Pots audio/linear

[Ted]

I opened up my MIJ Tokai LP to find that volume pots are B500k and tone pots are A500k.

A = audio
B = Linear

Is that right and is that what generally should be the case?

If my assumptions are correct I may have answered why my damn Vee is so noisy when riding the volume controls (damn audio pots!).

[Oli]

I wouldn't have thought a linear pot would make the guitar noisy- just wouldn't do much after the first little turn. Whip that fella out and get a log pot in there... I believe that the tone pot can be linear though.

We'll have to wait for a pro to tell us the 'proper' version :)

[Neemo]

You can use whichever pot you feel like but logarithmic pots are usually used for volume 'cause the volume level change sounds even to human ear because our hearing curve is logarithmic.

What comes to noise... your pots are probably cr@pping out :P

[Twinfan]

You're both wrong guys.

Ted's setup is typical Japanese, and Gibson tend to use this setup too.  I use audio taper (log) pots for both tone and volume as at gig volumes a drop of volume down to 6 or 7 is perfect for a rhythm setting and boosting up to 10 for solos.  At bedroom levels it does sound like the volume rolls off too much though with audio pots.

Ted - try swapping the volume (linear) pots for audio taper and see if you like them, if not you can switch back to linear.  As for the noise, that'll be bad wiring or a bad pot - nothing to do with the taper (audio or linear).