upgrade on Pots

[Tone Lover]

So Ive used alpha, bourn tried the weber 2 watt dont want to pay $10.00 a piece for PEC is there anything in between that doesnt cost an arm and a leg. and is a good upgrade.
Thanks Bill

[Reeltarded]

Steve at apexjr usually has Claros and PECs for at least 1M and 500k I think for $1 that are lighly used pulls and maybe some surplus.

I do believe.

Look here

http://www.apexjr.com/Bourns.htm

[martin manning]

What this country needs is a good $5 pot!

AES has CTS metal-shaft vintage looking pots in a good range of values ($3.65) that seem to be quite good, but there is no 5kB for your old-school presence. PEC are very good, but at $9.95 that means an additional $40 or so for an amp. I'm willing to spend the extra if it's going to be used regularly for live performance.

[sliberty]

I am curious - what don't you like about the Alphas? Ever since I started buying the 3/8" version, I have had no complaints.

[LeftyStrat]

Steve at apexjr usually has Claros and PECs for at least 1M and 500k I think for $1 that are lighly used pulls and maybe some surplus.

I do believe.

Look here

http://www.apexjr.com/Bourns.htm

+1

I recently ordered a bunch of PEC pots from Steve, mostly 250K and 25K, some were supposed to be used, but they all look new to me. His prices can't be beat.

[Reeltarded]

If you look at that link, Steve has $2.50 NOS too.

[ChrisM]

Just ordered 7 PEC pots from CE Dist for an upcoming Marshall 18W TMB build.
Well be interesting to see how they work. At least they will look cool!

Only other amp I used PEC pots was a 5E3. The way the amp is designed the volume controls have a weird interaction and the volume comes on fairly fast. For these reasons it was hard to gauge how good/bad the PEC was compared to the Alpha's/CTS I normally use.

[Tone Lover]

Ive never really found anything wrong with bourn or alpha's .
I build mostly for myself anf just want to use top of the line.
I didnt like the weber pots because they dont rotate the standard amount that most pots do, either you start at 2 or max at 8 just thought I would ask.
Thanks Bill

[Structo]

Has anybody checked the taper on a PEC log pot?

[ToneMerc]

Has anybody checked the taper on a PEC log pot?

IIRC, the last ones I checked were around 10%.

TM

[Richie]

Has anybody checked the taper on a PEC log pot?

IIRC, the last ones I checked were around 10%.

TM

There is quite a bit of info/data of old pot types, and how they changed over the years. It can be very confusing. The type, and the taper[or law as they called it back then] ,and rotation degree to other small things that might also effect the pots or the pots effect to the circuit. The tolerence value,and so on.

For example, lets look at the wreck amp. If you look at alot of the settings, most look to be set noon a little past. If you took one of the older 1M Audio or Log pots and measured, what would be the value at noon or halfway?

An audio pot[made for the way your ear hears] changes in value slow to about midway point, then it increases much more in small rotation of the pot on the later half.
So, if you have a old pot measured, And at halfway it measures around 140k to 150k at noon[just a ballpark figure] Then you measure a new made type pot, and at noon measures 80k.

If you had 2 identicle amps, [everything but pots] Is the 2 amps going to sound or react different. Now also keep in mind, the other controls how they interact or react in the circuit.

Now also the other important part, measure from mid point [noon] to 1 oclock between the new and old pot. How much difference in value is there?

Measure at 2 oclock and 3 oclock what values you have between the new and older pot. All i am going to say is, there can be a big difference in value in this last half of the rotation when comparing pots. Even between 1 to 2 oclock.

So when a wreck type amp volume or tone controls are set noon to 1 or 2 oclock which is where most have them. Will it effect how the amp sounds and reacts.

Many may say pots can't make the sound change that much or something along those lines. But if you have ever changed pot types in wahs, you'll know it can make difference. Just thought i'd mention this.

Maybe bug Allyn to measure one of the NOS pots to see what the measured values in the rotation of the pot. Others can measure what they have.
You can even measure new types against new types. CTS, Bourns, Alpha.
Some may be close to each other while others may be more like the old pots.

[martin manning]

See: https://tubeamparchive.com/viewtopic.ph ... n+historic

[Richie]

Martin, looks like i need to cross the tracks from the amp section every now and then. Very interesting, thanks for pointing that out.

Its good to have and see all the info/data people have already tried.
The difference between the guitar pots, and the Wreck Amp pots.
As one could see from the info posted how it could also have an effect on the amp. Probably more so than the guitar,because you have not only volume, but the tone controls that interact.
But the thing is, now it will be much easier to fine tune in on the values needed. Or what type would work best.

As you can see, the guitar pots range compared to the Amp pot range.
Where mostly for the amp part, past noon there is much more variation happening between pot types or brands. From noon to 1, and 1 to 2 etc.

And on the amps, they real ones used a Bud chassis, which is a thinner chassis. And a thicker faceplate. If you are building an amp using a thicker chassis, you proably will have a hard time using a thick faceplate,unless you recess for the mounting nut/washer. Not too many pots have the longer bushing.

[ampdoc1]

Anybody used these? Not cheap but supposedly custom made for amps.

http://westlabs.com/Frames.HTML

[Ang3lus]

there are also honeywell pots on mouser, worth checking out i think