Trainwreck express pots

Express, Liverpool, Rocket, Dirty Little Monster, etc.

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mrn1ngstr
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Trainwreck express pots

Post by mrn1ngstr »

I was just looking through the parts list floating around on here and it lists all the control pots at 2W. I did some searching but haven't turned up anything. Is 2W really necessary for pots on one of these?
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RockinRocket
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Re: Trainwreck express pots

Post by RockinRocket »

If you look at photos of original wrecks you will see that Ken didn't use 2 watts.
On occasion, on later amps (90's+) Ken would use an Alan Bradly 2 watt mill spec as the middle pot.
Dave Funk built a few Wreck's to help Ken has two 2 watt mill spec Clarostat as the Middle pot and Presence pot.

Word has it Ken liked Pec in later years but I have yet to see a amp with Pecs or all mill spec pots.

Ingrid and Malu have a few flat back CTS pots, so that's what I like to use.
I also don't like the way the Mill sec pots turn.
Mark
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Re: Trainwreck express pots

Post by Mark »

It's the taper of the pots that's important, particularly the treble pot.
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Mark Abbott
mrn1ngstr
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Re: Trainwreck express pots

Post by mrn1ngstr »

I get the differences in taper. I was just wondering why, if there was a reason at all, it called for 2W pots instead of something much lower. 2W pots are a lot more expensive.
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Mark
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Re: Trainwreck express pots

Post by Mark »

The taper of the pots determine where you want the bulk of the change. A 10% pot in the treble position has nothing happening from 0 to 5. A 30% taper is a better option, Fender worked this out early on.
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geetarpicker
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Re: Trainwreck express pots

Post by geetarpicker »

IMHO 10% taper pots are best in both the volume and treble positions in a TW. There is so much gain going on that even a 10% pot will come on fairly quickly. My '89 uses pots that are about 10%, and my '85 has a volume pot that has even less action in the first half than 10%, but that works out just fine and makes it even easier to dial in the gain. That said, if you build a TW and reduce it's gain considerably lower than stock than this would change things.
Randy Magee
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Re: Trainwreck express pots

Post by Randy Magee »

Where can a 10% taper pot be had? Most suppliers don't specify the taper. The volume pot on my express is almost like an ON/OFF switch...
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Mark
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Re: Trainwreck express pots

Post by Mark »

Randy check your taper by measuring it at 50%. The 10% volume controls are good on a Trainwreck. Though I've had bad experiences with 10% pots for treble controls.
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geetarpicker
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Re: Trainwreck express po

Post by geetarpicker »

Here is my take in my preference for the same 10% taper pot on the treble control as well. If you run the bright switch (which is critical to me if you want the best clean to mean without he guitar going muddy when backed off ) you will be running the treble most likely never passed 1pm and more likely 1/2 or even a little lesss. At that point you have a bit more fine control in the range of where the treble will be probably used (w/ 10% taper) being the range from about 9am to 1pm. That said I swapped a 250pf bright cap into one of my clones and that works (clean to mean) almost as well but isn't as spikey as the huge 500pf. That said the 100pf lower bright cap (or 50pf as my '89 has) doesn't really get the job done. This all helps the clean to mean range and to cut on stage in a a band. Still, need to long cable though to trim off the fizz and hash above 5 to 7k.
Last edited by geetarpicker on Sun Jul 16, 2017 4:05 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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geetarpicker
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Re: Trainwreck express po

Post by geetarpicker »

Duplicate
mrn1ngstr
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Re: Trainwreck express pots

Post by mrn1ngstr »

So, 2W here doesn't matter. Check.
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Randy Magee
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Re: Trainwreck express pots

Post by Randy Magee »

Mark wrote: Sun Jul 16, 2017 11:43 am Randy check your taper by measuring it at 50%. The 10% volume controls are good on a Trainwreck. Though I've had bad experiences with 10% pots for treble controls.
I know how to measure the pots... my question is what make of pot would be a 10% taper and where can I find them?
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RockinRocket
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Re: Trainwreck express pots

Post by RockinRocket »

If know body beats me to it ill measure some Alfa CTS and Pec. I forget and did this in the past but I think they all were 10% ish
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M Fowler
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Re: Trainwreck express pots

Post by M Fowler »

Since this is a Trainwreck buiild with faceplate I would get the Alpha or CTS built and sold by Mojotone they are 10%

However, most importantly when building an amp with a faceplate the threaded shafts are 3/8" long so you can bolt them on.

Burns pots sold by ApexJr are also 3/8" long threads but burns can be either hard to turn or super smooth.

Mark
Randy Magee
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Re: Trainwreck express pots

Post by Randy Magee »

M Fowler wrote: Mon Jul 17, 2017 1:25 pm Since this is a Trainwreck buiild with faceplate I would get the Alpha or CTS built and sold by Mojotone they are 10%

However, most importantly when building an amp with a faceplate the threaded shafts are 3/8" long so you can bolt them on.

Burns pots sold by ApexJr are also 3/8" long threads but burns can be either hard to turn or super smooth.

Mark
Thanks Mark... that is what I was looking for. I have Alphas in my Express clone now, but the volume pot is much like an ON?OFF switch as it comes on so quickly...
Randy Magee
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