What effect do pots and caps have on tone?

[brockburst]

Basically, if I have a RI guitar, other than volume...do changing pots and capactiors alter tone? And if so, by changing them, in what way would the tone be altered. Is it accurate that 59 RI's of today and a true 59 have the same taper, same pots and same cap values? Thus giving about the same tone?

Also, if one were to take RI pots and caps out and put in real authentic vintage pots and caps, is there any real benefit to that? Meaning any tonal improvements or for all purposes will it likely be the same.

Since we are not talking about old wood or anything, I was wondering if an aged cap or pot or whatever would make any sort of difference. Let me know what you think to all three paragraphs. Thx

[dwagar]

IMO better pots will give you a better sweep, maybe open the tone up a touch.

If you want vintage tone, IMO, put some PIO caps in there.

Tons of threads on caps, hit the search switch up top.

[BOBBO]

Well ... Pots make your volume go up and down and if you don't connect the caps then you won't get any sound !!!

[rickym]

Pots & caps only work if you are a knob-twiddler. If you always keep everything on 10 it defeats the purpose.

[Liam]

Originally Posted by BOBBO

Well ... Pots make your volume go up and down and if you don't connect the caps then you won't get any sound !!!

You get plenty of sound with the caps disconnected. Makes the world a brighter place... You should try it, it's interesting.

[BOBBO]

Originally Posted by Liam

You get plenty of sound with the caps disconnected. Makes the world a brighter place... You should try it, it's interesting.

It was an attempt to be silly .. But , Yes .. I should have thought the physics of it out first ... Must be the Englun ?

[roadhog96]

Originally Posted by rickym

Pots & caps only work if you are a knob-twiddler. If you always keep everything on 10 it defeats the purpose.

NOT SO! The higher the pot value the brighter, clearer, and purer sounding the string tone. The higher value allows higher frequencies to pass through. By doing this the string tone is totally different. A 300K pot does not sound the same as a 500K pot unless the 500K is turned down. When my 300K pots in my 335 were turned down everything got muddy, didn't have any choice but to keep everything on 10. With the 500K and 50's wiring it stays clear on any number and the treble does not bleed off like stock factory wiring unless I turn the tone pots down. The guitar now does not even ressemble the guitar I originaly bought. Had to make changes to PUP height and Poles, amp settings and even had to change the pick I had been using from day one it changed the way the guitar sounded so much. Using that same pick that sounded so good everyday now sounds like trash.

[bluesjuke]

Better pots and caps at 500l for the pots will always help with clarity and a veter sweep.
I too recommend the PIO caps.

[freddarl82]

Originally Posted by roadhog96

NOT SO! The higher the pot value the brighter, clearer, and purer sounding the string tone. The higher value allows higher frequencies to pass through. By doing this the string tone is totally different. A 300K pot does not sound the same as a 500K pot unless the 500K is turned down. When my 300K pots in my 335 were turned down everything got muddy, didn't have any choice but to keep everything on 10. With the 500K and 50's wiring it stays clear on any number and the treble does not bleed off like stock factory wiring unless I turn the tone pots down.

First of all, a disclaimer: I definitely do not claim to be an expert, nor am I an electrical engineer (Mechanical engineer, yes. Electrical engineer, no). That being said, we have to at least remain cognizant that a different value pot can have many more tone-influencing implications than simply "allowing more highs through." Not that that statement is not true -- it is true, and I have used it to my advantage before. It's just that there's more to it. Here's a link to the guitarnuts.com site that presents an interesting take on things. Granted, this is one guys opinion, but it points out that there's more at work here than simply filtering frequencies. We've got to remember that the pickups, pots, and caps are all part of an electrical circuit, and changing the values on any part of the circuit affects the interaction of the components in that circuit relative to each other. To use an extreme (and probably absurd) example, I might say, "I want the brightest sound I can get with 'really high' highs, so I'm gonna use 5000K pots!" Well, there's probably going to be some undesired side effect if I do so.

Point is, you can try anything. Things like pots are relatively easy to swap out and undo if you don't like it. Just be ready for the possibility that there may be undesireable side effects that go along with it. I'm not trying to step on anyone's toes here, but rather trying to add to the discussion.

Fred