Hfan Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 In several recent threads I've read that some benefit could be realized by replacing the stock pots in older Heritages. Anyone up on what was used in the past? I have heard that made in Mexico, low quality pots were used at some point. Specifically, I have a 2002 157 and a 2006 150 I'm curious about. Not that they sound bad as is. So has anyone seen an improvement by replacing pots? Seems to be an easy and inexpensive mod if there is something to be gained. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnCovach Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 I am not one to adjust the volume and tone controls on the guitar when I play--not with humbuckers anyway. I have a volume pedal on my board. Many of the folks who switch out pots are those who do adjust them while playing. For me, I like to be sure I have 500k pots and not 300 or 250. So if one of my guitars is sounding a bit too dark, I'll swap out pots for 500k ones. I have a 535 that is darker than it ought to be and I'm sure that when I get around to pulling the pots out they'll be 250's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davesultra Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 I have/had Heritage guitars from '02/'06/'08' that all have/had those Mexican made pots. Not the best quality, but they work. Don't believe it would be a stretch to say that some nicer CTS or equivalent pots would be better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big bob Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 I have/had Heritage guitars from '02/'06/'08' that all have/had those Mexican made pots. Not the best quality, but they work. Don't believe it would be a stretch to say that some nicer CTS or equivalent pots would be better. What's wrong with the Mexican pot, it not Hawaiian, or Colombian, but it's not bad? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brentrocks Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 I have had CTS pots that don't taper as good as the Mexi pots.....so its a crap shoot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hfan Posted December 19, 2013 Author Share Posted December 19, 2013 I have/had Heritage guitars from '02/'06/'08' that all have/had those Mexican made pots. Not the best quality, but they work. Don't believe it would be a stretch to say that some nicer CTS or equivalent pots would be better. Yeah Dave, it was your recent post that put the bug in my head, I think that Rockabilly also had some insights recently.. What's wrong with the Mexican pot, it not Hawaiian, or Colombian, but it's not bad? Yuk yuk, I was waiting for this I have had CTS pots that don't taper as good as the Mexi pots.....so its a crap shoot Brent, I keep reading two points of view, some guys swear they hear a difference (not so much the taper) with better pots, others swear they have tried it and it is all BS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shook494 Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 Mine has Mexi pots in it and I think it sounds great. I did change the caps to RS Guitarworks Jensen .022 and .015 and I heard a change there for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hfan Posted December 19, 2013 Author Share Posted December 19, 2013 It would be fun to hook up a temporary circuit with a toggle switch that would allow one to switch back and forth between different pots, caps etc options. Probably already exists on you tube somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brentrocks Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 I have seen some Heritages with Sprauge caps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuz Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 Anyone one could hear difference from Bumblebees to Jansen to Sprague caps. The difference is as much as different pickups. Actually you should change caps before you want to buy new pickups. The people that say they can't hear a difference have never changed their caps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hfan Posted December 20, 2013 Author Share Posted December 20, 2013 Anyone one could hear difference from Bumblebees to Jansen to Sprague caps. The difference is as much as different pickups. Actually you should change caps before you want to buy new pickups. The people that say they can't hear a difference have never changed their caps. Any recommendations that don't break the bank Kuz? My Heritages have those yellow caps..Mallory maybe? I've used them in amps before. Do you also hear a tonal difference among pots assuming the same resistance values? I need to do my homework regarding values, audio taper etc. I may go totally crazy and even do a 50s wiring mod. Although I like to do this stuff one at a time to better gauge what each step brings. Heritage uses those yellow caps..Mallorys maybe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smaj Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 I have never been a CTS person, Alessandro or Bourns are the best for taper feel and sound. Like Kuz said, the caps are the main thing, I have replaced all of mine with oil & foil Mods caps at 1k for humbucker guitars, huge difference. I use 300k pots on single coils with 500k caps. Hope that helps out Hfan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnCovach Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 You might find this useful: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markohio2112 Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 Folks, I have been in the habit of checking the pot value with a meter. I have found that tolerances are all over the board, if your lucky you may get one +-10%. Caps? Check out the Emerson brand Stu Mac sells. I have used them many times and love the tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsp17 Posted December 21, 2013 Share Posted December 21, 2013 i wish that i understood more than 30% of this discussion. these changes easy to do? better left to my tech? worth experimenting? potential for tone ruination if you don't know what you are doing? i am playing a 575 MH and a 576. both with Benedetto pickups that my tech installed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dell18 Posted December 21, 2013 Share Posted December 21, 2013 Hmmmm. Might need to go after an upgrade on my 150. I always kinda figured there'd be slightly nicer kit on Heritages's and never thought too much about it. I do know that when I upgraded my (mid 80's HSS strat type) Samick a while back with Switchcraft switch, jack, CTS pots, Sprague orange drop caps and wiring I noticed a big improvement. Same values on the pots but I think there was an 022-047 or vice versa value change on the cap if I remember correctly. Since I did it all in one shot I don't know WHERE the improvement came from but I SM57-UA-ProTooled it before and after annnnnd..fairly noticeable improvement. That may come down to just the cap value change but it's a 2 single coil 1 hum axe and it sounded better across the board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuz Posted December 21, 2013 Share Posted December 21, 2013 Any recommendations that don't break the bank Kuz? My Heritages have those yellow caps..Mallory maybe? I've used them in amps before. Do you also hear a tonal difference among pots assuming the same resistance values? I need to do my homework regarding values, audio taper etc. I may go totally crazy and even do a 50s wiring mod. Although I like to do this stuff one at a time to better gauge what each step brings. Heritage uses those yellow caps..Mallorys maybe The best caps for guitar, IMHO, are paper in oil caps. Of the PIO caps, I pretty much exclusively use the Bumblebee and Grey Tiger reissue caps made by Luxor. Now here is the budget helper, I just found out that these caps are just Russian PIO caps that are dressed up to look like vintage Bumblebee or Grey Tigers. Either way, these caps attenuate the upper mids giving an open, airy, tone. Because they open up the guitar, I use .022 in both the neck & bridge. With other caps that maybe attenuate the lower mids (ie Jensens) one would probably need to use a .015 in the neck and .022 in the bridge. I also believe that CTS Super pots (or a a minimum a pot upgrade) and 50s wiring is essential to getting all the tone out of your guitar and maximizing the effect of the caps. The whole conversion (pots, caps, and 50s wiring) should not cost more than $100 tops, and much less if you use the Russian PIO caps and less expensive pots. But I am amazed how different my 150 P90 sounds with CTS super pots. It already had 50s wiring and a set of .022 Grey Tigers and the super CTS pots just opened the whole guitar up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hfan Posted December 21, 2013 Author Share Posted December 21, 2013 I have never been a CTS person, Alessandro or Bourns are the best for taper feel and sound. Like Kuz said, the caps are the main thing, I have replaced all of mine with oil & foil Mods caps at 1k for humbucker guitars, huge difference. I use 300k pots on single coils with 500k caps. Hope that helps out Hfan. So .1u fared for buckers and .047 u / (.050 if you can find one..not made anymore I believe) for single coils? I worked on industrial equipment for many years and a cap was a cap and a resister was a resister..all good if within specs. This audio deal is a new ball game for me. I hve installed a .047 cap or two in some fender types to help with shrillness. i wish that i understood more than 30% of this discussion. these changes easy to do? better left to my tech? worth experimenting? potential for tone ruination if you don't know what you are doing? i am playing a 575 MH and a 576. both with Benedetto pickups that my tech installed. May be hard to access the caps on a guitar with no back access plate..never tried it. Would you have to pull the pots etc out of the f holes? The soldering is easy, not hard to learn if you have a mind to. The best caps for guitar, IMHO, are paper in oil caps. Of the PIO caps, I pretty much exclusively use the Bumblebee and Grey Tiger reissue caps made by Luxor. Now here is the budget helper, I just found out that these caps are just Russian PIO caps that are dressed up to look like vintage Bumblebee or Grey Tigers. Either way, these caps attenuate the upper mids giving an open, airy, tone. Because they open up the guitar, I use .022 in both the neck & bridge. With other caps that maybe attenuate the lower mids (ie Jensens) one would probably need to use a .015 in the neck and .022 in the bridge. I also believe that CTS Super pots (or a a minimum a pot upgrade) and 50s wiring is essential to getting all the tone out of your guitar and maximizing the effect of the caps. The whole conversion (pots, caps, and 50s wiring) should not cost more than $100 tops, and much less if you use the Russian PIO caps and less expensive pots. But I am amazed how different my 150 P90 sounds with CTS super pots. It already had 50s wiring and a set of .022 Grey Tigers and the super CTS pots just opened the whole guitar up. OK Kuz, I am convinced. I have those fake bumble bees in a VOS SG I found on CL. I anticipate the sweet smell of solder and flux in the near future. John, thanks for that link, very informative. What did the Monkees say?? I'm a believer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavesNotHere Posted December 21, 2013 Share Posted December 21, 2013 I like the Mexican pots Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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