hey, im trying to hook up an amp to my home surround sound, it has up to 180W going to the sub and i have spliced into that to make a (pre-amp) for my new 3000w (350Wx2ch) amp but i dont want to fry the inputs with the 180w input, so im trying to install a "pot" to turn down the input into the new amp. im wandering if there is a formula to tell me how many ohm pot i need to splice in? any clue?? i dont even know it this will work. any hints?
Message sent. I don't know how effective increasing thickness of the strip would be, since the signal should just be able to take the shortest path right? If changing the materials/conductivity along the strip is too expensive, I thought of a cheap way to approximate a log.
@Naregnemyes - resistance is a little counter intuitive. I'm sorry I didn't say it clearly enough in the video at 4:36 when I said "more stuff to go through = more resistance" (hence my popup annotation bubbles). A fatter wire has less resistance than a thinner wire, but a longer wire has more resistance than a shorter wire. Quoted from wiki: "An object of uniform cross section has a resistance proportional to its resistivity and length and inversely proportional to its cross-sectional area"
@johnplanetz Right, i figured out later that i misunderstood also. but the real question is why is it expensive to create a log pattern? I don't see what would be so costly about laying a track that tapers from thick to narrow or doing a pattern like the one I messaged you.
@SamwiseGUITAR - it's really personal preference- you need to find one that works for you! I've used the CTS EP-0086 in a number of projects and liked them. I use 16mm alphas in most of my pedal projects.
@SamwiseGUITAR - sorry my first reply wasn't clear. I meant to say, I've used the CTS EP-0086 for guitar tone/volume pots and liked them. I use 16mm alphas in most of my pedal projects.
wow, i was looking for a good potentiometer video, and this was so well made thanks! how come peoplie cant make a detailed video on electronics, more like this!!
@MRacer001 - no, this is a standard pot with a resistive track printed on a wafer and a wiper that rides on the arc of that track, used in passive analog electronics. A "continuous pot" or rotary encoder is totally different, typically used in digital applications, requiring a small microprocessor, etc.
@MRacer001 - no, this is a standard pot with a resistive track printed on a wafer and a wiper that rides on the arc of that track, used in passive analog electronics. A "continuous pot" or rotary encoder is totally different, typically used in digital applications, requiring a small microprocessor, etc.
@jazzey69 - referencing Elliot's "Beginners' Guide to Potentiometers", his schematic in figure 9 is what you need. Think of your dual gang pot as two regular 3-lug pots stacked on top of each other, controlled by the same shaft. Each set of 3 lugs is one of the pots. Each pot as shown in his schematic has three lines, top, bottom, and center-arrow. Those are the 3 lugs of the pot, left, right and center. Experiment hooking it up with alligator leads until you get it working. Good luck!
I have a question, a rotary potentiometer that the displacements are converted in potential difference, there is a need to rotate the slider to regulate the Resistance or when the movement starts the resistance in automatic way adjusts to the value.
Or if the rotation is to strong the Resistance you have to adjust yourself to give any type of value on display system.
@johnplanetz The question is related about rotary Potentiometers
And say that constant input in the terminal 1 and 3 give a output in the terminal 2 and 3 and that output is a fraction of the input correspond a ration of the R23/R13 or the division of the two.I got that.
And also show like your i suppose that is constant resistance per length angle.
Want i didn't get is being a movement that creates potential difference (input) why there is input in the terminals 1 and 3 ?
@blakeyou91 - try to get the same potentiometer as before - same resistance, same taper (unless you specifically want different value/taper), and wire it up the same as before. If you don't remember how it was wired, confirm with a wiring diagram, and double check your wiring and soldering.
Very good videos. In one of your other videos showing an epiphone circuit being request, you have actually removed the pots and poked them through some aerated cardboard... But you didn't mention it ... That's actually a fantastically useful approach when wiring without a scratchplate... Keeps the work still and even allows you to draw the wiring between the lugs... The latter might help if you are just starting soldering.
@aculeus1971 - I show that in more detail in the first in my series of guitar rewiring videos: "Wiring Up Guitar Electronics 1: Component Layout, Selecting Wire, Stripping and Tinning". Drawing the wires and labeling the pots directly on the cardboard is a great idea. I also traced the f-hole onto mine, to keep track of where the wires should go to avoid being seen through the f-hole.
@clodester - there a few ways to make a variable resistor. one is a wirewound resistor with taps at different points along the coil. another would be a rotary switch connected to different resistances. you could even describe a transistor (bipolar junction transistor or field effect transistor) as a variable resistor, with the resistance determined by the signal at the base/gate. these, along with the potentiometer as shown this video, can all be viewed as "variable resistors".
ok, i'm confused... when you measured the two diff pots at 8:17, the linear pot read ~182k and then ~92k at halfway. But then the log pot marked 500k measured .522k and then .473k at halfway... wouldn't that make it a reverse log? also, why did it read 00.522 instead of 522.00?
@leatherwings007- the meter was in auto-scale mode, so as soon as the value was > 500 kilohms, it switched to megohms. 0.522M = 522K. As for the measurement of 473 at half-way, it depends which 2 lugs you measure across. If I had measured across the other lugs, we would have seen 49. When turning a log taper pot clockwise, the value increases slowly then more rapidly, while with an anti-log taper pot, it increases rapidly then more slowly. See the graph in Westhost's Beginners Guide to Pots.
@ChrisTheDIYguy - i had never even heard of a wig-wag until your question :) i found one rather opaque explanation - search for "gengethoma wig-wag potentiometer"
Your videos have been SO helpful. I've learned a lot about the technical and physical stuff that I thought I'd never learn. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom! I've been enjoying geeking out on these videos!
@bhmr5711 - I believe the W taper is something like an S curve taper. If you can't find an exact replacement try a linear B taper. which is probably marginally closer to the W than the audio A taper.
@steelmarco - that's actually a G&L ASAT III which is sort of a hybrid between a tele and a strat. It has a tele style body, but with 3 single coils and a 5-way switch like a strat. And a master volume and tone, like a tele. Great guitar :)
@johnplanetz - DUMB QUESTION... Do I need potentiometers? I never use my controls(I use a volume and an EQ pedal). I was thinking about running pickups+toggle+output. Btw, I use passive and active pickups. I wired a cheap tele copy w/o pots and couldn't hear anything bad... actually sounded better than before
@InterspeciesErotica7 - no you don't need any controls at all. Just wire the pickup directly to the jack (with selector switch as necessary). You're right in thinking it sounded better. It'll actually be a bit brighter without those pots loading to ground (which rolls off some high end). See my old video titled "Epiphone P-90 Pickup Experiment" in which I do this exact test.
@jazzey69 - imagine a simple balance control as two volume controls stacked on top of each other, wired in reverse. The first volume control is the Left, and the second is the Right. As you turn the shaft, the Left turns down and the Right turns up, and vice versa. There are dual-gang pots which are constructed like this. To make a good balance control, you need to carefully consider the tapers of the two pots. Search for Rod Elliott's article "Beginners' Guide to Pots" for some examples.
@thepolnw - if you're using the pot as a variable resistor, only using the center lug and one side lug, then switch over to the other side lug will reverse the pot's operation. one side will increase resistance as you turn clockwise, while the other side will decrease resistance.
@thepolnw - you've short-circuited 1 and 2, so resistance between 1 and 2 is 0. now measuring resistance between 1 and 3 will give same the result as between 2 and 3.
@thepolnw - if you don't connect 1 and 2, then measuring the resistance between 1 and 3 will show the overall resistance of the pot, regardless of the wiper position (as I show in the video). i recommend you get a multimeter and do these experiments with a pot, and all will become clear :)
THoughts about this..my mind starts thinking..well, more material changes the taper, but then I thought electric cords, and audio speaker cords that have more copper in them actually offer less resistance, thus less heat, etc. A bigger electric cord lets me run an extension to an electric heater without getting into resistance problems..right? Bigger audio cable lets me run longer cable without loosing signal strength.right? So, why does more material on the pot do the opposite?
@sclogse1 - this stuff can be counterintuitive. the way I described it is ambiguous, and i misspoke about thickness in the taper section at 6:30. i'll add some popup-notes to the video. for the same length of a wire, a thicker wire has less resistance than a thinner wire. but for the same thickness of wire, a longer wire has more resistance. Similarly, if you're thinking of resistors- two equal resistors in parallel will have less resistance than the two in series.
@johnplanetz - specifically, it was ambiguous when I said at 4:36 "more stuff to go through is more resistance", i should have said "a longer length to go through is more resistance". and at 6:30, in describing a taper with narrower=less resistance and wider=more resistance, it should have been the other way around. wider would be less resistance, narrower would be less. sorry for any confusion
You are awesome. Thorough. At 6:07, when introducing the audio/log taper, I found my mind starting to ask questions that this video wasn't necessarily covering...(jsut imagine showing a class this and imagining wehre some of the minds are going at this point. You might want to experiment with the video by having a complete novice sitting there while you rehearse the video, and getting their feedback. I realize that feedback comes here...of course.
@sclogse1 - despite the ridiculous amount of hours I spend on every one of these videos, the instant I finish and upload a video, I invariably realize that I missed something or said something not quite right, etc. the curse of me being a perfectionist- it'll never be good enough- but I try and improve in each production i do. thanks for the suggestions.
Thanks for your thorough explanation on those potentiometers! I need them to build my own home-made racing wheel, hadn't a clue what they were. Now this solves half of the problem already!
Johnplanetz I use my volume knob a lot when playing, but the the pots on my guitar do not swell my volume consistently, i get no volume until about a .25 of a turn than limited toneless and than bam! Full volume. What post do you recommend to get an even volume increase?
Usually 2 linear segments are used to approximate the audio taper. It works well enough for most applications. Exceptionally high-precision log and audio taper pots are a thing of the past.
This is very usefull, Thanks. Ive got a fairly old Sony AV amp that has a bad volume control, it loses a channel and crackles when you turn the volume control. Would it be a similar potentiometer? I didnt know they were this simple. Think after watching this il give it a go and see if it'l clean up. Cant afford to lose the amp as it'l cost me a fortune to replace, its a great amp.
@formidable38 - you can try to clean it with some electrical contact cleaner spray, but you may be out of luck there- the trace itself may be corroded or damaged. don't worry though - it should be relatively easy to replace. see if you can identify the pot by its markings - or measure it with a multimeter, and then buy an equivalent replacement pot (should be less than $10) and wire it up the same way it's wired now. good luck!
@johnplanetz Well ive had a good result. I took the plunge, desoldered 2 of these pots that were sandwiched together, i guess 1 for each channel. Took them apart and carefully cleaned the carbon tracks and the contacts. I then very delicately tweaked the contacts to apply abit more pressure. Put it all back together and vola, its working perfectly! Thanks to your video.
hey im just wondering....can better quality audio linear pots help reduce feedback?...or does the capacitors help out with that problem?...because its odd that im wiring 2 humbuckers to a 5 way switch and it has a lot of feedback....and i have another guitar that I wired the exact same way with the same humbucker pickups and has no feedback and a .047 green cap...thanks for your help
@pushpin9 - as far as I know (and I could be missing something), the volume pot and caps don't really affect feedback unless they're really cutting tone. Could it be that these humbuckers are hotter, or not well potted, compared to your other pickups? Obvious question, but is one of the guitars a hollowbody? :) You could rule out the electronics or body by temporarily connecting the good pickup in the guitar with the problem, or the bad pickup in the good guitar.
What is the difference between a volume pot and a tone pot? I need to buy a volume pot for my guitar but it doesn't specifically say "tone" or "volume" on any pots that I have looked at in radioshack/guitar center.
@PerfectParasite - a pot is a pot is a pot :) It's how you wire it up that makes it a volume or tone (or something else) control. Volume typically uses all three logs- one side to ground, the other side to the pickup, and the middle to the output. Tone typically only uses two lugs- one side through a tone cap to ground, and middle to the audio signal. Hope this helps.
@johnplanetz theyre both pots, tone pot has a capacitors, that's what makes it a tone pot...without the cap, it's just another volume pot (but doesn't work)
@dudu90tm - are you responding to PerfectParasite from 3 weeks ago? If so, see my response from then, as it explains the wiring differences (in addition to the capacitor). it's not correct to say that without the cap, it's a volume pot- because it would actually be wired up differently as a volume pot.
@dudu90tm i did read somewhere that is a volume pot.. i`m just sharing it.. though i never believed its a volume pot because i removed my cap, and the tone pot had no effect on tone or volume.. but doesn't matter anyway :D
My physics teacher threw a potentiometer on the speakers for the announcements. Turns the volume down to minimum and continues lessons... best hack ever.
I have noticed that new cts pots have small metal tabs at each end of the carbon trace so that when the wiper is at the end of its travel, the wiper is not touching the carbon at all. This gives the center lug a direct path to which ever side lug the wiper is turned to. On older cts pots the wiper is still going through a very small bit of carbon trace even when at the end of it's travel. It is enough to give about 10 to 20 ohms of resistance. Could this affect the sound?
@nonameinfl- cool, i haven't seen those yet- can you provide a part # for reference? I don't think it'll make much difference in the two common guitar applications- volume and tone. For volume, a few ohms of difference at either end shouldn't really be audibly different. For tone, you're at 0 resistance when your tone is on 0, so the a subtle difference between dull and duller probably isn't that important :)
In any case, it would be interesting to do an A/B comparison with the new pots!
@johnplanetz- The p/n is still the same-013446, at least on the ones I have which are 250k. I noticed the change right about the time new cts pots started shipping with brass shafts instead of aluminum although I do have one with an aluminum shaft that has the metal or copper tabs at each end of the carbon trace. Just take a light and look in the pot and you can see little copper tabs extending out from each outside lug right on top of the trace. I like your vids by the way!
@johnplanetz Well, I just watched the video again and the the cts pot you disassembled has the copper tabs I am takling about! They clearly extend out from each outside lug onto the carbon trace. The older cts pots do not have this copper pad or tab or whatever you could call it at each end of the trace. I don't know if it makes any difference, I just noticed the change a few years ago. Thanks for your very neat posts!
Awesome explanation of the potentiometers! Thanks to you I could repair my volume pot. But I have a question, the B500k (volume) shows 522k when I measure its resistence at the maximum and the A500k (tone) shows 449k, shouldn't they show 500k?
@Nicolauru. You'll rarely get an exact 500k measurement. All pots have a certain tolerance. Yours are within about 5 or 10% of 500k which isn't too bad. I discuss tolerance a bit more in my video "Guitar Potentiometers part 2, Comparing Linear/Audio Taper and Selecting Pots"
@InFuriatedShadows - I guess extremely burning a pot could cause the conductive trace to lift off the phenolic wafer, which would result in flakey, crackly or simply broken pot. If your pot is still working ok, then don't worry about it. But I'm just guessing. All this talk of overheating pots-- either it must be a really crappy pot, or people are using waaay too much heat for waaay too long. I use a 40w iron, and i routinely hold it to the pot for 10 seconds or so. Never had a problem.
great video: does the pot need to be disconnected from the guitar electrics in order to measure its resistance? Or can it be done while the pot is soldered on the circuit?
@nekkio99 - it's always a good idea to measure a component in isolation, to avoid any interaction with other circuit elements. if you measure it in place, your readings will very likely be incorrect.
Higher resistance will load the pickups less, resulting in less high frequency roll off. In other words, higher resistance may make your pickups sound brighter. Lower resistance may make your pickups sound duller. Depends of course on the pickups, and everything else in the circuit.
Assuming you're asking about volume pots in a guitar, I don't think one will really be louder than the other. A 500k pot will load the pickups a bit less, so they may sound a bit brighter which could be perceived as louder.
im looking to do some inventing but i know very little about circuit components, so you might have to excuse the stupidity of my questions, when you wire a dial type potentiometer, do you only use one outer lug and the middle lug? or all 3? do they make these with a digital screen or something with numbers?
The way you wire up the pot depends on the application. Not sure what you mean by "dial type", but if you want to use it as a variable resistor (rheostat), you use one outer lug, and the center lug. Encoding to digital display requires more complicated circuitry.
I suggest you get a book on basic electronics, like the "Getting started" book by Forrest Mims III. I also highly recommend the Electronics Learning Lab from Radioshack as a way to learn by experimentation.
by learning lab, do you mean those things that have the little springs you use to hold color coded wires down that are connected to circuit components, that say they can be used to make maybe 30 to 100 different things?
Yes, try the radioshack model 28-280. Nice learning kit, comes with two books by Forrest Mims III - one on analog circuits and one on digital. Great for experimenting and learning.
@Slushplop - haha! well thanks for the kind words, but books are great! where do you think i learned this stuff? :) and more information is always better.
Thanks, Ive know how they work but your video and explanations really make it clearer in my head on how to wire pots to do different thing
UnluckyFett 1 month ago
Good Engineering Information!
ChowZeb 1 month ago
This has been flagged as spam show
hey, im trying to hook up an amp to my home surround sound, it has up to 180W going to the sub and i have spliced into that to make a (pre-amp) for my new 3000w (350Wx2ch) amp but i dont want to fry the inputs with the 180w input, so im trying to install a "pot" to turn down the input into the new amp. im wandering if there is a formula to tell me how many ohm pot i need to splice in? any clue?? i dont even know it this will work. any hints?
ethanstephenson 1 month ago
Thanks for the video, pots make a lot more sense now.
halfcabdisaster7 1 month ago
where could i buy these ?
eduardoo1234 1 month ago
@eduardoo1234 - try Mouser, or any number of online guitar parts resources. I have some links at my blog at planetz.
johnplanetz 1 month ago
@eduardoo1234 guitarelectronicsDOT com has all of these and more and offer other resistance and taper options on all of them
caulinrocker1 1 month ago
there is no videos like this in spanish D: well... lets improve my english!
Gadsonyc 2 months ago
Message sent. I don't know how effective increasing thickness of the strip would be, since the signal should just be able to take the shortest path right? If changing the materials/conductivity along the strip is too expensive, I thought of a cheap way to approximate a log.
Naregnemyes 2 months ago
@Naregnemyes - resistance is a little counter intuitive. I'm sorry I didn't say it clearly enough in the video at 4:36 when I said "more stuff to go through = more resistance" (hence my popup annotation bubbles). A fatter wire has less resistance than a thinner wire, but a longer wire has more resistance than a shorter wire. Quoted from wiki: "An object of uniform cross section has a resistance proportional to its resistivity and length and inversely proportional to its cross-sectional area"
johnplanetz 2 months ago
@johnplanetz Right, i figured out later that i misunderstood also. but the real question is why is it expensive to create a log pattern? I don't see what would be so costly about laying a track that tapers from thick to narrow or doing a pattern like the one I messaged you.
Naregnemyes 2 months ago
@Naregnemyes - I'm not sure- I presume it has something to do with the way the track is is manufactured onto the wafer.
johnplanetz 2 months ago
Am I a nerd for knowing all of this and watching it anyways for fun? How about on a Friday night? By myself?
bedofrazorsqwerty 2 months ago 2
@bedofrazorsqwerty - I'm honored :)
johnplanetz 2 months ago
@bedofrazorsqwerty On christmas eve too! :D
Gadsonyc 2 months ago
@bedofrazorsqwerty On christmas eve too! :D
Gadsonyc 2 months ago
it is so nice to see you are informing us on these simple things
rcmoot 3 months ago
Thank you for this video! Which pot do you prefer? Is one smoother than the other by feel and taper? Thanks so much!
All The Best,
Sam
SamwiseGUITAR 4 months ago
@SamwiseGUITAR - it's really personal preference- you need to find one that works for you! I've used the CTS EP-0086 in a number of projects and liked them. I use 16mm alphas in most of my pedal projects.
johnplanetz 4 months ago
@johnplanetz Thank you! What about inside guitars? Thanks again!
SamwiseGUITAR 4 months ago
@SamwiseGUITAR - sorry my first reply wasn't clear. I meant to say, I've used the CTS EP-0086 for guitar tone/volume pots and liked them. I use 16mm alphas in most of my pedal projects.
johnplanetz 4 months ago
wow, i was looking for a good potentiometer video, and this was so well made thanks! how come peoplie cant make a detailed video on electronics, more like this!!
dizzybot 4 months ago
THANK YOU!! :) ) )
MathieuAllain 4 months ago
really interesting video. are the types of potentiometers you showed 360 degree continious potentiometers? if not what type are they
MRacer001 5 months ago
@MRacer001 - no, this is a standard pot with a resistive track printed on a wafer and a wiper that rides on the arc of that track, used in passive analog electronics. A "continuous pot" or rotary encoder is totally different, typically used in digital applications, requiring a small microprocessor, etc.
johnplanetz 4 months ago
@MRacer001 - no, this is a standard pot with a resistive track printed on a wafer and a wiper that rides on the arc of that track, used in passive analog electronics. A "continuous pot" or rotary encoder is totally different, typically used in digital applications, requiring a small microprocessor, etc.
johnplanetz 4 months ago
I have a question, Is there such a thing as a stereo potentiometer? If so, do they work the same way as a regular potentiometer?
SmileysRevenge100 5 months ago
@SmileysRevenge100 - a "dual gang" pot is essentially two pots stacked on top of each other, controlled by the same rotary shaft.
johnplanetz 5 months ago
Comment removed
SmileysRevenge100 5 months ago
O.O
Wooooooooooooow....
straighter100 5 months ago
Now this is what YouTube is all about! Great presentation, very clearly explained and extremely helpful. Many thanks!
glazinq 5 months ago
thanks this vid really helped because im a beginner
hugojj101 5 months ago
Dear John,
I am making a centre weighted balance pot for a HIFI amp.I have a 6pin twin gang 100k lin pot and 2off , 35k resistors.
Can you show how to make a centre weighted banlance control pot for a Hi Fi amp.I have a curcuit by Rod Elliot, i am just unsure of the wiring.
many ,Thanks for your videos..Steve...
jazzey69 5 months ago
@jazzey69 - referencing Elliot's "Beginners' Guide to Potentiometers", his schematic in figure 9 is what you need. Think of your dual gang pot as two regular 3-lug pots stacked on top of each other, controlled by the same shaft. Each set of 3 lugs is one of the pots. Each pot as shown in his schematic has three lines, top, bottom, and center-arrow. Those are the 3 lugs of the pot, left, right and center. Experiment hooking it up with alligator leads until you get it working. Good luck!
johnplanetz 5 months ago
Great video!
rippingrudy 5 months ago
I have a question, a rotary potentiometer that the displacements are converted in potential difference, there is a need to rotate the slider to regulate the Resistance or when the movement starts the resistance in automatic way adjusts to the value.
Or if the rotation is to strong the Resistance you have to adjust yourself to give any type of value on display system.
any one give me the info thanks
sexoja23 6 months ago
@sexoja23 - I'm sorry I didn't understand the question.
johnplanetz 6 months ago
@johnplanetz The question is related about rotary Potentiometers
And say that constant input in the terminal 1 and 3 give a output in the terminal 2 and 3 and that output is a fraction of the input correspond a ration of the R23/R13 or the division of the two.I got that.
And also show like your i suppose that is constant resistance per length angle.
Want i didn't get is being a movement that creates potential difference (input) why there is input in the terminals 1 and 3 ?
sexoja23 6 months ago
i had a tone potentiometer that fell apart, i tried to replace it but when id soldered everything back on it still didn't work,
is there a certain potentiometer i need ? or anything im missing?
blakeyou91 6 months ago
@blakeyou91 - try to get the same potentiometer as before - same resistance, same taper (unless you specifically want different value/taper), and wire it up the same as before. If you don't remember how it was wired, confirm with a wiring diagram, and double check your wiring and soldering.
johnplanetz 6 months ago
Very good videos. In one of your other videos showing an epiphone circuit being request, you have actually removed the pots and poked them through some aerated cardboard... But you didn't mention it ... That's actually a fantastically useful approach when wiring without a scratchplate... Keeps the work still and even allows you to draw the wiring between the lugs... The latter might help if you are just starting soldering.
aculeus1971 6 months ago
@aculeus1971 - I show that in more detail in the first in my series of guitar rewiring videos: "Wiring Up Guitar Electronics 1: Component Layout, Selecting Wire, Stripping and Tinning". Drawing the wires and labeling the pots directly on the cardboard is a great idea. I also traced the f-hole onto mine, to keep track of where the wires should go to avoid being seen through the f-hole.
johnplanetz 6 months ago
whats the difference between a pot and a variable resistor?
clodester 6 months ago
@clodester - there a few ways to make a variable resistor. one is a wirewound resistor with taps at different points along the coil. another would be a rotary switch connected to different resistances. you could even describe a transistor (bipolar junction transistor or field effect transistor) as a variable resistor, with the resistance determined by the signal at the base/gate. these, along with the potentiometer as shown this video, can all be viewed as "variable resistors".
johnplanetz 6 months ago
ok, i'm confused... when you measured the two diff pots at 8:17, the linear pot read ~182k and then ~92k at halfway. But then the log pot marked 500k measured .522k and then .473k at halfway... wouldn't that make it a reverse log? also, why did it read 00.522 instead of 522.00?
leatherwings007 7 months ago
@leatherwings007- the meter was in auto-scale mode, so as soon as the value was > 500 kilohms, it switched to megohms. 0.522M = 522K. As for the measurement of 473 at half-way, it depends which 2 lugs you measure across. If I had measured across the other lugs, we would have seen 49. When turning a log taper pot clockwise, the value increases slowly then more rapidly, while with an anti-log taper pot, it increases rapidly then more slowly. See the graph in Westhost's Beginners Guide to Pots.
johnplanetz 7 months ago
Good vid thanks for the info!
znelson710 7 months ago
excellent video. do you know how a wig-wag potentiometer works by any chance?
ChrisTheDIYguy 7 months ago
@ChrisTheDIYguy - i had never even heard of a wig-wag until your question :) i found one rather opaque explanation - search for "gengethoma wig-wag potentiometer"
johnplanetz 7 months ago
2 people missed the like button because there smokin pots.
lookyboop 8 months ago
@lookyboop f u!
legoclockfreak710 7 months ago
Your videos have been SO helpful. I've learned a lot about the technical and physical stuff that I thought I'd never learn. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom! I've been enjoying geeking out on these videos!
BJBorchert93 8 months ago
very useful informations I have found here! Thanks!
YaKamarJulia 9 months ago
i have a W500k pot on my ibanez. Can it be replace with A500k or B500k?
bhmr5711 9 months ago
@bhmr5711 - I believe the W taper is something like an S curve taper. If you can't find an exact replacement try a linear B taper. which is probably marginally closer to the W than the audio A taper.
johnplanetz 9 months ago
I like the sticky pot better... i think that would b hard to smoke and probably pretty harsh!
rostine1980 9 months ago
Thank you for the great info..Be well always..
jazzey69 9 months ago
beautiful Telecaster!
steelmarco 9 months ago
@steelmarco - that's actually a G&L ASAT III which is sort of a hybrid between a tele and a strat. It has a tele style body, but with 3 single coils and a 5-way switch like a strat. And a master volume and tone, like a tele. Great guitar :)
johnplanetz 9 months ago
@johnplanetz - DUMB QUESTION... Do I need potentiometers? I never use my controls(I use a volume and an EQ pedal). I was thinking about running pickups+toggle+output. Btw, I use passive and active pickups. I wired a cheap tele copy w/o pots and couldn't hear anything bad... actually sounded better than before
InterspeciesErotica7 9 months ago
@InterspeciesErotica7 - no you don't need any controls at all. Just wire the pickup directly to the jack (with selector switch as necessary). You're right in thinking it sounded better. It'll actually be a bit brighter without those pots loading to ground (which rolls off some high end). See my old video titled "Epiphone P-90 Pickup Experiment" in which I do this exact test.
johnplanetz 9 months ago
Thankyou for a great video and your nice teaching.
How would i use one for a balance control on a hifi amp ?
Would the balance pots be different from one used as a volume control ? Or would you wire it up different i mean the pins ?
Thank you very much again Great Work !!!
Steve Rickards England ...Have a great day to all...
jazzey69 9 months ago
@jazzey69 - imagine a simple balance control as two volume controls stacked on top of each other, wired in reverse. The first volume control is the Left, and the second is the Right. As you turn the shaft, the Left turns down and the Right turns up, and vice versa. There are dual-gang pots which are constructed like this. To make a good balance control, you need to carefully consider the tapers of the two pots. Search for Rod Elliott's article "Beginners' Guide to Pots" for some examples.
johnplanetz 9 months ago
Thanks for putting the time in this very well done video : )
carvindc400 10 months ago
Thanx for the video.
saurabhCherished 10 months ago
thanks for making this video :)
XHaveNOFearX 10 months ago
what happen if connect middle leg to the other leg???
thepolnw 10 months ago
@thepolnw - if you're using the pot as a variable resistor, only using the center lug and one side lug, then switch over to the other side lug will reverse the pot's operation. one side will increase resistance as you turn clockwise, while the other side will decrease resistance.
johnplanetz 10 months ago
@johnplanetz no i mean there r 3 legs 1= left 2=middle 3=right
i connect 1 to 2
and measure ohm at 3 and 1(1 that connected to 2)
thepolnw 10 months ago
@thepolnw - you've short-circuited 1 and 2, so resistance between 1 and 2 is 0. now measuring resistance between 1 and 3 will give same the result as between 2 and 3.
johnplanetz 10 months ago
@johnplanetz the resistance will be the same as didn't connect 1 to 2?
thepolnw 10 months ago
@thepolnw - if you don't connect 1 and 2, then measuring the resistance between 1 and 3 will show the overall resistance of the pot, regardless of the wiper position (as I show in the video). i recommend you get a multimeter and do these experiments with a pot, and all will become clear :)
johnplanetz 10 months ago
THoughts about this..my mind starts thinking..well, more material changes the taper, but then I thought electric cords, and audio speaker cords that have more copper in them actually offer less resistance, thus less heat, etc. A bigger electric cord lets me run an extension to an electric heater without getting into resistance problems..right? Bigger audio cable lets me run longer cable without loosing signal strength.right? So, why does more material on the pot do the opposite?
sclogse1 11 months ago
@sclogse1 - this stuff can be counterintuitive. the way I described it is ambiguous, and i misspoke about thickness in the taper section at 6:30. i'll add some popup-notes to the video. for the same length of a wire, a thicker wire has less resistance than a thinner wire. but for the same thickness of wire, a longer wire has more resistance. Similarly, if you're thinking of resistors- two equal resistors in parallel will have less resistance than the two in series.
johnplanetz 11 months ago
@johnplanetz - specifically, it was ambiguous when I said at 4:36 "more stuff to go through is more resistance", i should have said "a longer length to go through is more resistance". and at 6:30, in describing a taper with narrower=less resistance and wider=more resistance, it should have been the other way around. wider would be less resistance, narrower would be less. sorry for any confusion
johnplanetz 11 months ago
You are awesome. Thorough. At 6:07, when introducing the audio/log taper, I found my mind starting to ask questions that this video wasn't necessarily covering...(jsut imagine showing a class this and imagining wehre some of the minds are going at this point. You might want to experiment with the video by having a complete novice sitting there while you rehearse the video, and getting their feedback. I realize that feedback comes here...of course.
sclogse1 11 months ago
@sclogse1 - despite the ridiculous amount of hours I spend on every one of these videos, the instant I finish and upload a video, I invariably realize that I missed something or said something not quite right, etc. the curse of me being a perfectionist- it'll never be good enough- but I try and improve in each production i do. thanks for the suggestions.
johnplanetz 11 months ago
Thanks for your thorough explanation on those potentiometers! I need them to build my own home-made racing wheel, hadn't a clue what they were. Now this solves half of the problem already!
Forde3654Eire 11 months ago
Johnplanetz I use my volume knob a lot when playing, but the the pots on my guitar do not swell my volume consistently, i get no volume until about a .25 of a turn than limited toneless and than bam! Full volume. What post do you recommend to get an even volume increase?
Onmetube 11 months ago
@Onmetube - that's odd. is it a master volume? or individual volume when blending with another pickup?
johnplanetz 11 months ago
Super Clear! Thanks----
Very well explained.
Thanks
vancouverecotours 1 year ago
Very informative! Thanks for taking the time to produce the vid.
StackedEng 1 year ago
My educated guess is that this guy has a degree in electronics engineering and he likely has 15 years of experience teaching the trade..
stuckinthecities 1 year ago
This helped answer many questions I had..
stuckinthecities 1 year ago
Very well explained. Very useful video!
catch22punk 1 year ago
Great! Thanks
fungii37 1 year ago
potentiometer and variable resistor are the same?
vrockpokey100 1 year ago
@vrockpokey100 - you can use two lugs of a pot (the center and one side) as a variable resistor. aka rheostat
johnplanetz 1 year ago
Great Video, helped me a lot. Thank you very much.
DraganP84 1 year ago
Thanks
yowillyjj 1 year ago
Very nice video, thanks for posting it. We've featured it in Guitar Kit Builder online magazine. Please let us know if you have any objections.
guitarkitbuilder 1 year ago
Love your videos. Thank you for your time and the shared knowledge.
LLJJEEYY 1 year ago
Usually 2 linear segments are used to approximate the audio taper. It works well enough for most applications. Exceptionally high-precision log and audio taper pots are a thing of the past.
madamerotten 1 year ago
great explanation simple and easy to understand...love electronics
TzzX78 1 year ago
This is very usefull, Thanks. Ive got a fairly old Sony AV amp that has a bad volume control, it loses a channel and crackles when you turn the volume control. Would it be a similar potentiometer? I didnt know they were this simple. Think after watching this il give it a go and see if it'l clean up. Cant afford to lose the amp as it'l cost me a fortune to replace, its a great amp.
formidable38 1 year ago
@formidable38 - you can try to clean it with some electrical contact cleaner spray, but you may be out of luck there- the trace itself may be corroded or damaged. don't worry though - it should be relatively easy to replace. see if you can identify the pot by its markings - or measure it with a multimeter, and then buy an equivalent replacement pot (should be less than $10) and wire it up the same way it's wired now. good luck!
johnplanetz 1 year ago
@johnplanetz Well ive had a good result. I took the plunge, desoldered 2 of these pots that were sandwiched together, i guess 1 for each channel. Took them apart and carefully cleaned the carbon tracks and the contacts. I then very delicately tweaked the contacts to apply abit more pressure. Put it all back together and vola, its working perfectly! Thanks to your video.
formidable38 1 year ago
@formidable38 - excellent work! good to hear.
johnplanetz 1 year ago
hey im just wondering....can better quality audio linear pots help reduce feedback?...or does the capacitors help out with that problem?...because its odd that im wiring 2 humbuckers to a 5 way switch and it has a lot of feedback....and i have another guitar that I wired the exact same way with the same humbucker pickups and has no feedback and a .047 green cap...thanks for your help
pushpin9 1 year ago
@pushpin9 - as far as I know (and I could be missing something), the volume pot and caps don't really affect feedback unless they're really cutting tone. Could it be that these humbuckers are hotter, or not well potted, compared to your other pickups? Obvious question, but is one of the guitars a hollowbody? :) You could rule out the electronics or body by temporarily connecting the good pickup in the guitar with the problem, or the bad pickup in the good guitar.
johnplanetz 1 year ago
What is the difference between a volume pot and a tone pot? I need to buy a volume pot for my guitar but it doesn't specifically say "tone" or "volume" on any pots that I have looked at in radioshack/guitar center.
PerfectParasite 1 year ago
@PerfectParasite - a pot is a pot is a pot :) It's how you wire it up that makes it a volume or tone (or something else) control. Volume typically uses all three logs- one side to ground, the other side to the pickup, and the middle to the output. Tone typically only uses two lugs- one side through a tone cap to ground, and middle to the audio signal. Hope this helps.
johnplanetz 1 year ago
@johnplanetz Okay thanks, you have been exceedingly helpful. I really appreciate it
PerfectParasite 1 year ago
@johnplanetz theyre both pots, tone pot has a capacitors, that's what makes it a tone pot...without the cap, it's just another volume pot (but doesn't work)
dudu90tm 1 year ago
@dudu90tm - are you responding to PerfectParasite from 3 weeks ago? If so, see my response from then, as it explains the wiring differences (in addition to the capacitor). it's not correct to say that without the cap, it's a volume pot- because it would actually be wired up differently as a volume pot.
johnplanetz 1 year ago
@dudu90tm i did read somewhere that is a volume pot.. i`m just sharing it.. though i never believed its a volume pot because i removed my cap, and the tone pot had no effect on tone or volume.. but doesn't matter anyway :D
dudu90tm 1 year ago
My physics teacher threw a potentiometer on the speakers for the announcements. Turns the volume down to minimum and continues lessons... best hack ever.
flamingfigures 1 year ago
This is a really well made video.
Thanks John!
JamesHaskin 1 year ago
thank you john for your explaination. i have understand the function of this poti and now i can solve my problem what i had. o.ae from munich,germany
oae100 1 year ago
I have noticed that new cts pots have small metal tabs at each end of the carbon trace so that when the wiper is at the end of its travel, the wiper is not touching the carbon at all. This gives the center lug a direct path to which ever side lug the wiper is turned to. On older cts pots the wiper is still going through a very small bit of carbon trace even when at the end of it's travel. It is enough to give about 10 to 20 ohms of resistance. Could this affect the sound?
nonameinfl 1 year ago
@nonameinfl- cool, i haven't seen those yet- can you provide a part # for reference? I don't think it'll make much difference in the two common guitar applications- volume and tone. For volume, a few ohms of difference at either end shouldn't really be audibly different. For tone, you're at 0 resistance when your tone is on 0, so the a subtle difference between dull and duller probably isn't that important :)
In any case, it would be interesting to do an A/B comparison with the new pots!
johnplanetz 1 year ago
@johnplanetz- The p/n is still the same-013446, at least on the ones I have which are 250k. I noticed the change right about the time new cts pots started shipping with brass shafts instead of aluminum although I do have one with an aluminum shaft that has the metal or copper tabs at each end of the carbon trace. Just take a light and look in the pot and you can see little copper tabs extending out from each outside lug right on top of the trace. I like your vids by the way!
nonameinfl 1 year ago
@johnplanetz Well, I just watched the video again and the the cts pot you disassembled has the copper tabs I am takling about! They clearly extend out from each outside lug onto the carbon trace. The older cts pots do not have this copper pad or tab or whatever you could call it at each end of the trace. I don't know if it makes any difference, I just noticed the change a few years ago. Thanks for your very neat posts!
nonameinfl 1 year ago
@nonameinfl - haha, ok! I had misunderstood your original description of those tabs - thought it was something new :)
johnplanetz 1 year ago
thank you john for your explaination. i have understand the function of this poti and now i can solve my problem what i had. o.ae from munich,germany
oae100 1 year ago
great explanation of pots....nice one man...
100roberthenry 1 year ago
Awesome explanation of the potentiometers! Thanks to you I could repair my volume pot. But I have a question, the B500k (volume) shows 522k when I measure its resistence at the maximum and the A500k (tone) shows 449k, shouldn't they show 500k?
Nicolauru 1 year ago
@Nicolauru. You'll rarely get an exact 500k measurement. All pots have a certain tolerance. Yours are within about 5 or 10% of 500k which isn't too bad. I discuss tolerance a bit more in my video "Guitar Potentiometers part 2, Comparing Linear/Audio Taper and Selecting Pots"
johnplanetz 1 year ago
Heck of a video, thanks.
COMB0RICO 1 year ago
tnx... i was looking for info like this :)
MazaisTriperis 1 year ago
Even though I know grazie tantissimo means "with the greatest thanks" I can't tell whether it's Spanish, Portuguese, Italian or an Agean language.
idwtsasoj 1 year ago
oh Great !!! thanks for sharing !!now I understand much better how potentiometers are made ...really thank you !!!!grazie tantissimo!.......
domyaska 1 year ago
wat happens when you burn a pot?
InFuriatedShadows 1 year ago
@InFuriatedShadows - I guess extremely burning a pot could cause the conductive trace to lift off the phenolic wafer, which would result in flakey, crackly or simply broken pot. If your pot is still working ok, then don't worry about it. But I'm just guessing. All this talk of overheating pots-- either it must be a really crappy pot, or people are using waaay too much heat for waaay too long. I use a 40w iron, and i routinely hold it to the pot for 10 seconds or so. Never had a problem.
johnplanetz 1 year ago
great video: does the pot need to be disconnected from the guitar electrics in order to measure its resistance? Or can it be done while the pot is soldered on the circuit?
nekkio99 1 year ago
@nekkio99 - it's always a good idea to measure a component in isolation, to avoid any interaction with other circuit elements. if you measure it in place, your readings will very likely be incorrect.
johnplanetz 1 year ago
Comment removed
nekkio99 1 year ago
okay,it helped me alot..thanks!and this one's a great video!
justine3563 1 year ago
another question sir..what is the effect of having a higher or a lower resistance on potentiometers?i just want to make my mind clear..thanks
justine3563 1 year ago
Higher resistance will load the pickups less, resulting in less high frequency roll off. In other words, higher resistance may make your pickups sound brighter. Lower resistance may make your pickups sound duller. Depends of course on the pickups, and everything else in the circuit.
Experiment! Try it and see/hear for yourself.
johnplanetz 1 year ago
which produces a higher output?a 250k or a 500k?
justine3563 1 year ago
Assuming you're asking about volume pots in a guitar, I don't think one will really be louder than the other. A 500k pot will load the pickups a bit less, so they may sound a bit brighter which could be perceived as louder.
johnplanetz 1 year ago
cheers mate, this really helped with my coursework
jono7145 2 years ago
im looking to do some inventing but i know very little about circuit components, so you might have to excuse the stupidity of my questions, when you wire a dial type potentiometer, do you only use one outer lug and the middle lug? or all 3? do they make these with a digital screen or something with numbers?
feralbigdog 2 years ago
The way you wire up the pot depends on the application. Not sure what you mean by "dial type", but if you want to use it as a variable resistor (rheostat), you use one outer lug, and the center lug. Encoding to digital display requires more complicated circuitry.
I suggest you get a book on basic electronics, like the "Getting started" book by Forrest Mims III. I also highly recommend the Electronics Learning Lab from Radioshack as a way to learn by experimentation.
Good luck!
johnplanetz 2 years ago
by learning lab, do you mean those things that have the little springs you use to hold color coded wires down that are connected to circuit components, that say they can be used to make maybe 30 to 100 different things?
feralbigdog 2 years ago
Yes, try the radioshack model 28-280. Nice learning kit, comes with two books by Forrest Mims III - one on analog circuits and one on digital. Great for experimenting and learning.
johnplanetz 2 years ago
@johnplanetz we don't need books if we got you my man!!!
Slushplop 1 year ago
@Slushplop - haha! well thanks for the kind words, but books are great! where do you think i learned this stuff? :) and more information is always better.
johnplanetz 1 year ago
No BS, pure gold! Thank you! Keep doing this! Rock ON!
incantatis 2 years ago
When will you explain push/pull pots? 500k audio taper
bfv102290 2 years ago
I've received several requests for this, and it's on my to-do list. Please be patient tho, as I have a few other projects to complete first.
johnplanetz 2 years ago
Thank you so much i build electric guitars and didn't really understand how the wires "make it all work" this helped a ton
Sw33tishFish 2 years ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Excellent video, really helped me out, thanks.
YoshuaRider 2 years ago
dude im loving your videos.
Estebanfuturo 2 years ago