1 meg tone pots to increase highs? Will this work for high gain rhythm?

[p4vl]

Years ago, I put a Tom Anderson HN3+ in my Agile LP copy (solid mahogany). It was crap; nothing but muddy low mids, so I tried using a 1 meg pot for the volume or tone pot (can't remember which) but it was still muddy to the point that I couldn't get any pinch harmonics.

I still have the Anderson HN3+ and I'm thinking about putting it in my Ibanez RG2550 (basswood). Here's the point: I'm not sure that I even did the 1 meg pot thing correctly but if I did, I'm not sure it has a positive effect on high gain stuff. Have any of you tried this for cleaning up a muddy tone?

[darthphineas]

I've tried a few 1 meg ohm pots... once for the very reason you are talking about and I also play high gain. I think there is a difference, but in my experience it didn't hit me upside the head. I've talked to one guy that's into 80s ultra-high super-saturated distortion tones and he claims he hears a big difference. but I think it's worth it, as it's every little bit that helps.

also, hook that pot up to a multimeter. most pots with within a little bit of being dead on, but from time to time you might find one that's off a bit.... i.e., I had a 500k that was reading 450k. not going to have the wet blanket muffle of putting a 250k on a full-on high gain humbucker, but it's still 10% less than what I paid for. if you got something like a CTS you should be good.

and... does the guitar have any treble bleeds or addition resistors or caps in there that don't apply to your application? if so, you can consider taking out what you're not using. that same guy that said he got a big difference with the 1 mog ohm pots also disconnects his tone pots and takes out as many connections he can manage between the volume pot and the output jack. may not be everyone's cup of tea, but all that stuff adds up for some guys.

[ItsaBass]

1 Meg pots will not decrease mud. They will just stack a hair more treble on top of it. Sometimes that works to de-mud the pickup, and sometimes it doesn't. But it never hurts IME.

The best way I've found to de-mud pickups is to lower them. This reduces the low end of the tonal balance. Then raise your pole pieces to get your volume back, if needed.

[RayBarbeeMusic]

I disagree that it never hurts. 1M volume pots can make a lot of guitars/pickups sound very harsh and unpleasant. Might work for brightening up a dark neck pickup just fine, but I can't think of a situation where I'd recommend that for a bridge pickup.

1M tone pots won't make much difference at all vs. 500k, or even 250k, but you can try it and see.

[ItsaBass]

I disagree that it never hurts.

It never hurts on a muddy pickup is what my statement meant in the context of the paragraph. I obviously wouldn't put one on a pickup I thought was too shrill, nor was I suggesting it.

[RayBarbeeMusic]

It's not putting one on a pickup that is too shrill, it is that I have yet to hear a bridge bucker that wouldn't become too shrill with a 1M volume.

[Funkfingers]

At the risk of appearing rude, the weak link in the Anderson/Agile chain was not the pickup.

The Ibanez should prove to be a better host. Better tonewoods, better hardware and, most importantly, a vibrato spring cavity.

[ItsaBass]

It's not putting one on a pickup that is too shrill, it is that I have yet to hear a bridge bucker that wouldn't become too shrill with a 1M volume.

For the most part, I am with you, but I've had a few hot/overwound 'buckers in the bridge slot that were too mushy for me, and which really benefited from a 1M pot. The Gibson 500T in my Explorer is one example. It's very subjective. What might be too shrill for you might be perfect for someone else. You've got to take it on a case by case basis. And in any case, too much treble is not a big deal if you employ your tone pot. But not having enough treble is harder to deal with.

[p4vl]

At the risk of appearing rude, the weak link in the Anderson/Agile chain was not the pickup.

Oh, I know. Anderson is also a strange choice for a metal bridge pickup, especially in a mahogany Agile. That Agile was crap.

In fairness, the last 2 Agiles I purchased were much better than the first (and the wide neck LP copies are brilliant, especially for cave trolls with huge hands like myself), and they sound great with my BG bucker/Hellabucker set.

[Guston7]

When someone generally says, "1M tone pots won't make much difference at all vs. 500k, or even 250k...", I have to disagree. One has to consider the pickup in question. Now, if you've got a 5k vintage Strat pickup running a 500k pot, then I completely agree w/above statement. You already have 100x the barrier to ground as the pickup's resistance...nearly no load. So, in that case, going to 1M likely won't make any audible difference. However, consider a p'up at 25k (such as Super 3) and that same 500k pot is only 20x the p'ups resistance. In that case, most of us would easily hear the change in response going to 1M, or 250k.

[GregJr]

I have a HN3+ that is installed in a 1988 Kramer Stryker with a plywood body ,Rosewood board, Floyd Rose, and sounds amazing!!! 500K volume pot, no tone.

[idsnowdog]

Anything hotter than 16K is usually dark enough and powerful enough that a 1 meg pot helps open up the dynamics.