2012 Gibson LP Standard - school me on the volume pot taper

[Heisenberg]

I've seen it mentioned that the volume pots in the 2012 LP Standards (or anything with the PCB) are crap. Something about them not being "audio taper". I don't know what that means. Replacing the pots seems like a common upgrade, even though they are already 500k. Could someone please be so kind as to give me the scoop and maybe some reasons why I might want to upgrade to different pots?

 

[Epi rocks]

I have a 2012 Standard and I 've gigged it extensively, without any problems from the PCB controls. I don't know what all the fuss is but, I can tell you that there's nothing wrong with the controls. They work just fine, with no issues whatsoever.
A fabulous Les Paul from Gibson and my #1 axe.

Unless something drastic occurs and the controls turn to sh!t, leave them alone and "ROCK ON"!!

 

[Heisenberg]

Thanks for the reply. I don't notice any problems, per se, with the controls either, but then again, I don't have another LP to compare it to. What I read was something about the different types of tapering and that these don't have "audio tapering" therefore when the vol is turned down it's not a gradual taper, but kind of jumps around. IDK, I'm not going to worry about it, I still love the guitar.

NICE Standard btw!!!!

 

[Epi rocks]

Thanks. She was my 50th Bday pressy from the missus.
I don't have any probs with rolling off the vol. It tapers off just fine with or without any gain.
I wouldn't pay too much attention to the negative words on this forum. That's how it is here and that's what forums are for.
If you like your axe and everything works or plays to your satisfaction, then that's all that really matters.

BTW post a few pics of her, be proud of your wonderful little beast and show off all her wonderful features.

 

[Ant]

2012 Standards have 500k linear taper pots in the volume, and 500k non linear in the tone.
The later models I believe have 500k audio taper all round.

 

[Juan Wayne]

Depending on the model, some will have audio volumes and some will have linear. Tones will almost always have audio taper since the response of an RC filter will be loharythmic, which gets compensated by an exponential (mistakenly called log) taper a.k.a. audio taper. This should give you the feel of a constantly varying tone as you move the pot, instead of a cutting point above and below of which the pot has barely/no effect at all.

Now, volumes are a matter of preference mostly. The principle behind the audio taper is similar to that of tones. Human hearing response of perceived loudness increase vs. regular increments in sound pressure level is logarythmic, so exponential increments in audio signal provided by an audio taper pot will be perceived as "regular" increments in loudness with regular movements of the volume pot.

This makes sense as long as no other variables are thrown in the mix. Then comes distortion, compression, pickup dynamic range, pedals, you name it. So your rig will have a lot of influence in the taper that is most suitable for you.

I personally don't see the point in audio taper volumes since I never felt the need of sounding very quiet of very loud. That's what the amp settings are for. Once I find my place in the mix, I'll control the ammount of gain from the guitar. I don't use lots of gain, so an audio pot will make the guitar useless on settings below 7. However, I used to play with more gain years ago, and audio taper gave me the chance to fine tune something cleaner below 7, and then boosting from 7 to 10. Now with linear pots I use anything from 1 to 10, and it's also easier to dial a nice tone in the middle position.

Edit: 300k + 50's wiring keeps you from losing treble as you roll down. 500k will add too much series resistance and you'll lose top end easily, unless you are actually looking for that effect, which some people dig.

 

[Heisenberg]

Depending on the model, some will have audio volumes and some will have linear. Tones will almost always have audio taper since the response of an RC filter will be loharythmic, which gets compensated by an exponential (mistakenly called log) taper a.k.a. audio taper. This should give you the feel of a constantly varying tone as you move the pot, instead of a cutting point above and below of which the pot has barely/no effect at all.

Now, volumes are a matter of preference mostly. The principle behind the audio taper is similar to that of tones. Human hearing response of perceived loudness increase vs. regular increments in sound pressure level is logarythmic, so exponential increments in audio signal provided by an audio taper pot will be perceived as "regular" increments in loudness with regular movements of the volume pot.

This makes sense as long as no other variables are thrown in the mix. Then comes distortion, compression, pickup dynamic range, pedals, you name it. So your rig will have a lot of influence in the taper that is most suitable for you.

I personally don't see the point in audio taper volumes since I never felt the need of sounding very quiet of very loud. That's what the amp settings are for. Once I find my place in the mix, I'll control the ammount of gain from the guitar. I don't use lots of gain, so an audio pot will make the guitar useless on settings below 7. However, I used to play with more gain years ago, and audio taper gave me the chance to fine tune something cleaner below 7, and then boosting from 7 to 10. Now with linear pots I use anything from 1 to 10, and it's also easier to dial a nice tone in the middle position.

Edit: 300k + 50's wiring keeps you from losing treble as you roll down. 500k will add too much series resistance and you'll lose top end easily, unless you are actually looking for that effect, which some people dig.

Ah ha! Clear as mud, thank you. Don't get me wrong, it's obvious you know what you're talking about. This is exactly the info I requested, but I'll need to read it a few thousand more times before my slow ass can comprehend it all.

 

[Juan Wayne]

Ah ha! Clear as mud, thank you. Don't get me wrong, it's obvious you know what you're talking about. This is exactly the info I requested, but I'll need to read it a few thousand more times before my slow ass can comprehend it all.

Sorry, I like that shit so I get too much into it.

In less words, audio taper is too quiet below 6 or 7, and there's not much change between that and 0, which I don't like. I like to fine tune using all the pot taper so I go linear 300k. Best thing to do is try different stuff until you find what you like. Audio tapers can range from very abrupt to almost linear depending on the maker, and there's even special "custom" tapers, so you may need to try different ones until you find one that responds the way you like.

 

[martin H]

What dffdff says is correct. To put it a little more basically:

[1] all pots have a minimum resistance value at one end of the rotation (nominally 0 ohms) and a maximum value at the other end ( 300k, 500k etc. )

[2]The "taper" is a measure of how quickly that resistance changes, from one extreme to the other as you turn the knob on the pot

[3] a "linear" taper changes the resistance of the pot by the same amount for a certain rotation. To make it easy, say that a 500K pot has a resistance of 0 ohms when the control is set on '0'. At 1 it is 50k k At 2 it = 100k, at 3 it = 150k , at 4 it = 200K and so until it it reaches 500k at '10"

[4] with log taper the amount of resistance added by a give rotation is not fixed - the early segments add a lot, the latter ones add less and less With a log taper, changing from 1-2 adds a lot more resistance than changing from 9-10.

The difference manifests itself in how quickly the sound changes when you rotate the pot. Ideally, we want a nice gradual changes as the pot is rotated, rather than nothing appearing to happen for much of the rotation. Which pot best achieves this depends on the exact circuit it's in.

 

[Juan Wayne]

What dffdff says is correct. To put it a little more basically:

[1] all pots have a minimum resistance value at one end of the rotation (nominally 0 ohms) and a maximum value at the other end ( 300k, 500k etc. )

[2]The "taper" is a measure of how quickly that resistance changes, from one extreme to the other as you turn the knob on the pot

[3] a "linear" taper changes the resistance of the pot by the same amount for a certain rotation. To make it easy, say that a 500K pot has a resistance of 0 ohms when the control is set on '0'. At 1 it is 50k k At 2 it = 100k, at 3 it = 150k , at 4 it = 200K and so until it it reaches 500k at '10"

[4] with log taper the amount of resistance added by a give rotation is not fixed - the early segments add a lot, the latter ones add less and less With a log taper, changing from 1-2 adds a lot more resistance than changing from 9-10.

The difference manifests itself in how quickly the sound changes when you rotate the pot. Ideally, we want a nice gradual changes as the pot is rotated, rather than nothing appearing to happen for much of the rotation. Which pot best achieves this depends on the exact circuit it's in.

That was so much more simple it's disturbing.

 

[Bobby Mahogany]

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