How much difference will changing pots make to my squires tone

[markdavid]

Hi there,

Have just swapped the pick ups in my squier for some seymour duncans, bass sounds better for it , however I was wondering whether it would make any improvement to the tone if i changed the pots on the bass , the person who replaced the pick ups for me said that apart from getting rid of the slight crackle when i turn the tone knob changing the pots would only make a small difference tone wise, Is this true?

I also know nothing at all about pots etc and dont know a tone pot from a volume pot and was wondering if anybody could point me in the right direction with regards to buying some new pots

[Hamster]

[quote name='markdavid' post='24719' date='Jun 29 2007, 12:34 AM']Hi there,

Have just swapped the pick ups in my squier for some seymour duncans, bass sounds better for it , however I was wondering whether it would make any improvement to the tone if i changed the pots on the bass , the person who replaced the pick ups for me said that apart from getting rid of the slight crackle when i turn the tone knob changing the pots would only make a small difference tone wise, Is this true?

I also know nothing at all about pots etc and dont know a tone pot from a volume pot and was wondering if anybody could point me in the right direction with regards to buying some new pots[/quote]

I agree with the advice you've been given - a minimal difference. If you wanted to get your soldering iron out, make sure that you replace the pots with ones of the same value. Best just use some switch cleaner to smooth out the crackle on the ones you have.

If you wanted to do something that would improve your sound, (and presuming you have a J bass) how about this? [url="http://www.thebassgallery.com/jretro.html"]http://www.thebassgallery.com/jretro.html[/url]

Hamster

[markdavid]

Cheers Hamster , thanks for the reply , not a bad idea (the active circuit) , I have a p bass special and am thinking about doing something like that

[markdavid]

I did also wonder coz it is a squier and ive heard that squier tone pots are a bit cheap and nasty

[Hamster]

[quote name='markdavid' post='24742' date='Jun 29 2007, 01:49 AM']I did also wonder coz it is a squier and ive heard that squier tone pots are a bit cheap and nasty[/quote]

There isn't much inside a tone or volume pot to improve upon, it's just a simple variable resistor. If the tone on your bass is too high / bright you could swap the pot for a lower value, say 250k or if the tone is too low / dull try a higher value, say 1meg. I wouldn't be surprised if Fender USA used the same supplier of pots as the licensed copy company. But someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Hamster

[BOD2]

+1 to the advice above. Fender usually use 250k pots for basses. Changing to a higher (eg 500k) will make the sound slightly brighter. You may also notuce that the usable area of the pot (where it actually makes a difference to the tone) will shift and become narrower. Going higher (1 MB) can make the pots almost like on/off switches !

Ideally use "audio" or "log" pots for volume controls and "linear" pots for tone controls.

[Buzz]

Well, after having a look in the bowels of my Squire VMJ, it's got 500k pots, and noticable on/off-ness, so I'm planning over the summer to drop them down to 250k audio taper pots.

Might coincide with a Wizard Pickup purchase as well though...and a baddass.

[Mcgiver69]

[quote name='Buzz' post='25059' date='Jun 29 2007, 06:59 PM']Well, after having a look in the bowels of my Squire VMJ, it's got 500k pots, and noticable on/off-ness, so I'm planning over the summer to drop them down to 250k audio taper pots.

Might coincide with a Wizard Pickup purchase as well though...and a baddass.[/quote]

Buzz changing pot depends on which pickups are installed on your bass, if you have single coils (Jazz bass pickups) then you better use 250k pots, most of the times when the bass comes with 500k pots means that the tone of the pickups is really dark and by using those pots will give more highs to the sound. If you installed SD pups then it's a good idea to install 250k pots, this will give you that vintage jazz bass sound that everybody love. Try to use the same 250k linear pots for the tone control paired with a .40u ceramic capacitor and you'll be fine.

[NJW]

Changing from say a squier pot to an alps pot WILL make a difference. However, the difference will be so slight, I'd work on other elements first When it comes to £2000 pieces of audio gear, things like that make all the difference, but not at this price range.