October 4, 2009

When a pot is really just a pot

Guitar Potentiometers Electronics, Epiphone Riviera P93, Video 173

I’ve read stories of people saying how their guitar sound miraculously better after just changing to a different brand of pots. Are they just imagining it? Let’s investigate.

In my earlier post Pickup experiment – bypassing electronics, I determined that entirely bypassing the electronics on my Epiphone Riviera P93 did marginally brighten up the sound. However, we need some volume knobs and a tone control – we can’t just remove them all!

Could changing to fancier pots make a difference in the sound? To find out, I unsoldered all the wires from the Epi pots, and attached alligator clips so I can switch between different sets of pots.

The pots I tested here are all 500k ohm audio taper:

the original Epiphone pots, which include two Alphas, one marked JS, and another I can’t identify
CTS EP086 500k 0908, $5.50 each
Bourns PDB241-GTR01-504A2, $2.75 each

The CTS pots come highly recommended. Bourns make some very high end pots, and I took a chance on these ones which are marketed for guitars.

I really didn’t expect to hear any difference between these. They’re just variable resistors after all- if they’re not damaged, they shouldn’t really cause much difference in the sound. Changing all 250s to 500s or 500s to 1Meg does alter the circuit load and can brighten the sound, but it seems like just switching brands of pots of equal resistance/taper is more about quality/longevity rather than sound.

I know when I remove all the pots entirely, the sound does brighten up a bit. So, I’ve reached the conclusion that the load of this little circuit inherently rolls off a bit of the high end, even when using very high quality components. This is no big deal if your pickups are bright enough to begin with. But if you’re starting from a set of warm/dark/dull pickups like these Epi P-90s, then it sure seems like if you want any more brightness, you’re going to need to change out the pickups. Stay tuned for pickup replacements!!

173 Comments

Vin
October 4, 2009 @ 11:48 pm

Hey, thanks for another great vid!

Now I’m in my search for a Riviera p93, since I can’t find them here in Vancouver, so, I might have to go to Seattle…

By the way, did you try the No-Load CTS? Because they bypass the elctronics when in the 10 position, so it might be a good idea!

Thanks again, Vin.

Reply
- John
  October 5, 2009 @ 12:04 pm
  
  Hey Vin,
  
  Yes, I’m considering the no-load mod to the tone pot – I think it’s a great idea. I haven’t torn open the pot yet, but will do soon!
  
  But I wasn’t really thinking about trying it for the volume pots. Seems like it gets complicated with the RC characteristics of the circuit. Have you tried that? If so, please share your experience!
  
  I couldn’t find a local Riviera P93 either. I ended up buying online from GC/MF – $424 with free shipping and free case. See if they’ll send it to Canada!
  
  -John
  
  Reply
- Riki
  June 13, 2010 @ 5:03 am
  
  Hi Guys
  
  These Epifones you are talking about are they chinese or USA?
  Many Thanks
  
  Reply
  - John
    June 13, 2010 @ 8:12 am
    
    They’re made at the Epiphone/Gibson plant in Qingdao China:
    https://www.planetz.com/?p=141
    
    Reply
BrianH
October 14, 2009 @ 5:04 am

John, thanks so much for doing this. I have a P93 and a ton of other guitars that I’m constantly messing around with, so this blog is a godsend. On the P93, I just recently changed the stock Epi bridge to a roller type, and it was more difficult than it seems. I’ve been considering changing out the PUPS too (more for fun than need), so this site is a fantastic resource. BTW, it’s hard to tell on my PC speakers, but I thought the CTS pots sounded eve so slightly better, and of course the smooth feel is an improvement.

Thanks again! Brian

Reply
- John
  October 14, 2009 @ 6:11 pm
  
  I’ll be doing the roller bridge after I finish with electronics/pickups. If you get a chance, please share your bridge-swap experience!
  
  As for the CTS pots, I’m fairly convinced at this point that the differences are primarily physical quality/feel, rather than audible. I’ve just finished wiring them up, so I’m about to put everything back together. I’ll post results shortly…
  
  -John
  
  Reply
Terry
October 14, 2009 @ 5:45 pm

Hey been following these posts since about a week before my guitar got here. UPS just dropped it off a few hours ago. When are you posting about the pickups. I am glad you are doing a lot of the leg work for us..haha. I was looking at the Zephyr pickups but wanted to see what you do and see if I like. Great post a real big help!!
Thanks,
Terry

Reply
- John
  October 14, 2009 @ 6:07 pm
  
  Hey Terry,
  
  Congrats on your new guitar!
  
  I’ve just completed rewiring all the pots. I’m just wrapping up editing several videos about making a no-load tone pot, and rewiring everything. The next step is the pickups, so stay tuned! I’d guess it’ll probably be about a week. I’m *really* looking forward to the pickups – all the experiments so far only made subtle differences in the sound. I expect the new pickups will be dramatic!
  
  -John
  
  Reply
zack
October 14, 2009 @ 8:33 pm

John, do you think that the body is deep enough (and/or the f-hole big enough) to fit push/pull pots? I’d really like to put some humbuckers in there and have them switchable for single coil. That may be unnecessary though… I don’t know. I’m still trying to decide if this will be my next guitar or not. I’ve got a Strat on the bench and another 3 single coil guitar with a vibrato might be a hard sell even if I’ve been wanting a 335 style guitar forever. How Stratty is this guitar?

Reply
- John
  October 16, 2009 @ 8:30 am
  
  Hey Zack,
  Yes, push/pull pots will fit no problem.
  Definitely not a stratty guitar. My other guitar is a G&L ASAT III (tele body, strat pickups), and the two are completely different.
  
  I’ll be replacing my pickups with new Vintage Vibe Guitars P-90’s, which will involve some drilling, etc. It’ll be a similar process to replace with humbuckers.
  
  If you’ve been wanting a 335 with a bigsby, you like red/gold, and you plan to replace the pickups, I’d recommend this guitar without hesitation!
  
  -John
  
  Reply
James T.
May 31, 2010 @ 9:27 am

I like what you’re doing…very tedious but interesting.
I can see by some other peoples post’s that some people are
just hard to please!

Reply
John
August 23, 2010 @ 5:43 am

nice video.. I have a new Gibson 335 1963 historic reissue with bumblebee caps but I really dont like the tone pots. From 10 down to 3 there’s no audible difference.. it all rolls off from 3 down to 1. What would you recommed I change to, to get an even roll off from 10 to 1.

thanks !

Reply
- John
  August 23, 2010 @ 10:52 am
  
  If the tone pot is linear taper, it’ll behave like that. Changing it to an audio-taper pot will even out the transition from 1 to 10.
  See this post comparing tone tapers here:
  https://www.planetz.com/?p=302
  
  -John
  
  Reply
journeyquest1
March 3, 2011 @ 7:34 pm

Maybe no difference in sound but maybe build quality would make them last
longer?

Reply
Yuri G.
May 3, 2011 @ 6:53 am

Hi, l got a question, yesterday l played my guitar as usual and today when
l wanted to play it my volume pot stoped working!! What l mean is that the
knob controlling it; doesn’t matter where crank it, the volume pot is not
responding, it stays in half lvl volume. Do u think it’s a broken/damaged
potentiometer? l’m curious what could have happened that night.. -Thnx!!

Reply
wipers86
May 4, 2011 @ 5:38 pm

@johnplanetz thanks for the feed back man you’ve been very helpful

Reply
MCyppah
May 31, 2011 @ 7:09 pm

thank you! this video was extremely helpful!

Reply
Rob Rosario
July 24, 2011 @ 10:55 am

Wow great review!!! Thank very much!!!

Reply
Prelude1383
August 22, 2011 @ 7:25 am

You are the pot master

Reply
VoiDukkha
September 14, 2011 @ 5:34 am

“i might be hearing so more brightness out of the CTS pots” – might be
coincidence, but me too 🙂 great guitar by the way! good video

Reply
LearnTheLingo
November 3, 2011 @ 10:29 am

any tips on stuffing the f holes to reduce feedback? i have a casino

Reply
- John
  November 8, 2011 @ 8:51 pm
  
  @LearnTheLingo – I’ve never tried. The Riviera is a semi-hollowbody, which has a solid center block under the pickups to help reduce feedback. You could try cutting out some thin black foam to shape, and use double-sided tape to stick it to the inside of the guitar below the f-holes…
  
  Reply
- Jazzboful
  November 18, 2011 @ 9:25 am
  
  @LearnTheLingo An inflated black balloon will work well in reducing feedback
  
  Reply
- MjM
  May 9, 2013 @ 8:10 am
  
  FWIW, I read a long time ago that Ted Nugent stuffs socks in his Byrdlands to control feedback. So I tried that with my Ibanez AF75, ‘cept I used small, rolled up hand towels. It does work, I guess because you are A) damping the vibrations of the wood itself and B)reducing the volume of air space for sound waves to bounce around in.
  
  Warning: it’s a lot tougher to get the stuffing out than to put it in!
  
  Reply
  - John
    May 9, 2013 @ 8:24 am
    
    I hope he uses clean socks 🙂
    
    Yes, I think you’re right on why it works- I’d guess the influence of reducing airspace is more significant than A damping the wood. You could try an experiment just covering the f-holes with easily-removable painter’s tape. The impact on the sound for an electric guitar should be less significant than a similar treatment on a fully acoustic guitar.
    
    -John
    
    Reply
wizardwithguns1
November 4, 2011 @ 12:29 pm

This is really great, very informative, very clear and i am now convinced that new pots are pointless!

Reply
dtaylor247
November 22, 2011 @ 1:00 pm

Awesome video and very useful to those of us who contemplate changes like this all the time in our guitars. Thanks for quality work!!!

Reply
97warlock
November 23, 2011 @ 7:28 pm

ANY advice on a bare knuckle Warpig not allowing enough of the upper high string sustain to come thru? Volume isnt very ballanced across the fretboard. when jamming my mids & lows can be heard,but go into a lead & I can barely hear myself. NOTE: The volume pot is a cheap piece of crap, would a 500k CTS help bring out my highs a lil better?? tyvm in advance

Reply
- John
  November 26, 2011 @ 3:15 pm
  
  @97warlock – I have no experience with the warpig. But yes, higher resistance pots will load the pickups less, allowing more high frequencies through. You could even try 1 Meg pots.
  As an experiment, connect your pickup directly to the jack (using alligator leads), and see how it sounds. Then work from there, adding in a volume pot, a tone pot, etc, to see what’s causing the tone suck. Good luck!
  
  Reply
willeng84
November 30, 2011 @ 11:57 am

The CTS lets through more highs and has less mud in the bass, thats what I hear on film. I am a freak of nature when it comes to tone, some say its subjective but making a quiet rig with a powerful head like a Handwired Plexi 1987 can be a challenge to say the least. You have to have great speakers period, garbage will show, GREAT cab, and bust your ass to bring it up to par. Whats awesome here is the CTS pots are better at 10, I know they ARE better at lower volumes but that was great.

Reply
bedofrazorsqwerty
December 2, 2011 @ 5:15 pm

That was honest. Thanks for that.

Reply
RocknLester2011
December 5, 2011 @ 6:44 pm

a little bit more chime or high end on both cts and bourns. the stock were not bad though! in my opinion

Reply
RocknLester2011
December 5, 2011 @ 6:45 pm

If you want a little bit more high, try changing the small capacitor to a lower value..from a 47uf to a 22uf to a 15uf”

Reply
- John
  December 7, 2011 @ 11:33 am
  
  @RocknLester2011 – good suggestions (but divide those numbers by 1000!) I cover this in my videos on tone caps. And you can hear some comparisons in my video: Epiphone Electronics Overhaul, Before and After Comparisons. I used a .01uF orange drop for the tone cap.
  
  Reply
wseeback
December 6, 2011 @ 5:10 am

It did seem like the CTS were clearer, and the Bourns were clearer and fuller, with almost too much low end, causing a slight distortion in the bass frequencies. I would’ve picked the CTS.

Reply
SixStringHarmonies
December 7, 2011 @ 7:26 pm

Nice demo! The only valid argument I’ve ever heard for quality CTS or Bourns pots is the quality control during the manufacturing process, and also the higher tolerances under which they are produced. A CTS pot would in reality be much closer to the actual 500K value more so than a cheaper generic pot which can measure as low as 400 or 350K. That’s a pretty significant difference. The “feel” of the knobs is the biggie for me. In the end though, metals are metals, they all conduct a signal well.

Reply
johnnymaverick92
December 26, 2011 @ 10:14 pm

Hey thanks for going through the trouble to give us a nice demo. Sure helped! I think I am going to go with the CTS because everyone says they have less torque, which seems to me that it would make the knobs stay put when you’re playing and be less likely to accidentally move.

Reply
- John
  December 27, 2011 @ 8:52 am
  
  @johnnymaverick92 – my EP0086 CTS pots had some of the highest torque of the ones I tried. More torque = harder to turn. The Bourns large PDB pots were very easy to turn but the 16mm Bourns were higher torque. All manufacturers produce pots of different torques- you should try them if you can, or check the datasheets.
  
  Reply
John
January 10, 2012 @ 10:26 am

@ChronoGXay – I should have measured the pots on camera. This was one of my earliest youtube videos and I was still evolving my process for this type of thing.
These pots all measured within 5% of 500k. My point in this video was that the mechanical/physical quality differences were more significant than any audible differences.

Reply
dlscadlsca
January 14, 2012 @ 11:19 am

There is a difference in Treble on all three the stock
set is the brightest but not clear the second set has
more mid range to treble and clearer the third set
has much more mid range and bass than both. I am
viewing on a Apple Mac Book Pro and I am able
to distinguish however a blind test would be very
hard to distinguish difference it is a very slight
change in clarity and treble. Dwight L.

Reply
panpipesjohn
January 28, 2012 @ 12:10 pm

2:47 stock epiphone pots
3:50 cts pots
4:18 bourns pots
4:55 side by side comparison
5:10 –>conclusion

Reply
MikeFranks23
February 14, 2012 @ 4:01 pm

The Bourns sound chunkier but the CTS and Stock Epi sound almost the same to me. I would probably choose the Bourns if it were not for the noise while turning them.

Reply
MikeFranks23
February 14, 2012 @ 4:07 pm

I don’t know. I think you might get some extra harmonics if you went up to a 1mg pot. However, with the extra brightness it might behoove you to choose an 8 as opposed to a 10 on the treble pot while playing. Just spitballin’.

Reply
drien0011
February 16, 2012 @ 12:27 pm

That’s not scientific at all.
You should have plug your guitar in direct line in a good soundcard. Then record your sounds, with welded pots, in good quality. And you should show how the pots respond to the movement from 1 to 10 and not only at 10. And with the bridge pickup too. And then mix the audio so we can hear the different pots for each setting.
And the white tissue seems weird.

Reply
- John
  February 16, 2012 @ 2:38 pm
  
  @drien0011 – see the other parts of this video series. The towel was to protect the finish from scratches, as I had all the electronics hanging out the f-hole.
  
  Reply
- Luddekuddekudde
  March 29, 2012 @ 11:12 pm
  
  He just spent a lot of time taking all his electronics out of his guitar, soldering, making the video, editing etc etc.. so we don’t have to.
  
  Personally I am thankful to all the people like John who take their time and make these videos so I won’t have to do stuff myself. Thank you!
  Oh and btw mr. scientist, your comment wasn’t very scientific at all. Commenting like that seems weird.
  
  Reply
- daviddanielgraham
  May 6, 2012 @ 11:49 am
  
  What the heck is a “welded pot”? You must mean solder.
  
  Reply
- daviddanielgraham
  May 6, 2012 @ 11:51 am
  
  I dare you to try and weld a pot… Ox-Acetylene, TIG, MIG, wire-feed, doesn’t matter it would be incinerated instantly lol PLEASE make a video and upload it when you do your ultra-scientific potentiometer welding! 😛
  
  Reply
njarnjas
March 5, 2012 @ 2:59 am

Very good video,I have a DOT and SG-400 custom and far as I experimentes,the only change on a sound is changing pickups.Changing pots is effective only in a case of gigging with only a guitar and amp,playing with a pot,in that case quality of pots really matter.

Reply
kiddmark66
March 18, 2012 @ 2:59 pm

Thank you for the time and effort. Cool!

Reply
ddiablolll
April 2, 2012 @ 6:34 am

the bourns sound bassier, and the cts do sound brighter. the original pots sound very close to cts. i clicked back while you were playing.

Reply
Mastermotor1
April 20, 2012 @ 10:48 pm

the other good thing about cts is the taper is more true to the “proper graph” of linear/log in relation to the position of the knob.

Reply
ariessolarful
May 15, 2012 @ 11:40 am

LOL!!! He looks like Chris Elliot… the guy who got the hives in There’s Something About Mary!!!

Reply
Voitcu
May 22, 2012 @ 2:59 pm

You R 1 innovative chap, hats off to you! Thanx for the info, I recently had a hard time getting a new Jackson RR in good condition. The last one had atrocious fret buzz, my replacements neck couldn’t be sweeter. However, the bass tone pot doesn’t make a difference whichever way i turn the knob, so something’s up. The neck pickup wired to it works fine so I’m a bit confused. Anyway I don’t want to let this guitar out of my sight so I’ll just wire in a new pot myself since it matters so little,

Reply
- John
  May 24, 2012 @ 4:51 pm
  
  Yes, it’s probably just a broken wire at the tone pot. Necks are hard to fix, but pots and wiring are easy 🙂
  
  Reply
  - Christian Paramore
    January 26, 2013 @ 9:32 pm
    
    Hey great video, i’m switching from active to passive pickups, so they said i need to change the pots because active uses 25k to 100k and passive requires 250k to 500k or something like that. So my question to you is how do i know which ones to buy for the passive pickups? 250k or 500k pots? Thank you for you time! Also the pickups i’m purchasing are the Dimarzio liquid fire and the crunch lab set. Will the pickups come with instructions on what pots to get? Please respond thank you.
    
    Reply
    - John
      January 28, 2013 @ 10:19 am
      
      250k will give a warmer/darker sound. 500k will be load the pickups less, and provide a brighter sound. I’d go with 500k – but it’s totally up to you. Buy both and try them out with alligator leads- use the one you like.
      
      Reply
vcc1965
June 28, 2012 @ 5:10 am

John, I definitely notice a difference between them, if your switch back and forth through the video the cts pots sound clearer and fuller to me. while the stock epi pots sound slightly brighter but thinner and a little less clear, the bourn pots sound slightly less bright than the others. The cts pots sound great to me, i would have liked to hear it with the amps dirty channel with the gain turned up, you might have noticed a bigger difference. Anyway, thanks for the comparison.

Reply
Jimidan69
July 9, 2012 @ 7:49 pm

Your methodology was fine for most of us, even if some say that it was “not scientific at all”. Quite frankly, if you can’t hear the difference, who cares if a computer program can pick up a minor variance. Good information! Thanks.

Reply
CobraFast1
August 2, 2012 @ 6:45 am

I think your analysis is good. Actually changing the pots is for feel only. Resistance is resistance. 100k ohm from one pot or another is not going to change the tone. It’s all in the math of an RC network. So, if 100 different pots were used and the same setting in ohms is used in the comparison, there should be absolutely no change in sound. It’s the same RC network for the tone control.

Reply
brianway1
September 4, 2012 @ 12:41 pm

Great Stuff. Thanks for sharing and educating us on pots. 🙂

Reply
ellmerrfudd
September 12, 2012 @ 10:38 pm

Thanks Man!

Reply
Szpidman Showz
October 1, 2012 @ 4:27 pm

nice lights u got there on the ceiling

Reply
MrDjangoDjazz
November 22, 2012 @ 6:57 am

Awesome video, really helped me!

Reply
matafuko
November 27, 2012 @ 12:32 pm

I think the CTS sound clearest, whilst the Epis and the Bourns are slightly muddier in the low frequencies – but on the whole I don’t think the difference is appreciable enough to bother non-audiophiles.

Reply
FooFighter77
December 14, 2012 @ 12:39 am

Hey man, thought this was a really cool video, and liked how you had it all set up. I think it would be cool to hear how they sound at different tone and volume levels. it’s a trip, all of the detail that goes into the electronics to articulate that sound, how many wraps, where the pickups are placed, resistance of pots. i want to start messing with stuff like this alot! but again real cool video man

Reply
- John
  December 30, 2012 @ 9:37 pm
  
  Yes, there’s so many variables- it’s hard to make a total comparison video for all situations. The best thing is to take the leap into experimenting for yourself, and then you can really try all the combinations of pots, caps, pickups and wiring that you’re interested in…
  
  Reply
- Tim Cothren
  January 31, 2013 @ 6:06 am
  
  He should really test guitar tuners.
  
  Reply
stratcatavarious
December 26, 2012 @ 12:01 pm

My experience revealed the CTS for my Show master with SD Pearly Gates – open up and clarified the sound. I also installed a better mega switch
I left the cap that was in there
Great stuff
How do you measure 500k etc – at the outside lugs ?

Reply
- John
  December 30, 2012 @ 9:35 pm
  
  Yes, you measure the overall pot resistance by placing your multimeter leads across the outer two lugs. See my video Potentiometers – How They Work, Disassembly and Exploration. watch?v=rUkrpqEmXb8
  
  Reply
  - stratcatavarious
    January 3, 2013 @ 8:58 pm
    
    Awesome -very helpful
    Thanks John
    
    Reply
wannabe1975
January 9, 2013 @ 1:07 pm

Thanks for a great video..very insightful and helpful.
Best
Matt

Reply
mark swishersweets
January 10, 2013 @ 9:37 pm

i hear no difference

Reply
danrichards23
January 12, 2013 @ 4:15 am

I am so glad I watched this because I was thinking about changing mine but no point. Thanks for making this vid!

Reply
guitarstar717
January 14, 2013 @ 8:06 pm

The original pots sound better, clearer.

Reply
mtho5657
January 21, 2013 @ 10:46 am

u heard it right… CTS for sure. Feel better too I bet. Thanks!!

Reply
azfryguy
February 5, 2013 @ 8:59 am

thanks for the vid man great info

Reply
DahveeedMcVey
February 13, 2013 @ 12:47 pm

Might be a dumb question but I have an Epiphone ES-355 and noticed that when I turn the volume down on either pickup, it doesn’t really change volume or tone all that much. I guess what I mean is it’s not as responsive as I’d like, whereas on my Strat there are so many different voicings to attain just by adjusting the volume knob. Is this just the stock pickups, the pots, or something completely different?

Reply
- John
  February 13, 2013 @ 12:56 pm
  
  Are you saying that when you turn down the volume, it doesn’t change much, until you reach the bottom of the turn? If so, they’re probably linear taper pots, and you might find you like audio-taper better. For a comparison of linear/audio taper volume pots, see part 2 of this video.
  watch?v=RdfIZEB2rdM
  
  Reply
  - DahveeedMcVey
    February 13, 2013 @ 1:49 pm
    
    That’s it! Watched the video and it’s exactly what I was looking to find out. Very helpful. I appreciate it, man. After the pup swap and tailpiece replacement, I will get on those next. Thanks a lot!
    
    Reply
Stephen Gill
February 21, 2013 @ 11:21 pm

I disagree. I changed stock CTS pots on a Lakland bass that were noisy and had a cheap feel to them. I installed Bournes Sealed Vintage smooth shaft pots and a Vishay Orange drop capacitor. If you can’t hear the difference then reliability is a good reason for the change. Bournes sealed pots don’t allow moisture or contaminants to enter the contact area, plus the contact area is made of a synthetic conductive material applied to a ceramic body. Guaranteed for life. CTS is junk (IMO).

Reply
ri fi
March 9, 2013 @ 6:24 am

hey jhon can i just change all wire on the guitar too big size wire.. because all wire on my guitar is to small and i dont like the sound.. can you please help .. =(

Reply
- John
  March 12, 2013 @ 9:11 am
  
  Changing wire size is not really going to change the sound of your guitar.
  
  Reply
TuGinecologo
April 3, 2013 @ 10:15 pm

the stock pots sound different, but the cts and the other sound equal

Reply
Brendan Jarvis
April 8, 2013 @ 10:32 pm

Can pots make your guitar quieter or louder from the pickup?

Reply
- John
  April 11, 2013 @ 12:10 pm
  
  You mean, comparing two volume pots of different total resistance, when they’re both up full? The volume pot is wired as a voltage divider- so when up full, you should be outputting the full input voltage- the volume shouldn’t be different.
  
  Reply
  - Brendan Jarvis
    April 11, 2013 @ 10:53 pm
    
    Thanks for that… I just read online from a few different sources that they do so I’m totally confused lol
    
    Reply
neoshaolin1
April 11, 2013 @ 1:32 pm

The difference definitely isn’t significant enough to justify switching your pots.

Reply
WorkflowBeats
April 13, 2013 @ 5:57 pm

If you have the volume pot turned all the way up, it’s basically bypassing it!
you really won’t hear a difference.

Reply
- John
  April 16, 2013 @ 11:30 am
  
  That is incorrect. For a volume pot, the overall resistance of the pot (even when turned all the way up) places a load on the pickups which changes the overall sound and resonance of the circuit. 250k pots load the pickups more heavily (less resistance between pickup and ground), and will sound duller than 500k or 1meg pots which load the pickup less (higher resistance between pickup and ground) and will sound brighter.
  
  Reply
  - scotto0010
    July 1, 2013 @ 6:03 am
    
    I recently installed two no-load tone pots (CTS EP4186) and it doesn’t seem to change the tone until it gets almost to the end of the rotation (towards the”off” position) and then it drops drastically and cuts some volume too – very strange. This isn’t how it should operate is it? I was told by the people I bought the pots from that if I used a smaller value capacitor OR a lower value pot that it would take care of this problem. It doesn’t sound right to me. What are your thoughts?
    
    Reply
    - John
      July 11, 2013 @ 8:46 am
      
      No, that doesn’t sound right. Double-check your wiring? You’re using this as a tone control, in parallel with the main signal, wired through one side of the pot (center and side lug) as a variable resistor to cap to ground? EP4186 is audio taper, so you shouldn’t be hearing such a sudden drastic change, and it shouldn’t cut the volume much (though you may perceive some volume reduction with the reduction in high frequencies).
      
      Reply
      - Aero Kid
        July 16, 2013 @ 1:13 pm
        
        Hello John.. i need your help urgently.. I have two guitars and would like to change the pickups on them.. Both are 2 humbuckers equipped.. I want to get better potentiometers at the same time because i heard they greatly affect the sound.. Can you please tell me what are potentiometers? Do they control the tone or the volume?
        
        Reply
        
        John
        July 16, 2013 @ 1:17 pm
        
        Yes, potentiometers are the components used for tone and volume controls.
        Please see the other videos in my channel for explanation of pots, comparisons, etc.
        
        Reply
        
        Aero Kid
        July 17, 2013 @ 6:14 am
        
        Thank you John.. One last thing.. when changing pots in a Les Paul type configuration, should i get 4 pots for the 2 volume and 2 tone nobs?
        
        Reply
        
        Aero Kid
        July 17, 2013 @ 6:15 am
        
        Knobs*
        
        Reply
        
        John
        July 17, 2013 @ 11:56 am
        
        If you want to change all the pots, then yes, there’s 4. Are you sure you need to be doing this?
        
        Reply
  - scotto0010
    July 1, 2013 @ 6:03 am
    
    Also, I know the linear pots operate somewhat in this fashion but not exactly. I know there is a lot of differences in opinion about using linear vs audio taper pots for both volume AND tone. What are your thoughts on this as well?
    
    Reply
- PANICBLADE
  July 18, 2013 @ 2:00 pm
  
  nope. taking a pot out is a big difference. you can get a no load circuit to get a pot that’s all the way up close to taking it out though.
  
  Reply
GabrielTheGuitarist
May 7, 2013 @ 7:08 pm

I have a Jackson Kelly that only has 1 volume pot. I was thinking about changing them up to 1 meg concentric knob for volume and tone. Would it effect how the tone knob section handles frequency? I’ve watched your capacitor video as well. So I have an idea of which to use. Would this be a good idea to add it in?

Reply
- John
  May 14, 2013 @ 9:15 am
  
  1 meg pots will place less load on the pickups, increasing your overall brightness. It will not change the cutoff-frequency of your tone control.
  
  Reply
- Michael Seymour
  June 7, 2013 @ 9:13 am
  
  the “Kelly” I think was a guitar named after a little known hard rock player from here in Australia that I used to go see regularly …just a bit of trivia for ya !
  
  Reply
funkyMonk1985
May 11, 2013 @ 5:58 am

I think the most significant difference would come from tuning your guitar a little better 🙂

Thanks for the effort tho

Reply
sjeverett75
May 15, 2013 @ 8:54 am

Stock definately sounded different. Liked the CTS and Bourn better.

Reply
SYN4REVr
May 18, 2013 @ 10:49 pm

CTS really stood out to me gave off a fuller and richer sound than the other to

Reply
mjt11860
May 19, 2013 @ 8:06 pm

r certain pots better as in less prone to getting dirty & scratchy? if so, which brands? would the info in this video apply to my johnson jm 150 amp which has really dirty pots? forgive my ignorance of electronics. thanx for ur vids.

Reply
- John
  May 21, 2013 @ 9:45 am
  
  If there’s an opening in the side of your amp’s pots, you can try spraying deoxit into them. If that doesn’t help, you can replace them. As long as you’re using closed-backed pots, I’m not aware of some brands being less noise-prone than others…
  
  Reply
TuGinecologo
May 22, 2013 @ 1:41 pm

i hear differences, but they’re so small, it could be the wiring, or how you are playing, but anyway, the difference is so small, that it doesn’t really matter, i think

Reply
- crossrodde
  May 29, 2013 @ 10:43 pm
  
  Isn’t that what the guy in he video said?
  
  Reply
bbuteo
June 1, 2013 @ 5:37 pm

well this video is perfect, the previous msg was in the first minute of the video but while i watched along i came to the conclusion that you did it perfectly, congratz

Reply
daikuone
June 3, 2013 @ 7:43 pm

This is great! I always wondered about this and if it would provide value. Thanks for this.

Reply
shonencello
June 15, 2013 @ 10:45 am

Great test.
Thanks, you saved me a lot of trouble.

Reply
Eric Epperson
June 21, 2013 @ 3:23 am

the CTS did sound brighter.

Reply
hentajus
June 21, 2013 @ 10:23 pm

Cool! Thanks! Hmm.. Wonder if changing the tone pot would affect the tone though? Also, i know that at least when it comes to basses, fender uses 250K pots. Probably to cut down on the highs?

Reply
- John
  June 28, 2013 @ 11:39 am
  
  Yes, a lower resistance vol/tone pot places more load on the pickup, causing some treble rolloff. Higher resistance = less load = more brightness.
  
  Reply
IPushHard
June 25, 2013 @ 7:52 am

Why was this vid only 30 seconds long? .. it stopped at the word “reconnect”… and over.

Reply
- John
  June 25, 2013 @ 8:37 am
  
  The video is nearly 8 minutes long and seems to be working fine today. Maybe you had a connection issue, or YouTube was having a bad day?
  
  Reply
fluffybunnybrains
June 30, 2013 @ 12:32 pm

excellent vid. 5 stars mate

Reply
DwightMS1
June 30, 2013 @ 2:15 pm

John, oxidation on pots and switches results from disuse. You can fix it (or prevent it) by turning the pots completely in both directions many times, and flipping switches back and forth many times. I like preventive medicine, so I give everything the once-over every week.

Reply
Aero Kid
July 16, 2013 @ 3:07 pm

and john.. which brand should i get?

Reply
- John
  July 17, 2013 @ 12:00 pm
  
  You said you’re changing your pickups and you want to change your pots too because you “heard they greatly affect the sound”. Did you find from this video that they greatly affect the sound? I think you’re unnecessarily tone-chasing. I wouldn’t bother changing your pots unless you’re solving a specific problem. If you really want to change your pots, the CTS pots I showed in this video are a very common choice.
  
  Reply
Aero Kid
July 16, 2013 @ 3:09 pm

and the guitars i have are a les paul and an ibanez. the les paul has two volumes and two tones and the ibanez has one volume and one tone..

Reply
willy cungkring
July 19, 2013 @ 4:15 am

hi john i really like your videos. many many many great information i got from you. especially they way you explaining 🙂 you things easy to understand….
theres a question i would like to ask. i have a epi LP. and i feel the stock pickup is kinda “muddy”. the distorted bridge pickup sound kinda harsh and not articulate. will changing pot or cap will give me improvement? or should i change the whole electronic and pickup

Reply
- John
  July 23, 2013 @ 4:40 pm
  
  Pot and cap changes will give you a very subtle difference in sound. Changing pickups will be more significant. See my video “Epiphone Electronics Overhaul, Before and After Comparisons”: watch?v=fxc6s6tXefE
  
  Reply
Anthony Coughlin
July 23, 2013 @ 11:14 pm

The bournes pots are ever so so so slightly better its a more warm sound but in the end I would bother doing it because it’s so so so so small

Reply
xTroop18546x
August 3, 2013 @ 4:59 am

this must be the stupidest modification you could possibly do for a guitar. you clearly dont have anything better to do, i.e. actually write a song in the time it took to waste doing this.

Reply
11jkhw
August 6, 2013 @ 10:45 am

Great video! Been looking to replace the pots on my PRS SE, but i’m a bit unsure as to which to choose. Would a 500K CTS split-shaft pot be the right one? Or would I need a long-shaft type?

Reply
- John
  August 8, 2013 @ 12:29 pm
  
  I don’t know the specifications of the PRS pots. It would be best to remove the current pots and measure the shaft type and length, before ordering your replacement pots.
  
  Reply
6Vital6Remains6
September 3, 2013 @ 7:08 am

Great video, John. I like that cardboard thing you’ve rigged up!

Reply
Crimson Tider
September 5, 2013 @ 11:39 pm

Great video. I have always heard that making minor changes in pots makes a difference in sound and I was very skeptical, but I can hear a difference myself. I also heard installing higher quality wiring also makes a difference. I’ll definitely be looking into this whenever starting a project guitar

Reply
tanbrolo
September 17, 2013 @ 1:15 pm

Thank you. Excellent video.

Reply
semiLivedj
October 6, 2013 @ 4:30 pm

What about the pots in the amp?

Reply
- John
  October 24, 2013 @ 8:40 am
  
  All the same stuff applies, with the pots in your amp.
  
  Reply
  - semiLivedj
    October 24, 2013 @ 8:31 pm
    
    Yes it does.
    
    Reply
Go Joe
October 22, 2013 @ 12:02 pm

Good video. It was subtle but the CTS pots were a tad brighter and cleaner.

Reply
pilotamurorei
November 28, 2013 @ 5:57 am

The CTS are so much nicer sounding.

Reply
Rickholly74
November 30, 2013 @ 2:40 pm

I agree with your conclusions. I recently changed the pots on two of my
guitars a Les Paul and an Ibanez solid body. I did it because they needed
changing as the pots were old and scratchy sounding and just didn’t feel
right. I bought quality pots from Stew/Mac and as far as tone, I could not
hear the slightest difference. The I got like your CTS pots do seem more
study and I like the fact that they are not as “loose” feeling. Still, I do
not hear any difference and logically if it’s just a signal passing the pot
there really shouldn’t be a difference. Maybe there is a difference in the
capacitors used on the tone pots but as far I know if you are going
straight without any capacitors in the circuit like demonstrated here, why
would it sound different. As long as they are quality pots they just pass
on the signal and attenuate the volume. That shouldn’t cause a tone
difference. At least as far as I can tell.

Reply
MrJohnny56789
December 12, 2013 @ 4:48 am

What is a pot? It’s a variable resistance. How does electric signal from
guitar work? Passing through low or no resistance at 10 to moderate or high
resistance at 1 volume.

There is no mojo way to make the tonal quality of electrical resistance
different. tone quality has to do with impedance and capacitance. The only
caveat is that if you have a different resistance curve inside the pot, it
CAN affect tone in the mid or low volume ranges because the curve at volume
of 3 for one pot might be higher than the curve of volume 3 for another
pot. This will cause the highs to be cut more, because all resistances to
ground are low pass filters, which means your lows will PASS on to the next
area better than your highs. So This will account for slightly different
curvatures in manufacture for pots.

fyi, the low pass filter enabling of a volume pot simply by being a
resistor to ground is why “more highs” come out of increasing the pot from
250k to 500k or 1meg. You’re raising the impedance. I buy CTS pots for the
physical construction, there is no difference in tonal quality from 0-250k
resistance, except the filtering effect. If it takes volume 3 to hear a
difference in pots, your tonal difference will also come with a real volume
difference, because the different curvatures of the pot resistances only
changes where the turn sounds loud/tonal.

Electrical resistances do nothing for tone beyond their impedance. Anyone
who believes differently is making fairy tales.

Reply
G. Robinson
December 14, 2013 @ 7:48 am

Hey John , long or short shaft CTS pots for an Epiphone Les Paul Plus
top?Thanks! Great vid!

Reply
blazinffb36
December 30, 2013 @ 2:53 pm

Great informative video on a topic I’m sure many people were uncertain
about.. Thank you

Reply
blazinffb36
December 30, 2013 @ 2:53 pm

Great informative video on a topic I’m sure many people were uncertain
about.. Thank you

Reply
Charlee Murphee
January 1, 2014 @ 6:00 pm

The CTS are the clear winner. The CTS are more “Open”. Like pulling a sheet
off of a speaker. You can for sure hear the difference. Nice Gator
clip/cardboard setup! That’s a great idea for testing all sorts of parts.

Reply
Jes Ørs
January 5, 2014 @ 12:21 pm

I have some problems finding new pots for a semi acoustic Klira guitar from
the sixties, it’s mini pots(16mm) 100k linear with long solid shaft, they
are mounted in some shielding cases..

Reply
austin ritz
January 8, 2014 @ 6:16 am

I’m pretty picky, the cts pots are the most transparent to my ear, the
bourns pots are still better than the oem mix, and actually sound the
‘smoothest’ to me as the high treble is slightly rolled off.

Reply
GeroLubovnik
January 16, 2014 @ 8:03 am

I have a Fender Strat wired for 7way switching and dual tone (tone control
for bridge). It has Dragonfire dual rail pickups wound to 12k. Seems to
need a bit more punch. Would it be beneficial to swap out the Fender 250k
pots for 500k pots? If so, would it be required to swap all three or just
the volume pot? What about adding TBX tone controllers where two pots are
stacked, one at 250k and the other at 1M? TIA

Reply
William Glover
January 25, 2014 @ 11:08 am

I couldn’t hear any difference.
Can’t see why they should be.

Reply
hydorah
January 25, 2014 @ 6:09 pm

CTS just sounded smoother and more pleasant but it was fairly subtle. From
previous videos the orange drops won for me. Loving the videos, the time
and effort you’ve put in and editing quality are just fantastic. I’ve
custom wired my ’85 Gibson Les Paul Custom using trial, error and luck.
These real experiments would have helped me a lot! Triple A+ John!

Reply
jeep wrangler
January 27, 2014 @ 12:40 am

Ce gars a complètement raison. Il faut changer les potards et les condos
des Epiphone par des potars CTS 500K et des condos 0.022microfarads. Mais
aussi les micros. Moi j’ai mis des micros Gibson 498t et 490r avec condos
PIO (paper in oïl) et potentiomètres CTS 500 K et un sillet (tusq) en os
sur mon Epiphone LP.Pour 40.00€.(hors micros)
Avec ça vous avez une gratte meilleur au point de vue finition qu’une
Gibson Studio et un son équivalent voir Meilleur a une standart. On
n’entend pas bien la différence dans cette vidéo mais c’est plus que
flagrant en réalité.
Bravo a toi, et merci John Cooper.
Frenchly your .

Reply
1cleandude
January 27, 2014 @ 5:26 pm

Great video John! Did you actually measure the ohm resistence of the
various pots used? Wouldn’t a 250k vs 200K or 225K vs 180K pot make a
difference in the bass or brightness we hear? Thanks

Reply
Jammoko
February 5, 2014 @ 5:08 pm

I could not hear any difference… if there was it was marginal. I find
that many far eastern (built to a budget) guitars use mechanically inferior
pots to Fender and Gibson. One of my guitars, a splendid wood crafted
Chinese LP type guitar has dreadfully small pots that look like they were
ripped out of a kids 50p toy… they would have a small internal carbon
track (the resistance the wiper runs on); this would have a detrimental
effect as the variable resistance is in a smaller physical sweep than a
conventional sized pot and it would be more difficult to hit that ‘sweet’
spot. I have also found the resistance value in such cheaply made pots is
more haphazard than a quality made pot. I shall be changing these for some
quality pots, but don’t expect to hear any major improvement in sound…
just easier to use and more reliability.

Reply
Wohlfheimehr
February 17, 2014 @ 10:44 am

Why don’t you test the pots with guitar wiring?Say you have Schullz pickup
wire connecting the pots…In most cases,the wiring quality also has its
major influence in sound,as well as the guitar shielding…And the B pots
(linear) ARE for volume,while the A pots are for tone!!A (Audio Log) pots
for volume just give you a lot of hum noise,no matter how much shileding
you make on your guitar and no matter how good quality your wiring
is!!Humbuckers and P90’s usually have a 0.047 uF capacitor (i recommend the
orange drop capacitors),and that’s why you should have tested with the one
pot with both 0.022 uF and 0.047 uF capacitors to see the large difference
between the pots’ brands and the way they sound with either cap value!!

Reply
fushapanther
February 25, 2014 @ 2:15 pm

So some of us here a difference and some don’t……cts sounded
better….then stock……….or is it my imagination?

Reply
M Campbell
February 28, 2014 @ 8:30 pm

Perfect video to understand expectations . Thank you.

Reply
Henry Soggin
March 8, 2014 @ 5:13 am

Great posting. Nice to see someone who trusts their ears. I hear so much
nonsense
from folks who make all sorts of spurious claims that they insist make a
difference to the sound of their instrument and to me, albeit listening on
non hi-fi speakers, make no difference whatsoever. Thanks for some truth.

Reply
bopdoowop1
March 12, 2014 @ 8:23 am

Great job!! Putting the clips side by side is the key. Hoping for a
comparison of various taper percentages (10, 20 30) Thanks!!

Reply
Ichijoe2112
March 15, 2014 @ 3:15 pm

Is it me or were CTS Pots a bit bright. I think the Stock (or the first set
he played), sounded the best to me…

Reply
Troy Greyham
March 16, 2014 @ 7:26 am

I really could use some help. I upgraded my Strat. I removed the single
coil in the bridge position and replaced it with a Seymour Duncan Hotrail.
The guy at the shop said to change the 250k pot with a 500k pot for the
increased output of the humbucker. So I bought a CTS 500ka pot and soldered
it in exactly the way the old one was (I think) The pickup and everything
works, but the new “volume” pot does not control the volume! It does affect
the tone, but more like a tone pot rather than a volume pot. What have I
done? It actually sounds very loud and very powerful, but it’s wide ass
open the whole time. Any ideas?

Reply
Johnny Rushmore
March 19, 2014 @ 2:34 am

cts sounded the best … the bournes were warmer or smoother

Reply
AmIonArock
March 20, 2014 @ 9:46 pm

You should change to a 250k with those single coils but too late

Reply
Tim Smallwood
March 25, 2014 @ 11:43 am

I’ve been a guitarists for over 35 years and I can’t tell any difference
between them. I think the way they feel and how good their made for rugged
use is the reason to change maybe, but otherwise I can’t tell any
difference..

Reply
Glenn Smith
March 31, 2014 @ 6:32 pm

I heard exactly what you heard,not enough difference to warrant the
change…

Reply
Aaron Liu
May 4, 2014 @ 10:22 pm

I think the CTS pots sounded better. To me, they were the best, followed by
the Bourne, then Epi, though the latter two were not very different. I
thought the CTS pots made the voices sound more clearly, and that the
intonation and tone color both sounded better. The difference in sound
quality sounded significant to me.

Reply
chisolm5
May 6, 2014 @ 8:18 pm

Thanks very much for the video. A few years ago I re-wired an Epiphone Dot
using CTS 500K Audio taper for Volumes and 250K Linear taper for Tones. All
with orange drop caps. Also put in a switchcraft 3-way switch. I must say
I really loved the result. I plan to do the same set up on an ES-339 I
recently bought although right out of the box it sounds pretty good. 🙂

Reply
A. W.
May 13, 2014 @ 3:28 pm

Nice job John!! Very clear, concise and to the point but with a “friendly”
tone. I am an intermediate level guitar collector (and Country Music artist
wannabe 🙂 and I sometimes run across a used guitar seller boasting on how
his particular guitar is mega special because of the new pots they
installed – THANKS FOR CLEARING UP ALL THE HUB-BUB. Much appreciated –
Adrian

Reply
Graiskye
May 14, 2014 @ 8:55 am

The long alligator clips make the test useless sorry. Its gonna sound
different when you wire it in to the guitar becasue your wirting into what
is likely a sheilded cavity without alligator clips which add a ton of
noise and color.
Heres a tip, pots are pots, you want to worry about tone, worry about your
playing more will come from technique than from gear, I guess by the end
you come to the same conclusion lol. Take care.

Reply
DwightMS1
May 14, 2014 @ 9:43 am

Thanks for your honesty. I didn’t hear a difference either.

Reply
Michel Bérubé
May 21, 2014 @ 10:42 am

Thank you! You are right no difference

Reply
christopher allsup
June 1, 2014 @ 10:44 pm

Minimal difference at best. I’m sure it would come down to a playing
difference that was the root of any audible difference. That said,
Capacitance and possible inductance of the jumpers used, could also be a
minute possibility of any detected difference.

Reply
Randall Selinger
June 9, 2014 @ 8:07 pm

If any of you think some of the pots sounded better on a youtube video on a
computer, give your heads a shake, you’re brainwashed by what you want to
hear…you have to have a mechanical machine strum the strings in the same
position with the same force to have a level comparison and then measure
the performance with sensitive equipment…duh….most guitars are not
properly shielded as a proper Faraday cage from the factory….you would be
better off to first shield all your guitar’s cavities with conductive
adhesive copper foil ( 1181 from 3M ) or a good conductive spray and then
you’ll see what your pots and pickups really do without any RF or
electromagnetic interference…..I recently did this to a “noisy” Godin
exit 22 which is now absolutely silent….I am thinking of changing it’s
stock 250k pots to 500’s because it did lose some volume and high end when
I shielded it…but the results were well worth the effort and it sounds
way better just from shielding it, the loss in volume and brightness is
easily fixed by increasing the volume on my amps and boosting the treble.

Reply
Randall Selinger
June 9, 2014 @ 8:56 pm

All a pot does is vary the current..it in no way can affect the sound
unless it isn’t grounded or shielded properly…it’s like trying to say two
pieces of copper wire of the same gauge will affect the “quality” of the
electrons in the copper….unless a pot is defective, they will all “sound”
the same…anyone who thinks otherwise is deluding himself..the only valid
opinion here is one may like the ‘feel’ of a certain pot…still has
nothing to do wit the sound.

Reply
Kevin Moore
June 10, 2014 @ 3:12 pm

Thank you, I have been telling people that changing a pot will not make any
sound change at all. I ask for the old ones and tell them so I can sell
them back to you. They are fine. Some never get it.

Reply
heliospuppy
June 10, 2014 @ 4:20 pm

Thanks for a video answering a question I’ve always wondered about (very
well done BTW) .Jeff

Reply
Hossein Montazeri
June 22, 2014 @ 8:00 am

yes CTS ones are brighter in my opinion, great video btw

Reply
srvrip41
June 27, 2014 @ 8:51 pm

I have to agree, the CTS seemed marginally brighter.

Reply
enrico
July 8, 2014 @ 12:56 pm

Hi,
nice video about the different pots “sonic” qualities…
My main concern at the moment is instead the building quality of pots.
I’m tired of pots that get noisy while operating them… at anytime too soon in my opinion! 🙂
Is there a potentiometer brand, or type, you can suggest that whatever their “sound” is, are best built, and last longer?
Price is not (could not be) an issue…

Reply
- John
  July 8, 2014 @ 2:04 pm
  
  I’ve had good experience with CTS- but even those eventually will get a bit noisy…
  -John
  
  Reply
Dave
July 10, 2014 @ 2:35 am

John, I am modding one of these as well. Whille fiddling with the wiring harnes the “bridge” ground came off from the guitar. When I extracting the bridge bushings to install a new bridge, there was no connection there. Did you see where the bridge ground was actually connected to the guitar? Other than that, the project is going well. I got VVG P90’s for the neck and Mid, and a VVG humbucker for the bridge with coil split p/p. I also am using a freeway switch to get some more pickup options without having to roll off volume all the time from the mid. Thanks!

Reply
- John
  July 11, 2014 @ 12:30 pm
  
  Hey Dave,
  Your project sounds great!
  Often, the bridge wire is just wedged in the hole between the wood and the bushing. Or you can solder it to the bottom of the bushing or bolt.
  -John
  
  Reply
JED TAYLOR
July 11, 2014 @ 1:06 pm

John, you have actually made the correct analysis of the differences what
you should attempt is the cts and the change in a better quality
pup…..the CTS has a better expressiveness but its in the tone of all the
frequencies. The fall off and the smoothness of the pots its what your
listenting for. The fact you actually removed the tone control itself is
the significance you don’t hear. The CTS carry better than the other two
hands down. But, for the sake of you hearing it, I suggest you get the
pups to hear it. The values of humbucker over single coil give light to
the considerations you can discover with the pots. Allso the pups ability
to wash out tone and the hotter….milder pup ranges give light to the
reasons you have been gracious enough to take the time to evaluate. The
pots that came with the guitar came in second and the others 3rd….But
they all have smoothness at different ranges in the fall off as you
demonstrated by the roll off. But, the review of your screens will give
you clues to why and what values each of the different pots can give to a
particular pickup set up. I d venture to say that in most case you could
use a guitar with the hhs or ssh or shs variations. Even the idea of
using a tele for this same considerations. In all of this you offered us
the tone quality variations and the fact that personal choice is the key to
what suites each taste. The color of tone is perfectly demonstrated in
your presentation. From this I can see and hear the qualities that are so
difficult to listen for and define in reference to each.

Reply
Jem Strife
July 25, 2014 @ 6:06 am

sir, can you share me some ideas about changing their values?. ahm im gonna
change my vol pot to 500k and the tones for 250k but some said it would be
good if i’ll turn it all to 500k, both for volume and tones. so which is
better? thank you sir!

Reply
M Stratocaster
July 29, 2014 @ 6:29 pm

Sound exactly the same to me, so whats the use in spending the money to
change them?

Reply
MattC0621
July 29, 2014 @ 8:07 pm

Would it be fair to say that changing the pots may be more of a build
quality/touch and feel issue, than a tone issue?

Reply
Jordon Renn
August 5, 2014 @ 10:09 pm

10 things that change the signal 1% equals 10%

Just remember the little things count, especially when there is multiple
little things.

Reply
qcklx
August 26, 2014 @ 4:57 pm

Great video!

Reply
poppa bear
September 6, 2014 @ 4:55 am

Loved the way you earthed each group of pots?….not….did not see any
earth?……….you are definitely silly if you think pot changes does
nothing………..i will leave it there……..I think you are a
DONK…….

Reply
maxium213
September 21, 2014 @ 6:02 am

actually the new pots give it a slightly softer tone

Reply
Jonathan Francisco Segura Silva
September 27, 2014 @ 2:32 pm

Una interesante prueba de 3 diferentes marcas de potenciometros.
Cambia el sonido al cambiar los pots?
¿Qué opinan?

Reply
Bass & Guitar Setup
September 27, 2014 @ 2:33 pm

Una interesante prueba de 3 diferentes marcas de potenciometros.
Cambia el sonido al cambiar los pots?
¿Qué opinan?

Reply
isaac thrash
October 7, 2014 @ 8:08 pm

How would a 1 meg pot affect the sound?

Reply
guitarsurfer2010
October 12, 2014 @ 11:51 am

Nice electronic science here.
A great service to do this Potentiometer shootout comparison.
Musically: Tune up that guitar ! !
Either adjust the intonation or use a tuner to tune the string tension.

Reply
jcows12
November 2, 2014 @ 4:57 pm

Brand shouldn’t matter BUT RESISTANCE OF THE POTS is important 250k darker
1meg brighter. Maybe you got confused about this?
Only thing I would think about this is cheaper pots might not have as close
k tolerances as pricier ones?

Reply
Cory M
November 10, 2014 @ 3:39 pm

thank you for this video!

Reply
Jet Screamer
November 16, 2014 @ 4:01 am

Makes no difference WHO makes the pot in terms of sound, the only factor
that will affect the sound is the rating (250k, 500k etc) I used to think
you had to change out the small Alpha pots for CTS pots (because bigger is
better right?) until I woke up and realised there is no difference in tone
(complete waste of time and money) the ONLY reason to change a pot is if
you want a different value to affect the tone (brighter or less bright) or
it’s broken. CTS posts are way too stiff to turn , even the full sized
Alphas are too stiff although not as bad as some CTS pots. The mini Alphas
however work just fine, good taper and the posts are not stiff to turn. One
thing you have to take into consideration is tolerance, for example a pot
could have a 3% + or – rating meaning if it’s sold as 500k it could be
between 485k and 515k so someone swaps an Alpha 515k for a 485k CTS and
says the guitar sounds slightly warmer therefore CTS pots are warmer
sounding is dead wrong, the guitar sounds warmer because of the difference
in Ohms not brand or geographical manufacture location. You have to make
sure the the pots are rated exactly the same before you even bother with
the pointless exercise to compare then you will hear that 500k is 500k in
terms of the affect on tone. No difference!!! So if the pot is working, not
scratchy, audio taper is fine….why would you want to change it?

Reply
Tim Eggenberger
November 22, 2014 @ 12:58 pm

your my hero! Great Vid., very informative. i have the same amp and
somewhat similar Ibanez Artcore. My input jack has a short and i’ll be
needing to remove it. Didn’t have a clue how to do that until i saw your
video series – thanks alot.

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VicSoxUK
December 21, 2014 @ 10:02 pm

I’m not convinced there’s any difference and I am a guy who just imported
12 x CTS 450G 500K pots for £60.00 from the US. That may be a waste of
money but I’m sure some of my customers will prefer them in upgrades. I’m
justy not convinced they alter the sound at all…

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0coincidences
December 25, 2014 @ 8:23 am

soo… are those 3 p90’s you have on there? and your saying those arent
bright enough? i just changed the humbuckers on my epiphone for p90’s to
get that bright single coil sound… i even compared it next to the same
guitar with the stock buckers still on it. much more lively and bright. so
what would you consider to be a bright sound? typically when playing with
those types of pups you would want to roll down your mid a lot more and
your bass a tad more and roll up your treble a bit more. you’ll see how
bright those p90’s can be 😉 then when you want a smooth jazzy feel… all
you do is roll down the guitars tone a tad.

Reply
Yinch Tan
January 8, 2015 @ 2:40 pm

Loved it! Thank you, always wanted to know.

Reply
Andres Richards
January 11, 2015 @ 10:54 am

I have a MIM tele and wanted to upgrade the pots to make it brighter. Do
you have to replace both the tone and volume pots or just one or does it
matter?

Reply
John Cooper
January 11, 2015 @ 10:44 pm

@Andres Richards – both tone and volume pots contribute to the overall load
on the pickups. Increasing their resistance (e.g. to 500k or 1meg) will
reduce the load on the pickups and brighten your overall sound

Reply
Evil Sean
January 17, 2015 @ 10:00 pm

sodder ?

solder … im scots we use english … we notice the lunacy but some
consonants aint silen

i noticed the 500k when you roll back the volume the tone drops fast …
the 250`s off my strat drop less

Reply
AdrianRP1
January 20, 2015 @ 5:03 pm

Hey John, cool video man! I could definitely hear a brighter, more
articulate sound while using the CTS pots, albeit it was subtle, but never
less, still present. Thanks…

Reply
room313a
February 1, 2015 @ 10:05 am

Your videos are extremely useful. I love it.

Reply
funkybioped
February 7, 2015 @ 8:20 pm

Thanks for sharing. Trying to figure out the difference and I can’t really
hear a difference through the computer speakers.

Reply
Skepticalsteven
February 12, 2015 @ 8:37 pm

The J S ones might be John Hornby Skewes. I had a distortion pedal by them,
and the logo looked like it just said j s

Reply
Billy Ray
February 21, 2015 @ 3:27 pm

I think you’ll find the true difference in the quality of pots wont shine
through while the pots are wide open ie on 10. It’s when they’re actually
acting as potentiometers ie 1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.

Reply
guesser7
February 22, 2015 @ 2:41 pm

Feedback: Buy a Gibson 335 please.

Reply
tom buzzy
March 1, 2015 @ 10:36 am

the cts seem to be nice and warm

Reply
Jorge Cortez
March 2, 2015 @ 10:07 pm

Hi John!! I noticed that you have a vox amp so I would like to ask you if
you could help me:
The 11 position effects switch on my vt30 has gone nuts, it selects the
effects by itself and even changes the effects by itself sometimes.. I have
read forums on this but no real answers for an exact or similar
replacement..some say spray (did not work )others to contact vox ( no
answer so far ) I am wondering if you could help me out with this little 11
position with detents devil…..best regards!

Reply
Wile E. Coyote
March 18, 2015 @ 6:43 pm

At first I was like “wth is this guy doing” because of the cardboard… it
ended up being a great vid, thanks for posting. Btw, I would recommend in
the future that you record the sound nicely with pi-pots in, then record
again with different-pots in. That way you can determine if your long,
unshilded, alligator clip method is flawed or not.

Reply
Aditya Benia
April 7, 2015 @ 11:00 am

I just want to Thank you for your research coz it helped me. Thanks a mil.
You look like Larry Carlton 🙂

Reply
CHRIS B.
April 12, 2015 @ 9:33 am

Good vid. What i would be interested hearing differences in volume roll-off
between pots. In one of my guitars that i am looking to get some work on, i
feel like the volume pots do not roll off in a smooth way – they go from
loud then the volume drops off very quickly. I want post that allow more
sensitive volume control. Any thoughts/suggestions?

Reply
KRS
April 18, 2015 @ 12:11 am

Awesome!! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and taking the time
to make these videos. I personally appreciate it, Im sure I am speaking for
everyone here. We all appreciate your skills and time. Thanks John!!! Your
new fan and subscriber! Christopher Lee

Reply
Suleyman San
April 26, 2015 @ 4:46 am

the cts and bourns pots sound much more differentiated to me than the stock
pots (even with differences in strumming), 5:03. the cts pots sound a
little brighter, the bourns pots have a little more low end. but i agree
that the changes are rather subtle than miraculous 🙂 great video!

Reply
GeorgeElliasVideos
April 29, 2015 @ 4:56 am

IMO There is a difference between pots… I heard a difference. However,
it’s all about tolerance. It’s difficult to find pots that are exactly the
same, unless you test them. That is because tolerance can be anywhere
between 1-20%, what tolerance does is tell you how much of tolerance there
is in manufacturing the parts, a pot may be 250k, but if it has a 10%
tolerance, the value of the pot can vary around 10% of 250k ohms…. And as
you said yourself, sound does change between different potentiometer
values. So remember, the less tolerance the pot has, the better, that way
you can mix and match pots for different flavors.

Reply
joesl8
June 5, 2015 @ 12:29 pm

Early on I spent a ton of money on gadgets, changing pickups etc. and now I
just use whatever and let it be, if the guitar is good from the start I
don’t try to make it better. At first from the vid, the originals did sound
a bit darker but I’m sure pressure on strings, etc. can make variations to
tone and after it’s said and done they all sound about the same as you
concluded. In a live situation I’m sure any differences would diminish
further. Great vid, wish I’d seen this fifteen years ago, would have saved
me some dough.

Reply
Luigi xtoman
June 22, 2015 @ 2:03 pm

great explaination I enjoyed this vdo

Reply
mlmr11
June 24, 2015 @ 5:58 am

Not a shit bit of difference. Changing pots are a scam

Reply
AmDsus2Fmaj7Am
June 24, 2015 @ 3:40 pm

The whole point of changing pots, in my opinion, is shaping the tone by
changing the volume and tone knobs. You didn’t turn any knobs. With all
pots on 10 and changing pots you will not notice much or any difference. I
have a guitar that sounds the same on 5 as it does with volume on 10;
that’s one reason that one should look for in changing pots. With lower
volume, you should get a clean tone. Pickup choice has more to do with the
attack responsiveness and frequency content.

Reply
chavruta2000
June 26, 2015 @ 4:59 am

try it on a strat. the gibson’s dynamic range is very limited. if you have
a free afternoon. neat invention!

Reply
SixSentSoldiers
July 6, 2015 @ 4:09 am

Great video. The “Alpha” pots sound brighter and small. CTS and Bournes
sound warm and Thicker. That’s just what I here.

Reply
NHfiddle
July 28, 2015 @ 6:08 am

Hi John, I used CTS 500K pots in my refitted 1992 Epi Les Paul Custom. I’m
using “real” Gibson 57 PAF humbuckers and a real Gibson switch. The guitar
is also wired for “extra power” which could mean 1950s wiring. I did all
this 20 years ago and the guitar still screams like a 57 Les Paul, want to
do the same thing to my 2004 Epiphone Sheraton II later on down the road.,

Reply
Steve F
July 30, 2015 @ 11:18 am

Interesting..thanks for showing this. I read about people doing this
swapping and now I see it’s a waste of time pretty much. Any difference, if
anyseems marginal at best.

Reply
ALFRED PAPO
August 1, 2015 @ 7:16 am

IN ORDER FOR THIS TEST TO VALID , YOU CAN’T BRING THE POTS TO A 10 , THAT’S
LIKE HAVING THE PICKUP DIRECT TO THE AMP WITHOUT ANY POTS , I WOULD BRING
THE POTS ONLY UP TO THE ( 5 ) POSITION , LIKE THAT THERE WOULD BE A
RESISTANCE , AND MAYBE THEN YOU CAN HEAR SOMETHING DIFFERENT BETWEEN THEM

Reply

When a pot is really just a pot

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