250k pots

[brownpants69]

Hi

Would 250k pots take away some of the top end from my MM90s on my ASS?

I love the tone, but I hate tweaking my amp and pedals all the time when I switch guitars- it is so much more brighter than my other balls.

What do you think?


Thanks!

 

[fbecir]

If you want to have the same tone regardless of the guitar, in fact you just need one guitar !
The MM90 are single coils thus they will be always a bit brighter than humbuckers. It's what I love with my ASS : it cuts really through the mix when you play in a band.

 

[brownpants69]

I don't want the same tone! How could I get the same same tone out of three different guitars?

For the sake of practicality I need the guitar to be a bit less brighter.

Anyone got any experience of 250k pots with their MM90s.

What about AL users?

 

[Dante]

i think you should just get yourself an EQ pedal. this is what most people who own both buckers and coils do as it's alot less drastic than switching pots.
my 2 cents.

 

[GHWelles]

A 250K pot will take away more highs than a 500K pot.

And you can modify the existing pots to make the change less drastic.

Just solder a 500K resistor across the two outside legs of the pot. Easily reversible if you don't like it.

 

[beej]

It's not just about highs, loading affects the volume as well. I've never tried the MM90s with 250ks, so no idea how they'll sound.

Wonderdog is right with the test soldering approach. But you'll want a 250k resistor to simulate 250k pots With the controls wide open, that'll show you what the sound would be like.

Another approach is to put a small capacitor in parallel with your output. Same effect as having a long cable, it'll take some of the highs off. You can wire it to a switch as well, etc. Way cheaper and easier than getting new pots. (I've often meant to do this, get a 5-way rotary switch and replace my tone pot with different capacitors. Heard it done effectively before and it's cool.)

 

[GHWelles]

Sorry Beej . To make a 500K pot halve in value (250K) you put a 500K resistor across the outside terminals and you a get 250K pot. Works just like a 250K pot, maybe with a slightly different taper than usual.

Here you go. Project Guitar :: Tweeking pot's and 3 very common treble bleed modifications


Single coils normally use 250K and humbuckers 500K to take some of the brightness off the single coils. P90's are big single coils so can go either way.

Another way to go is to have a 250K volume pot and a 500K tone pot. Brighter than 250K on both, darker than both 500K.

 

[beej]

Sorry Beej . To make a 500K pot halve in value (250K) you put a 500K resistor across the outside terminals and you a get 250K pot. Works just like a 250K pot, maybe with a slightly different taper than usual.

True ... if you only have one pot. But you also have the other 500k pot, so that's like a 250k pot in parallel with the other 500k pot. Gives you 166k total, more than the 125k you'd get from two 250k pots together, but less than the 250k you get from two 500k pots

 

[GHWelles]

True ... if you only have one pot. But you also have the other 500k pot, so that's like a 250k pot in parallel with the other 500k pot. Gives you 166k total, more than the 125k you'd get from two 250k pots together, but less than the 250k you get from two 500k pots

Yes, but we were talking about replacing both 500K pots with 250K's, and I suggested an easier option is using 500K resistors on each pot to cut each to 250K instead of replacing both the existing 500K pots with 250K's.

If you only modify one pot as you suggest, then yes the result would be darker than stock but brighter than both pots at 250K. That might actually be a good compromise. But frankly the sonic difference between 166K spec and 125K spec, after taking into account manufacturing tolerances, would probably be pretty negligible.

So I would probably put a 500K across the volume pot first, see what it sounded like, then put one across the tone pot next if still too bright. Also mess with raising the pickups to add darkness and power.

 

[beej]

Well we've probably scared Mark off by this point

 

[brownpants69]

Woah!

I'll read those posts after I have had an espresso or 2 to wake me up- You havent scared me off... yet! I fear I am about to dabble in some strange dark art!

I was contemplating doing the Dimarzio DLX mod, but I love the clean and gritty sounds on this guitar- and I don't fancy the routing/chiseling/rotary tooling/crying/despair associated with it. If I could just darken it down or pump the mids when I need to I'll be laughing.

The good thing is that these soldering mods seem easily reversible. I might look into an EQ pedal too- I've only tried the MXR and Boss pedals in the past- they just made my guitar noisy.

 

[THE_EB_KID]

Well we've probably scared Mark off by this point

I flipped over my office chair when I got to this one!!!!!

 

[brownpants69]

Right- I'm going add a 500k resistor to the volume pot and see what that does. Whats the best type/make etc and place to buy from?

I'm not as scared as I was earlier!

I'm also eyeing up a Dimarzio DLX... but thats my extreme backup plan.

 

[brownpants69]

And sorry to be off topic... but why won't my display picture show up on here?!

 

[beej]

Any ole' resistor will do. Lowest wattage/cheapest you can find, there's no current running through it.

As Wonderdog pointed out, to get the 250k pot effect you'll want 500k resistors on both bots. Or a single 250k across the volume pot. The effects will be subtle.

While you're experimenting, try a really long cable and no buffered effects before the amp to make things more middy. (And if you like that, you can easily wire in a cheap capacitor.)

 

[brownpants69]

Doh!

I've just realised- I'm running a buffer at the start of my effects chain- I've got a G-lab switcher, with a buffer. I'll have a play around tomorrow- it's late here across the other side of the pond- way past my guitar playing time!

I'll get some ordered. I just solder it across the two outer tags of the pot?

 

[beej]

Yep.

 

[GHWelles]

Go to Radio Shack