250k Pots Vs 500k Pots - Sound Comparison
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- čas přidán 17. 07. 2022
- Should You Choose 25k or 500k pots
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4:41 The higher the resistance, more of the highs come through.
5:04 The lower the resistance, closer to ground, the more top end we lose.
7:25 Biggest impact to tone is changing the volume pot.
9:12 250k vs 500k pot sound test
So lower resistance give you warmer, fuller sounds, higher resistance give you brightness and tight attack.
But it's relative to the pickup. Do you really want a brighter sounding strat pickup?
Hell yes!@@Blueguitar007
This is exactly the explanation I was looking for! Just found you yesterday, killer channel!
Great video as always!!! I’ve dropped in 500k’s in my partscaster Tele build. For pickups I’ve got Strat Tex Mex in neck and bridge. Although the Strat pu was not meant for a Tele bridge I was able to adapt it. The 500k’s really made a huge difference. Thanks to this video I now understand how pots work in a guitar. Thank you for all the great info you give on all of your content.
This new content is super good. This channel has come a long way!
Dylan even I could hear a difference - thanks for the effort you put into your videos - Cheers from Canada
Learned a great tidbit of info on pots! Thanks for the small epiphany! I recently ordered a Tele kit that came with cheap, 500k, Chinese dime sized pots. It had standard (5.0-6.5 k) single coils that I swapped out for a hb in the neck and the kit bridge pup. I replaced them with a double pot - 250/500k CTS for tone and volume. Your video helped me to see I probably could have saved a few coins and just used 2 500k pots instead. Thanks for the great information!!
Really nice explanation of how the pots work. I just subscribed.
I have 500k pots for my Tele style guitar that has a high output single coil in the bridge and PAF in the neck. I love this set up and will never change it- it’s amazing for gritty blues riffs into a low wattage amp.
Hi Dylan, Thanks you for everything you do!
Great video as always. Thank you, you have way about you in making these subjects fun & easy to fully understand. 👏
I just bought one of those Squier Thinlines and really dig the sound from the stock setup but this was informative and you've got me thinking about future mods. Thanks!
The thing about Squier, and fender in general, they make for great modding platforms...if you're willing to put some money into it, you can wind up with something that's greater than the sum of its parts, and there's lots of bolt-on upgrades on the market for fender/squier
A Squire Thinline is my go to midnight guitar.
loud enough to hear, quiet enough the wife sleeps through.
I put in Texas Specials, brass saddles, and fresh tuners from Japan. (I think Gotoh)
Love it.
It's important to remember that the volume pot is wired as a voltage gate, as a result the hot signal has to go through more resistance as the volume is turned down, attenuating more treble. This means that larger pots are brighter only at or close to full volume! 250K pots may be darker, but usually dont require anything like a treble bleed or 50's wiring to compensate for treble loss as volume is turned down.
Hi Dustin. Hope you can help me out. 1) How can the tone pot have influence on overall wiring resistance? For instance, I have an HSS guitar with 500k volume pot and two 560k resistor on each hot lug of each single coil so that they can see around 250k, but my concern is how the tone pot will get into this. 2) How different is it to solder the capacitor on the tone pot in the middle lug or the third lug. I have seen both wirings. Does it change considerably? Consider for that, a master volume and master tone.Thanks a lot!
I change all my guitars to 50,s wiring, does this mean I still would benefit from Tone bleed components added or not?
It's a treb pass, not a bleed.
I have no idea when the term, got reversed.
A bleed shunts to ground, signal gone.
A pass, sends desired signal to where you want it, not to a dead end.
@@johncollins5552Only if you like the effect. Some like the sweetness turned down and one knob control.
With out a treb PASS as you come up in volume treb frequencies can talk to an amp aggressively.
I don't mind using the tone pot.
Been using treb passes for near 50 years.
I play mostly Strats, so it's (mostly when I have the time to change it) 250k volume with high pass and 500k tone's with .015MFD cap on neck and .022MFD cap at bridge with middle wide open. I just find that kind of setup gives me a consistent expectation from all my guitars at basically all volumes. You are right about the capacitance induced by the 500K pot as volume though, higher is not always brighter.
Thanks for this. I really like how these pickups sound.
Boy, did I learn a lot with this video! Thank you so much!
just another great, super-informative video. Thanks again!
Learned a good bit of info from this video, thanks man!
Very informative. Great video Dylan.
Dude, this answered a problem I was having with a JBjr. In the bridge of my strat. I knew I was missing out because of the 250k pots but I didn't know exactly how that worked and also that changing just the volume pot might be and option. You rock with all the much-needed guitar tech information that we all need. Thanks!
If it's HSS they make stacked pots (basically a 250k on top of a 500k sharing the same knob post) You can wire the humbucker up to the 500k side and the single coils to the 250k side if that's your jam!
@@lowalkoroc , nice! Thanks!
Definitely go with the 500k on that white squier. Huge difference. Sounds really nice. Thanks for sharing. I appreciate it buddy.
Excellent explanation as usual. Thank you Dylan
Awesome, as always very informative Brother 🤘🏻
Your guitar did have a fullness at 500k that sounded very pleasing. Thanks, and thanks to Dustin for his info!
Thank you so much for this! Learned a lot!
I like the 500, it was more robust, and it gave the output a little midrange sizzle. But I like the janglyness of the 250. The trouble is what pots allow the pickups to behave as they should, but that is subjective.
Hey! You should create two separate circuits. Switch on the 250k when you want that sound and visa versa with 500k. Add in phase, out phase hum-buckers, split coil, coil taps and a builtin graphic eq! 😄oh dont forget to include a Kaossilator!
Finally. I've been wanting someone to do this AB for a.while, only with bass guitars. But this was full of information that remains helpful. Thoughts about this same discussion involving bass guitar?!.🙏
If you want more highs (upper harmonics), use 1 meg pots or switch them completely out of the circuit. Thats why I like pull switches on a pot. You can switch the pot completely out of circuit for the cleanest sound. With that arrangement, you also can switch from a good rhythm sound to a louder, cleaner sound for solos by pulling the pot/switch up..
I bought a Traveler Guitar because I wanted something compact. But what sold me was a CZcams video by a enthusiast playing one. It sounded great. It has a pickup and a output jack. No volume or tone control and as far as I know, no capacitor anywhere. 99.44% of guitar sound is the hands holding it. Unless You were Stevie Ray Vaughan, he needed to use the knobs and switches to keep his hands from melting the strings.
Excellent and very informative video Dylan.
I'm about to build my first guitar. I appreciate your incite.
Have fun. Building saves my sanity.
I really dig the 500 k pots. It sounded much fuller
Great video. Instructive af. Sincerely thank you
Love it! the volume pot isn't just a variable resistor, it's a voltage divider. Resistance in both series and parallel. I put a 250K in a crazy-bright PRS, brought it back into the Les Paul range. Look into adding a Resistor between the final signal and ground too. 800K or so.
I have an old Washburn Force 3 as a project guitar. It has a couple of Bill Lawrence 500s, an xl and an r, in bridge and middle, as well as a Symore Duncan Hotrails mini in the neck. All pickups have toggles for splitting. While adding resistors to the switches to fix the thin split tone, i swapped the 250k pots, volume and both tone, to 500k.
The difference is pretty startling with these fairly hot pickups. I've always had to ride this thing right at 9 or 10 for volume and tone. Now i can get decent output and tonal control around 4 or 5 volume. The tone controls are more subtle but give more control and sound a bit more musical, imo. The guitar sounds better than it ever has and i have this video to thank for giving me inspiration.
It's also great that i got to use some of my late father's old components in this build. He would have loved your channel!
I had some 500k pots in a tele with single coils when I installed an Obsidian wire solderless harness that came with them. I had to dial the tone almost all the way down on the bridge pickup so it wasn't too shrill. I wound up buying a Mojotone solderless harness with 250k pots and installing that in the guitar and it was much more to my liking.
Hey Dylan , I love your channel ! Could you do a segment like this for bass ? I'm interested in changing the pots and caps in a couple of MIM Fender jazz basses , I'd love your input
Tele with a Firebird neck pickup, after a bit of experimenting I found a 300k volume pot seemed to work best
Very helpful! You verified what I had already surmised after I modified a cheap GFS tele. Sounded so much better with 500k pots. My question is, what affect does the size of the capacitor have?
I totally agree with you. In fact, I have a 2000 American Fender Strat Deluxe w/SSS and I'm gonna put a pair of humbuckers in it with the 500K pots. Thanks for the incredibly Clear explanation. 👍
dude... you are the hero we need and we want
You make perfect sense sir. That's why I replaced all three of my 250k's in my Jazz with 1meg Linears. I want the full potential of the single coils and If the tone turns out to be too harsh or aggressive, then of course I'll have the option to dial it back.
Very Cool. This was Interesting and Informative. Thankyou.
Great video and explanation. I'd like to ask which style pot allows for a smooth volume sweep.
500k pots going into my telecaster and stratocaster now. Thank you. Definitely sounds fuller.
Thank you!
I listened very closely a number of times and I prefer the 250's but I can see where other folks appreciate the 500's for their own style.
Cheers!
Same here!
Yup sometimes too much highs can be shrill with distortion pedals.
Agree with the 250's. It seems more versatile on both low and high end tones. If you're picking more fills and solos the 500k pot gives you a more tele sound especially for country licks.
Great video. Very informative. One small improvement could be if you played the same riffs & chords for both demos ?
There is so much more definition with the 500k pots ! Awesome comparison !
Just found this channel. Good stuff!
Really dig that video. I have this same exact tele and I’m going to try my hand at soldering in a 500 k pot. I’ve never soldered but am learning through your videos. Any tips for a first timer or maybe something I should practice on before the Tele?
In all my WRHB guitars. I put in 1Meg vol and 500K tone pots. that's my go to. I've tried most WRHB's and really like the Lollars and Novak makes a nice one too.
I did a similar experiment on my Jazzmaster (with WRHBs) I moded the lead circuit with 500 k and the rhythm with both 1 Meg pots. i couldn't decide which one I like better so I left it like that. I use the 1 megs for leads
i did dig this. i agree with the idea that "once you take it away, you can't really put it back". my only request would be to let us know where the tone pots were set and what the caps were. and what happens when you dial it back... but, thanks ! well worth a listen.
I just tried two of the same classic vibe thinlines today that are mentioned here. Nice guitars. One was obviously better as it had a beautiful flame fretboard.
Hey, Dylan. I've got the exact same Fender Squier Contemporary. I got it on a great sale. Where's your Silver Sky? I definitely agree. The 500K pots turned that dog of a guitar into a beast. As someone who gigs all of his guitars, I need them to be able to blend and stand out equally well depending on what I'm doing, and I felt the 500K pots would accomplish that more. Good vid!
The Interaction of the Cap and Pot values determines the roll-off frequency, and has a great influence on Tone...
I am building a telecaster with a neck humbucker and bridge single coil. I am clearing out my parts drawer to build it, and I ended up with a pair of old Alpha pots--375k volume and 500k tone. Will do a demo when it is built.
Excellent vid. Ive been wanting to experiment w this w my workhorse 71 franken-strat that’s had EMG HSS set up with a gen w Floyd installed by the man himself. I was thinking about an PAF w Duncan 1/4 pounders as a good clean and highly driven distortion (I’m s Mesa boogie collector). Would love to hear your thoughts about the best wiring when going from active to passive pickups! As bare knuckles are tempting mr for the heavy stuff. But I’m just a player. Not a luthier so. Future video?
So well explained, thank you.
Thanks for the info. Very helpful.
Great show Dylan 👏👍.
I just saw this video - excellent content, brother.
I've been told by reputable guitar techs that there is no difference between the signal path of a 250k setup versus a 500k (or 1 meg) setup when the pots are wide-open. Is this correct? Does the difference surface only when the pots are somewhere between the extremes of the sweep?
You said everything was the same BUT you changed the strings when you put in the 500k pots. New strings will always brighten up your sound. Just saying. Good vid.
He'd just rewound the Tele's fake WRHB into real WRHB in that 250K video I think, so they were also new strings.
Negligibly if the strings are not that old.
Dylan mentions re-wiring “wide range” HBs to improve tone; He mentioned a video. Is he talking about rewiring the humbuckers that come with a MIM that are Standard Hum bucker is that only cosmetically look like the wide range humbuckers? I replaced mine with a real CUNIFE humbucker from Fender, but I have the fake/standard humbucker with a bar magnet sitting in my parts box; If it’s worth making right, I’d get it done. Can someone send me the video? I can’t find the link anywhere on the “Dylan talks tone” channel.
@@sadlsore there was probably nothing wrong with your original hb,it’s in Dylan’s best interest to convince you to do all these “upgrades”
I'm sure he shed some skin cells playing one guitar the topography of his fingers changed miniscully lol your argument is invalid
Great vid! I just subbed to your channel 👍🏾
Thanks for the sub!
great stuff. I sure like the sound of wide range and also agree wider frequency range is better.
I would love to see a demo vid of the wide range in use with changing EQ to replicate all classic tones from GIBSON PAF to spanky single coil. Can you make a wide range that swiches down to G&L Z Coil sound?
Agreed. 500K sounds better to my ears. How do they affect P-90s? Have a G&L Ascari with P-90s. Might need an upgrade.
You have such great videos to help us understand. Thank you for the knowledge you share, I know you have worked hard for it. That guitar is beautiful! It maybe due to my hearing loss but i seemed to hear the 250s clearer. . but you have to please the crowd so majority rules.
Very interesting lesson. The 500K is very very dope awesome sounding, way more jangle, way much more fullness, very nice. I imagine on a Plexi it would even be way more noticable. I like the 500K like you do. Thank you for the lesson.
Did this one very well. Yep when it comes to passive electronics you can only subtract frequency in the circuit, your only way to add frequency is through your physical input - but you can only play so hard haha
great vid Dylan!
I have a Caparison 8 string that only has a single volume knob. It came with a 500k pot, which sounded fine through a high gain setting, but the extra brightness of only having a single 500k pot made the cleans STERILE sounding, so I swapped it for a 250K pot and now the guitar sounds great clean and when I'm playing high gain I already run an overdrive that boosts the treble anyway.
I put 1meg pots in my 72 thinline deluxe with Dimarzio bluesbuckers. Best decision I ever made with that guitar. It’s got tons of presence, sounds super clean, and when it’s too bright just roll the tone pot back to like 5-7.
a pot then is kind of like a mirror that reflects the sound of the pickups toward the output, and you can either fade it out til its invisible and there's no signal, or fade it in and reflect everything into the output. but more resistance means a more reflective mirror.
That squire is really sweet the tone is sweet and natural that having been said .
Dylan./don't quit winding pickups!!! lol great vid dude thank you !!!
Actually the reduction in highs comes mostly from the tone pot, because a 250k max value is like a 500k at half, essentially, because the cap to ground is a low-pass (treble-cut) filter.
Now, resistences to ground act like high-pass (bass-cut) filters, so in something that only has a volume, you'd get less bass with 250k than 500k.
Which means you can try using a 250k tone pot with a 500k volume to tame particularly ice-picky pickups.
I put 500k ots in a telecaster to see how it would be and I kept them there ! Brought out more treble in the neck pickup that sounded fab and the bridge can be a bit harsh so I just turn the pot down halfway or so.
That difference was so huge...I'm going to try 750k and 1 meg. The tone I loved the most was in 1977 when I removed all electronics from my guitar and wired direct from the pickups to the output jack. That sound was huge and had presence.
The Ramones did that to all the guitars.
@@Blueguitar007 pickup technology..quality of the wire, density of the wiring,nature of the magnets,pickup shielding etc..should certainly have had some influence on the sound..
That was because with the 500K pots, he switched to the Bridge or Both pickups.... he Did Not do that with the 250K pots... watch it again and pay attention to his right hand. He switched the selector.. Twice, after he began playing... with the 500K pots... only Once, if at all (neck only) with the 250K pots.
i'm always a sucker for brighter tones... i just snagged an old squier strat for modding/mangling, and that came with 500k pots for the single coils, which surprised me. Also on your tele there, that maple fretboard/ block inlay is the coolest, i wish more fenders & squiers had that...
Good call.
That's actually alot better than just a good call. Looks 1,000% cooler than regg'ler ol' black dots. Id think it work for/against whatever aesthetic you'd be going for depending on what colors you're working with.
I kinda can't decide if I'd prefer those old pearl style, or black (to bank off this Tele's white body. Pearl can appear dingey(is that the word?-kindof dirty-faded, rhymes with Benji) so pearl might not be a good idea. Black is usually a safe bet. Pearl however, (now that I think about it)might just make the whole guitar look unkempt and tacky.
lol Wouldn't wanna be dicking around on stage with a malnourished looking guitar.
Suit yourself.
I have a couple of 1meg pots that I'm anxious to experiment with. Just need to decide which "muddy" guitar will be the best candidate. It'll probably be a Squier Tele HH that I haven't done any mods to yet.
I swapped the 500k pots in my prs se Michael Akerfeldt with 250k pots and was thrilled with the change. It was warmer and fatter.
I really love that block inlay vibe. I've thought about swapping pots on my Jazzmaster, but I'm hesitant because it already sounds amazing.
I had 250k pots in my Jazzmaster,it still sounded amazing...yes I will put them back in...try it
I just saw the announcement that EMG is making an exclusively Jazzmaster set of active pickups and have seen a couple reviews on them and so far sound pretty dope. Can't wait for the official release and give them a shot myself
If you like the way it sounds I would leave it as is. Now if you don't like the sweep or the tension of the pots, that's different. Maybe you have a volume pot that's very stiff and awkward to use when doing swells, you would probably be happier with a low friction pot of the same value. Or if you have a low friction pot that your hand bumps into, try a medium friction pot etc.
@@countzero5150 I'm doing one worse...I'm buying a second Jazzmaster (affinity series this time) specifically to be a mod platform. 😁
Just lift the ground tab on the volume pot, and put a 250k resistor between it and ground and see if you like the sound.
500k were so much better. I loved how they added so much punch to the tone.
This guitar tech stuff is all nice and dandy, but that funk track at 2:20 is killer, especially when the drums and brass come in! Is it an original or a backing track? Or is it a regular song that I can find somewhere?
Thank you so much Dylan for this video, I learned so much. 500k is certainly richer. Can you please do a comparison video on potentiometers with a resistance higher than 500k?
For a tele I would always change the 3-way switch to a 4 way and add a phase switch when changing the wiring I also use pot with an off position so I can eliminate the pot altogether,
Super helpful video! When you say you sell "drop in" pots, does that mean I can do it without soldering?
I put a set of 550 k pots in my Les Paul and 500 k in my SG and it really opened up the sound but also gave me more tonal options. ( changed both pots in each.)
I have the same Thinline Tele and the first thing I did was swap out the pots and cap with 500 pot/.022 cap. Some folks even like to put 1m pots in, but I've never tried that because I honestly don't see the benefit in opening up things that much.
Wow, the Funkadelic Music! I am in the market for push pull pots for my Les Paul. I needed this video.
500k pots for me, looks like, it has 3 pickups. And yeah, those 500k pots sound beautiful.
Love this video. Thanks for the education . I like the 500
I already have a 1982 AVRI & a 2015 Nashville Teles. I came across a 2021 Infinity which I promptly gutted electronically. I installed a MIM Tele bridge pickup and a Wilkinson M series humbucker, 500k pots, .022uf cap & a 270k resistor for the bridge pickup per a Fender wiring diagram. Way too shrill. I switched to .047 cap & a 510 resistor. The HB was extremely loud and the single coil mostly silent. Very low volume. I switched the resistor to a 270k & 100k wired in series, 370k total. Sounds great now.
As far as what the manufactures chose concerning pots values, they could be compensating for darker or thinner sounding pickups.
Pickups and guitars are like people, each one can be different, they should all be evaluated individually (generally speaking).
Glad you did this comparison, I've know about this for years but have had difficulties articulating this information to friends and other players.
Nothing works as good as a demonstration!
Thank You Dylan
I had my headphones cranked up and couldn't hear much difference, that is until you started flipping the pickup switch (with the 500Ks). I couldn't tell what you had selected with the 250Ks. Was it neck pickup all the way? Certainly, switching pickups make more of a change than playing with the pots.
really perceivable difference, between the two impedances. It’s not even comparable. Off course.. the strings were also fresh.. but, even so..
Thanks very much for the video. I come to your channel, every once in a while, and i usually learn sth.. so congrats.
I am modding a couple of my guitars with a 1M pot and 500k for Bass & Treble tone knobs, respectively .
On the Tele i’m gonna use only one system, but on the HSS, funny enough, i was planning to use same approach you mentioned here.. I was thinking of wiring the Humbucker with its own separate system, so i can better tone that muddy jittery down, without altering the single coils’ tone.
Have you got any video talking about that ?
Thanks again,
Cheers from Portugal
(where..yes.. one doesn’t use lead based solder.). ;)
Thanks for the comparison. My ears hear more of a boost in the upper midrange more than the highs. Like the 500's better too, would have to try 1M (or maybe 750's) just for a comparison there too
Have you thought there may be an effect do to different phase shifts with the different pots, after all a pickup is an inductor with it creating a complete (series) circuit with the pots. The electrical position of the center lead of the pot just determines how much of the voltage in that circuit is shared with the amp.
For what it's worth: I use 500k pots with my Fender Noiseless 3 pickups. I also put them in my Tele. It has
Dimarzio stacked single coils. It, as you mentioned opens them up which I like.
It would’ve been nice to hear the 250k pot played through all 3 pickup positions like what u did with the 500k. Also would’ve like to hear them played with gain. Aside from that, very informative, thank you.
Was thinking the same thing bro !
Absolutely. I feel as thought the 250k would have performed as well if not better than the 500k pots if it was to given the chance.
yeah, we didn't get the bridge pickup demo on 250k
You all, noticed that little "leave out" with the bridge pickup on the 250K pot demo, as well - huh? My "gut" tells me that he did that on purpose and that no-one would notice... but, not saying he did for sure. Personally, Had he switched on the Bridge Pickup, I think the 250s would have sounded "fuller"... at least to my ears. I found that the 500K's sounded much too "tinny" on the high end. To be honest... I don't play 6 string guitar... only Bass, Lap Steel, Mandolin & learning Harmonica.
Great explanation, I learned a lot. Couldn't notice you wearing an Indian hat--I hope you are enjoying yours as much as I am enjoying my Pursuit.
I liked the 500K pot sound MUCH better! Now I'm considering swapping in a 1 Megohm pot on an all-mahogany guitar I have which might stand to be brighter sounding. I was thinking of putting in one or more P-94 type pickups; a new pot would be MUCH cheaper and would preserve hum rejection. Worth trying before the pickup replacement!
tonewood? lol
@@jumpingman8160 It's funny how keyboard warriors like you repeat something because they have watched one or two wannabe scientific attention hungry videos that "proof" something wrong. And no, wood is not the most important factor that creates the sound of a guitar but it is far from it doesn't matter starting with how the wood resonates with your hands while you play the instrument giving you a completely different feedback as well as influencing attack and sustain.
@@SxSxG666 calm down warrior. 😆
After a careful shielding job, my cheap P90's are nearly as quiet as my humbuckers, so long as I back away from my amp a little bit
Definitely a much fuller sound with the 500k's, almost Strat-like. As always, interesting and informative.
Not at all strat like... Complete opposite of that. Strats are thin and quacky, have no warmth or dimension at all.
"Strat-like"??? smh 😆
Haha! I just notice the RB18 on your desktop. I too am a Red Bull F1 fan. VAMINOS CHECO!
Dylan, I have a G&L S-3, that I *basically* like the sound of the pups. I believe they use ceramic magnets in them. However, the neck pickup just doesn't have enough bite and clarity. Is there a way to wire the switch so that when the neck is selected, it sees 500K? I like the sounds of the middle and bridge as is. Of course, one way is to just replace the neck pickup with Alnicos, but I wanted to keep the guitar close to stock as possible.