Alastair Posted August 18, 2008 Share Posted August 18, 2008 I just installed some new Pups and wiring harness on my j bass. The pups work fine as do the volume pots, but the tone pot seems buggered It works in that you get either uber dark when its "off" or uber bright when you turn it past 1...and thats it. Its practically 1 or 0. Is this normal for some pots or is it deffo summat wrong? Im guessing the latter. Just my luck Any suggestions on what I do? I got it from the US so I *really* dont want to return it. Cheers, Ally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOD2 Posted August 18, 2008 Share Posted August 18, 2008 Is there any writing on the pot to identify what value it is ? Tone pots on a passive bass are often not that effective but what you describe does sound a bit extreme. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastair Posted August 18, 2008 Author Share Posted August 18, 2008 (edited) [quote name='BOD2' post='265039' date='Aug 18 2008, 10:50 PM']Is there any writing on the pot to identify what value it is ? Tone pots on a passive bass are often not that effective but what you describe does sound a bit extreme.[/quote] I do believe its a 250k, with an orange drop cap. Edited August 18, 2008 by Alastair Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
escholl Posted August 18, 2008 Share Posted August 18, 2008 (edited) can you get a pic up of it wired in? is it linear or logarithmic? Edited August 18, 2008 by escholl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastair Posted August 18, 2008 Author Share Posted August 18, 2008 It's a standard J bass wiring as far as I'm aware. I'll get a pic of it tomorrow (Too knackered/pissed off at it to open it up again ). Can you tell what type of pot it is from the wiring? Each pot has three connections IIRC, dunno if that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
escholl Posted August 18, 2008 Share Posted August 18, 2008 no, it was mostly to make sure that it was wired up correctly....sometimes if you spend too long staring at something, you can miss something obvious, and it helps to have someone else look at it. if it's a log pot, it's possible that maybe you've just connected it up backwards. you shouldn't have any problems, i've got the same 250K/Sprague combo on my tone pot and it sounds great (incidentally, ordered from the US as well) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastair Posted August 19, 2008 Author Share Posted August 19, 2008 Well it was a prewired assembly (I'm too lazy sometimes!) so unless they've done it wrong then..I dunno. I'll take a photo when I get back from work so you can see. Thanks for the help so far (also is it fairly easy to wire in a new tone pot? I'm a bit of a n00b but I can use a soldering iron. I'd rather just make this a DIY job cause I'm guessing tone pots arent all that expensive. Dont wanna sedn this back to the states :/) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
escholl Posted August 19, 2008 Share Posted August 19, 2008 yea it's pretty simple to do, even easier than a volume pot as there's only two connections....my guess is it should be a simple fix Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastair Posted August 19, 2008 Author Share Posted August 19, 2008 I believe this is what the wiring is like: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastair Posted August 20, 2008 Author Share Posted August 20, 2008 Ok bit late, sorry. Here's some photos. Is it just me or does that sticky out bit (to use th on the pot look wonky? Is that normal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
escholl Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 you've got, literally, the identical setup on your tone pot to me. everything looks to be wired up correctly, and the solder joints look good. are the numbers on the pot "EP085 250K"? I've never seen a pot where the pcb bent like that though, that doesn't look quite right...and if the little amount that sticks out is bent, and it's somehow broken the carbon track inside, then that would certainly account for the "0 or 1" phenomenon. do you have a multimeter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastair Posted August 20, 2008 Author Share Posted August 20, 2008 (edited) I dont but mon pere will somewhere Ill have a scout about in a mo. I take it if your prognosis is correct then it is terminal? As in new tone put time? Also its very close but no, the numbers are EP088 250K Edited August 20, 2008 by Alastair Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
escholl Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 i don't know, it depends where/if there is a break. measure the resistance across pins 1 to 3 (the outside ones). it should be 250K. if it does mean a new tone pot, it's probably easier to just order one from the UK instead of sending it back, but that's up to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastair Posted August 20, 2008 Author Share Posted August 20, 2008 I will order from the UK. I'd rather get the fix done quickly, it seems easy enough even for a newbie. Any good places to buy from? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
escholl Posted August 21, 2008 Share Posted August 21, 2008 ebay is probably the cheapest option, to be honest. allparts would have it, but i had a bad experience with them in quality control, followed immediately after by a bad experience with their customer service. you'll probably be fine. watford valves have what you need, they sell pots for amps but it's the same thing - and the alpha mini pots are only a pound. too bad about the four pounds (!!!!!!) postage. i've only bought guitar parts from the US, so i'm a bit rubbish at recommendations....someone else could probably recommend something. don't order a new one until you've tested this one though, just in case it's something else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastair Posted August 22, 2008 Author Share Posted August 22, 2008 Ok thanks man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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