tone pot suggestions

[ArtOfShred87]

hello i am looking for a 500k mini pot that i need to replace on my guitar. i did not realize that there were different types, and i have no idea what to look for. the pot is for a tone control, also some capacitor suggestions would be useful. the guitar is a washburn x-41 1 vol. 1 tone 1 humbucker 2 single coil pickups and a 5 way switch. now i rarely touch the tone knob as it is, i just leave it all the way up. and could some one elaborate on the "log" and "linear" pots i still dont fully understand. thank you.

Has anyone tried these 1 meg-ohm pots?

[Jazz P Bass]

A linear potentiometer will read 1/2 of the overall value at 1/2 of the rotation.
The change in value selected at the wiper terminal is abrupt.
It is linear( ie: a straight line. )

A log potentiometer is a curve.
The change in value selected by the wiper terminal will be more gradual.

I hope this was some help.
It is confusing.

Google "potentiometers" to learn more.

[big_teee]

they are usually listed as linear, and audio taper.
Like Jazz said one is linear the same amount as you move the pot wiper.
an audio taper is lumped more on one end!
Good luck,

[Mark Hammer]

1) Unless the tone pot is of the "no load" type where it can lift a contact and be out of circuit at one extreme end of its rotation, there is always some treble bleed through it, no matter where you set it. For that reason, it is often helpful to have the tone pot be as high a value as can work in the context, and the tone cap be as low a value as is workable....unless your pickups naturally have more treble than you would want at any point and a bit of bleed is helpful.

2) People vary in their tone pot taper preference. Partly it depends on how you use your tone control, and partly it depends on how big a tone cap value you use. If the value is small, then you may not notice any treble cut unless you roll it back to 3 or 4 (or lower), in which case you may want a different taper (e.g., anti-log). If the tone cap is a larger value, then modest changes to the tone pot setting (e.g., down to 7) may be easily audible with a linear pot.

3) I find that the "ideal" value for a tone cap depends on what pickup I'm using. For some reason, mostly precedent I imagine, people have been using the same tone cap value for neck and bridge pickups, for SC and HB pickups, since the early days, and it makes no sense to me. I've met plenty of players who like a nice clear sound from their neck pickup, in addition to a muted sound, but I've never met anyone who wanted a dark muted sound from their bridge pickup. So why have the same tone control for both? As a result, I like to wave the flag for what I call a "bi-directional" tone control, that is max treble in the middle position, one kind of rolloff in one direction, and a different rolloff in the other. A 1meg linear tone pot set to its midpoint, provides the equivalent of two 500k pots in parallel. Connect the pot wiper (middle lug) to the volume pot input lug, and connect two different caps to ground, one from each tone pot outside lug. For example, try .047uf for one, and .0082uf for the other. The .047uf will give the traditional muted sound at max cut, and the .0082uf will give a pleasing "rounding" to the sound. The other perk of such a circuit is that it takes only half the rotation to go from full bright to full dark, making it possible to do "pinky wah" with your tone pot if it is situated in an accessible position.

4) Another alternative is the old Fender tweed tone control circuit. This is a combination of treble cut and bright control in one. Let us say you have a 500k volume pot. Take a 500k linear tone pot and connect the wiper to the input of the volume pot. From one outside lug of the tone pot, connect a 470pf-1000pf cap to the wiper of the volume pot. Connect a .047uf cap from the other outside lug to ground. Rotating in one direction (towards the .047uf cap) will reduce the resistance of the path to ground through the .047uf cap, cutting treble. Rotating the pot the other way will increase that resistance, but reduce the resistance of the path through the smaller-value cap to the output. Note that the "treble advantage" it provides will depend on the setting of the volume control. It will have no effect whatsoever if the volume is maxed. But, turn the volume down to 7 or so, and you'll be able to get some thinner brighter sounds, even out of the humbucker, in addition to "normal" sounds or more muted ones.

Both #3 and #4 above are geared towards having a single-knob tone circuit that is able to provide a tone setting optimized for a different kind of pickup and a pickuop in a different position. Takes a tiny bit of getting used to, but not much. Greatly expands the tonal palette available.