Audio taper vs Linear?

[Mats A]

Audio taper vs. Linear what is the difference between these? I guess my 2018 R0 have the Linear pot.

 

[cvriz]

Even though I just googled this yesterday ,I cant give you the difference in specs but I much prefer the way audio taper gradually lowers volume or reduces highs on the tone pot. The newer Gibson pots are real good too. I have linear pots in 2010 Rd and when rolling off the volume my sound doesnt clean up until Im on 2/3 on vol knob.Its not horrible or the end of the world but my ears prefer audio taper.

 

[Mats A]

Ok, so the Audio taper is like smoother and more even when Rolling down the volume. How about the tone knob. Does my 2018 R0 have the linear? It rolls of the volume quite fast very early when i roll it down. My 1995 LP Custom has a more gradual rolling down on the volume wich i prefer.
I wonder why they’ve used linear pots before if they used audio taper on the originals?

 

[Tim Plains]

2009/newer all have audio taper. Linear taper pots before that were basically like on/off switches at 3.

 

[Bob Womack]

Audio changes volume logarithmically. When we hear a what appears to be a linear rise in volume, the power of the audio is actually increasing exponentially. As a result, sound controlled by a linear pot will jump up from silence somewhere around 8 o'clock and then rise very slowly from there. This is the problem found in Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amplifiers where there is very little adjustment available at low level. In order to allow more and smoother control, a pot with an exponential taper that inversely matches the logarithmic nature of audio loudness will be used in audio circuits. More HERE.



Bob

 

[Mats A]

Thanks a lot! So the Audio Taper on the 2019 LP’s is not new and my 2018 also have the Audio Taper? It’s the PIO cap that is the new thing.

 

[Bob Womack]

Thanks a lot�� So the Audio Taper on the 2019 LP’s is not new and my 2018 also have the Audio Taper? It’s the PIO cap that is the new thing.

All my guitars have audio taper pots, including the two LPs from eras separated by forty years.

Bob

 

[Tommy Tourbus]

I still get the on/off thing happening with the tone controls even with audio taper. Not much change until I get down to 3-4 then an abrupt change. Always wondered why even taper with the volume but not tone

 

[Mats A]

The volume on my 2018 R0 changes very fast between 10-7 but on my ’95 LP Custom it changes more even from 10-0.

 

[Nitefly]

Ok, so the Audio taper is like smoother and more even when Rolling down the volume. How about the tone knob. Does my 2018 R0 have the linear? It rolls of the volume quite fast very early when i roll it down. My 1995 LP Custom has a more gradual rolling down on the volume wich i prefer.
I wonder why they’ve used linear pots before if they used audio taper on the originals?

I tried to find the answer to your question: "Does my 2018 R0 have the linear?"

Unfortunately, I haven't had much success but Jim DeCola at Gibson seems to imply in the video below that audio taper was installed on all 2018s. You can skip forward to 10:17, that's where Jim starts to talk about some of the changes to the 2019 USA line and at about 11:00 references the taper changes to all models (I assume that would include historics too). By no means a confirmation but the closest I have come. I might try to email Gibson and see if they will provide confirmation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfrS1nLJWvs

 

[Mats A]

Thank you very much. The 2018’s seems to have disapeared from the Gibson web site.

 

[Nitefly]

Thank you very much. The 2018’s seems to have disapeared from the Gibson web site.

No problem. I recently purchased a 2018 R9 and I too am intrested to know the answer to this question! I may post an NGD soon :salude

BTW I emailed Gibson and I'll update this thread if I get any info.

 

[Nitefly]

Hi Mats,

Here is the response from Gibson regarding the potentiometer taper on the 2018 models:

"The pots are 500 K CTS pots for both volume and tone:
[FONT=&quot]Custom Shop - Historics only (CTS)[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Volume - 500k Linear – short shaft, even for LP[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Tone - 500k Linear – short shaft, even for LP"[/FONT]