250k Vs 500k Pots For Humbuckers

When to use 500k pots.

250k vs 500k pots for humbuckers. Lower values produce a slightly warmer tone they remove little more of the highs. An audio taper travels from zero to max in a logarithmic way similar to the way the human ear works. Allowing some of the highs to slip away can reduce the shrill and warm up the high notes. Generally speaking to control volume humbuckers should be paired to 500k pots while single coil pickups should be paired with 250k pots.

A 500k volume pot offers twice the resistance to the current flowing from the pickup to the output jack versus a 250k pot when turned up to maximum. Why does the value of the pot matter. This type of pot will cause the volume to seem to change the most right when it is almost all the way up. Yes it is typical you will find 250k pots used on nearly all traditional strat 3 single coil sss configurations and 500k pots used on nearly all 2 humbucker hh configurations.

I m going to install p90 sized mini humbuckers. It is also known that a 500k pot will give you more highs than a 250k pot. Fatcat friend of leo s. A linear taper goes from zero to max in a linear fashion.

We use the 500k pots for the humbuckers because they are warm and dark sounding so we want to preserve as much high end as we can. We use 250k pots for the single coils because these pickups are often very bright. Should i go 250 or 500k pots. K is the abbreviation for kilo or 1 000.

There are even some wiring schematics around that make a 500k pot a 250k pot depending on the position of your five way blade so you have a 250k pot with your singlecoils and a 500k pot with your humbucker. 500k pots allow less high end frequencies to pass to ground and will result in a brighter tone. While there are 1 meg potsout there the vast majority of electrics use either 250 or 500. But the why remains a cloudy subject.

I m leaning toward 250k. 500k control pots are the usual choice for humbuckers. 250k or 500k pots for mini humbuckers discussion in tele home depot started by fatcat jul 6 2016. Therefore a 500k pot will result in a brighter tone than a 250k pot used on the same pickup.

Jul 6 2016 1. Bass guitars are not concerned with high end frequencies and use 250k pots almost exclusively for single coil and humbucker pickups. First i wanted to make something really clear up front. Halfway through a 500k pot should have a resistance of around 250k.

So let s get to the bottom of it. Whilst there are many variables to consider the traditional volume pot values appear to be the best choice in most sc. They have a dc resistance of 5 6k 6k. These k numbers are the resistance ratings kohms.

250k control pots are the usual choice for single coil pickups. I ve got a squire strat that i m customizing. Jul 6 2010 location. You can experiment with different pots on your guitar.

Higher values produce a slightly brighter tone.