Difference between pots

[Electric prune]

On advice, I wired an A250k pot for a volume control and a B250k pot for the tone. Realise now that these were the wrong way round. Is it important that I redo them - swap them around? Will it make much difference to the sound/operation if I leave them as they are? Any help/advice much appreciated. Thanks, Simon.

[mellecaster]

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[guitarzan13]

Originally Posted by mellecaster

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+1

[Amby]

Perhaps this is what Simon means? AxesRus (UK supplier) advertise Alpha pots as B = vol. and A = tone e.g. B250k pot for volume, A250k pot for tone. I don't get it, I thought the one pot did both; unless the vol. pot comes with its third tag already bent back and soldered to the casing? They also have CTS pots and correctly state that they can be used for both vol. and tone.

[w0odman]

If it ain't broke don't fix it. Pots are Pots are Pots.

[guitarzan13]

Originally Posted by Amby

Perhaps this is what Simon means? AxesRus (UK supplier) advertise Alpha pots as B = vol. and A = tone e.g. B250k pot for volume, A250k pot for tone. I don't get it, I thought the one pot did both; unless the vol. pot comes with its third tag already bent back and soldered to the casing? They also have CTS pots and correctly state that they can be used for both vol. and tone.

Are they talking linier vs. audio taper maybe?

[Electric prune]

Ah... I thought the A, B... prefix was common. (Thanks Amby for coming to the rescue.) An 'A' is a log pot, and a 'B' is an audio pot. Don't know if that helps. They look exactly the same - i presume it's something to do with the 'sweep' of the pot(?)

[telecaster1987]

Typically an "A" pot is an audio taper or logarithmic (log) pot and a "B" pot is linear one. You are correct about the "sweep" of the pot in that linears are in fact linear, meaning that when you turn the knob a percentage of the way the resistive value varies by a corresponding amount. A log type's resistance varies by a factor of how the human ear perceives changes in volume or tone amount which is definitely non linear. There are apparently some custom tapered pots that do other things, but these are rare and pricey.

[Nick JD]

In USA

* A - Audio or Log taper
* B - Linear taper
* C - Reverse Log taper
* G - Graphic taper

In Europe

* A - Linear taper
* B - Audio or Log taper
* C - Reverse Log taper
* G - Graphic taper

Now, if we could only sort out that whole, tomato/tomaato, potato/potaaato thing we'd be able to call this whole thing off.

[gumbo]

Just hit it with your cordless metric hammer...

[yegbert]

Mighty Mite uses A and D for audio, and B for linear. Taiwan Alpha uses A for audio and B for linear, not sure if they also use D for audio. Maybe Taiwan Alpha makes those for Mighty Mite, not sure.

Fender's Squier wiring diagrams show a B500K (linear taper 500K) for the volume control and a D500K (audio taper 500K) for the tone control.

The pots that came from the factory in my Cort Indonesian Squier Teles have those designations on them. And some Alpha pots I bought form Antique Electronics have those designations on them. I don't have much first-hand experience with other guitars with similar electronics, but from reading others' posts in forums like these I get the impression that guitars made in other Asian countries have pots with the same or similar designations.

So to further the original question: do linear taper pots turn down the volume or tone faster or slower? Or is that an oversimplification, and do they have a taper that differs in a more complex way? I think that is the theoretical question.

Electric prune, from a practical standpoint, I'd just use them and see if their taper seems to be a problem. If they seem to work all right for your needs, then maybe you don't need to be concerned that you got them "backwards".

Some of us love learning the workings of Teles in minute detail, some prefer to focus on playing their Tele. Contrary to what some folks say, neither approach to appreciating a Tele is superior in an absolute sense to the other.

[telecaster1987]

Originally Posted by Nick JD

In USA

* A - Audio or Log taper
* B - Linear taper
* C - Reverse Log taper
* G - Graphic taper

In Europe

* A - Linear taper
* B - Audio or Log taper
* C - Reverse Log taper
* G - Graphic taper

Now, if we could only sort out that whole, tomato/tomaato, potato/potaaato thing we'd be able to call this whole thing off.

Hey Nick, are these Euro pot designators for those made in Europe? Like Yeg says, the Asian made ones go with the US designators. Thanks for the info. I had little idea about some of the other types. You learn something new every day!

[Electric prune]

Thanks all. Just worried - sort of - that I might be missing out on some functionality if round the wrong way. But they sound fine. Enquiring in the spirit of enquiry - I like to now why something is meant to be even if as someone said 'if it ain't broke don't fix it'.