rockmancentral Posted September 18, 2021 Share Posted September 18, 2021 I do some volume swells using the volume pot on my guitar and on the JTV-89F I just got, the pot is pretty tight. Is there an easy way to loosen it up? Or, is it possible to swap it out for another pot (what are the values)? I took a peek at it and I can see that it appears to be a dual gang pot.... at least I think it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisinon2 Posted September 18, 2021 Share Posted September 18, 2021 Nothing under the hood of a Variax is standard as far as the electronics are concerned. Even if you've replaced a thousand "normal" volume pots, this won't be what you're used to...you've got the mag pickups, the piezos, and all of it is tied to the main board where the magic is stored. Tread cautiously... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockmancentral Posted September 19, 2021 Author Share Posted September 19, 2021 I understand what you are trying to say, but a pot is a pot. Unless it is actually a digital encoder, which I doubt, then it is a potentiometer with a certain value and a certain taper. I'm just asking what that value is, and if it is a log or audio taper (I'm assuming log). I think it's probably a dual gang, so confirmation of that would be helpful. All the "special" stuff would be happening in the Variax circuitry, and I can't believe that the pot itself has any bearing on that beyond those values/characteristics I've mentioned.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amsdenj Posted September 19, 2021 Share Posted September 19, 2021 Changing the pot would be pretty tricky. I wonder if it would be possible to get some lubricating tuner cleaner down the shaft to loosen it up. The tone pot on my JTV-69S has the same issue. The volume pot is great, but the tone pot is pretty stiff and slow to turn. @psarkissian? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisinon2 Posted September 19, 2021 Share Posted September 19, 2021 2 hours ago, rockmancentral said: I understand what you are trying to say, but a pot is a pot. Unless it is actually a digital encoder, which I doubt, then it is a potentiometer with a certain value and a certain taper. I'm just asking what that value is, and if it is a log or audio taper (I'm assuming log). I think it's probably a dual gang, so confirmation of that would be helpful. All the "special" stuff would be happening in the Variax circuitry, and I can't believe that the pot itself has any bearing on that beyond those values/characteristics I've mentioned.. Have at it then... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockmancentral Posted September 19, 2021 Author Share Posted September 19, 2021 "I wonder if it would be possible to get some lubricating tuner cleaner down the shaft to loosen it up." I have tried that, of course. Still pretty stiff, to the point where if I roll it on the edge of my palm, like I normally do, I can't turn it from 0 to 10 unless I put a fair amount of force against it. Interesting that your volume is fine but you have the issue with your tone. Perhaps it's possible I just got an extra tight one and maybe looser ones exist at Line 6 in @psarkissian secret stash? "Have at it then..." Well, I will as soon as I can get a reply from someone that can tell me the value, which was my original request. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockmancentral Posted September 19, 2021 Author Share Posted September 19, 2021 OK, I went ahead and opened up my JTV-89F and took a closer look. The volume is a 3 gang pot, with a A500K, and (2) B10K pots. The Tone is a 2 gang pot, with a A500K, and a B10K pot. So I would expect that the A (audio) gangs are for the magnetics and the B (log) are for the Variax (10K is a typical value for expression pedals). So yes, they are "special" because it is not common to have mixed values in a multi-gang pot, much less the custom PC board that is used to connect to them and the interface cables. But no, in that, they are pots, and pots are pots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psarkissian Posted September 20, 2021 Share Posted September 20, 2021 See if you can carefully bring the knob up. Try it then. If the knob isn't corrected centered and seated, it can rub and resistance to turning can be a problem. Rare, but I've seen a couple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockmancentral Posted September 20, 2021 Author Share Posted September 20, 2021 5 hours ago, psarkissian said: See if you can carefully bring the knob up. Try it then. If the knob isn't corrected centered and seated, it can rub and resistance to turning can be a problem. Rare, but I've seen a couple. Just tried that and it's still pretty stiff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psarkissian Posted September 20, 2021 Share Posted September 20, 2021 Try this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brue58ski Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 Did you buy it used? I had found that I kept bumping into my Variax 89F volume pot which in turn kept changing it. So I took the volume knob off of the post and put a rubber washer on the post. I then put the volume knob back on the post. Now it is actually hard to turn but I was never a volume pot guy anyway. I think this was a tip I got off of this forum so if you haven't already, carefully take the volume pot off of the post and see if anything has been put there to make it hard to turn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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