Volume Pot - non-linear roll off

gutpile · Post by **gutpile** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 10:57 pm

Has anyone ever had a volume pot that rolls off the volume steep from 10 to about 6 (where 9 should be) and then evenly down? what causes this? how do I fix this? I have an RS Kit in LP and when I roll off the neck volume there is an immediate drop and then evenly rolls down... any insights are greatly appreciated...

Thanks,
Mike

marT · Post by **marT** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 12:38 am

I am not a fan of the RS kit anymore, the large volume drop/boost pisses me off a bit from 7-10.

Try a stock CTS audio taper and see if this helps. I haven't yet but I am tempted.

JimiJames · Post by **JimiJames** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 12:45 am

YesSir...Commonly LP's come with 500K's.
Gibson also sells 300K Linear'sfor LP's.
The element is tapered different so the "roll off is more gradual.
Strats commonly come with 250 K's and as we know have a very gradual volume sweep.

So a way to view this is 250K's for Single Coils - 500K for Humbuckers.

(But, there is no rule. I use a 250K on a Strat with a hummer.
Just guessing that Ed might have used one for Cathedral...I dunno, I have no clue but sounds like he did.)

Replacing the 500K to the 300K pot will take care of your prob ...and you can keep your tone. Wink

(For tone controls use an audio/log pot... which have a useable taper.)

fillmore nyc · Post by **fillmore nyc** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 8:29 am

gutpile wrote:Has anyone ever had a volume pot that rolls off the volume steep from 10 to about 6 (where 9 should be) and then evenly down? what causes this? how do I fix this? I have an RS Kit in LP and when I roll off the neck volume there is an immediate drop and then evenly rolls down... any insights are greatly appreciated...

Thanks,
Mike

Hey, Mike. Do you know if your pots are audio or linear taper? Thats what makes the difference as to whether the pot rolls off gradually, or suddenly. The pots actual value doesnt matter. That will have an effect on the overall brightness of the circuit: a 500k is brighter than a 250k, cause there is more resistance in a 500k to any frequencies going to ground thru the pot. Thats why some guys will use 1meg pots if they want to get max brightness from their guitar--a 1meg will have a lot of resistance to any frequencies that wanna "escape" to ground. The reverse is true too: if you want to warm up, or tame the brightness of a guitar with 500k pots, change to 250k. Even though this will sound backwards, an audio taper pot should be used for volume, and a linear taper pot is used for tone. It sounds like a linear taper would ramp off the volume in a "linear" fashon, but our ears hear things logarithmically. In other words, a 100db sound (to our ears) is MUCH, MUCH more than twice as loud as a 50db sound. Its the way our ears hear things. Hear is a link that explains this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potentiometer. Good Luck!!

gutpile · Post by **gutpile** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 11:49 pm

Thanks for the replies... another thing to note is the fact that when I have the toggle switch in the middle position and the tone of the Neck PUP on 0 it is alot quiter than if I have the toggle on the Neck PUP by itself... If I roll the tone control on the neck from 0 on up the middle position get louder

I ordered an RS "super" pot that is supposed to resolve this issue, I may be getting suckered but it was only $14 bucks.... I'll let you guys know ho it works out. My friend has Antiquitities with the RS kit and his neck PUP rolls off just fine?? WTF? I don't get it

anyways, the pot should come early next week, I'll put it in and let you guys know what I found out... Thanks again for the feedback...

Mike

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Volume Pot - non-linear roll off

Volume Pot - non-linear roll off

Re: Volume Pot - non-linear roll off