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Post by axekicker on Feb 12, 2012 0:56:22 GMT -5
I've decided to try a 1 Meg pot on my HH Talman. Should I place a cap or resistor between the two hot terminals on my volume? I'm worried about the pot being noisier because of the added power? Suggestions?
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Post by newey on Feb 12, 2012 10:14:36 GMT -5
There is no "added power". The power (volts X amps) involved comes from your pickups, they put out the same (very small) amount of power regardless. A 1MΩ pot won't be any noisier. It will be brighter sounding, and will have less variability as you turn the knob. I have a 1M volume pot on my single HB Strat copy, which uses a GFS dual lipstick-tube HB. Initially, I liked the available brightness, but I usually kept it dialed down on the tone control (tone is 500K), turning it up for soloing stuff only. (Note that combining a 1M volume with a 500K tone results in 750K overall) Over time, I find myself dialing back the amp's treble control more and more when I play this guitar. Now, it's down to about "2" on the amp, and the guitar tone at about a "5" to avoid overly-harsh brightness. So, the next time the strings get changed, out goes that 1M pot, and in goes a 500K instead! I chalk it up to a combination of a very bright pickup to start with, installed at the bridge position- your mileage may vary. But based on personal experience, I'm not recommending it. Back in the '50's, Fender (and others) used 1M pots, but bear in mind that the amps in those days weren't so hot on the high end of things. That's the same reason Leo specified tone controls on the neck and middle pups of a Strat but not on the bridge pup- so as not to lose precious treble for soloing through the added resistance of a pot. So, a lot of folks think a 1M pot equates to "vintage tone". And it may, if you've got a vintage amp to boot. With a modern amp, your treble control may not go low enough . . . You can alter the resistance by putting a resistor of appropriate size across the outer lugs of a pot, but this changes the effective taper as well. Pots are cheap. Buy the value you want instead of trying to alter the value of one you don't want. EDIT: reTrEaD has pointed out that a 1M and a 500K actually combine to about 333K, not 750K. Math never was my strong suit . . . And, since he mentioned it, I've been thinking that it just may be both pots are 1M, I don't really recall now what I put in there so long ago. Since then, at the suggestion of ChrisK, I keep a notebook with all the materials lists, pickup resistance readings, diagrams, etc. for each project I build. So, for ones built since the white Strat, I have that info at my fingertips, no testing needed!
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Post by cynical1 on Feb 12, 2012 12:52:04 GMT -5
Over time, I find myself dialing back the amp's treble control more and more when I play this guitar. Now, it's down to about "2" on the amp, and the guitar tone at about a "5" to avoid overly-harsh brightness. YOU turned down the treble! Man, let me mark the calendar... ;D HTC1
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Post by newey on Feb 12, 2012 21:08:28 GMT -5
Of course . . . The Producer doesn't want us guitarists to touch any of the knobs! ;D ;D
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Post by reTrEaD on Feb 12, 2012 23:18:08 GMT -5
Should I place a cap or resistor between the two hot terminals on my volume? You mean to reduce treble loss when rolling back the volume? Yeah, I think the higher the resistance of the volume pot, the more a "treble bleed" is needed.
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Post by ashcatlt on Feb 13, 2012 14:00:42 GMT -5
EDIT: reTrEaD has pointed out that a 1M and a 500K actually combine to about 333K, not 750K. Math never was my strong suit . . . Just remember that the total of two or more parallel resistances can never be greater than the smallest. It's true of parallel inductances and series capacitances as well.
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