Diplomat tone pot question/potential issue

[Gritdog]

Just built the diplomat. Sounds awesome but the rotary tone switch doesn’t seem to have much effect. Pos1 to 3 seem to let progressively more bass in, but from positions 4-8 it seems to not have much change at all. They’re seemingly closer to pos1 with very mild differences that seem to have no discernible pattern.

Is this standard or could I have fried the pot somehow, (or something else entirely)?

For context, I had to resolder it while building as I initially soldered it crooked and held the iron to the lugs for probably longer than I should have while doing that.

Thanks!

 

[vigilante398]

Just built the diplomat. Sounds awesome but the rotary tone switch doesn’t seem to have much effect. Pos1 to 3 seem to let progressively more bass in, but from positions 4-8 it seems to not have much change at all. They’re seemingly closer to pos1 with very mild differences that seem to have no discernible pattern.

Is this standard or could I have fried the pot somehow, (or something else entirely)?

For context, I had to resolder it while building as I initially soldered it crooked and held the iron to the lugs for probably longer than I should have while doing that.

Thanks!

The tone control on Diplomat is a rotary switch, not a pot, and as such is pretty easy to check. After removing power (always start with that), use your multimeter set for continuity testing and check that you have continuity between the center pin and each of the outside pins when the switch is set for that setting. If you have continuity but something still feels off, check for cold solder joints on the switch and on the capacitors connected to it.

The switch acts to effectively swap out the coupling capacitor in the tube stage, limiting or opening the frequency response of the stage. Some value changes may also be more subtle depending on what amp and guitar are being used with it, but there should still be at least some change.

 

[Gritdog]

Thanks, will give that a go.