250k pot to 500k?

[prolife]

point me to it. a simple upgrade. what do i need to convert a 250k push pull to 500k?

[pete12345]

Erm... a suitable spanner or nut spinner, your soldering kit and a 500K push-pull pot?

[prolife]

erm... hang on for an electronics wiz!

[prolife]

i did some serious searching and it seems you can only reduce resistance values by adding a resistor? if this is the case is it better to stick with buying 1 meg pots and add a resistor to change values to 500k or 250k as needed?

[D2o]

i did some serious searching and it seems you can only reduce resistance values by adding a resistor? if this is the case is it better to stick with buying 1 meg pots and add a resistor to change values to 500k or 250k as needed?

Some production guitars used to use 1 meg pots, but you don't see that much, if at all, anymore.

If you want your guitar "wide open", you could use 1 meg pots ... maybe if you are in a heavy metal band or something and you need screaming screeching solos to cut through everything else.

Otherwise, the standard 250k and 500k fare is generally considered to be ... well ... "better", as evidenced in part by generally being the standard.

A 500k pot (without a resistor) would be a reasonable option. That way, you can always roll your tone back, but still have bright tone when you need it.

D2o

P.S. By the way, you previously heard from an electronics wiz when Pete12345 replied.

[ChrisK]

If this is the case is it better to stick with buying 1 meg pots and add a resistor to change values to 500k or 250k as needed?

While one can put a second 500K resistor in parallel with a 500K one to convert the result to 250K, one cannot just place a 500K resistor across a 500K pot to realize a 250K pot in all of its response characteristics.

A pot has three terminals. A 500K pot with the same ratio-metric taper as a 250K pot has a different taper effect when loaded by a 500K fixed resistor and the same external circuit (tone control, cable, amp input). A 250K volume pot, when set to half of its resistive value, has an effective output resistance of 62.5K. A 500K volume pot, when set to half of its resistive value has an effective output resistance of 125K. (These are both Thevenin equivalencies - DC circuits 101).

The addition of just an external resistor will change the loading presented by the pot when it is full-on to the desired pot value, but not duplicate the rotational response of the desired pot value.

It may be close enough, or it may be dissatisfactory, but it won't be the same.


The only way to exactly reduce a 500K pot to 250K is to use a dual element 500K pot and wire each of the three terminals to its neighbors like terminals.


If it was easy to do with just a resistor, we'd have only 1 Meg pots that came with two resistors.

[prolife]

ok. job done. i ordered some online.