Experimenting with Pot(s)

Good point sysco, & many people used the coily cables which have by far the highest capacitance. One thing I often notice is how many people I see that play with the volume & tone controls on 10 all the time. Turning them knob thingies can do a lot to get the tone your looking for. Cheers
 
Smitty, I was almost gonna say I experimented with my girlfriend's POT(s) and made 3 batches with 5 pounds of the good stuff tonight while she is off in England/ Ireland/wales etc.

Actually, I cooked Linguini with Meat Sauce, 2.5 lbs of Manwich, and about 2 lbs of browned ground beef for stuff like tacos, chili etc.
Now all I gotta do is find some accessories like taco shells, shredded cheese, lettuce, salsa, olives and chili fixins etc.

How's that for click bait reply?
 
So, I did a little more experimenting with pot(s). I tried a 250 K pot in the tone control, too. That seemed to go little too far. So, I put the 500 K tone control pot back in.
 
ivan H said:
Turning them knob thingies can do a lot to get the tone your looking for. Cheers
Click to expand...

:eek: You mean the knobs are not just for decoration? I thought you were just meant to dial in your lucky number to give you more mojo when playing.:D

Seriously: I think a lot of guitarists overlook the flexibility the tone (and volume) knobs give you in an electric guitar. I used to never touch the knobs other than to mute the guitar. These days I use them quite actively.
 
I tend to run my bridge tone wide open. i may roll neck tone off a little for the "Gary Moore" type of things, but my tone is usually handled by my GE-7.
 
Robert Herndon said:
I tend to run my bridge tone wide open. i may roll neck tone off a little for the "Gary Moore" type of things, but my tone is usually handled by my GE-7.
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See that I don't get Robert, you use a larger value tone cap, put a 220k resistor in parallel with the volume control in order to knock the high end off, (didn't know you used the GE-7 'til now), when really, leaving it stock & turning the tone control down some (& maybe the volume) would most likely give you the tone you want. The beauty of using the controls is you can always rise up above everyone else & cut through just by turning them up. Give it a whirl. Cheers
 
ivan H said:
See that I don't get Robert, you use a larger value tone cap, put a 220k resistor in parallel with the volume control in order to knock the high end off, (didn't know you used the GE-7 'til now), when really, leaving it stock & turning the tone control down some (& maybe the volume) would most likely give you the tone you want. The beauty of using the controls is you can always rise up above everyone else & cut through just by turning them up. Give it a whirl. Cheers
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Here's the thing...the resistor only cuts the top end, it doesn't make a "global" change to the tone....it really is subtle.
 
ivan H said:
See that I don't get Robert, you use a larger value tone cap, put a 220k resistor in parallel with the volume control in order to knock the high end off, (didn't know you used the GE-7 'til now), when really, leaving it stock & turning the tone control down some (& maybe the volume) would most likely give you the tone you want. The beauty of using the controls is you can always rise up above everyone else & cut through just by turning them up. Give it a whirl. Cheers
Click to expand...

Here's my current signal chain, Ivan....same chain since the 80's/90's. Left to right:

NS-2 Noise Gate

DD-3 Delay

GE-7 EQ

CS-3 Compressor

The compressor and the EQ make zero volume change when engaged - their effect is present, but subtle.

I am now adding a Solo Dallas Storm at the front of the chain as a pre-amp...

My Marshalls.jpg
 
I like that you keep the signal chain simple Robert. There's no "wrong's" when it comes to finding ones tone, but many people I know who leave the tone &/or volume controls wide open rely heavily on pedals to shape their tone. A compressor is one pedal I haven't yet tried, though I'm considering putting together one of the BYOC 5 knob compressors. I'd be interested in your thoughts on the Storm pedal after using for a while. Cheers
 
ivan H said:
I like that you keep the signal chain simple Robert. There's no "wrong's" when it comes to finding ones tone, but many people I know who leave the tone &/or volume controls wide open rely heavily on pedals to shape their tone. A compressor is one pedal I haven't yet tried, though I'm considering putting together one of the BYOC 5 knob compressors. I'd be interested in your thoughts on the Storm pedal after using for a while. Cheers
Click to expand...

The compressor is used only to balance the volume of each note. I set it up intentionally for no boost....

Note the "Double V" pattern on my GE-7 and boost slider pulled back to idle....
 
Okay, so I had the opportunity to use the Jackson in a full-up rehearsal scenario last night. It's the first time I've heard it with a full band since my pot change.

That is the ticket - 250 K Ohm pot for a Seymour Duncan JB and Jazz. It takes the harsh edge off but still allows plenty of crunch. A 300 k ohm pot would probably still work well, but that's about as high as I'd want to go.
 
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smitty_p said:
Okay, so I had the opportunity to use the Jackson in a full-up rehearsal scenario last night. It's the first time I've heard it with a full band since my pot change.

That is the ticket - 250 K Ohm pot for a Seymour Duncan JB and Jazz. It takes the harsh edge off but still allows plenty of crunch. A 300 k ohm pot would probably still work well, but that's about as high as I'd want to go.
Click to expand...


Good experiment! That's how I feel about the 200kΩ resistor (That Bill Lawrence turned me onto years ago) on the bridge PAF clone in my Gibson SG...However, my entire musical approach has changed with this band. I'm now playing EVERYTHING on the neck pickup, which is a 7.88kΩ Alnico II through a 500kΩ Bourn Pot and a .015uf K40Y tone capacitor. My bandleader has also said he prefers my tone without and effects!!!! So, I am now running a50 foot cable (my standard length) straight into both DSL40C's (via A/B box) and full reverb. Even fully rolled off, the tone is still rich and full, never muddy!!!!SG Modification Small.jpg

SG Modification Small.jpg

I may try your 250kΩ volume pot modification on my Double Neck build!!!!

That was a 250kΩ volume pot ONLY modification, right???
 
smitty_p said:
That is the ticket - 250 K Ohm pot for a Seymour Duncan JB and Jazz. It takes the harsh edge off but still allows plenty of crunch. A 300 k ohm pot would probably still work well, but that's about as high as I'd want to go.
Click to expand...
I might try this in my Jackson (300k). It has the Duncan Distortion's, but I believe they are basically a JB with C8 magnets. Cheers
 
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