Pots effect on tone?

[papersoul]

Hi guys,

Has anyone done anymore tested on 300k with humbuckers? I know RS Guitar Works recommends 300k volume pots for some pickups that are bright or harsh,but I am using Wolfetone pickups - Marshallheads and Timbre Wolfs, various Duncans and Rio Grandes, all good and warm pickups....not harsh. For this reason....I have been migrating back to all 500k pots. However......a lot of custom guitar builders still prefer the 300 tone pot for all pickups! I rarely use my tone pot however...maybe rolled back to 8 to cut some highs. I would love to see a comparison if a guitar sounds the same with a 300k or 500k tone pot when set to 10. Is it only when rolling off that we hear a difference.

One interesting thing I read a lot is that using a 300k volume pot thickens your tone.

Has anyone done some real testing on any of this?

[jeremy]

will a 300k volume will thicken your tone? if by thickening your tone you mean having less high end then yes.

using a 300k tone pot vs a 500k one will give you a touch less high end even when the contol is wide open. i use 500k pots on all my bucker loaded guitars. the older gibson i had with 300k pots, i swapped out for 500k and i liked it much better that way

[papersoul]

Hi Jeremy! do your comments apply to both tone and volume pots? I know some custom guitar builders like Baker and Briggs tend to use 300k tone pots for a better sweep, but use 500k volume pots. These builders say the 300k makes more sense and sounds better as a tone pot than a 500k. I found this interesting.

I did read (wish I could find the article) that a 300k volume pot will thicker your tone......but I believe your comments are dead on with that, Jeremy. However, I do know guys who swear humbuckers sound thin with 500k volume pots.

My thought has always been this. I could achieve the same tone with a 300k volume pot by using a 500k violume pot and rolling back the tone pot to about 8. But, concerning the tone pots.....I find it interesting that some say a 300k is much preferred for a better and smoother sweep.

[jeremy]

pups with more treble may be percieved as thinner but they still have the same amount of bass and mids just more high end. to get the same tone as a 300k volume, roll the volume back a touch. if you could measure the pot and make it 300k then i bet youd be hard pressed to tell the difference in a real world situation

[noth]

pups with more treble may be percieved as thinner but they still have the same amount of bass and mids just more high end. to get the same tone as a 300k volume, roll the volume back a touch. if you could measure the pot and make it 300k then i bet youd be hard pressed to tell the difference in a real world situation

Absolutely!! Put this thread in the vault!

Noth

[papersoul]

Thanks! I always thought a 300k pot would effect different frequencies though. Anyway...I kind of think I would go with 500k all around and just use the knobs as need.

What are your thoughts on what i said about the 300k tone pot?

This is what I was told by a custom guitar builder concerning his reason for using 300k tone pots:
"You don't want a wide spread on the tone control for even
response, but you do on the volume"

[papersoul]

bump