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Can switching a vol pot brand change tone?

Eric O'Reilly

Eric O'Reilly

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Joined
Jun 16, 2013
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Location
Revere Mass
I have a guitar thats an HH config, I think it needs a new vol pot because it feels loose and hums loudly when all the way up with high gain,(more so than my other guitars with the same HH config). So my question is would changing the vol pot changes the tone at all, Im not changing the value from 500 just a replacement, and I hope it fixes the loud buzz when all the way up. I only played the guitar once in the store, im picking it up next month.
 
If you use the same value'd pot (250k, 500k) you won't see a change in tone, at least nothing discernible. Try recording direct audio before and after to compare. You can try 550k, but the higher the value the brighter the tone is, some people like 250k but I don't enjoy it myself sounds a bit rolled off.

As far as your buzz, I don't believe it's your pot. I'd take it to a professional and have it tightened and then check your ground wires to make sure everything's soldered cleanly and correctly. Whenever I get buzz on one of my guitars it can usually be attributed to the ground coming loose or something, pretty simple fix if you're comfortable soldering yourself.
 
Like Kenji says, the only thing that affects the circuit is the value of your pots. They all have a certain tolerance, so even two 500k pots might have different values, though.

Hum/buzz can come from many different sources. The key to keeping a guitar quiet is to make sure it's shielded and grounded properly. (Even then, things like noise in the amplifier's supply power can create a lot of noise.)
 
Agreed, no change in tone. The same is true of capacitors. Only the value counts. Of course the values fluctuate from pot to pot and can be +/- 10% of the stated value but those kind of small differences are tough to hear without before-and-after recordings (and even then...).

I doubt the buzz is due to the pot - again it's the shielding/wiring issue. With humbuckers, the guitar should be very quiet unless they are in single coil mode. If the buzz is loud, that would suggest a wiring problem to me.
 
I will check all the connections when I receive the guitar. I'm good at soldering so I will check to see if its a ground issue or shielding, I only got to play it for about half an hour in the store, i was playing through an orange thr combo with a lot of gain. Hopefully its an easy fix, or maybe when I get it home it will not make the noise, other than that it sounded great! And felt and looked great, im sorry to say its not an ebmm, but it will be right at home with my ax40!
 
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