pots taper

[stars_jy]

hi guys..

need some help from you guys. can anyone recommend me a guitar potentiometer brand that us the best taper?? i prefer audio taper. the ones im using now are the alpha pots from Davis. im not very happy with those. the volume increases abit too much for me at the last maybe 1/10 of rotation. i would prefer something thats more even out.

any suggestions is appreciated..

thanks,
jy

 

[ShredCow]

I hear you on this.

The best smooth linear taper I've heard... Dunno if its the right term: I mean taper that from 0 - 10 is smooth all the way, is from Dimarzio. $15 a piece but damn they are smooth all the way. Also, they are ridiculously hardy.

I practiced soldering on one. Never failed, while other brands (E.g. Gotoh, the stock pups) all died due to my miserable efforts. heh.

On the other hand, the dimarzio taper isn't... "normal" in a way.

That last 8 - 10 on a vol pot where the volume raise dramatically? Its meant to be like that. Why? So you can use your volume pot to control your gain!

Play with a tube amps or really good dirt pedals (read: boutique usually) and your volume pot = your channel switcher. Gritty cleans to distorted tones - all with your volume pot.

And for that kind of playing, the best I've tried is the RS Guitarworks custom pots... I got one in my USACG. 1 - 8, its super smooth then 8 - 10, it slopes steeper but still very evenly (i.e. smooth). Very cool. Beat out CTS pots... sturdy, has a brass shaft as compared to the aluminum staft on current CTS pots. Can be had for around a dimarzio price but shipping from USA will kill.

 

[deathism]

where to get hold of dimarzio pots?

 

[stars_jy]

thks for your reply..

i think i just solved this question myself through a little experiment..

initially my problem was that the taper on my volume pot was cleaning up distortion level too fast.
i would prefer to get more different shades of distortion through my volume knob. perhaps till 5 before it cleans up. but my volume pot cleans up the dirt at 8. so i get 1 - 8 quite clean. at 8 - 10 the distortion ramps up.

the little experiment i just did was to try a linear pot or audio pot before my diy overdrive pedal to see which i prefer. so its connected this way.. guitar(volume at 10) -> audio/linear taper pot -> pedal.

the result i got from the audio pot slowly turned down while i play was the same as the effect i got from my guitar's pot. and the linear pot allowed me to get more control over the distortion.. slowly cleaning up till mayb around 4-5..

now i began to understand. everyone says audio pot sounds smooth.. yes i agree. when your playin clean. turnin the audio taper pot will give you gradual increase in volume while the linear pot will give you almost full volume at 2 or so.

the reason why the audio pot cleans up distortion so fast i believe is because the log curve in the resistance. meanin.. turnin down to 8.. resulted in huge current drop. therefore cleanin up faster.. where else the linear pot.. is well linear curve.. the current will drop linearly.. givin you more control over cleaning up. like the gain pot on ur pedal..so using linear or audio taper pot depends on ur usage i guess.

ha.. i guess mayb im just too slow to get this.. mayb everyone already know
that it works this way.. but im sure there will be someone out there puzzled like me.. hope this helps someone

anyone.. pls correct me if i got all this wrong.


now i know i need a linear pot.. anyone knows where to get linear guitar pots?? 500k?

 

[MadWerewolfBoy]

yup. we percieve sounds to be twice as loud when the signal is 10 times stronger

so a audio tapered pot gives roughly 10% of max signal at half the mark and 100% the signal at full blast

and linear pots give 50% the signal (which is almost no diff from the max vol to us) at half the mark and 100% the signal at full blast...

linear pots good to play with for manual volume swells on low gain... with high gain, both pots feels the same for volume swells... but i get a slowgear copy for that anyway :twisted:

 

[ShredCow]

Dimarzio pots @ Swee Lee. Around 15 a piece. Or was it 12? I dunno. Go see.