Post by jewellworks on Nov 23, 2008 20:35:34 GMT -5
im new to this forum, but ive been playing for nearly 30 years. ive been experimenting like a mad scientist with super weirdo switching for the last couppla years as well, and i know my way around guitar guts pretty good. in other words, i may be new here, but in not a newbie. 
ive been poking around this forum, and searching for info on the relationship and relative values for volume pots, vs, tone pots, and the caps that go with it. theres a ton of info on different cap values and audio vs liner taper pots, but thats not really what im looking for. heres what i want to know:
1) the tone pot: i understand that a 500k pot in the volume position will let you "keep" more highs than a 250k, with everything turned up all the way, of course. but what about the tone pots?? do i "loose highs" if i have a 500k in the volume, and 250k for tone?? or vise versa? is there any benefit in having, say, a 250k volume with a 500k tone pot? or does it have to MATCH the volume pots value? or are these signals somehow independant of eachother, seeing as the tone circuit is a "sidechain" off the volume, and not directly inline?
im thinking any electrical signal will follow the path of least resistance, and that the lowest value is the "overall" value??? ive read so many discussions on different forums, and reading different diagrams, and it just isnt clear.
2) audio or liner taper for the tone? ive heard of using either one. right now, im having a devil of a time getting the smooth rolloff i want for the tone control, and it doesnt seem to matter if i have a linear or audio taper in there, i just dont seem to have much control over it. i turn and turn with no affect, then right around 2 or 3, it rolls away the highs very quickly. - i like the darkness of it fully rolled off, (.47) which is good for jazz playing, and ive experimented with different cap values in the past, (.18, .22, .33, ect...) but they dont get as muted as i like. -and i also figgured, if i put the dark one in, (.47) i should be able to turn the pot a little and get all the 'tone" i want in between, from 9 to 0. and in theory, that should be a liner pot... right??? but it hasnt worked out like that yet... its frustrating me greatly.
for what its worth, i have 2 guitars im wanting to "get right". one is an HSS frankenstrat, (see my avatar) with a quad rail in the bridge, a duncan stk3 in the middle, (which may change...) and a duncan hot rails in the neck. (dark, i know, but i came up with a solution for that. ill post a "super weirdo" switching diagram one of these days...
)
the other is an SSS frankenstrat with 3 duncan live wires. a matched set.
and for those who dont have the duncan catalog memorized, these are stacked single coils -humbuckers- and are active, using an 18volt system, with 2, 9volt batteries. (which also brings up the question... if theyre stacked single coils, are they considered humbuckers, and therefore i should use a 500k in the volume? or 250k, 'cause theyre "single coils"?? -another topic? another thread??)
((dont get these confused with emg's. emg's use a 25k volume/tone and will squeel like pigs if you dont. you can use "regular" vol/tone pots for duncans. -they told me so. but they wernt very clear on the values))
its also worth noting that BOTH of these guitars have 2 knobs: a master volume, and a master tone.
hope someone can help!! any questions or clarifications?? ask away!
thanx!!
;D
ive been poking around this forum, and searching for info on the relationship and relative values for volume pots, vs, tone pots, and the caps that go with it. theres a ton of info on different cap values and audio vs liner taper pots, but thats not really what im looking for. heres what i want to know:
1) the tone pot: i understand that a 500k pot in the volume position will let you "keep" more highs than a 250k, with everything turned up all the way, of course. but what about the tone pots?? do i "loose highs" if i have a 500k in the volume, and 250k for tone?? or vise versa? is there any benefit in having, say, a 250k volume with a 500k tone pot? or does it have to MATCH the volume pots value? or are these signals somehow independant of eachother, seeing as the tone circuit is a "sidechain" off the volume, and not directly inline?
im thinking any electrical signal will follow the path of least resistance, and that the lowest value is the "overall" value??? ive read so many discussions on different forums, and reading different diagrams, and it just isnt clear.
2) audio or liner taper for the tone? ive heard of using either one. right now, im having a devil of a time getting the smooth rolloff i want for the tone control, and it doesnt seem to matter if i have a linear or audio taper in there, i just dont seem to have much control over it. i turn and turn with no affect, then right around 2 or 3, it rolls away the highs very quickly. - i like the darkness of it fully rolled off, (.47) which is good for jazz playing, and ive experimented with different cap values in the past, (.18, .22, .33, ect...) but they dont get as muted as i like. -and i also figgured, if i put the dark one in, (.47) i should be able to turn the pot a little and get all the 'tone" i want in between, from 9 to 0. and in theory, that should be a liner pot... right??? but it hasnt worked out like that yet... its frustrating me greatly.
for what its worth, i have 2 guitars im wanting to "get right". one is an HSS frankenstrat, (see my avatar) with a quad rail in the bridge, a duncan stk3 in the middle, (which may change...) and a duncan hot rails in the neck. (dark, i know, but i came up with a solution for that. ill post a "super weirdo" switching diagram one of these days...
)the other is an SSS frankenstrat with 3 duncan live wires. a matched set.
and for those who dont have the duncan catalog memorized, these are stacked single coils -humbuckers- and are active, using an 18volt system, with 2, 9volt batteries. (which also brings up the question... if theyre stacked single coils, are they considered humbuckers, and therefore i should use a 500k in the volume? or 250k, 'cause theyre "single coils"?? -another topic? another thread??)
((dont get these confused with emg's. emg's use a 25k volume/tone and will squeel like pigs if you dont. you can use "regular" vol/tone pots for duncans. -they told me so. but they wernt very clear on the values))
its also worth noting that BOTH of these guitars have 2 knobs: a master volume, and a master tone.
hope someone can help!! any questions or clarifications?? ask away!
thanx!!
;D
