Pots acting weird, or is it just me?

metallicafan18 · #1 03-04-2011, 07:16 PM

I bought a sweet Dean bass about a month ago because it played like butter and was cheap. One thing that is driving me absolutely insane though are the pots.

The volume for example will make a HUGE change when I turn the knob from say all the way up, to just a itty bit down to 7/8th, but from about 3/4 to 0, the change is very small. Same goes for the blend, when I have it on the center bump, it works awesome, but when I turn it just the slightest bit toward one pickup or the other, it makes a huge change and from that point on to turning the pot all the way to the desired pickup, it doesn't make a huge change.

Are these just cheap pots and I need to get something better, or what? Help!!

m.oreilly · #2 03-04-2011, 07:37 PM

liner tapered pots? is it active?

metallicafan18 · #3 03-04-2011, 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by m.oreilly

liner tapered pots? is it active?

Yes it is active, and I do not know what liner tapered pots are. Could it jsut be the active preamp making it do that? I've been thinking about changing the pickups, so I might just do the whole electronics if that is the case.

bassbenj · #4 03-04-2011, 11:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by metallicafan18

Yes it is active, and I do not know what liner tapered pots are. Could it jsut be the active preamp making it do that? I've been thinking about changing the pickups, so I might just do the whole electronics if that is the case.

My advice would be to change the pots first. Measure the values (or look on the wiring diagram if you have one) and get some standard pots from Stew-mac. I especially recommend the Stew-mac blend control which has both pickups on full in the center position. See if that works as pots are relatively cheap compared to pickups etc.

metallicafan18 · #5 03-05-2011, 02:46 PM

I opened up the bass. It has 500K pots. Should I just get these again?

I'm trying to decide if I want to change the bass over to passive. If I do, should I go with 250K pots?

The bass is two jazz pups with a volume, blend, treble, and bass. If I convert it to passive I will do volume, volume, tone.

metallicafan18 · #6 03-06-2011, 10:21 AM

anyone?

**line6man** · #7 03-06-2011, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by m.oreilly

liner tapered pots? is it active?

Nope, it's the other way around. Those sound like audio taper pots.

Linear taper pots would spread out the sweep, while audio tapers drop 50% of the resistance in the last fifth of the rotation.

walterw · #8 03-06-2011, 02:25 PM

+1

a linear volume will fix that issue. the blend will be harder to change, though, they all seem to act that way.

metallicafan18 · #9 03-06-2011, 02:33 PM

Should I keep them 500k, or buy 250k?

wshines1892 · #10 03-06-2011, 03:13 PM

500k will be a bit brighter and 250 a bit warmer. 250 are a good choice for passive, but that's with the assumption you're wanting a warmer vintage/rock tone out of your passive. There are people who use 500k on their passive instruments because they like a brighter sound.

metallicafan18 · #11 03-06-2011, 03:16 PM

It's an active bass. I use it from anything from classic rock to modern metal. I guess 500 would good for overall.