Replacement pot - Goodrich VP

[Nick Bidmade]

The Geordie legend (he tells me to say this) Jim Hornsby is a neighbour!!

He's after a replacement pot for his Goodrich volume pedal.I told him I thought the Jim Dunlop 'Hot Potx' was a contender but I know nowt about the electronics end of this game and burst into tears if I see a soldering iron (Ken Byng will confirm).

Am I right in thinking the Hot Potz 470 is a suitable pot for his VP? Where can one be obtained? (Relax, Ken, I'm not going to offer to help change the string!)

All advice gratefully received.
Howay (as they say up here).

[Gretschnut]

Hi Nick. Please say hello to Jim as I remember happy days at the Lemonfield in Sunderland with Gordon and Lillian.

[Tony Russell Davis]

The Lemonfield! Just up from the Seaburn Hotel? Small world doesn't even get half way; lived next to the windmill, top of Sea Rd., for years.T.

[dessa]

I can recommend the Dunlop Hot Potz 470k I have had one in my heavily used pedal for over 3 years. !!!
Check eBay I believe Solsound sells them for around £25

[bob adams]

Good suggestion from Dessa... Sol is a nice chap I've called in at Potters Bar a couple of times, he has invested in some really good gear! No hesitation in recommending him.

[jonshack]

Nick, the Dunlop pots work really well, the only slight drawback is it's a little tricky to get the lugs hot enough for a good solder joint. A really hot soldering iron and some patience is required is all. This is why Tom Bradshaw sells them with wires pre soldered. I'm not sure if the exchange rate and shipping from Tom is prohibitive these days but he also has a not-happy-pay-nothing policy on the pots, which is pretty great.

[Ken Byng]

Nick - Jon Shacklock and Derek Thurlby have given first class advice. The only thing that I would add is that the original Hot Potz had a taper that was not the same as the Allen Bradley long life pots by which all subsequent pots have been measured against. Jim Palenscar and Kevin Ryan who now own the Dunlop company have invested in a new Hot Potz 500K pot with an identical taper to the Allen Bradley. They are not inexpensive, but they can come pre-wired. More info here. viewtopic.php?f=39&t=7210

I put a Tom Bradshaw supplied Hot Potz in my friend's pedal about 4 or 5 years back, and it still works perfectly.

[Nick Bidmade]

Wow - thanks guys. I'll have to print this lot off and give it to Jim - too much for me to understand... doh!

BTW - I've got a couple of Allen Bradley pots but they're 250 (bits/bytes/ergs/whatever they're called) rather than 470/500. What's the difference?

[Ken Byng]

Nick
250K pots will work. They must be log pots rather than linear pots.

Re the difference between 250K and 500K - From Guitar Electronics.

"Using higher value pots (500K) will give the guitar a brighter sound and lower value pots (250K) will give the guitar a slightly warmer sound. This is because higher value pots put less of a load on the pickup which prevents treble frequencies from "bleeding" to ground through the pot and being lost".

[Nick Bidmade]

Thanks Ken. No idea if they are log or linear! Ho hum.