300kohm Pot vs. 500kohm pot

  • Thread starter Thread starter oDD
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oDD

oDD

Problem to your solution
Im planning on getting an epiphone dot archtop and upgrading a bunch of the parts on it.
One of the upgrades will be all new Potentiometers. I am planning on replacing with Gibson Pots and noticed that there are 500kOhm Potentiometers and 300kohm ones. The 300s are a little more expensive than the 500s. Can anyone explain the differences between the 2.

Thanks!
 
The 300k's are going to be a bit darker sounding, but they have a major problem, which is that they are linear taper. We hear volume changes in a logarithmic fashion, so linear taper pots are a bad idea. The reason they sell them these days is because they used them in the seventies. Why they used them in the seventies is anybodies guess, but it was probably a directive from some suit at Norlin (who owned Gibson at the time).

But don't bother with Gibson pots. They are all over priced. Get some good CTS pots (which is the manufacturer who makes Gibson's pots, just with the Gibson name on them). You want 500k audio taper pots. Depending on how thick the top of your guitar is, you may need to get the 3/4 inch bushing version. You can get them from Allparts.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Light said:
The 300k's are going to be a bit darker sounding, but they have a major problem, which is that they are linear taper. We hear volume changes in a logarithmic fashion, so linear taper pots are a bad idea. The reason they sell them these days is because they used them in the seventies. Why they used them in the seventies is anybodies guess, but it was probably a directive from some suit at Norlin (who owned Gibson at the time).

But don't bother with Gibson pots. They are all over priced. Get some good CTS pots (which is the manufacturer who makes Gibson's pots, just with the Gibson name on them). You want 500k audio taper pots. Depending on how thick the top of your guitar is, you may need to get the 3/4 inch bushing version. You can get them from Allparts.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
Click to expand...

I know nothing about this, but at one time I read that 300k pots are used because they don't need a treble bleed cap. Is this true?
 
tkingen said:
I know nothing about this, but at one time I read that 300k pots are used because they don't need a treble bleed cap. Is this true?
Click to expand...


Well, you never need a treble bleed cap, and I actually don't like them most of the time. But no, that is not true. A 300k pot will have a bigger roll-off than a 500k pot.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
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