Can Volume pots really make a tone different?

[JonWormwood]

As far as quality is concerned. I purchased 6, 50k pots for like 3 bucks from China and now I'm wondering if the quality of them can actually have an audible difference.

Any input? har har

 

[Empathy]

You're probably more likely to notice wear on them if they're shit - had to replace the pots in one of my Schecters a few weeks after I bought it because they were complete and utter noisy shit.

 

[sprack]

You might notice variation in tone between the pots since most are %20 accurate to the stated value as well as the tapers being different.

 

[Trevoire520]

I've swapped my 500k pots out for 1 Meg in one of my guitars in hope of brightening up it's tone a bit, changed all the internal wiring to higher quality stuff aswell. Didn't notice much, if any, difference.

 

[Clark Kent]

Single coils are usually run with 250k pots and humbuckers with 500k pots. 250k pots are not bright enough for most humbuckers so if you're using 50k pots... I bet your guitar sounds pretty muffled.

 

[JonWormwood]

Single coils are usually run with 250k pots and humbuckers with 500k pots. 250k pots are not bright enough for most humbuckers so if you're using 50k pots... I bet your guitar sounds pretty muffled.

ACtives

 

[53Crëw]

Volume pots can make a tonal difference if you change the value. Increasing the value of a volume pot increases the resonant peak of the pickup making the guitar sound a little brighter. This is why some people use 1Meg pots instead of 500k in muddy or dark sounding guitars.

I'd have to say there is no tonal difference between a "cheap" pot and a quality one like CTS, assuming you are comparing two of the same value (i.e. 500k). However, the quality pot will likely last longer and have a smoother/more precise feel.