them real quick to find out if it's 250k, 300k or 500k volume and tone pots that work best for you. If you're throwing away your original wiring anyway, might as well use it to try different value pots before you commit to something more permanent.
 
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TheGreatGreen said:
Whatever you decide to do, you could always just buy a handful of $3 pots and try them real quick to find out if it's 250k, 300k or 500k volume and tone pots that work best for you. If you're throwing away your original wiring anyway, might as well use it to try different value pots before you commit to something more permanent.
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Sounds simple, in theory.. But, I can do anything set-up wise on any guitar, but I am solder-challeged. I'll talk to my repair guy and see what he thinks... I'll see if he's got wiring and caps, and I'll just buy the pots. I'm thinking 500k should be the logical thing. After all, the Fender Wide Range pickups were probably designed and voiced around 250k pots, vs. a pair of Seymour Duncans.
 
This is the sound of an old JB with a 250k pot in a Strat. It can sound very good, but I’m a firm believer that a lot of the tone is in the hands.
 
Emg77 said:
Tone suckers! I just went through this process on my Tele build and strat build. 250K pots totally choke out the humbuckers. Muddy undefined mess. Some may like that , but I certainly didn't. 500k pots are like $5 a piece. Totally worth it. Believe me.
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Agree. I could never get a bucker to work with a 250k pot. They just don’t sound right. Even JB’s that everyone says sound good with them, sound like ass to me
 
Can I hijack this thread and ask who is posting odds @ 10 to 1 when this hits the classifieds. I want some action , my gambling addiction helps with G.A.S.🤣🤑🤑
 
Just put the new pickups in and see if it's too dark.

Generally, 500k pots go with humbuckers, but certain guitars are inherently brighter than others and so are certain pickups. You won't know until you put the new pickups in.
 
I would swap them for 500k. I also have been really enjoying switching out the tone pot on humbucker guitars. You can also use a no-load pot, but I am just using a push pull to switch out the tone pot. Good if you have a dark guitar.
 
I personally prefer the sound of the 500k with 59s, as I have tried them with 250's and it made the pickups just a bit too muddled sounding for me.
But, I know other people who've done the same thing and swear by it and insist that the tone is perfect that way.
I do think the particular guitar it's installed in could make a difference too, so honestly the best bet would be to just wire them up and see how they respond for you. I'll be curious to see what you think.
 
napalmdeath said:
My Tele came with Wide Range humbuckers, and 250k pots. It's a bright guitar..

I'm upgrading the pickups to Duncan '59's. I've read that some prefer the 250k pots to lessen the bright character. I'm not going to mess with a new 500k wiring kit if I don't have to. I'm already $300 into tuners and pickups!
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Those were designed for a 250k total load, most likely. The JB was designed for 250k pots, or a 125k total load.

In your case, delete the tone knob and you will have the proper load. If it doesn’t sound right (too bright) hook it back up. If it does, and if you want a tone knob, upgrade to 500k’s.
 
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