Best potentiometers for bass

[walterw]

nice! i don't often see black hardware on laklands.

i definitely will lean towards suggesting 500k all around since it's a 5-string; the bigger, longer pickup and overall more "modern" design niche call for it, i think. (like i said, nudge down the 500k tone a little to get right back into vintage territory again.)

 

[PawleeP]

Does anyone know what the term track resistance applies to in this context?
ROTARY POTENTIOMETER, 500KOHM 16MM, 20% 200mW; Track Resistance:500kohm; Power Rating:200mW; Resistance Tolerance: 20%. p

 

[PawleeP]

I am reading this with great interest! This is all kinda new stuff for me. And I see the general consensus is Linear for tone and audio for volume.

So in general companies like Fender and Squier and Sx and on and on, in their passive Jazz basses,would have one linear pot and two audio pots, correct?

And on a typical passive jazz bass this is the norm, yes? And 250k is preferred over 500k too? Also the Squier CV and VM are using 250k pots as well?

Lots o Questions tonight...



I know what you are saying, all my basses do that. But I have found while at about 1/4 to 1/5 of the way to the basement there is a sharp break in the tone such as you describe, the tone will continue to brighten all the way up to the top of the pots range. It is just very subtle. Would an audio tone be even across it's range then? In a passive jazz bass?

On a MIJ jazz i have with dimarzios (w/adj. pole pieces & ceramic mags) should i try 250 or 500k for tone am trying to add a little high end (since these seem kinda dark with the original B250 k's)?
Am prolly gonna change the volumes to B300 or B500k's. thanx, p

 

[Bruce Johnson]

Does anyone know what the term track resistance applies to in this context?
ROTARY POTENTIOMETER, 500KOHM 16MM, 20% 200mW; Track Resistance:500kohm; Power Rating:200mW; Resistance Tolerance: 20%. p

The Track Resistance is is the overall resistance around the carbon track inside. That is, it's the resistance that you'll measure from one outboard lug to the other outboard lug, not touching the center lug. That's what's normally just called the Resistance of the pot. Note that it's +/- 20%, which is also typical for most commercial pots. Some are available with tighter tolerances.

 

[ddnidd1]

As described by Bruce:

 

[Diesel Kilgore]

I will throw a bit of vinegar in the greens...why bother with a linear pot for volume if you're always maxed/on 10?

 

[Arnel M.]

fo

I will throw a bit of vinegar in the greens...why bother with a linear pot for volume if you're always maxed/on 10?

for a one-pup bass, i think they won't matter much as long as the 10 is 10 and the 0 is 0

but for 2 pups, and you'd want to do some percentage blends, maybe that's where they matter. but then again, imo - whether you're using audio of linear - what matters is knowing how your pots react to various positions/settings. I think of the time when we didn't concern ourselves with technicalities and used our ears

 

[Johnny Vance]

I'm looking to buy some pots for rewiring my bass, and I've got some specific requirements.

- 250k
- audio taper
- mini pot
- high quality
- stiff turning feel (so brushing my pinky against the knob doesn't move it)
- fit standard j-bass knobs

I'm having trouble finding any description of how "loose" the pots are. The pots from stew mac I got are awful. They are really loose turning and now one of them has intermittent signal. I want those really nice mini-pots that I find on all my favorite high end basses -- where do I get them?

Just found this place in Oregon. Looks like good stuff.
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[ejschultz]

Let’s revive an old thread yet again. I want to thank those of you who recommended linear pots for volumes. I’ve always struggled with the classic “VVT” syndrome on all my dual pickup/dual volume basses. A small adjustment always seemed to completely knock out the other pickup and blending was always difficult. I picked up a US Lākland 44-60 early last year with the expectation that I’d change out the dual concentric pots for a standard VVT; I never liked how the two tones interact with each other. About a year ago, I built my own control plate and used 250k audio pots for the volumes and a 500k audio pot for the tone. The bass struggled with “VVT syndrome” with the concentric pots and with the new setup. I dealt with it like I have for the last 25 years on dual volume basses. Somehow, a month ago, I stumbled upon this thread and decided to give the linear pots a try. I ordered a couple 250k linear CTS pots and a 250k CTS audio pot (I guess I could have reused one of the old volume pots) from Allparts and went to town soldering. I can’t speak highly enough of how well linear volume pots work for fine control of blending the pickups. I have two other basses that I might do this on that suffer from “VVT syndrome” as well.