1meg linear volume pots on a Les Paul?

BowynMadley

Has anyone used them before? I know they are standard on Jaguars but 550k or 550k are more the norm for Les Pauls. What are the pros and cons of using 1meg over 500k?

Thanks in advance
Bo

Funkfingers

PRO (singular)
1Meg pots do not sap quite so much high frequency detail.

CON
The resistance taper cuts very sharply, rendering the pot little better than an on/off switch.


By all means try them. You might like what they do almost as much as I dislike them (except on Fender Jaguars).

clarkefan

You'd be better off with audio pots anyway, regardless of value. Buy both values, see what you think, when I did I preferred the 500k, sounded better to me.

Danielsguitars

well I've just put in 500k cts svt pots from crazy parts and they're bloody bright sounding on the bridge, enough for me to turn the tone down, can't see why anyone would want more high end

ICBM

clarkefan said:

You'd be better off with audio pots anyway, regardless of value.

It depends on the taper you want. Audio taper (Log) has a very rapid fall-away below 10, which is ideal for cleaning up an overdriven amp but usually too drastic for an actual *volume* control on a clean sound. That’s why Linear is often used for volume.

1M is probably not a great idea though - it not only increases brightness, it gives more treble loss as you turn down. The Fender Jaguar has an extra resistor on the tone control to make that less obvious if the tone control is below full up.

BowynMadley

Thank you all. I've decided to go for cts 500k long shaft linears. Audio taper make things clean up way to quick for me. 10 is heavy distortion and 8.5 is near enough clean which isn't enough control for me so hopefully the linear pots will help with that.

clarkefan

ICBM said:

clarkefan said:

You'd be better off with audio pots anyway, regardless of value.

It depends on the taper you want. Audio taper (Log) has a very rapid fall-away below 10, which is ideal for cleaning up an overdriven amp but usually too drastic for an actual *volume* control on a clean sound.

Fair point  You're right, audio works well with an overdrive sound going quickly to clean, which is fine for me, I hadn't considered the clean amp situation.