It is currently Mon Mar 16, 2020 2:15 pm

All times are UTC - 7 hours



Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 4 posts ] 
Author Message
Post subject: Jaguar Blacktop HH Tone Control
Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 3:04 pm
Offline
Amateur
Amateur
User avatar

Joined: Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:34 am
Posts: 103
Just picked up a s/h Jaguar Blacktop HH. Cheap and cheerful and overall I'm very pleasantly surprised by how good a guitar it is. Different to my Strats and Tele but that's what I wanted, I suppose.

The only issue I have is the tone control. It does very little from 10 down to 2 then rolls everything off by 1. Not the most useful arrangement.

A quick look inside reveals the tone pot to be 500k (reasonable for humbuckers, yes?) but a 0.047uF capacitor, which I always thought was more suited to single coil pickups. I would have expected a .022uF, probably.

My question is, if I change the capacitor for the lower value, would I expect the roll-off to be more gradual? I've just ordered one anyway, so I'll find out soon - just wondered what opinions you guys might have.


Top
Profile
Fender Play Winter Sale 2020
Post subject: Re: Jaguar Blacktop HH Tone Control
Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 4:31 pm
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jul 24, 2007 7:33 am
Posts: 8461
Location: Mars, the angry red planet.
stiggie_9 wrote:
Just picked up a s/h Jaguar Blacktop HH. Cheap and cheerful and overall I'm very pleasantly surprised by how good a guitar it is. Different to my Strats and Tele but that's what I wanted, I suppose.

The only issue I have is the tone control. It does very little from 10 down to 2 then rolls everything off by 1. Not the most useful arrangement.

A quick look inside reveals the tone pot to be 500k (reasonable for humbuckers, yes?) but a 0.047uF capacitor, which I always thought was more suited to single coil pickups. I would have expected a .022uF, probably.

My question is, if I change the capacitor for the lower value, would I expect the roll-off to be more gradual? I've just ordered one anyway, so I'll find out soon - just wondered what opinions you guys might have.


No. In your context, the taper of the pot vs. controlled frequency response are not rooted the same issue. As a matter of fact, if you switched to a .022uf, you'd notice even less difference from '10' to '2' than you do now.

There are a few possible problems and remedies here:

- Your 500K pot may have a lot more resistance going on in it than 500K which could account for the kind of roll off you are describing.

- Your 500K pot may be a linear taper one which again, could account for the kind of roll off you are describing.

Now premising you do indeed have a "healthy" 500K audio pot, replace it with a 250K taper one. You'll surely get a more dramatic dialing response from a 250K audio pot then you are getting now. No, it will not noticeably darken the overall tonality of your pickups and yes, it is perfectly alright to use a 250K tone pot with a humbucker.

FWIW: Here too, it is perfectly alright to use a .047uf cap with humbuckers.There's nothing wrong or improper about that .047uf cap being there. As a matter of fact, replacing that cap with a .022uf one will lessen the treble roll off capabilities of a tone pot regardless of the tone pot's value or taper.

_________________
You dig?


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Jaguar Blacktop HH Tone Control
Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 12:10 pm
Offline
Amateur
Amateur
User avatar

Joined: Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:34 am
Posts: 103
Many thanks Martian. You were right: the 500k pot in the guitar was a linear one. I just replaced it with a 250k log, along with a .047 Orange Drop cap I had lying around (an improvement over the ceramic disc one that was fitted, probably).

What a difference it's made: good progressive roll-off now - much more usable.

Cheers once again :-)


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Jaguar Blacktop HH Tone Control
Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 12:30 pm
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jul 24, 2007 7:33 am
Posts: 8461
Location: Mars, the angry red planet.
stiggie_9 wrote:
Many thanks Martian. You were right: the 500k pot in the guitar was a linear one. I just replaced it with a 250k log, along with a .047 Orange Drop cap I had lying around (an improvement over the ceramic disc one that was fitted, probably).

What a difference it's made: good progressive roll-off now - much more usable.

Cheers once again :-)


All's well that ends well.

You're quite welcome and I'm glad to be of assistance.

Enjoy!

_________________
You dig?


Top
Profile
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 4 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 7 hours

Fender Play Winter Sale 2020

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to: