Pot value
The resistance of a volume or tone potentiometer, usually 250 or 500 kilohms, which sets how much of the pickup signal is loaded down.
A potentiometer in a guitar is wired as a variable resistor across the pickup, so its value decides how heavily the pickup is loaded. Higher values such as 500 kilohms present less load, keeping more treble and output, which is why they are usual with humbuckers, while 250 kilohms bleed treble away and tame the brightness of single coils. Changing pot value is one of the simplest and most audible ways to reshape an instrument's voice without touching the pickups.
Example: Replacing a 250 kilohm volume pot with a 500 kilohm one in a single-coil guitar makes it noticeably brighter and louder.
See also
Related
- PagePotentiometer
- PageTone control
- PageVolume pot
- PageActive pickup
- PageAlnico
- PageBlade pickup
- PageAaron Dessner
- PageAce Frehley