Would there a difference between a 250k pot & a 500k pot used for a tone control circuit with a 0.047 cap ?
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250k vs 500k for a Tone Control
- Thread starter ConeyIslandJoe
- Start date
I'd say brightness and degree of control... 500k is brighter at 100% (fully open) and will sound like 250k at about 70% (audio taper). But this also means you have less control, less ability to fine-tune the sound. 250k is standard on Fenders, but your choice depends on what you're trying to achieve and how finicky you are about the sound.
A 500k pot is exactly the same as a 250k pot, from 0 to 250k. In the range from 250k-500k, you further remove the capacitor from the circuit, resulting in less treble cut. A 500k pot does everything that a 250k pot does, but it has less "wiggle room" to fine tune, especially when you factor in the taper of the pot. With a typical audio taper, you sweep through half of the resistance in the first fifth (or somewhere close to a fifth) of the rotation, and then slowly progress through the other 50% in the last four-fifths. This means that you have to roll down quite far on a 500k pot to get to where a 250k pot goes at higher settings. When you are trying to dial in lower resistances, the 500k pot will sort of "bunch up" toward the end, making small adjustments more prominent.
IMO, the best choice for a tone control is a 250k pot with a bypass switch. This gives you an optimal taper, and the brightness of a bypassed tone control, instead of making you choose one or the other.
IMO, the best choice for a tone control is a 250k pot with a bypass switch. This gives you an optimal taper, and the brightness of a bypassed tone control, instead of making you choose one or the other.
A "no load" pot, which simply opens at "10", would also be a good choice.
Higher value pots set at "10", and open circuits, hardly effect the high frequency rolloff at all. This is primarily set by the pickup inductance and cable capacitance. This forms a low pass filter with a resonant peak.
What higher tone pot values will change is the height of the resonant peak. This occurs around a couple KHz, depending on the pickup inductance and cable capacitance.
With 250 K tone and volume pots, the peak is very small. With a no load circuit or 1 Mohm pot, you can get a few db of peak increase. Even more if you use higher value or no load for the volume also.
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Higher value pots set at "10", and open circuits, hardly effect the high frequency rolloff at all. This is primarily set by the pickup inductance and cable capacitance. This forms a low pass filter with a resonant peak.
What higher tone pot values will change is the height of the resonant peak. This occurs around a couple KHz, depending on the pickup inductance and cable capacitance.
With 250 K tone and volume pots, the peak is very small. With a no load circuit or 1 Mohm pot, you can get a few db of peak increase. Even more if you use higher value or no load for the volume also.
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If you like it bright, get a 500k Ohm treble cut potentiometer.
If you really like it bright, get a no-load pot, as mentioned above.
If you really like it bright, get a no-load pot, as mentioned above.
Personally, I've never used anything other than 500k pots, all around. I think that they are ideal for just about everything, regardless of pickup choices and wiring schemes. (Excluding low impedance stuff, where 25k pots are required.)
I just switched from 250k to 500k on my P bass and there is no downside. None. Just a little more brightness to start with, and the taper was incredibly even with an audio taper pot.
+1
now with volume pots you can get a downside, in that 500k audio volumes drop off really fast from "10", faster than 250k audio volumes.
that's why i always recommend linear volumes for bass, the sweep is more even.
Absolutely. Linear for volume, audio for tone. It's more difficult for me, being a lefty. I have to find reverse audio pots for tone and can't use the 'no-load' tone pots.
I simply could not find 500k Ohm Linear taper with a solid shaft, so ended up getting 1 MegOhm ones 
I'm just about to wire a Bartolini P/J set into an empty body. I have 2 questions - what exactly does the bypassed tone control give you and can it be done in a V/V/T setup?
If so, do you all recommend this setup (4 hole bass):
500K Linear volume pots (2)
250K Audio taper for tone (1)
Tone Bypass Switch (1)
Yeah? No? Maybe so?
