MAKE: Blog: The secret life of pots

The secret life of pots

Pot1
R.G writes -

As electronics tinkerers, we all use potentiometers, or "pots" for short. We count on them to control all our musical gear, and quite often get frustrated by their limitations. As in all relationships, a little understanding goes a long way. Let's take a look at how pots work so we can use them better.

Back in the dim reaches of electronic prehistory when electricity, let alone electronics, was poorly understood , a number of researchers were trying to figure out how this mysterious force worked. They had no meters, no oscilloscopes, not even very good batteries, and had to literally make their own parts to get anything electrical to work. In this era, a fellow named Ohm settled a controversy...

The Secret Life of Pots - Link.

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Comments

Oldest comments listed first.

Posted by: blakewest on May 14, 2007 at 10:05 AM

Hey, this article is great, if you ignore the missing photos. It helped me understand why my old, old stereo amp has bad volume control at the lower range. Maybe I can fix it!

Posted by: r080 on May 14, 2007 at 1:50 PM

Very good article. R.G. Keen has been a prominent member in the guitar DIY community, and he has a whole bunch of other good stuff at geofex.com.

Posted by: kylecroft on May 14, 2007 at 3:27 PM

I remember using this article for a report and my school filter blocked it under the drug category! lol

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