|
Post by monkey hotel on Apr 17, 2016 13:18:13 GMT -5
Hello! I recently installed two "genuine Fender" CTS pots (250k log) as master volume and master tone controls. And i'm not happy. The volume control is completely silent between 0 and about 2, then more jumping in than fading in. With the tone control it's the same, though not that much of a drama to have the cap in full at "2". My cheapo alpha pots (250k log) deliver smooth volume swells right from the beginning. Looking for clues i found a CTS data sheet that made me wonder...there, the log pot does nothing before 14+% rotation. John Cooper/planet z offers a comparison chart of pot taper supporting my new experience. So: do i have to live with the fact that all potentiometers are created unequal and it's just a matter of luck to find one that works as intended? (And: can anyone tell me where to put commas??? )
|
|
|
Post by b4nj0 on Apr 17, 2016 15:22:23 GMT -5
They don't really taper as such, they have steps or parallel tracks. Where each track starts or where the steps are situated along the tracks determines the "taper". I guess that's why the tolerance of (affordable) pots is so loose?
e&oe...
|
|
cheap
Meter Reader 1st Class
Posts: 69
Likes: 0
|
Post by cheap on Jun 5, 2016 21:32:38 GMT -5
One interesting thing you can do, though not terribly useful, is measure the resistance of your pots while sweeping the control. You might be able to compare them to your alpha pots to see if anything funny is going on. Just a thought.
|
|
|
Post by newey on Jun 6, 2016 5:36:15 GMT -5
ChrisK's "Audio Taper Pots- Not Really"As far as CTS pots vs. Alpha, I've used Alpha pots quite a bit and have never found them to be "cheapo". Pots are less expensive when the wrapper doesn't say "Genuine Fender" on it. Your experience is why many prefer linear pots, especially for the tone control.
|
|
|
Post by b4nj0 on Jun 6, 2016 8:27:23 GMT -5
That's what I always thought. However, I recently purchased a couple of really nice Bakelite knobs from over your side via eBay. It turned out that Heritage had used this really tiny pot with a correspondingly slim shaft and so the knob turned with an unacceptably large accentuated wobble. The answer was to replace the pot (250K log) and since it's a (floating) hummer- I went for a 500K linear to brighten things up a bit. It was completely useless, so I changed it back again to a 250K log and Ta-da, I had smooth tone control again. This puzzled me for a while but in the end I just started playing the flippin' instrument! They were Alpha pots and were just fine. I don't think I'll bother with CTS again, although Bourns do some quality items...
e&oe...
|
|