Volume Pot Comparison 1meg - 500k - 250k - 100k - 25k

This is an useful tech tip on how to tweak the tone of your pickups by changing the value of the volume pot.
0:00 Intro
2:48 1000k Very Bright
3:21 500K Bright
3:55 250K "Normal"
4:29 100K Warm
5:02 25K Dark
Before spending a lot of money on new pickups (or change the design of your pickups) try changing a $5 volume pot to a different value.
Dont be afraid to change the values drastically I remember coming across a tele that had pickups that sounded like bricks, I ended up installing a 1meg pot to bring back as much treble as possible. I also remember the opposite to another tele by installing a 100K pot to take the bite off some ceramic P90s.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

There’s a revised version of this video on my channel comparing volume & tone with different values. Revised version uses a Seymour Duncan JB for reference.

[@edwardbristow9331]

I love the way bass frequencies started to growl on 100 and 25k. Lots of food for thought there and project inspiration. Thanks for making this video

[@KahruSuomiPerkele]

I'm an engineer, guitar pickups are high impedance, so they have a resonant filter in the audio frequency. Changing the load, or here the volume's value, you're basically controlling the height of the resonance, that's why 1M is brighter and the lower you go, the darker it goes.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Yup

[@Conrad_K]

Dude. This is truly enlightening. I'm amazed beyond words.

[@spinosaurusrex11]

Very useful content. With more like this your channel will soar. Great job.

[@douglasnewman4163]

Thanks so much for this video! I had been looking for something just like this to actually HEAR the difference of pot values. Just Great!

[@presentelaw]

Wow, this answers a lot of questions! Thank you so much for the video. It's good to know that volume pots can change the tone from bright to dark. I thought it was only the tone pots that could make such a difference.

[@strumminronin]

Thank you so much for doing the demo! Your video has helped me decide on what pots to get! OTOH, the rotary switch to go between the different pots is great too! 🙏🤘

[@jefffixesit60]

There's also the cool factor of having six volumes, and six tone controls for each pickup, plus selector switches 😊

[@_alexsams]

Thanks for taking the time to upload.

[@waffleshadow6840]

Wow, thanks for the demo, this helped me out a lot. I have some PRS 245s pickups I want to use on a jazzmaster, but they are very dark, I can see that using the 1 meg from th JM will help open them up a bit

[@scottdahlberg4890]

Thank you for doing this work for us gear heads.

[@DaVinci0963]

Thanks! Very informative and something we should all know,or at least have some idea about. Thanks again!

[@AJDOLDCHANNELARCHIVE]

Amazing how much of a difference it makes!

[@stevekirkby6570]

Well demonstrated sir!

[@Chris-th4im]

Nice!! Great job and thank you! Definitely hear it in every position. 🤘😎🎸

[@PerryCodes]

Damn! I never knew that changing that value could influence tone. You might have just saved me a couple hundred in pickups for a Reverend that I can't stand the sound of. I'm going to try a few things before swapping pickups, now to include seeing if perhaps a 100k pot helps!

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Yes lots of money can be saved. Potentiometers are cheaper than pickups. I put a 50k pot in a G&L ASAT with the MFD pickups successfully. Also each valve sound noticeably different in person and on the daw, KZbin audio compression is bringing out a lot of highs making it harder to tell the difference. I have the same problem with cymbals.

[@Les537]

Also consider swapping magnets. Easy and cheap in most cases.

[@BeamRider100]

I was wondering about this. Thanks bro

[@frantisca]

Well explained and demoed. Thanks for uploading :)

[@farkasgabor3491]

Your demonstration seems to be done with a specially wired guitar without tone pots. If someone needs to modify the volume pot values , must think about the fact that tone pots are parallel with them ( the capacitor behaves as a few ohms on sound frequencies - the tone circuit works as an LR low pass with variable R values) . So if you change the 500 k to 1 meg , you do it in vain unless you change the tone pot too for the same pickup.

[@jeffblackwell5493]

That was awesome, thank you!

[@kkrsnn5632]

Very interesting stuff, thanks 😊

[@DreidMusicalX]

I actually liked the 25k and 100k pots. Well with the pickups you have that is. My HSS configurations might not, but still I might give them a shot just to see. Ive changed a lot of pickups around but always stayed with what was recommended for pickups I got. Now I am getting more bored I might start fooling around with stuff more. Thanks for posting this.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

I have a revised version of this video on my channel that goes through volume & tone knobs. And I use a Seymour JB for reference

[@DreidMusicalX]

@@ArtoriusGuitarNerd Ill check it out. Thanks.

[@crazycarpes]

great job! very usefull... i like to use 500k pots with no tone conected...

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

I play Warmoth guitars with no tone knobs. My les Paul had tone knobs on push pulls so they’re not engaged. The Shechter guitar is my test guitar to do mods on.

[@Terribleguitarist89]

I have the same setup for my single Humbucker Strat build, definitely makes for a tone that cuts through a mix haha

[@MarzLast]

To clean a muddy neck pickup up put a green 0.047 cap in series between the hot pickup wire .

[@ronaldaldred6705]

In this circuit of filtering, you are varying 1component only. The capacitance is based on the pickup windings and to a much lessor degree, the pickup lead lengths. The Highs and lows roll offs can be also controlled with a few added components to further increase the desired effect. For instance, the bass increase of sound at 1/2 to 3/4 volume. There is so much more that can be done passively.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Yes TBX circuits can be added to control the treble & bass but that doesn’t work for most guitar configurations (people like having separate tone controls on Les Pauls and strats, and you would need stack pots to make it work on teles). Treble bleed circuits can also increase treble. Turning the volume down can roll off highs but also lowers the volume.

[@jcsolomon6470]

Vintaged,Gavitt,cloth wire,with Vintage Tone Caps,Will,Make Your Sound,Warmer,Organic and The Notes can be Molded to How you Want!As Well!Take care!Thanks for your Tips!

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Yes changing the caps and wire will slightly affect the tone. It’s good to experiment with pots wires and caps since they’re a lot cheaper than pickups. Then change your pickups if none of that works.

[@tubo628]

Prove it.

[@metalzonemt-2]

@@tubo628 Yeah, I would like to see that too, or rather, hear.

[@davebarone506]

Good demo, I would've like to see a Gibson Humbucker. I'm pretty sureFenders are different, but this gives something to think about

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Yes I want to do a revised video in the future with clean & dirty, single coil & humbucker, volume & tone.

[@AnonYmous-jp8uu]

depends on how you wire it. but i quit using volume and tone pots on guitars years ago. straight out!

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

I have a volume pot on my bridge pickups and no pot straight out on my neck pickups. 90% of my guitars are wired that way.

[@christiang2194]

Until recently, Gibsons used 250 - 300 k pots instead of the classic 500 k pots. My 2008 Les Paul Standard had 300 k pots from the factory. This was apparently due to the switch from pure nickel to nickel-plated strings in the 60s (?), which sounded much brighter (nickel was expensive and hard to get back then, as I understand it). I would suggest if you have a Gibson, check the pot value and try 500k first instead of going straight to 1M.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Yes Gibson uses 300k for vintage spec and 500k for modern spec. I’ve heard slight differences when changing out pots with the same value because the tolerances were different. Both would be 500k but one would read 472k and the other would read 503k I once had a 300k pot that read 197k !!!which was actually less than a 250k pot would have been. So I would definitely check pots with a meter if it means that much to your tone.

[@junito1957]

good test but if you put diff uf cap. you change the tone from 22uf bright to dark 47uf and more fuller 33uf is in the middle

[@Jimboslice911]

I would like to hear a roll off comparison as well, my 250k pots on my Fender suck and I just get about 7-8 on the volume, anything below that kinda breaks up and looses alot of tone. 500k on my PRS sounds great at low volume and swells are smooth as silk.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Are you saying your Fender breaks/gets muddy up at lower volume? If so, you can add a simple treble bleed capacitor to the pot. This mod will sound the same at full volume but will retain the treble as you turn down. The capacitor value will be a .001mf and it will go between the center lug and the pickup lug. Highly recommended trying that mod, I use to have a treble bleed on ALL my guitars before I started running buffers.

[@CruzWilson-jg5bu]

Could you make a tone pot video using humbuckers, using 250' s and 500's? It could be a combination of 2 videos. 1 video with 250's, 1 with 500's with short demos in each pickup position. Optimal, more work on your part though, would be A then B back to back. Neck position, play something using the 250, then the same guitar using 500. Then the middle, same thing. Bridge, same thing. And a volumn pot shootout using single coil tele and strat. Same format. You would be filling a void(to my knowledge) that i think a lot of players could really benefit from. Your volumn dial is cool, very cool- but most of us don't have that. Thanks for this video, really helps!

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Thanks for the suggestion, I can try to make a video like that.

[@osmarqueiroz2429]

Excellent comparison, the best video on the subject! Could you make this comparison with single coils? Thanks!

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Thank you! Actually the pickups I’m using in the video are hum canceling single coils in a humbucker platform. I designed them myself, I call them hybrid pickups (check them out on my channel). Essentially they are a full sized version of the G&L Z-coil.

[@osmarqueiroz2429]

@@ArtoriusGuitarNerd Thank you for your attentive response! Just one more question: Which of the pots do you prefer?

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

@@osmarqueiroz2429 I like the standard 250 for singles and 500 for humbuckers, (I like 250 for my hybrid pickups). When it comes to brands I prefer Alpha over CTS because the action is smoother feeling. Audio tapper or linear tapper would depend on your ears

[@GuitarIv69]

Tweaked a way too bright Jim Root Tele by replacing the 500k pot with a 250k that way. Also recently experimented with a mix of a 500k for volume and 250k for tone. Pots can make a subtle but noticeable difference

[@presentelaw]

I've tried 250k tone pots with 500k volume pot on my Strat. It sounded great but after awhile I got tired of the clanking sound. I'm going to try the other way around. 500k tone pots into 250k volume pot.

[@dtrude000]

Thank you for the video food for Thought, I would like to have seen a tone pot in the mix and also variable loads ? Mabey ?

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Absolutely I’m getting everything together for a revised video. Clean & dirty, volume & tone. And I’ll be going further into detail of the pot operation

[@tomasoprodi9340]

in would be interesting to compare these sounds with the no pot direct sound of the pickups

[@boloki72]

Yes! When you decrease the volume pot value, what you hear is the tone and volume you're losing, and also the difference in taper and response as you turn it.

[@sdkee]

For the sound at full volume knob, you can solder a resistor between the outer two lugs of the pot also. I use this technique in HSS guitars to add 510k resistor across the 500k volume pot only when the neck single coil is selected to take a bit of the bite out just in that position. What this is doing is reducing the gain at the resonant peak of the coil.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

What you’re doing is adding a resistor in parallel with the pot cutting the valve in half, turns the 500k pot into a 250k pot. Also you don’t need to place the resistor in between the outer lugs…. You only need to add the resistor to lug 3 and ground (since lug 1 is ground anyway). I do the trick you’re talking about with a push pull pot to make a 250k pot when doing a single coil tap or sometimes add the resistor to the blade switch so it does it automatically when switching to single coil pickups on a HSS.

[@user-zu8bd9ik9t]

Whoa! Love that 5 way different value mod! Can you share the schematic? I want to install that in my guitar!

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Yeah I can send you schematic on how I wired up the switch & guitar. But this is a load selector not a volume pot so you can simulate different value pots but not actually turn the volume down. I built the switch to display what the different values sound like. It’s kind of unpractical. My email is [e-mail] if you still want the schematic

[@IamMusicNerd]

Good info. The difference is very small to my ears, but there. I can hear a more noticeable difference between the 1meg and 25k obviously, but could not tell much of a difference between 1 meg and 500k, or 500k to 250k.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

I’ll be doing a follow up video this weekend. I’ll be doing clean and dirty, , volume and tone. The differences are subtle, but noticeable between all values however, the KZbin compression smeared all the frequencies, making it even harder to tell. Gonna try to fix that in the next video as well.

[@hanovergreen4091]

Outstanding! Thank You very much for this demonstration! Best Regards and Best Wishes!

[@MichaelWinter-ss6lx]

It sounds less professional (the sound) the lower the value gets. At 100k it sounds like a warehouse gitarre. The brightness, well, one must understand the sound algorythm used by yt. This is a good demonstration of the possibilities for tuning an electric instrument. The 1M poti can be too much on single coils. In the end, everyone needs to find out for himself what is best. A related option: if you feel your loosing highs when turning down the Vol knob, try a small foil capacitor between IN & OUT of the volume potentiometer. (3rd pin is ground). Try values between 100p till 150pF. Always use foil capacitors for signal related circuits. 🚀🏴‍☠️🎸

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

You’re talking about a treble bleed mod which will also work but some people may not like the treble bleed has they turn down. Also lug 1 is ground. Pickups get plugged into lug 3, lug 2 is the output, and lug 1 is ground. Treble bleed goes between lug 3&2. The lugs on a pot are 3, 2, 1.

[@presentelaw]

​@@ArtoriusGuitarNerdI've never liked treble bleed.

[@sparkyguitar0058]

O K I got a question. I changed my L Paul studio over from the original small 300 k pots to CTS 550 k pots but also changed wiring to Garret cloth wiring and .011 caps. The CTS pots were " specially ordered" by the seller at a dollar price difference . The pups are Gibson 496/500 and I thought I would get the most out of them by putting together all these pieces. My question is Do you feel like I wasted money with these changes. Part of the reason for some of this is these pups have a reputation of muddy and over the top sound. My thinking is wide scope of volume and tone so I actually keep the volume at about 7.5-8 to keep the muddy out of equation a bit. Seems to work. Actually the L P is usually my 2nd guitar to my L Sensor eqipped Strat which is very clean quiet sound. All this goes into a Boogie S O B.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Well there’s not a big jump between 300k and 550k, I’m sure it help out somewhat but I would have gone with 1Meg pots to get the most treble out of those pickups. And no I don’t think you wasted your money as potentiometers are fairly cheap compared to swapping out pickups. Pots should cost $6-8 each. I use CTS and Alpha pots on my guitar and prefer the Alpha pots because they have a smoother physical action.

[@zyxwvut4740]

4:14 I'm _In The Mood_ 🎺🎷 for potentiometers!

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

😹 good ear

[@user-sy8ls6mt3q]

When you figure youtube audio things out, you should correct and repost the video because it's a great idea to demonstrate these differences

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Already did an updated video. I used a bright single coil pickup in the video and use a dark humbucker in the revised video

[@joshuabenton3785]

Such a wonderful comparison video! but it left me with a question: What happens when you change the value of the tone pot? I know the potentiometers are literally the same, but I always figured the tone pot is the value you want to change because of the name. The reason I ask is because I recently changed my 500k vol/tone pots on my filtertrons to 1Meg. LOVE the increase of highs and volume, but the 1Meg volume has terrible roll off. I have to get it to the 2 for there to be any audible change in gain. Could I change the volume back to 500k but keep the tone pot at 1Meg?

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Yes the same rule applies to the tone pot, the larger the value the brighter the tone. Yes you can use a 1Meg in the tone and 500k to increase the brightness. I have a revised version of this video on my channel that compares the different values of tone knobs as well. I’m guessing you’re using 1Meg audio taper pots… most or all of the action is towards the end of the pot. You might want to use a 1Meg linear taper pot where the action even beginning to end. Also make sure lug#1 is properly grounded because turning down to 2 is quite low even for an audio taper.

[@joshuabenton3785]

@@ArtoriusGuitarNerd love this! just so I am understanding right this would be the correct progression from most high-end to least high-end tone options: 1Meg vol/ 1Meg tone > 500K vol/ 1Meg tone (1Meg vol/ 500k tone would be the same here?) > 500K vol/ 500K tone

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

@@joshuabenton3785 you have everything correct except for the (reversal). Having a smaller tone pot will trim highs off so it opposite. Check out my revised video as I play around with having tone pots smaller and larger than the volume

[@walterhambrick8705]

Part of that riff is the old theme to "The Match Game" !

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

The first riff is an original and the second riff is “In The Mood” by Glenn Miller

[@budgetguitaristcom]

Just discovered your channel - great video! Subscribed.

[@BC-uy9nq]

Great comparison thanks, if you change the value of the volume pot would the capacitance in the tone circuit need to change?

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Yes I should have mentioned that in my video. Same rule applies to the tone pot. I personally like to have my tone pot at a higher value than the volume pot, some of my guitars have the tone pot bypassed on a push pull.

[@presentelaw]

​@@ArtoriusGuitarNerdI like this idea and am going to put 500k tone pots on my strat with a 250k volume pot.

[@wallyelectronicsformusicia8646]

is must to consider also the impedance : single coil picups normally call for 250 K omhs and humbuckers call for 500 K ohms, and less ohms = less output volume.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

You really won’t hear any volume lost until you get down to 10-15k. There’s no loss of volume when I change values, the only thing getting quieter is the treble

[@RobertGabor]

Those pickups are.really specific.

[@garypannone7755]

That was a super great video. It really showed the differences. Is that how you normally work the tone on that guitar? Now that I think of it that is how it was done on the old Gretsch guitars but only one switch and two choices. I like yours better.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

It’s kinda like the old gretsch except with resistors instead of capacitors. I have a mini 3way (on/off/on) toggle on my main guitar…. Down is coil split, center is nothing, and up is a set tone like the old gretsches

[@southernpride2003]

​@@ArtoriusGuitarNerd If I were to change my guitar pot from a 250k tone pot to a 100k tone pot with a 250k volume pot Would the 100K tone pot get me that Luther Perkins I Walk the Line tone I'm talking about that Dark bassy tone I use Thomastik flatwound strings by the way

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

@@southernpride2003 yes it would get you closer to that tone BUT please check out the revised version of this video on my channel, it covers both volume & tone knobs

[@southernpride2003]

​@@ArtoriusGuitarNerd my main guitar goal is to get that I Walk The Line tone heard on the 55 Sun records record

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

@@southernpride2003 well the original teles had 100k pots so I would try one of two things. 1. 100k on both volume & tone 2. 25k-50k volume and 250k tone

[@denniswilliams2385]

I don’t know what amp you are playing through nor how you have it configured but I do know that you have some of the most god awful tone that I have literally ever heard.

[@redryderaus]

His aim was not to have the greatest tone but rather to show how changing the pot value affected the tone. He succeeded in that. BTW, I checked and saw you don't have any guitar videos up. Can you upload a few videos of you playing guitar so we can learn what great tone sounds like?

[@DDuMond1]

Interesting, I would understand this happening with the tone pot, but that it affects tone when changing the volume pot, is suprising!

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Same rules apply to both the volume & tone knob. The tone pot doesn’t get affected as much but I would match volume & tone pots with the same value.

[@ScottyBrockway]

Is the tone control hooked up? The parallel resistance between the cap/pot and resistor selection will make a difference on tone. TBH I can only hear a pronounced difference with the 25k pot, but there is also a massive volume drop, and the pickup is under a very low load at that point and it will reduce the high end like driving a long cable run.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

There is no tone cap/pot hooked up on this guitar. There’s more sound differences in person and listening to the direct recordings, KZbin compression brought out the highs, I have the same trouble demoing cymbals. Each value is affecting the load, a bigger value pot would help with long cable runs.

[@ScottyBrockway]

@@ArtoriusGuitarNerd I've been using 1meg pots for like 30 years now, indeed it was to combat high loss with 20ft+ cable runs. Even locally I can't hear any diff between 500k and 1meg though, 1meg is just louder. I have to change the tone pot to 250k because 1/2 the rotation does nothing with a 500k tone pot and 1 meg volume. I always thought that was curious.

[@robertbaldwin177]

Great vid, thanks! Total noob here, learning to play on a Squire Sonic Mustang HH (cheap starter guitar). Whilst learning realised I prefer finger picking blues/rock styles. Swapped my stock humbuckers for Alnico 2 PAFs which have brightened sound nicely, just not enough. Pots are 250K standard on Mustangs, even the HH models. Looking to change to 500K pots now. Assume need to upgrade both vol and tone to 500K? I don't quite understand the relationship between vol and tone dials. If vol is 500K but tone remains at 250K then how is the different from both being 500k, electically and audibly speaking? Hoping someone can help me 🤞 Thanks.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Absolutely would change both volume & tone pot to 500k or 1Meg to get a humbuckers full high end. I have a revised version of this video on my channel and I change the values on both the volume & tone so you can get a better idea of what the tone knob does. Btw in my opinion I truly think you should be using 1Meg pots all around on a Fender Mustang because the scale length is so short 24”…. That’s shorter than a les Paul, the shorter the scale length mean the warmer the guitars overall tone is…. I would counter balance the warm guitar with bright electronics. I think Alnico 2 PAFs and 1Meg pots would be magical

[@robertbaldwin177]

@ArtoriusGuitarNerd thanks! So kind of you to give such considered advice. I'll get some 1Meg pots then! Also, hadn't realised scale length has an impact on brightness, great info. Thanks again!

[@LotusSquid]

Crazy, I thought the 25k pot would be unusably muddy, but it sounded best to my ears. Even listened through a few speakers and headphones to compare. Am I the only one?

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

I wanted to use a 25k in this video, 25k is usually used in active pickups and not to hard to find on line, the GC in my city actually carries them too. I’ve installed 50k in strats & teles several times with good results. Personally I prefer the 100k in this demo because I like the sparkle without the glassy highs.

[@aisle_of_view]

I liked the 25K the most as well.

[@awscustomguitars]

Great presentation but a was hoping for a quick explanation of how the tone knob changed the sound with different volume pots. Eg: can you turn down the tone with a 1M vol pot and get a similar tone to 250k?

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

I plan to do a revised version of this video with more details like that. Same rule applies to the tone knob, changing the tone knob values with change the tone as well. And yes you can get a similar sound by turning down the tone on a 1Meg pot.

[@presentelaw]

​@@ArtoriusGuitarNerdI've tried this but it's still clanking. For instance, I had 2x 250k tone pots going into a 500k volume on my strat. For tired of the clanking sound.

[@mikethebloodthirsty]

I like to put 500k in a strat... And 1000k in Les Paul. It can literally change a guitar. The only guitar I have with a 250k pot is a Tele, however I change the tone pots. I can't hear too much with changing the volume pot on its ow

[@GuitarSmith.]

Changing pot values will do exactly what he claims, BUT. The volume taper/roll off will also change. The smaller the pot value the quicker the roll off. A 1meg pot will be really bright but will not make a lot of volume change for almost half of its rotation for most pickups, 25k pot will have a very quick roll off. If you like to do finger swells on a Tele a 100k pot with a treble bleed network works great.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

That’s not true. You can get audio taper & linear taper pots and both will react differently, it’s possible that you used an audio taper in your experience. The value of the pot is the load on the pickup and the center wiper is adding ground relative to the load (the higher value means less resistance = the more ground needed to lower the volume). So a linear pot at 50% should be 1/2 the volume no matter the value. An audio taper may need to be 2/3 down to be at 50% so it would feel like most of the action is towards the end.

[@rustyaxelrod]

Nice explanation and example of a much misunderstood concept. Thanks for clearing that up for me. This has me thinking of another question though. On simple electronic stuff with passive tone controls (not separate treble and bass) the tone was being changed by attenuating the UPPER frequencies, the lower tones were there in the same level regardless of the tone knob setting, yet here we are LOWERING the resistance and cutting the upper frequencies and that’s before the tone part of the circuit, a little confusing. Even further off the subject, has anyone offered a guitar with separate treble and bass controls? If so, did it involve the manipulating the signal prior to the tone controls? My favorite guitar for a dirty rock sound has a single humbucker with only a volume and output jack and I’m comfortable adjusting the amp tone to my liking so I haven’t messed around much with the controls on the guitar. I can see having a guitar with onboard options would be great for gigs. As I’ve gotten older I have more appreciation for dynamics and I feel like I’m grinding the same tone through entire songs.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Yes the same rule applies to the tone knob, changing the value of the pot or cap will change the tone slightly. Yes G&L guitars have a bass treble knobs and I believe Fender has a similar circuit called TBX. The treble knob is standard parallel wiring but the bass knob is wired in series so your signal runs through it just like a volume pot does. Most of my guitars don’t have a tone knob either, the ones that do are on push/pull knobs so they’re not engaged if I don’t need them, and I have one G&L with the TBX knobs.

[@rustyaxelrod]

@@ArtoriusGuitarNerd - Thanks for the reply, I’ll look into those and try to get my head around what they are doing. Have you noticed on your volume only guitars when rolling off the volume slightly the tone cleans up some before the volume decreases noticeably? Kind of interesting what is happening there (electrically). Maybe some value to a pre-volume control for quick switching…. Anyway I plan to tinker with this in the near future, thanks again for gettin me on the right track. Like Many other people I was skipping the significance of the volume pot, thinking about tone capacitors and pickups. 👍

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

@@rustyaxelrod yes the clean up roll off is from more load being added when you dial down the knob. Analog amps and pedals react well to different loads….digital circuits don’t work the same, most likely because it’s all 1s 0s.

[@MatthaeusEbonah]

Forget a "tone knob" I need that 5 way rotary. What's it called?

[@Mr.Goldbar]

I have 500k and I strive for 1meg on all my guitars regardless of pickups. 1meg is not a treble booster, it's not boosting anything and not adding anything that's not there. The others on the other hand take away content that's there automatically, the higher the value you get more of the pure signal from the pickup. I find it way more benificial to have more than what I need and in case of needing to cut anything I'd just use the tone knob (I'd never use a tone knob lower than 1meg), rather than feeling I lack something and trying to add it artificially.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Very true. The point of the demo was being able to “fine tune” your guitars to reduce the amount of adjustments you do to your tone knobs or amp settings when switching between different guitars. I would definitely recommend 1Meg over 500k but I would say 4Meg pots have a more open sound like nothing is there. 90% of my guitars have the bridge pickups wired to a 500k pot and the neck pickups are true bypass no pot / straight through.

[@bobbyatkinson8692]

cool video..

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Thanks man, check out the revised version on my channel

[@igoriakoven3665]

Thanks !

[@brianbianchi8028]

Would you switch both the tone and volume pots or just one of them. Would you also keep the same capacitor, just on a new potentiometer.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Same rule applies to the tone. I would have both pots match or use a larger value on the tone if possible. You don’t need to change the capacitor because the capacitor doesn’t add load to the pickups. (You can take this opportunity to change the capacitors if you want to experiment. I think .047uf is to muddy when on ten so I usually use a .027uf-.033uf which gives me a better sweep of usable tones) Most of my tone knobs are bypassed with a push pull pot…. I’ll pull it up whenever I need to use a tone knob.

[@romanrempel3848]

Hi, where i can get this variable resistor!??? 😮

[@guitarsfunmods3986]

I would like to experiment a humbucker with 1 meg pot, wether I can can get close to a single coil tone or not. If it is close to the tone and feel of a single coil, then it's better to make a switch between 500k and 1 meg, instead of split coil switch

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

I don’t think it will get into single coil territory but it I’ll think you’ll be happy with a 1Meg pot if you’re looking for a brighter tone.

[@mcgrath16511]

Thinking about sliding a 100k vol pot into my strat just to see what it sounds like!!

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

I think you would like the results. I’m actually in the process of making a new video to correct some eq compression issues. The sounds aren’t so subtle in person.

[@search895]

How are those rotary value selector called when looking for them to buy? Are they ready made with the resistance options?

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

You can buy potentiometers in many different values 1M, 500k, 300k, 250k, 100k, 50k, 25k I’m using a rotary switch with resistors to simulate what those pots would sound like at full volume, I’m not able to turn the volume down with this setup.

[@klausochs5781]

Thans a lot 4 this Info . Klaus from Germany WeAreFamily ;-)

[@DMSProduktions]

GOOD comp, however you were using single coil pick ups, & they would be over bright with a 1M pot. A hum bucker usually is just right wired to a 1M pot! Done it a few times myself! Much preferred! I did a SC Tele with a 500K pot & it was much better than 250K!

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

The pickups in the video are hybrid humbuckers (technically not single coils) they’re bright but not thin. I once put a 1M pot in a tele that had Dirty Harry single coils and it still wasn’t bright enough for the customer(didn’t have that tele twang)

[@DMSProduktions]

@@ArtoriusGuitarNerd They sound like they MIGHT have been very HOT Tele sc pick ups & were prob quite DARK as a result. I still heard a fair bit of sc hum from your guitar so I wondered if they were still sc in nature!

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

@@DMSProduktions good ear, my man cave is very noisy, even my Duncan humbuckers are a little buzzy.

[@DMSProduktions]

@@ArtoriusGuitarNerd Ahh I SEE! Well that threw me! Cheers!

[@spekenbonen72]

Does the P.U. get a load or does the P.U. create a load??? I'm not arguing a change in sound b.t.w. It is clearly changing the guitar. But a passive electric guitar creates a load when the strings agitate the magnetic field. An amp doesn't put a load on a guitar (that would be deadly). So, a constant load of 1K, nope

[@ziggy8757]

i would say the only usable pot in this specific example was the 25k, the rest were extremely bright and the difference was marginal between them....

[@valendis]

250k or 100k were the best to my ears!

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Yes I would recommend 100k or 250k on these bright pickups. I personally would use the 100k.

[@user-us4vv4qj6y]

So the volume pot is not at 0 ohms. How much resistance is on the signal through the volume pot? Thanks.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

No the volume pot is whatever value it is. I have a revised version of this video and it better explains how the pots work.

[@8stringwrshpleader]

So, I've been thinking about chamging the pots on an 8 string to 1meg, but i really dont want to give up the push/push switch on the 500k pits that are on right now. Is there a way to just... frankenstein together a 1meg push/push pot?

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Sorry for the late response but I wanted to do some experiments with pots & resistors before I sent you an answer. I have good news bad news for you. The bad news is there’s not a way to make the 500k into a 1Meg property. The good news is you can add a treble bleed capacitor to your 500k to let more highs through. Since you want a bright wide open tone I would suggest adding a .001mf or a .002mf capacitor to lug 3&2 (pickup lug and center lug). That should give you the 1000k bright open tone. The treble bleed circuit also retains the brightness as you turn the volume down and won’t get muddy at lower volumes.

[@8stringwrshpleader]

@ArtoriusGuitarNerd dude! THIS is the answer I've been looking for! Thanks so much!

[@presentelaw]

​@@ArtoriusGuitarNerdwhy not replace the tone cap rather than having a treble bleed on a tone cap? Just wondering if there is a difference? Thanks.

[@timbailey4055]

How do you set up the fiveway selector. I'd like to try in one of my projects

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

I will tell you how it’s done but first let me say it’s not a good idea because you can’t adjust the volume with the rotary switch. I wind pickups so I use this rotary switch to hear what pickups sound like with different loads to determine which pots would sound best. It’s a 5-way rotary switch with 5 resistors (1Meg,500k,250k,100k,25k). Each resistor is soldered to its own lug on the switch and the opposite end of the resistors are all twisted together and soldered to ground. Then the “out” lug of the switch goes to your pickups. The pickups will be under load 100% as if there was a volume pot.

[@GuitarSmith.]

You are supposed to be using audio taper pots in your guitar. Linear taper pots, like the one you're showing in your video, are not normally used in guitars except in the case of active pickups or onboard preamps. The quicker taper is the the trade off you make for using smaller pots. The quality of the pot makes a difference also, cheap pots have a lousy taper to begin with. Also, on a two volume guitar connecting the pickup to the fixed load(outside leg) makes both volume controls reactive to each other when both pickups are used. Yes this also makes the taper a bit different depending on the pickup impedance.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Both audio taper and linear taper can be use in either passive or active circuits, it just depends on what kind of action you prefer. As a pedal builder I have a lot of experience with taper pots (I’ve even done reverse tapers for lefty players).

[@peekaboo4390]

Ok very interesting .. so I have a beautiful Boss CE-1 chorus pedal that sounds amazing but it seems to want to clip on very low gain settings. This is undesirable for me and I want to be able to have more headroom on the gain before clipping. The current pot is 500K If I change the pot to 250K will I achieve more headroom before clipping occurs or the opposite and go to 1000K ?

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

The volume pots of the guitar or pedal won’t help that problem. I read online people having that problem and I don’t what to say on the subject. Make sure it has the correct power because the old units are 12volt. Try running a buffer before it.

[@peekaboo4390]

@@ArtoriusGuitarNerd Yes it is mains powered and internally rectified to 12 DC. There must be a way to desensitise that gain clip. I believe these units were originally designed for keyboards so they might not like a hot signal. The chorus is last in my chain and I already have a buffer up front first in line,,,,hmmm. Thanks for your input... pun intended.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

@@peekaboo4390 dang that’s unfortunate, I read that it was made for a LowZ signal so I thought a buffer would help it out since a buffer is LowZ

[@darylbeemon7418]

What type of pickups are those?I love them

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

I make them, I call the hybrid pickups. Check out the demo of those pickup here kzbin.info/www/bejne/najPaZqJqtWprtEsi=kfKKoQsbrFrYh8aL I sell them on reverb.com

[@alchemysticgoldmind4164]

Thank you nice post...could we hear without reverb

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

I'll be doing a revised version of this video in the future. I'll be going deeper into how the pots operate, volume & tone pots, and I'll be using a set of pickups that aren't so bright. these pickups are basically single coil with 1meg pot, very very bright. these pickups need 100k pots or 250k with some tone knob. And yes I'll do the next video without reverb, my studio is so dry i tend to overdue the reverb.

[@jefffixesit60]

Being a math nerd, I'm always confused by terms like bright, warm, dark, crunchy, etc., but I could hear differences in tone in your demo. Would love to see what these tones look like on o'scope and spectrum analyser😊

[@diabeticmonkey]

Bright usually means a signal is very treblely, warm is up for debate, dark for a bass heavy and less defined sound, and crunchy for a sound that’s right past the edge of natural tube breakup.

[@azmike3572]

But what is done with volume pots when the volume level is useless until knob numbers 8-10 (a non-linear volume increase)?

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

The pickups are aways under constant load no matter what taper or where you have the knob set. The pickups don’t receive a variable load when turning the knob. If your volume does “nothing” until you reach 8-10 then you most likely have an “audio taper” pot and you’ll need to switch it to a “Linear taper” pot to get an even volume sweep. Audio pots are usually labeled with an “A” and Linear pots are usually labeled with an “B”

[@donald-parker]

Good idea for a vid, but I can't help but feel there is more to it. A pot does not "add" anything to the sound. It can only "take away". So even if the 1M pot sounds brighter, to me it still means that more of what the PU is producing is being heard. You are not cutting bass with a higher Z volume control - your are just filtering less of the high end. And you still have tone controls on your guitar and EQ on your amp, so it might just make the whole guitar more flexible - capable of producing a wider range of sounds. Also, a common mod is a switch to completely bypass the pots and go directly from the PU to the output jack. Which is effectively "an infinite ohm" pot. Am I missing something?

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

You’re not missing anything at all. You’re absolutely correct about the way the pots filter out the high end and a brighter sound with a tone knob would be more versatile. And yes I’m definitely aware of true bypass pickups…. Most I’ve my guitars have a 250-500k pot on the bridge and completely open no pot on the neck.

[@12wurst34]

As long as it goes to 11, resistance is of no importance.

[@pedrova8058]

@@12wurst34 you are loading a big coil (inductance and capacitance, with a resonant frequency, all at once), any resistance in the path (added to the capacitance and resistance of the cable) has an effect on high frequencies . (electrical designers don't put those things in because they're just bored)

[@stephenchow5161]

subbed

[@JR-to8sn]

This is a great topic however, the pups that you're using aren't dark to begin with, at least that I can tell. You should do this on an LP type where the neck is typically boomy and just play barre chords so it's easier to detect the differences.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

That’s a very good point, I should have done both (bright pickups getting warm & dark pickups getting brighter).

[@JR-to8sn]

@@ArtoriusGuitarNerd It is a good video though, thanks. Typically, I just add a treble bleed on the neck volume pot if it's too dark or boomy, which is even easier than swapping pots.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

@@JR-to8sn that’s a good mod as well but has limitations and some people might not care for the treble bleed at lower volumes. I use to have treble bleeds on all my guitars but I’ve been using buffers inside my guitars lately so I removed them.

[@JR-to8sn]

@@ArtoriusGuitarNerd Yes I agree and I change to the "Kinman" version of the treble bleed with works the best IMO. There isn't a volume drop off, it's much more linear. But the pot swap to a 1k on the neck is a great mod.

[@michauui]

my ear noticed a change only between 100 and 25 K, at least with this crunchy setting

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

I’m working on a follow up video this weekend. I had the guitar mix to loud and the KZbin compression squished and smeared the frequencies ( it’s subtle in the first place but the compression didn’t help. Next video I’ll be doing clean & dirty, volume and tone.

[@AresJazzOfficial]

Molto interessante...

[@tsifrokayf3233]

What kind of potentiometer did you use for comparison?

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

I’m using a rotary switch with resistors. Potentiometers are variable resistors, the configuration im using is non variable resistors. When it comes to brands I use alpha or cts, I prefer alpha because the action feels smoother.

[@tsifrokayf3233]

​@@ArtoriusGuitarNerdI would like to see this switch in more detail, as well as the guitar buffer circuit if you don’t mind, very interesting

[@bsmith8166]

Impossible to hear this test with that reverb and your general tone. This would have been such a good idea for an interesting vid.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

I’m gonna be doing a revised version later on with both clean and overdrive and without reverb. I didn’t do clean because I figured most of us play dirty anyways and the difference are subtle with drive. And my reverb is ducking so the reverb isn’t on when I’m playing only when I stop.

[@teotvrdeic8260]

​@@ArtoriusGuitarNerdits good enough for me on a cell phone. Less reverb would be nice but never the less good comparison

[@confinedmutts]

That's a good idea, but you should have played clean sounds, with no effects at all. All demos look alike...

[@anodyneforever3996]

I would think the change in the Tone pot would make a bigger difference.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

They both make a difference. I have a revised version of this video were I test pots on the volume & tone

[@BeesWaxMinder]

Would there be a difference IF you also use a Tone Control too..?

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Absolutely, I made a revised version with both volume and tone. Check it out

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/fnuuinyNfNGSgassi=HlhL0ERBvWE0Lwfh

[@0imax]

Do it again but with a Stratocaster

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

This pickup is very very similar to a single coil which is why the sound is bright with 1Meg & 500k

[@timec818]

What will happen to the sound? If the pickup sees? you wiring vol Independent?

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

I don’t understand the question. Are you asking what will it sound like if your flip the input output lugs? If so, the pickup will have a variable load and will sound different/darker as you turn the volume down. Your pickup should not sound different as you turn the volume down when wired the standard way. The 5-way switch is toggling between different load resistors simulating potentiometers. The way an amp or pedal responds to volume has nothing to do with how the pickup sounds.

[@timec818]

@@ArtoriusGuitarNerd also darker if you wiring the tone pot to the output of the vol pot? Instead of the normal "before" the vol pot. Yeps sorry bat English! Me!

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

@@timec818 yes the tone will get slightly darker/warmer when you wire in a tone knob whether it’s on the input or output. The modern tone knob is on the input and the “vintage” tone knob is on the output. In general the vintage tone knob will need a smaller capacitor since it also uses load to trim off the treble.

[@charlesvannice8279]

I've noticed my 90s MIM with ceramics and 250k sounds like a muddy mess compared to my other with also 250k and Alnicos, which sounds "normal." Is that odd/strange?

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

I would go with the 1Meg if they’re that muddy. That would open them up to their full potential

[@VincentBakker1964]

Ceramics are dull and lack sparkle to my ear. They can also be very nasal. Buy some alnicos, as they seem to be more open sounding to me. Clean tones or slight breakup are more critical than heavy distorted tones, as distortion adds overtones.

[@charlesvannice8279]

@@VincentBakker1964 huh. For mine I feel I need to turn the bass way down or it sounds like mud.

[@danpena7922]

Wow, I thought it would be a huge difference, but it's not. Cool video.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

@@charlesvannice8279 the bigger value pot will “lower” the bass by “raising” the treble. I’ve used bass cut knobs but they neuter the sound.

[@mikelilly7285]

Amps too?

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

No because amps are an active circuit. This is only for passive guitar pickups.

[@stevewoodyt]

I can only hear the difference if I jump. As it goes in order I don’t notice it. It’s a pretty big difference from 1000 to 25 though.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Yes, the differences are subtle in the first place. It won’t make a humbucker into a single coil… I had the guitar too loud in the mix so the KZbin compression is smearing the frequencies and making it hard to hear those subtle differences. I plan to make a revised video in the future.

[@stevewoodyt]

@@ArtoriusGuitarNerd​​⁠ not a dig at your method or execution. It’s just subtle from one to the next. There’s is definitely a difference. I actually intend to give this a shot on the SD JB I’ve got in the bridge of my charnel. It’s goobery with big strings tuned down. It’s an alder body and I’ve never had an alder guitar before. I sold an Ibanez I had because the mahogany body was just too dark.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

@@stevewoodyt coool! I plan to do a revised version of this video this weekend with volume & tone, clean & dirty. I’m actually gonna be using a Seymour JB in the next vid too.

[@stevewoodyt]

@@ArtoriusGuitarNerd Serendipitous! I’ll be looking for the video. If I do it I’ll make a video of doing it and link your video as inspiration.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

@@stevewoodyt nice! It’s always nice to see someone’s perspective on the same topic.

[@gabibonza]

Awesome! subscriber +1 😎👍🏻

[@daddymidwest4111]

WHY doesn’t EVERY guitar come with a rotary switch?

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Very few guitar have it. Most popular guitar that has one would rickenbacker….the small 5th knob that everyone gets confused with. Guitars should come with an internal load pot so they can all be adjusted accordingly.