Sealed pots

[Cat-A-Tonic]

Sealed pots rule.

I don't know why they aren't more widely used.

Ok, they are slightly more expensive.
...but for the person who values longevity,
and doesn't want to deal with scratchiness from moisture/dust...

Of course manufacturers are building for a price point, so...

If you DIY, do yourself a favor and use sealed pots for the slight increase in price.
The conductive plastic ones from BI are nice.

 

[walterw]

i dunno, pots go bad from wear as much as dirt, sealed or not. at least the open ones can be easily rejuvenated with contact cleaner, and good open pots last for decades anyway.

sealed pots also don't seem to turn as easily from what i've seen.

 

[Cat-A-Tonic]

On the contrary, the ones I use are rated for many more turns than standard pots and the feel is much smoother.

The resistive track is conductive plastic as opposed to carbon.

 

[walterw]

which ones are you using? linky?

 

[Cat-A-Tonic]

which ones are you using? linky?

These:

Invalid Link Removed

Good point about the importance of a link.
I should have added that from the beginning.

 

[LoveThatBass]

On the contrary, the ones I use are rated for many more turns than standard pots and the feel is much smoother.

The resistive track is conductive plastic as opposed to carbon.

You are using multi turn pots such as 10:1, 3:1, etc. Those ar typically used in test equipment where precise settings and low drift are a concern.
smoothness is a result of the pot having a clear jell type lubricant on the moving parts. I have always gravitated toward smooth turning characteristics of a pot. They just give you that ahhhhh quality feeling

 

[petrus61]

I've always toyed with the idea of trying the Bourns sealed pots, for no other reason than "just 'cuz". They seem to be fairly popular in some guitarist/audiophile type circles. Bourns are known for their very fast turning toque and are popular amongst the shredder guitarists. They have a nice, gradual taper that seems to cover more of the sweep than some CTS pots. The overpriced Seymor Duncan EVH and Yngwie sig pots (silly) are simply rebranded regular Bourns pots that cost about $2.75 ea...they just turn really fast.

These are the sealed Bourns:

 

[Cat-A-Tonic]

You are using multi turn pots such as 10:1, 3:1, etc. Those ar typically used in test equipment where precise settings and low drift are a concern.
smoothness is a result of the pot having a clear jell type lubricant on the moving parts. I have always gravitated toward smooth turning characteristics of a pot. They just give you that ahhhhh quality feeling

I have used multi-turn pots for certain applications, but that's not what I'm talking about here.
Multi-turn pots wouldn't make much sense on a bass guitar or amplifier.
I only use them for fine tuning of oscillators, and sensitive parameters in chaos circuits.
By chaos I mean mathematical formulas yielding 'strange attractor' oscillation patterns. That's pretty off topic though.

The ones I linked from BI Technology are single turn, and super smooth.
You could probably attach a piece of paper to your knob and blow on it to turn the pot.
The only issue is that they don't have solder lugs.
I still wire them up directly, but use a bit of heat shrink to prevent shorts.
You can use little pot chicklet PCBs to make this easier if you are so inclined.

The BI pots are pretty much the same as the Bourns, but from a Chinese factory.
In this case that doesn't mean anything bad about their quality.

 

[fast slapper]

Audere uses them. I have a jazz that's basically been living outdoors since 2009. The pots feel and perform just as good as day one while my other basses need more attention. Really nice preamps. You get a lot for the money.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

I use PEC pots in all the basses I build. They are made in Canada, and are a Mil-Spec component, made for military radio gear. They are permanently sealed, stainless shaft and cover, bronze bushing. Nearly indestructible. I've been using them for almost 20 years, and never had one fail. And they aren't even that expensive. I pay about $9 each for them through Digi-Key. The downsides are that they are a little larger size (1 1/8" dia), and are mostly available in linear tapers. But I like the linear tapers in my basses anyway.

 

[RobbieK]

These:

Invalid Link Removed

Good point about the importance of a link.
I should have added that from the beginning.

Pots are such a PITA, so this is a nice find. When I'm designing I always start with what pots I can source easily. It's especially hard to find pots (in non-standard guitar values/tapers) that have long enough threaded part to install through rear-routed timber bodies in small quantities. And sealed, plus plastic track are both good things.

Do they have a minimum order?

 

[Laurent]

The drawback of sealed pot is if they get scratchy you can't spray cleaner in them.
They are easy to change so maybe it's a moot point. It's kind of on the list of items I don't worry too much about. I use CTS 250K.
Some people love the feel of Bourns pots and the feel of control is another entirely different topic.

 

[walterw]

The overpriced Seymor Duncan EVH and Yngwie sig pots (silly) are simply rebranded regular Bourns pots that cost about $2.75 ea...they just turn really fast.

there are bourns and then there are bourns:

the sealed ones are quite nice, and i've been very pleased with their small-housing push-pulls and m/n blend pots i get from allparts, but the $2.75 full-sized ones out of the mouser catalog (which includes the overpriced EVH and YJM pots as far as i can tell) are junk!

i got a bag of 20 with high hopes, and had more than half of them fail inside a year, sometimes even two in the same guitar!

 

[petrus61]

there are bourns and then there are bourns:

the sealed ones are quite nice, and i've been very pleased with their small-housing push-pulls and m/n blend pots i get from allparts, but the $2.75 full-sized ones out of the mouser catalog (which includes the overpriced EVH and YJM pots as far as i can tell) are junk!

i got a bag of 20 with high hopes, and had more than half of them fail inside a year, sometimes even two in the same guitar!

I've had relatively good luck with the regular Bourns, but I've never kept them in a circuit more than a year. As I said in the post, I think their weak link is the casing and to take it further, whatever lube (if any) they use within. They have a very "dry" feel to the turn...you can almost hear them squeak. IME, this isn't to knock their quality, as I've never had a dud with them the same way I've had with Alps.

I think I'm going to snag a few of the sealed Bourns just to see what's up. Another maker of the sealed type is MEC, but again, overpriced.

Also, it is possible to get contact cleaner into a "sealed" pot. You just need to use the appropriate stem and spray right down the shaft.