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Topic: Volume Pedal Pot |
Cartwright Thompson
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Posted 23 Mar 2001 2:39 am |
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O.K., I'm sure this has been covered before but he goes...
I need a pot for my old Sho-Bud volume pedal.
What type ( value, manufacturer, and taper )should I use? And where is the best place to buy them (cheap!)??
Do they still call truely linear pots "audio taper", and non-linear ones "linear"? I seem to remember them labeled this way.
Any info will be greatly appreciated. |
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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 23 Mar 2001 3:18 am
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You need a Clarostat Type J, 500k pot. That is what is used in almost every steel guitar volume pedal that uses a pot. They were originally made by Allen Bradley but Clarostat bought Allen Bradley about 10 years, or so, ago.
If you do a search on this subject you should find several of the other threads on the volume pedal pot.
All of the steel guitar stores, such as Scotty's, Bobbe Seymour, etc sell the pots. They are about $20 each. Most of them are packaged by either Goodrich or George L's.
Franklin Guitar Co is selling a replacement pot manufactured by another company that is supposed to be equivalent to the Clarostat. We discussed this once on the forum but haven't seen anything about them since. They are a little less expensive, but according to the manufacturer's specs they are only rated for 25000 turns, where the Clarostat is rated for 75000. |
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Cartwright Thompson
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Posted 24 Mar 2001 1:46 am
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Muchas gracias Jack.
Do the type J pots come in different tapers? If so,
which do I want? |
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Cartwright Thompson
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Posted 24 Mar 2001 1:50 am
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| I just noticed that my Ernie Ball volume pedal uses a 250K pot, would a 500K sound better? |
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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 24 Mar 2001 3:01 am
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You want the one specifically sold for steel guitar volume pedals. It has a specific audio taper that gives the most desired volume control. As I said before contact one of the steel guitar products vendors as they all stock them.
In ref to the Ernie Ball, most "regular" guitar volume pedals use the 250K pot, but steel guitar volume pedals have traditionally used the mentioned 500K pot. Sho-Bud, Emmons, Zum, Franklin, Goodrich, etc., all use the 500K pot. |
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Chick Donner
From:
North Ridgeville, OH USA
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Posted 24 Mar 2001 10:37 am
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| Jack, while the Clarostat is the 'standard' today, wasn't the original ShoBud, Fender, DeArmond and other pedals equipped with the Ohmite CA5041 500K audio taper pot? I thought that's what all the ShoBuds had. I do have several of the Ohmite brand new in stock if anyone wants one. I think I have about 10 left. |
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Damir Besic
From:
Nashville,TN.
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Posted 24 Mar 2001 12:03 pm
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hi,I just bought a pot,I went to a radio shack and bought 100K pot for $1.90,and so far works same as any other 500K I ever had,sounds the same,and it`s cheap.
so,my tip would be go and spend $1.90 rather then $20.My two cents.
sincerely,Damir
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http://hometown.aol.com/damirzanne/damirzanne1.html |
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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 24 Mar 2001 12:18 pm
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Damir, the Radio Shack pots are not the same. The Pots that are used in volume pedals are a Mil Std, sealed pot. The audio taper on the pot is a modified audio. The Clarostat pots are rated for 75000 turns.
The Radio Shack pots are cheap far east imports. They are metric instead of the US inch, are open and are not Mil Std rated.
The resistance of the pot has a lot to do with the tone of your steel. It gets into electronic theory. Since you are happy with a cheap 100K pot I won't go into the theory.
I had forgotten about the old Ohmite pots. Hadn't seen one of those for years. I don't remember if they were the same modified audio taper as the Allen Bradley/Clarostat's.
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Larry Clark
From:
Herndon, VA.
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Posted 24 Mar 2001 3:47 pm
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| The replacement Clarostat pot sold by George L, and I assume some others is a type EJ. The "E" stands for extra life and is rated for 1 million mechanical cycles. It also has a "slip clutch" which will prevent damage to the pot should it be physically rotated past its internal stops. This is according to a Clarostat spec sheet. [This message was edited by Larry Clark on 24 March 2001 at 03:49 PM.] |
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Keith Hilton
From:
248 Laurel Road Ozark, Missouri 65721
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Posted 24 Mar 2001 10:15 pm
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| Hey Jack, maybe that's what you need to do. GO to Radio Shack and buy the 100K pot for $1.99. How do you answer a deal like that? Damir loves the sound. Sorry Jack, I couldn't help it.Jack that Radio Shack 100K pot might sweeten up the sound of your Emmons. [This message was edited by Keith Hilton on 24 March 2001 at 10:15 PM.] [This message was edited by Keith Hilton on 24 March 2001 at 10:17 PM.] [This message was edited by Keith Hilton on 24 March 2001 at 10:26 PM.] |
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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 25 Mar 2001 3:22 am
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Keith, I'm sure it would. 
Except, I don't have an Emmons.
Obviously any pot will work, to some extent, but the key is to get one that will last for a reasonable amount of time, have minimum affect on the guitar's tone and provide the log taper that we have been accoustomed to. The Radio Shack pot does not meet any of those requirements.
Keith, here's one for you. Why did you spend years perfecting a non mechanical resistance device that does not color the tone at any setting? |
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Keith Hilton
From:
248 Laurel Road Ozark, Missouri 65721
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Posted 25 Mar 2001 9:57 am
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| Sorry Jack, I forgot,you play a Franklin. Glad you have a good sense of humor. Jack, if you didn't mind the taper, the open element, and the loss of frequency, just think of the money you would save. [This message was edited by Keith Hilton on 25 March 2001 at 10:03 AM.] |
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Bill Crook
From:
Goodlettsville, TN , Spending my kid's inheritance
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Posted 25 Mar 2001 11:40 am
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I'll speak to Damir at the next NTSGA meetin'. As he is a new member of our club,I see him very now and then. (BTY, Welcome Damir, I'm sure you will benefit from our club,just as I have.) I have several of those RS pots in my collection,all of which are noisey and even the shafts are worn down to such that they wobble in the houseing. As Jack states: The Mil std pot are the best to be obtained.
Now a word to all:
If your V/C pedal dosen't have a closed bottom, (If you can see the pot and wireing from the bottom, it's an OPEN face bottom)the life expecticy is about 1/3 as long as a closed face unit. It is also a good source of hum and other undesirable effects. After I closed the bottom of my pedal, A lot of my problems went away. |
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Damir Besic
From:
Nashville,TN.
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Posted 3 Apr 2001 1:07 pm
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hi Bill and thank you,yes I enjoy our club very much,my wife loves it too.I`m looking forward to this month jam.About pot`s...hmm.well,you get what you payed for and that`s true.I was broke and I needed a pot to play gig`s and I was saved by RS $1.90 pot (which is btw still working very good after few weeks)and I will adventualy go with 500 K again,I`m sure I will,but so far so good.Right now I`m inviting everyone who wants to try that Pot to come to one of my gig`s and try it.I`m not deff,I`ve been playing music my whole life and if I think that there is no difference in my sound then that is true.to anyone who thinks that he`ll sound like Paul Franklin if playing through 500K pot,good luck,but I guarantee you one thing,Paul will sound like a Paul even through RS$1.90 pot.How long I don`t know,but it sure will.Since I don`t have a day job and money to buy thousands of dollars in gear (I`m just a musician)I have to work with what I have, and that was RS $1.90 pot.
sincerely,Damir
Bill,thanks again and I`ll see you at the meeting.
P.S.
and after all,member here was asking about CHEAP,so this would be as cheap as you can get,that I know.
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http://hometown.aol.com/damirzanne/damirzanne1.html [This message was edited by Damir Besic on 03 April 2001 at 02:10 PM.] |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 3 Apr 2001 6:51 pm
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| The cheap pots have a very thin resistance element, while the mil-spec models have a thick (molded) element. If you use the pedal a lot, the cheap one's will fail in a few weeks. If you don't use the pedal much, they might go a few months. A good mil-spec pot should last at least 5 years. I've gone through 5 or 6 in the last 35 years, and for many years, I played 4-5 nights a week (five 40-minute sets). |
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Kevin Mincke
From:
Farmington, MN (Twin Cities-South Metro) USA
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Posted 4 Apr 2001 7:53 pm
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| Hmmm....&X(=%+^*)X(#*^&!)= 30,600 minutes on average OR 510 hrs.And that's alot of playin' |
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