Mini pots or full size?

[LITTLEWING]

Looking at swapping out the pots in my cheapy project Jazz. At present they're full size, but is there actually any audible difference in mini pots? I'm going to fit 250k CTS's so quality-wise things should 'probably' sound better than what's in there right now. 

Also, views on audio taper for the volumes and a linear for the tone?

 

[itu]

Size does not matter but the track does. The most common and cheapest tracks (and pots) are carbon. They are noisy and their lifetime expectancy is pretty limited. If in need for something far better, consider conductive plastic. My suggestion is - for top quality - blue or black Bourns.

https://www.mouser.co.uk/Bourns/Passive-Components/Potentiometers-Trimmers-Rheostats/Potentiometers/_/N-9q0yp?P=1yzekihZ1yzxs44Z1z0zlsdZ1yhozxvZ1y9heu3Z1yzbpod

Linear works with the tone, yes. If you need just slightly clearer tone, use 500 k for all three. Then pickups see around 170 k load. If your choice is 3 x 250 k, the load is 80 k.

[LukeFRC]

I splashed out on the larger metal cased Bournes for my last project bass. While being nicer to work with because of the size I didn't find any difference between them and Alpha or one of the cheaper makes in practice... I remember thinking this as I had problems with both of them.

The nicer ones @itu is recomending are obviously different and a step up. 

Lin for tone and Log for volume works well. 
Biggest tip is to use an "MN" pot for a blend if you're using one - it means that at centre position both pickups are 100% as opposed to normal blend pots where the middle is each pickup at 50%. 
(though for a Jazz VVT works just as well and doesn't load the pickups as much. )

[BigRedX]

Surely a mini pot will have a shorter track than a normal size pot?

[Grangur]

1 hour ago, itu said:

Size does not matter but the track does. The most common and cheapest tracks (and pots) are carbon. They are noisy and their lifetime expectancy is pretty limited. If in need for something far better, consider conductive plastic. My suggestion is - for top quality - blue or black Bourns.

https://www.mouser.co.uk/Bourns/Passive-Components/Potentiometers-Trimmers-Rheostats/Potentiometers/_/N-9q0yp?P=1yzekihZ1yzxs44Z1z0zlsdZ1yhozxvZ1y9heu3Z1yzbpod

Linear works with the tone, yes. If you need just slightly clearer tone, use 500 k for all three. Then pickups see around 170 k load. If your choice is 3 x 250 k, the load is 80 k.

IMHO the sound, when using 500K pots is more treble/aggressive sounding. Not really what I'd call "clear" necessarily? You can have a very clear/clean deep bass tone.

 

[itu]

3 minutes ago, Grangur said:

...500K pots is more treble/aggressive sounding.

Thank you Sir, your description is what I was after.

[NancyJohnson]

4 hours ago, BigRedX said:

Surely a mini pot will have a shorter track than a normal size pot?

Material composition and conductivity thereof aside, isn't it all about the degrees of rotation?  Assuming the knob rotates through 300 degrees (of a circular 360 degree rotation) to operate from open to closed, then the length of the track size is of an irrelevance; it doesn't/shouldn't matter whether the pot is the size of a thimble or that of a dinner plate.

[BigRedX]

1 hour ago, NancyJohnson said:

Material composition and conductivity thereof aside, isn't it all about the degrees of rotation?  Assuming the knob rotates through 300 degrees (of a circular 360 degree rotation) to operate from open to closed, then the length of the track size is of an irrelevance; it doesn't/shouldn't matter whether the pot is the size of a thimble or that of a dinner plate.

The track length should be related to the circumference of the pot. The bigger the pot, the larger the circumference the longer the track. 

[Islander]

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

The track length should be related to the circumference of the pot. The bigger the pot, the larger the circumference the longer the track. 

The smaller the pot, the slower the wiper travels along the track for a given angle of rotation at a set angular velocity. The larger the pot the faster the wiper travels along the track for the same rotation and angular velocity.  @NancyJohnson was spot on, what matters is the track resistance, taper, and if you're looking at quality, composition.