What pots do you use?

[Acey]

Just curious.

I use 500k pots in all of my humbucker guitars but I'm considering 1m tone for one of my neck pickups.

All of my single coils are 500k volume and 250k tone.

Anyone tried no loads?

 

[VictorB]

WD CTS550K

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[sonar1]

Revere Ware

 

[BlondieMcFilthy]

My #1 uses an RS guitarworks 50s style harness. All of the pots are 500k. My other two Les Pauls still have the stock modern style wiring harnesses. The pots are what they are. I've thought about converting both of those guitars to a 50s style harness, but the truth is that they sound amazing to me, as is. So it's a "don't fix what isn't broken" sort of deal with those guitars.

 

[freefrog]

I use what defined pickups and guitars appear to need in my subjective perception...

No-load pots are handy and easy to make from existing potentiometers. Their only downside is a tendency to generate a "pop" when they pass from no-load to load.

The guitar whose head is shown in my avatar had its original 300k tone control changed in a no-load pot. Passing from 150k to 300k of resistive load due to the volume alone made a noticeable difference in clarity (and the original tone pot is still useable with its original taper).

Possibily useful link (showing something which takes a few minutes and doesn't even require to be skilfull):

How To Make A No Load Tone Pot

In this guide we demonstrate how to modify a standard log (audio) taper pot to make it function as a blender pot (similar to a no load pot). Blender pots are most commonly used in the popular Strat blend wiring mod which replaces the second tone control on a typical Strat with a blend control -...

sixstringsupplies.co.uk

 

[Grenville]

I wanted more clarity from the neck pickup of one of my hb guitars.

I replaced the 500k vol pot with a 1M.

I tried the 1M vol pot with a disconnected tone control.

Both better, but the biggest help was both controls 500k but the pickup coils wired in-parallel instead of in-series.

Nowadays I'd have in-parallel/in-series switchable via a push-pull tone pot.

One of my other guitars was almost there, clarity wise. I disconnected the neck pickup tone control and all is good. Might re-attach a no-load pot in that spot.

 

[Dilver]

Pots seem to vary a lot in what they actually measure. I bought some CTS 500k pots from Tone Shapers and lowest measured 440k; highest was 466k. And yes, I can hear the difference between 466 and 500k… or at least I think I can

 

[VancoD]

All-Clad - pricey, but last a lifetime.

But seriously - I like CTS 330k and 500k. I will pull off the backs and mod them for "bypass" or "no load" on tone pots on occasion, they're mod-friendly in that regard

 

[MyGuitar]

I prefer 500k audio/log taper pots for both Volume & Tone. Concerning audio tapers I prefer 15...20% for Volume, and 10...15% for Tone - but with "no-load" option.

 

[Guitar Quackery]

Just curious.

I use 500k pots in all of my humbucker guitars but I'm considering 1m tone for one of my neck pickups.

All of my single coils are 500k volume and 250k tone.

Anyone tried no loads?

Also, importantly, which brand?

I think CTS Emerson PRO are the best, but I believe they've been discontinued.

Anyone knows the story? Why we can't find them any more?

I don't know if the Emerson Custom Premium Pro that All Parts sells are the same thing with a different name.

 

[ritchieburns]

I've used 1 meg pots, but only with Di Marzio Super Distortion pairs, in a Hagstrom Super Swede. (volumes) I have never tried them with any of my Gibson LP's though. One meg pots are wonderful with Super Distortions, and really make the guitar so versatile, I would never go back to 500k. I also tried wiring them series parallel, but it wasn't very interesting. Di Marzio's with one pickup phase reversed with 1 meg's is very interesting though..

 

[Grenville]

Also, importantly, which brand?

I think CTS Emerson PRO are the best, but I believe they've been discontinued.

Anyone knows the story? Why we can't find them any more?

I don't know if the Emerson Custom Premium Pro that All Parts sells are the same thing with a different name.

Yeah, Emerson pots were off the market for quite awhile, but have relaunched a couple of weeks ago. A bit pricier too.

 

[searswashere]

Whatever came in em. Last time I changed a pot out was a 250k on my hss player strats in 2019.

 

[Acey]

No-load pots are handy and easy to make from existing potentiometers. Their only downside is a tendency to generate a "pop" when they pass from no-load to load.

Is the pop audible to an amp or is it just a feeling?

Also, importantly, which brand?

I like CTS the best. As bad as I am at soldering, I've never been able to kill a CTS. They also seem mod friendly.

 

[Duane.S]

I like the WD "Centralab" 550k pots that are made by CTS. I measure them at about 20% audio taper and they claim +/-9% tolerance.

Is the pop audible to an amp or is it just a feeling?

I use 250k no load audio taper pots for tone, I feel it gives more control over the range. The pop is because the cap charges up a bit when not connected to the circuit and it can be heard through the amp. What I do is connect a 2.2m resistor from the no load lug to ground to discharge the cap.

 

[Freddy G]

CTS pots. I routinely modify them to get the resistance I want (they are often too low, not too high) by scraping the carbon track.

 

[freefrog]

Is the pop audible to an amp or is it just a feeling?

It depends on the rig and settings IME. But as Duane.S said, it can be avoided thx to an additional resistor. Gibson was mounting 10M ones to avoid any pop when using a VariTone... and plenty of true bypass pedals involve "pull down" resistors to avoid switching noises.

 

[Brazilnut]

I tried some CTS 400k pots in my SG. Warmed it up a bit.

 

[Romano]

For anyone swapping out pots, I’d say the ideal choice is a good set of 500k audio/log pots that actually measure close to spec or even higher. A lot of modern production pots can read low, sometimes well into the 400s, which can darken the tone a bit compared to true 500k.
Personally, I prefer low-taper audio pots – they give a smoother, more gradual sweep, making the volume control more usable instead of dropping off too quickly.

 

[wildschwein]

500k for Humbuckers 250k for singles. If I had a mixed scenario I would use this trick: