Concerning Volume/Tone Pots

[DJB08]

(I'm having a hard time with figuring out how to...put this. Because pots are something so small & simple but,are in reality very significant)

 

Ok...

 

What's the deal with Volume and Tone pots?

A simple question sure but, it is one that has a lot of tangents in my mind.

 

Now, my Epi Dot is working just fine(only a few weeks old to me). no crackles in the pots or anything. not yet...

 

It did stand out to me in a big way though when people were saying

"oh yeah, got my new hot axe! got it set up(duh) and upgraded to a more quality pot from (enter brand) because of the awesome(list 2-3 things that new pots do)"

 

What I'm looking for here is a suggested quality pot and maybe a link to the difference it may make.

I mean, there may be some obvious things...a smoother roll, smoother shift in tone change..

 

You tell me.

 

Secondly, what material is the DOT nut made from?

[TWANG]

CTS full size pots, and good Alphas.. there are two kinds of Alphas..

have a feel you notice immediately. It's harder to turn. Which means you can set the volume and tone controls fast, and be sure of where you are going to wind up.. and you can fine tune the controls faster and easier, too.

 

Imagine running down a path.. it's cobblestone.

Your feet slip a bit now and then.. you can't get a grip..

 

Now imagine you hit some nice blacktop.

you expend less effort, you're more sure on your feet.

 

A pot has a path inside it.. and when you turn it the smoothness of that path makes a difference.

CTS and Alpha pots have a better path.. not just a tighter fit.. but material that is higher quality, smoother, it conducts electricity better.

 

So you get all your sound.. and you get all your mechanical possibility.

 

They sound better, they work better, they're more subtle in their range, and they last longer.

 

I believe I hear a difference using orange drop Sprague capacitors. I may be fooling myself, others say it's not audible.

But I know that when I swap out stock epi pots and caps for better.. the difference is definatley there to hear.

 

Dot nuts are some kind of plastic.

I think the there is some graphite in the black ones. Not as much as a Graph Tech nut, probably, they certainly feel different in your hands.

And I think the black epi nuts are a tick darker than Tusq or Bone.

I've never used a graph tech graphite black nut before.. but I don't hear any tonal change using the graph tech graphite saddles.

 

That being said, my preference for nuts is still Tusq or Bone.

Brass for bass, thank you.

 

TWANG