100K pots? (1MegOhm)

[Bajoquintoguy]

Warning! This is a long post but will involve a lot of reading to truly understand the question(s) I have. And knowledge of electric guitar wiring

Hello forum, the guitar involved in this thread IS electric per se, but not a solid body... I am posting here though, because it has a solid-body magnetic pickup and wiring and is even played through an electric guitar amp. Its my Bajo Quinto, basically an acoustic baritone guitar but still different.

I have been working towards finding the "perfect tone" for me when playing plugged in and have found good results with my current setup. I tend to like having a full range of frequency when playing. As well as having on-board control of my sound.

Pickup: DiMarzio DP156 Humbucker from hell, two control pots with one treble bleed modded volume control. The other pot controls variable split between humbucker and single coil. Output will go through a preamp and then PA and other times straight to Roland JC-55 amp. Trim pots link.

The pickup is extremely bright sounding (Low output) yet retains good midrange and low end. The output is further reduced by the fact of the pickup being far from the strings for the clear sound that I like.
The pot set up helps the sound be easily tamed. If I want really bright sound with less "meat" ill run in single coil, which is quieter but I can turn the volume up to make up for this. When run in full humbucker mode, the sound gets thicker and the sizzly treble is greatly reduced but the volume gets really loud so to balance I just turn the volume down. The treble bleed mod is there because without it treble loss was very apparent at lower volumes.

Now to the problem im having:
When I vary the trim pots to adjust my sound most of the range of adjustability is in the first 1/3 of the pots travel range.
I have a feeling I need to change to pots with lower resistance as the source signal is relatively weak.
The pots are 500K pots (Schatten T2 dual thumbwheel pots) mounted to the inside of the soundhole, mostly out sight. The humbucker in the soundhole doesnt leave room for the controls in the soundhole lol.
500k pots in the electric guitar world are known as bright, and mine are, but having my adjustments in the first 1/3 of the pots range makes for touchy adjustments, which is annoying when making adjustments on the fly.
I am happy with the sound achieved but would like to find a solution for this issue.

Comments or questions are welcome even if you may not be able to help me thanks for reading!

[LSemmens]

Are you using linear or logarithmic pots? Log pots are usually used for volume and linear for tone controls. To remove the highs, a filter capacitor might be needed.

[Bajoquintoguy]

Originally Posted by LSemmens

Are you using linear or logarithmic pots? Log pots are usually used for volume and linear for tone controls. To remove the highs, a filter capacitor might be needed.

Hi, to be honest, I don't know what type the pots are, but I am not trying to filter highs, I am trying to figure out how to get past all my adjustments being in the first 1/3 of the pots travel, it's just annoying because it's really touchy

[Xtremca]

It sounds like you either have the wrong type of pot for your volume, or if it's a audio taper pot, it's possibly a bad pot. I found a video on you tube below that may be of some help to you. The guy demonstrates few different options that you may recognize with your current setup.

[BTF]

From what I gather, the T2 pots are 500k A log taper. What you're describing could also be due to an impedance mismatch (I occasionally used to run into this on preamp builds). Another issue with modern pots is that they tend to have touchy tapers in the first 1/4 or so of the rotation. Some pots suddenly "come on" around 3 or so (Radio Shack's Alpha comes to mind here). The CTS and Clarostat pots of yore had wondrous touch. So much for modern manufacturing...

Since you're essentially blending, you might try some 250K linear pots (or even a log with good taper). Lowering the impedance of the pots may shift the sweet spot to the center or upper 70% of the pot range. Use linear or log to get what YOU need, not to match conventional wisdom. Fender used linear pots for the volumes in their Bassman reissues to try to match the tapers of the original's pots. 100K pots will not display the high-end roll-off as much as 500k, and Danalectro used that value. The output difference will probably be difficult to notice, actually.

Mouser used to be a good source for miniature good-quality pots. Perhaps they have one you could try. You could even use a project box and make an outboard blender (I've done that for violinists).

Good Luck!

[Bajoquintoguy]

Very useful comments here thanks for the info!

I just realized I titled the thread "100K pots" but I actually meant "1000K" or more correctly, 1MΩ. Sorry if this may have caused any confusion...

But anyways, it sounds like I need to venture in log taper-land and try to achieve results. THANX!

[LSemmens]

Thanks for popping in, BTF, I'm one of those dangerous types with a little knowledge.

[BTF]

Thank you for the kind consideration, LSemmens! You're too kind.

I don't know if it's so much knowledge as having the frustrating experience of building something by hand, having your work function flawlessly and then having a bad pot cause some chaos!

If I may be so bold, BQG, a 1 Meg pot ought to make your problems worse. Then again, it might give you exactly what you're looking for. The 1 Meg should move your sweet spot to about the first 10% or so of the pot rotation. And of course, the 1 Meg will have a greater treble roll-off (compensated by your treble bleed cap).

The big problem is finding small pots that can be mounted in your guitar.

My warmest regards to all!