Wiring ! when is an upgrade an upgrade?

For longevity and sonic transparency, you can’t beat Bourns Metal Oxide Resistive Film units. Especially the metal oxide Japanese origin units. They are also very smooth in their taper, with fewer spikes in the response as you sweep. They have very low thermal noise and shot noise, and do not distort the way carbon pots (and carbon resistors) do.

But for the tone we all grew up with, you can’t beat CTS True Carbon composite pots. They may have higher self-noise, but they have the sweet highs and warm, forward mids that we associate with the best vintage instruments. The difference is really clear.

For those of you still reading, the above is mostly drivel with a couple of grains of truth thrown in for credibility. You can arrange your own double-blind test to see if you can hear differences, and if you can, great! Get two different pots of the same overall value (measurement required because of large tolerance differences, but you can lower one pot to match the resistance of the other, for example). Then get an on/on toggle switch. Wire it up so you can switch between the two pots. Then toggle the switch a bunch of times so you have no idea which pot you’re listening to. Switch back and forth. See if you can hear a difference. If you can, you can trace which pot is being used. Most tests like this reveal that these “really clear” differences aren’t.
 
Last edited:
Andy Eagle said:
Push pull pots is easy ONLY buy the new CTS version the others are ALL garbage.
Click to expand...
I tried these and they are high quality but..
I liked the Bourns because these are low friction.
The CTS require a lot more torque.
Any way to loosen them up?
Or is there an alternative?
 
MisterE said:
I tried these and they are high quality but..
I liked the Bourns because these are low friction.
The CTS require a lot more torque.
Any way to loosen them up?
Or is there an alternative?
Click to expand...
A bit of Servisol super 10 but there is no quality alternative.
 
I prefer push/push pots over push/pull. Since I see that there are knowledgeable pol here 3 questions. I use them for coil splitting btw.
1) are there good push/push pots on the market?
2) does it matter/ make a difference if I use the tone control or the volume knob for placement?
3) for standard dimarzio humbuckers (mo Joe, evo) which value pot should I get?

Thank you in advance.

Harm
 
Harm said:
I prefer push/push pots over push/pull. Since I see that there are knowledgeable pol here 3 questions. I use them for coil splitting btw.
1) are there good push/push pots on the market?
2) does it matter/ make a difference if I use the tone control or the volume knob for placement?
3) for standard dimarzio humbuckers (mo Joe, evo) which value pot should I get?

Thank you in advance.

Harm
Click to expand...
0) Me too :) Really dislike the ergonomics of push pull with a pick in your hand.

1) My understanding it that the best one is the Fender S1, but I've never used it. You're limited to Fender's matching knobs though.

2) The wiring of the switch, and therefore its effect, has nothing to do with where you mount it physically. You could put one on every pot you have.

3) Standard is 500K for humbuckers, 250K for single coils. Some people use a fancy switch and a dual pot to get 250K when they coil split, but afaik the S1 isn't available with a dual pot. I'm not even 100% sure it's available with a 500K pot, but I think so.

4) Good luck!
 
I replaced all cheap caps in my marshall tube amps with yellow/orange drops, no difference. Just marketing! It's just a cap and it needs to deliver the specified values, max reliability could be a topic. The old ones do not last so long.
 
TheRedDevil said:
I replaced all cheap caps in my marshall tube amps with yellow/orange drops, no difference. Just marketing! It's just a cap and it needs to deliver the specified values, max reliability could be a topic. The old ones do not last so long.
Click to expand...
It's not about the capacitance value it is about how musical the roll off is. The phone book cap doesn't just kill all the treble first and you get a much more usable sweep.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom