psych effects of pot taper and perceived amplifier power

[Firestorm]

A few years ago, I started to leave out numbers on my faceplates; just lines @ 9:00, 12:00 and 3:00. (Plus the knobs I'm using have a line that ain't all that easy to see). Yeah, I'm a prick

But the idea really was to make the performer dial in a SOUND rather than a number. Of course, most of 'em just mark the faceplate in grease pencil

[roberto]

I usually have the opposite problem:
I like to give to people the opportunity to use widely both gain and master, to obtain different mixes of preamp, pi and power amp saturations.

Most of the people the first time goes scared of the volume at higher gain settings. I've learned to set the dry/wet fxloop pot at noon the first time people use one of my amps. This helps people to aquire confidence with the volumes.

Yeah, it's always a matter of "I'm used to play with the volume at four".

[rdjones]

But all of the pots achieve 100% output on 10. So really the pot with the least amount of 'jump' would probably be the most usable.

But then what happens when it "goes to eleven" ?

;->
rd

[printer2]

But all of the pots achieve 100% output on 10. So really the pot with the least amount of 'jump' would probably be the most usable.

But then what happens when it "goes to eleven" ?

;->
rd

The speakers blow up.

[Mark]

I can live without the 30% taper volume pots, but the 250K treble pot is great, I have two in my 6G7a Bandmaster, the treble controls feel really smooth to use as opposed to being bunched up towards the end of the pot. With a #0102 amp I like 10% log for the bass and middle control, but a 30% taper should be ideal for the treble control.

CTS still sells these pots, but they are a special order costing $4 per pot and a minimum order of 600 pots. Of course the sale price would have to be much more that $4 a pot when you consider freight and interest on the outlaid capital.

No I don't have 600 pots to sell.

http://store.rsguitarworks.net/rs-guita ... aft/dp/183

With postage these pots are more than double the price, which is why I haven't tried them out (the pot has to go to Australia.)

[martin manning]

Why not just use a linear pot there? That's what's shown on the #124, and it seems to work fine. That said, I would agree that a 30% taper is probably ideal in that spot.

[Mark]

Thanks for the reply Martin, I've tried both a linear pot and a log pot. Neither feel as good as the pot with the 30% taper. The 30% taper allows you to find that sweet spot/s quickly.

[diagrammatiks]

I think fender used a linear volume and master pot on early revisions of the hot rod deluxe series, not sure if they still do...

the result was that the amps would be insanely loud at before the pot was even turned halfway..but not much louder after.

gives the illusion of a beefy amp if people think they still have all that power on tap though.

[dorrisant]

Just a thought... how many people have no marking on their guitar volume? Yet they can hear it when they hit that sweet spot... Even if they have indicating marks, the light level or anything else they might be manipulating (pedalboard) keep you from dialing the guitar volume in to an exact number or position.
Most of the people I watch play do so without regard to the numbers... unless making notes.
Then there is another argument... how do blind people play without seeing the numbers? It is all there between 0 and 10. Your ears will tell you where to stop.
Not saying the tapers do not make a difference, but the numbers are usually used as a reference to get back to the same ballpark.

Tony

[Mark]

It's not about the numbers on the knobs or chassis, it's about how the pots work. What is the point of control that doesn't do a lot till the end of it's travel.

Play an old blonde amp and you'll see what I mean. The tone controls interact beautifully.