The Electra Forums

Some one at some point replaced the volume pot in my 310 with a 250K just want to get some opinions compared to 500K, the bridge is bright but the neck is a little muddy, I orderrf some pots with other items, so ill try any way.

So I replaced the 250k with a CTS closed back 500k audio pot, I dont notice much difference and now the throw is really short and volume is almost gone at 8-7 range. There must have been a linear pot in there.

Did you have the correct caps for the pots? That will make a difference.

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SlmGuy

Not sure what you mean. The volume pot doesn't have a cap.

As I understand it, the higher the value, the more bright sounding it will be, or conversely the lower the value, the more 'woofy' it will sound. I can testify that the 50k pot in my X910 (mistake stock from the factory) is very dark sounding, even on the bridge pickup. 250k is the normal value in most single coil guitars, supposedly to counter how bright those pickups are naturally. Good luck.

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Electra Guitar Videos ===> http://www.youtube.com/user/mjm33mjm?feature=watch

Try a 500K linear and see if you like that better. A humbucker with a 250K will have some of the top end rolled off, and make it sound a little compressed as well. Some vintage gibsons also used a 300K, but I don't recommend that either. Like he said, 500K is the ticket. Just need to settle on a taper you like.

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Thorny

I changed the pots to 500k from 50 in the 940 and wham like new pickups totally took off the blanket sound. Did change the sound of my 310 which had 250k much but a little. If you got 50k they were a factory mistake and a its a mistake to leave them there. HAHA

The first time I recall running into this was with a Peavey Generation guitar. At the time it was really a high-end guitar. Peavey was trying to compete in the US market and this guitar was about what a Les Paul would cost, but they flopped in the market so I picked it up for a relative song. I thought this guitar should sound amazing but it sounds dead. I put like three sets of pickups in it before I figured out the CTS pots they put in there were 50K not 500K. BAM, it sounded like it should after that - great. I would have kept it but it had a tiny little neck on it I could not get used too. Great guitar though, and if you find one and like small necks, these are usually really a deal. I have seen it on other brands of electrics too. But Electra clearly had a problem and a lot of them escaped with the wrong pots. So that is why we surmised they came up with the "supercharger kit" to fix the problem. They turned a problem into a positive which I find a creative thing to do. In reality they were fixing a problem that would be considered a recall, but they are supercharging the guitar for you.

We just don't know how many escaped without benefit of it, but the difference is huge when it is fixed. The difference between 250K and 500K will still be worthwhile, although you are talking a 2X difference vs. a 10X difference - so it makes sense it is less dramatic. I am going to check a Gibson today for 300K pots, if it has them I might change to 500K. But glad it all works for you. I would fix every one I came across, even the collectable ones. If I was that concerned about collectability I'd just keep the old ones for originality.

Excellent.

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Thorny

Love peavey have two usa basses. was the generation a tele type?

You know, it WASN'T a generation, it was an Odyssey. My memory I guess isn't what it used to be. I looked it up to make sure. I didn't find one exactly like mine but saw a picture of a figured black burst model that was of the same era. I had a Generation too, but that was a different guitar (and that one was like a tele). The one I had was a cherry sunburst kinda like the "Endorser" of the peaveys, it had a deep set neck that was heel-less, mahogany body, thick figured maple top. It had the "natural" binding like PRSs, and had 2 humbuckers. It had schaller hardware on it. Just like the Electras, it is sort of the omega/workingman/endorser shaped body but was much like a Les Paul. Mine had these triangular inlays and an ebony board, sunburst, it was really nice. Just it had 50K pots so it sounded terrible. I didn't understand it prior, I changed to several great pickup sets and they all sounded terrible. Finally I realized the pots were not 500K. Once I fixed that, it fixed the sound. Then I just needed to fix that tiny little neck, and that is one thing I could not fix, so it was sold. I don't know if they made different sized necks in that model, I doubt it. You don't see them too often so it is hard to say.

I found a link to one, not sure it will work but will see. It looked like this one, only figured a little more.

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Thorny

The link didnt work. So its a les paul style