Various types of pots and caps

[DagleBee]

Hello forum members . I've just come back . Since i got time to think about all my knowledge I found out that i don't know how various pots may change the sound of a pickup . Anyone particularly had a Riff Raff that required some fine sound adjustment through changing pots ??  Oh and I almost forgot......What about the capacitors ??

[Dave Sloven]

From what I can tell the main difference (sound wise) between pots arises out of differences in the resistance rating. 500K is brighter than 300K etc.  The capacitors seem to have more tonal impact in terms of their type and construction.

I quite like the Russian NOS PEPT poly caps if I am using a 0.033uf.  One good thing about them is that they are very cheap (especially if you buy in bulk!), but they sound good too for more modern tones.

[darkbluemurder]

Anyone particularly had a Riff Raff that required some fine sound adjustment through changing pots ?? 

You don't necessarily have to swap the pots for such adjustment. If you have a 500k pot you make the pickup see a different load by adding a resistor from the pot's input to ground. A 470k resistor will give you a load of approx. 235k (close enough to 250k, most of them read low anyway), a 1 meg resistor will give you a load of approx. 330k (close enough to 300k) and a 2.2 meg resistor will give you a load of approx. 410k. Resistors are cheaper than pots, especially since you don't need a high wattage rating - even 0.25W will be enough.

Cheers Stephan

[DagleBee]

Agent Orange...the fact that those caps are cheap got my attention :) that;s a good piece of info .

Darkbluemurderer I appreciate that you explained in great detail but i still have to learn a couple things before fully understating everything you said . I think I got the essence sooooo thanks for sharing :)