Tone Pot...

[Alastair]

I just installed some new Pups and wiring harness on my j bass. The pups work fine as do the volume pots, but the tone pot seems buggered

It works in that you get either uber dark when its "off" or uber bright when you turn it past 1...and thats it. Its practically 1 or 0. Is this normal for some pots or is it deffo summat wrong?

Im guessing the latter. Just my luck

Any suggestions on what I do? I got it from the US so I *really* dont want to return it.

Cheers,
Ally.

[BOD2]

Is there any writing on the pot to identify what value it is ?

Tone pots on a passive bass are often not that effective but what you describe does sound a bit extreme.

[Alastair]

[quote name='BOD2' post='265039' date='Aug 18 2008, 10:50 PM']Is there any writing on the pot to identify what value it is ?

Tone pots on a passive bass are often not that effective but what you describe does sound a bit extreme.[/quote]

I do believe its a 250k, with an orange drop cap.

Edited August 18, 2008 by Alastair

[escholl]

can you get a pic up of it wired in? is it linear or logarithmic?

Edited August 18, 2008 by escholl

[Alastair]

It's a standard J bass wiring as far as I'm aware. I'll get a pic of it tomorrow (Too knackered/pissed off at it to open it up again ).

Can you tell what type of pot it is from the wiring? Each pot has three connections IIRC, dunno if that helps.

[escholl]

no, it was mostly to make sure that it was wired up correctly....sometimes if you spend too long staring at something, you can miss something obvious, and it helps to have someone else look at it.


if it's a log pot, it's possible that maybe you've just connected it up backwards. you shouldn't have any problems, i've got the same 250K/Sprague combo on my tone pot and it sounds great (incidentally, ordered from the US as well)

[Alastair]

Well it was a prewired assembly (I'm too lazy sometimes!) so unless they've done it wrong then..I dunno. I'll take a photo when I get back from work so you can see.
Thanks for the help so far

(also is it fairly easy to wire in a new tone pot? I'm a bit of a n00b but I can use a soldering iron. I'd rather just make this a DIY job cause I'm guessing tone pots arent all that expensive. Dont wanna sedn this back to the states :/)

[escholl]

yea it's pretty simple to do, even easier than a volume pot as there's only two connections....my guess is it should be a simple fix

[Alastair]

I believe this is what the wiring is like:

[Alastair]

Ok bit late, sorry. Here's some photos.

Is it just me or does that sticky out bit (to use th on the pot look wonky? Is that normal?

[escholl]

you've got, literally, the identical setup on your tone pot to me. everything looks to be wired up correctly, and the solder joints look good. are the numbers on the pot "EP085 250K"?

I've never seen a pot where the pcb bent like that though, that doesn't look quite right...and if the little amount that sticks out is bent, and it's somehow broken the carbon track inside, then that would certainly account for the "0 or 1" phenomenon.

do you have a multimeter?

[Alastair]

I dont but mon pere will somewhere Ill have a scout about in a mo.

I take it if your prognosis is correct then it is terminal? As in new tone put time?

Also its very close but no, the numbers are EP088 250K

Edited August 20, 2008 by Alastair

[escholl]

i don't know, it depends where/if there is a break.

measure the resistance across pins 1 to 3 (the outside ones). it should be 250K.

if it does mean a new tone pot, it's probably easier to just order one from the UK instead of sending it back, but that's up to you.

[Alastair]

I will order from the UK. I'd rather get the fix done quickly, it seems easy enough even for a newbie.

Any good places to buy from?

[escholl]

ebay is probably the cheapest option, to be honest. allparts would have it, but i had a bad experience with them in quality control, followed immediately after by a bad experience with their customer service. you'll probably be fine.

watford valves have what you need, they sell pots for amps but it's the same thing - and the alpha mini pots are only a pound. too bad about the four pounds (!!!!!!) postage. i've only bought guitar parts from the US, so i'm a bit rubbish at recommendations....someone else could probably recommend something.

don't order a new one until you've tested this one though, just in case it's something else.

[Alastair]

Ok thanks man