Can rolling off the tone pot give the same effect as going from 500K to 250K?

wyleeboxer · #1 11-10-2009, 12:50 PM

I have 500K pots in my passive Jazz bass with Dimarzio Ultra Jazz pups, its got a lot of high end treble so I was thinking of swaping out the 500K's for 250k's pots. However, does rolling off the treble a bit (like I usually do) create the same EXACT effect and sound as switching to 250K pots? I rather leave the pots in and not have to buy new 250k pots either.. thanks

walterw · #2 11-10-2009, 05:46 PM

it's sorta the same. the volume pot changes the resonant peak, so the high end is slightly different, not just increased or decreased.

now a 500k tone pot will be exactly the same as a 250k tone when it's turned down slightly.

wyleeboxer · #3 11-10-2009, 05:58 PM

Ahhh, and is that resonant peak hitting a different high end frequency, giving the tone a different sound compared to just rolling off or adding the highs from a tone pot? I’m getting a bit of too much fret noise and want to tame it a bit without having to roll off the tone knob... thanks for the response!