Best pot values for Toasters?

[lumgimfong]

On Ric 4000 series basses? Thanks.

[jps]

250K

[ram]

The only Toaster I have on my Rics, the pots are 250k.

[Isaac]

@lumgimfong

Depends on what you want. As others have said, 250K is the typical value for a single coil pickup. A higher value would increase the amplitude (not the frequency) of the pickup's resonance, resulting in more treble response. Maybe too much. A lot of people would find it harsh or brittle. But, if you find 250K results in a sound that is too mellow, then try a higher value.

[lumgimfong]

Thanks, y'all!

[iiipopes]

I would go with the current stock harness that has the 330 kohm pots (if you are simply wanting to retrofit a neck toaster to an existing newer bass) for three reasons:
1) 330 is not that far removed from the 250, especially as some of the old basses had 500 tone pots, which is why RIC went with 330 all round, so you probably won't hear any difference; and because of that,
2) it is much easier to simply retrofit the toaster neck pickup by simply lifting the hot and ground and soldering the new pickup leads in the same place so you don't suffer the exasperation of rewiring an entire harness, especially the Ric-O-Sound jack; and
3) If you can actually hear the difference, that might actually be useful to give some modern definition, especially if the technique is using a pick instead of fingers; and if all else falis, simply roll off the tone control to 9 and you still have it exactly.

[lumgimfong]

Thanks for the info!
So far I have found:
1MEG makes it too airy and tinny . Still nice but lacking round bottom and mid punch. The highs are thinning everything out.
500k Same, just less so.
Skipping over 330k, I will try 250k next.
Should be perfect, I hope!

[lumgimfong]

After installing the 250k pot (read about 241) I have to say it is best for a toaster on a 4003. Still got plenty of highs but the round bottom and mid punch is back!!
PS- I don’t do tone pots /caps - just a Tonestyler. I usually play it in true bypass mode.

[Korladis]

After installing the 250k pot (read about 241) I have to say it is best for a toaster on a 4003. Still got plenty of highs but the round bottom and mid punch is back!!
PS- I don’t do tone pots /caps - just a Tonestyler. I usually play it in true bypass mode.

I also don't really use the tone knobs. The only thing I use them for is the push/pull functionality for the capacitor on the bridge pickup.

[aceonbass]

Single coil and humbucking pickups almost universally use 500k pots for tone controls. Volume pot specs are usually 250k for single coil pickups, and 500k for volume. These standardized specs were also observed by Rickenbacker up until the early 2000's when they went to a standardized 330k pot that usually measures closer to 275k. For a time in the early 2000's RIC went with 250k pots all around that usually measured closer to 175k. The aweful tone this imparted to my first 4004 is why I started experimented with pot and cap values to improve the tone in Ricks. A 500k pot does not act as a high pass filter for a given pickup, but it will allow for more clarity in the top end, particularly with a Rickenbacker HB1. Having built over 700 harnesses for Ricks and other brands has proven these points time and time again.

[lumgimfong]

I would have to agree about the HB1 with aceonbass. It is a dark pup and 500k pot minimum needed. 1MEG is even better.
To me the pickup progression goes, in my experience:
HB1 is dark, even with 1MEG pot and true bypass.
HiGains are half as dark, and more present and bright, even up to 1MEG pot.
Reissue Toaster is crazy present and bright and only needs a 250k pot. 500 and 1MEG make it sound too thinned out for bass.

[aceonbass]

HiGains are half as dark, and more present and bright, even up to 1MEG pot.
Reissue Toaster is crazy present and bright and only needs a 250k pot. 500 and 1MEG make it sound too thinned out for bass.

Squire, Rutherford, McCartney, etc. all had 500k tone pots in their Toaster equipped basses, and their tone doesn't sound thin at all. Please define "half as dark".

[Isaac]

HiGains are half as dark, and more present and bright, even up to 1MEG pot.
Reissue Toaster is crazy present and bright and only needs a 250k pot. 500 and 1MEG make it sound too thinned out for bass.

Squire, Rutherford, McCartney, etc. all had 500k tone pots in their Toaster equipped basses, and their tone doesn't sound thin at all. Please define "half as dark".

What were the volume pot values? I'd think that would make a difference as well.

[lumgimfong]

Issac: I’m only talking about volume pots in this thread and in the posts above, and no tone pot or caps. True bypass. I never heard a tone pot or cap that changed anything for me so I just use a Tonestyler set to true bypass or a no load tone pot maxed with whatever value volume pot gives me the brightness I want. I have found that changing volume pot values is the only thing that really changes the brightness a lot to my ears.

Ace: Yes, pot values are a subjective selection so that is totally up to those celebrities what they like to use.
For my pedestrian ears 250k volume pot and true bypass sounds right to me with my toaster, which is current production. I cannot comment on vintage pups. I only speak of 2016-2021 production Ric pickups. Any value pot used is valid. Just up to the player to decide what he or she likes best. As always, my comments are opinions, not absolute announcements on anything as I am hardly qualified to comment on these things. Just my opinions from my experiences.
By half as dark I mean that, to my ears, on a spectrum of dark (dulled down tone, sounds like coming from deep inside speaker cone, not a lot of hi end) to bright (clear and present, sounds like coming from front of speaker, lots of hi end).
So on a spectrum from 0-10, 0 being the darkest, the HB1 would be 0, HiGain 5, Toaster 10, for this exercise, to my ears.
Hope that clarifies. Sorry for the confusion. I should have mentioned “volume pots” in the thread title and not just “pots”.