250k tone pot for a humbucker

[fusebop]

OK, another quickie from me...
been using 500k pots for my humbucker needs, because, um, people
say that's the right thing to do.

Now I need to change a really flabby and scratchy pot, so I guess
now's the time to be educated.

What do 250k tone pots do to a humbucker's sound?

Thanks in advance.

[rdba]

i have a 84 LP studio...
The stockpots were 100k, i didn't knew this and always thought that this guitar sounds like crap!!so i brought it to the local guitarstore and they changed the pots...wow what a difference...it was like discovering a new world...;)don't know about the 250k pots, but i'm very happy with the 500k pots...

cheers

[brattmoore]

250k pots work really well with Seymour Duncan JB (bright) humbucker.

[WailinGuy]

What do 250k tone pots do to a humbucker's sound?

Jeez... two replies, and the question remains unanswered!

For ANY kind of passive pickup, single coil or humbucker, higher value volume pots sound brighter and lower value volume pots sound darker.

The general rule-of-thumb is that you use 500K pots for humbuckers and P90s and 250K pots for Fender style single coils. But rules can be broken. Some Gibson guitars came with 350K pots. Some guys change these to 500K and other keep them at 350K because they think their guitars sound bright enough. (I've never heard of Gibson guitars having stock 100K pots, BTW.) Changing to lower value pots is a good way to tame a bright pickup.

Also, you can take advantage of the fact that there is quite a wide tolerance in pot values, for any given specified value. For example, the "500K" pot in my PRS McCarty actually measures around 450K, which works fine for me because the Fralin humbuckers I have in it are a little on the bright side. So I strongly recommend measuring a pot's actual resistance value before installing it in a guitar.

[fusebop]

Actually, the question still remains unanswered ;)

...because I was talking about tone pots, not volume pots

[elkym]

ah, but it was answered. similar effect with tone pots. Remove your tone pot entirely and it gets really bright. Both tone and volume pots will cause you to lose a little brightness. 250K more so than 500K.

[plan-x]

What is the difference, between audio taper and linear pots. Which is more desirable.

[Paul Parrish]

OK, another quickie from me...
been using 500k pots for my humbucker needs, because, um, people
say that's the right thing to do.

Now I need to change a really flabby and scratchy pot, so I guess
now's the time to be educated.

What do 250k tone pots do to a humbucker's sound?

Thanks in advance.

Less resistance to ground shunts more signal to ground, lower output, darker sound.

Paul

[Supertgtr]

Um, Fusebop, actually he did answer the question. Tone pots and volume pots are the same beast. (audio taper pot)
a 250k will diminish more high frequencies, and are often used on single coils to "warm them up".
a 500k pot will allow more high freqs through, a make the guitar sound brighter. Generally too bright for single coils.
If you like the tone of your guitar the way it is, replace it with the same value pot. If you want to darken the tone, put a 250k in there. In most cases 500k pots (both volume and tone) work well with humbuckers. But you might like the tone of a 250k pot in the guitar. Whatever works for you is best.
Here's a good link describing all this stuff on Seymour Duncan's web site:
http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/choosing-installing/tech-tips/potentiometer_v/

[fusebop]

Good guidelines... thanks, all, and forgive my ignorance.

[stratovarius]

You can always adjust any pot to a lower setting, so higher values give you more flexibility. I use no-load pots on my Strat which let all of the treble through at the max setting, but I'm kind of a freak. :)

[WailinGuy]

You can always adjust any pot to a lower setting, so higher values give you more flexibility.
...but at the expense of adjustability. For example, you can replace a 250K tone pot with a 1 Meg tone pot, and not lose any tone settings you had before, but those will now be squeezed into a narrower range of rotation, potentially making it harder to dial in a particular setting you like.