volume pot mods - smoother

[dpm]

I'm looking to get my Laney VC50's volume pot to have a smoother progression in loudness. Currently it's either quiet or very loud, there's not much in between. Apparently this is a common trait of Laneys.
Is there a fairly straight-forward way of getting what I want from it?

[dpm]

No help for me? Comments? I realise it's not a complicated request, but we've all got to start somewhere

[Ray Ivers]

dpm,

I realise it's not a complicated request

Oh, you'd be surprised.

Without a schematic, I have no idea what value volume pot the VC50 uses, so I cannot suggest an audio-taper replacement, which should be the most satisfying fix to your problem - but maybe it already uses an audio taper pot? It also may use special-order OEM pots that cannot easily be retrofitted with commonly-available replacement pots, so then you'd have to kludge it with a solder-terminal pot and flying leads. Also, I've heard the newer Laneys are an absolute b*tch to work on, but I haven't had one open so I don't know for sure.

You could also try to modify the taper of the existing pot, but again, what value resistor to suggest, without a schematic to work from? The PCB would then have to be removed and the resistor soldered across the correct two pot terminals, hopefully without affecting the upstream circuitry's operation. Also, IME these taper-modification mods are most useful when trying to speed up a control's action, not slow it down.

The absolute dead easiest solution - if the amp has an FX loop - is to either use the output level control of the last FX unit in line as your master volume, or make up a small box consisting of an input jack, output jack, and 250K audio-taper volume pot, and insert it in the loop.

Ray

[dpm]

thanks for the reply, Ray!

The schematic I've seen shows 1M log pots for the volumes.
I've tried modifying pot taper before (in guitars, not amps), but yeah, I sort of had a feeling that wasn't the best way to go about it.

I'll try the box solution. It's so obvious I hadn't thought of it :lol:
I have a lot of experience in basic guitar wiring, but this amp stuff is new to me. I want to try something like a High Octane build some time, which I'm sure would teach me a lot.

[Joe N]

thanks for the reply, Ray!

The schematic I've seen shows 1M log pots for the volumes.
I've tried modifying pot taper before (in guitars, not amps), but yeah, I sort of had a feeling that wasn't the best way to go about it.

I'll try the box solution. It's so obvious I hadn't thought of it :lol:
I have a lot of experience in basic guitar wiring, but this amp stuff is new to me. I want to try something like a High Octane build some time, which I'm sure would teach me a lot.

Mine is the same way, and this tends to be a problem with alot of audio taper pots these days, which can be made of a series of spliced resistances. Caution!, don't take this thing apart if you can avoid it. it isn't the easiest to take out the boards. you have to desolder alot of wires from their pads, leds, and switches.