The attenuator does not seem to work like it is described. It does not go smoothly down in volume but makes a noise like pots on a guitar when they need to be cleaned. The low volume has a very narrow range and at the very bottom it gets loud again. It also takes a long time, relatively speaking, to come on when the on switch is pressed. But I'm not sure if this is a problem because it does turn on. Thanks

Several possibilities (i have experienced all):

1. 120V.AC line noise. Try moving to a new receptacle in a different room or breaker. Try a In line AC filter (like a Furman power filter/conditioner)
2. RF interference. Plug in a different core and guitar to isolate.
3. Guitar wiring. Bad ground internally or pot (volume) became ungrounded.
4. Defective amp preamp section. Pot or transistor.

I recommend checking music stores in your area for that, it doesn't have to be any specific rating of impedence. Depending on brand, I see guitars with anything from 50 ohms to 250 ohms. This only allows a faster cutoff on volume than others. The most critical action is to have a smooth taper, meaning a straight volume rise or decline versus one that goes down slowly or quickly and suddenly cuts off. Most any guitar volume control from a music store will work just fine. In case I confused you, ohms is the rating of the control, the taper or smoothness is classed as A, B, or C. A is normally for volume controls and B is used mostly for tone controls. Knowing that should give you insight insight to the difference of the controls.

Simple answer is yes.

The pot is generating noise. Some noise is unavoidable from pots. Using excess gain in the amp that that follows it will worsen the problem. If ypu can get to the pot and it has a way to squirt some CRC226 in it would help. You would have to use the spout on the can to squirt into the slot where the leads go into the pot. You can get CRC226 at Home Depot in the electrical dept.

Look for bad soldering around the volume control pot leads. I think you need a new amp tech that can troubleshoot a problem.

Chances are they put the WRONG pot in the guitar... there are SEVERAL "tapers" as well as resistance values. The tapers are denoted by a letter such as A,B,C and G. Thes tapers make the rotation seem smooth and right for the function performed. Volume controls are often an "Audio Taper" and some are reverse tapers... The first thing is to find out EXACTLY what type pot is used in that position and what the resistaance value is and check they put the right one in. First thing is to find a different shop that will investigate the problem.

Have you tried another cable between amp and guitar? Usually the cable goes bad first. Have you tried another amp or possibly tried another guitar on your rig? If this still indicates that your guitar's Standard 1/4" TS Jack is noisy, remove the oval cover over the jack and check the solder joints for the wiring. Follow the wires back to the tone and volume pots and check those solder joints. If everything is secure...Plug in, power up and check for noise while turning the volume pots stop to stop. If the pots make a scratching noise, shut down rig and unplug the guitar. Get a can of spray contact cleaner with a small extension tube (available at electronic shops) to spray in the pots while turning them. (May have to remove pots fom the guitar to get at small openings on side of pot can.) Spray jack and test for noise. Jack STILL
noisy...If you can solder...unwire old jack, remove from guitar, take to electronic shop, match to Standard 1/4" TS Jack, install in guitar, resolder wire connections and test. If you cannot solder...take guitar to
a reputable shop or dealer that does this repair. Good Luck! P.S. The
spray contact cleaner can be used on the amp jack, pots and switches
too...just make sure the amp is unplugged from the power supply before
doing any spraying.

It sounds like (pun intended) the volume pot just needs to be replaced. A good pot is worth about $5 and then you just need to solder it in. That tends to be the tricky part if you can't solder. It takes longer to heat up the iron than it does to do the job. I'd assume this happened either after it had sat for quite a while or after a move.
What can happen is the wiper or the resist inside the pot breaksor even the wire to the pot breaks and there goes your volume control. Depending on what model of amp you have you don't want to run it like this for too long. You can't fix the pot but you do need to replace it. I would assume it sounds like it is either full on or doesn't change the volume at all.
This is one of those maintenance things you should check for from time to time. you may notice that the pots get noisy or inconsistent for a while and then they do this kind of thing.
The attenuator will kill the volume but that doesn't actually fix the problem you have. When the amp is running properly you should be able to get quite a low volume. If you need to run it harder so that it gets into the distortion range then a attenuator will drop the volume down to a practice at home non eviction volume ;-]

Hi,

It's not your pickups. It would be nearly impossible to loosen a wire inside of your guitar by having even heavier than your amp head drop on it. It is most likely your volume pot. The post, if hit hard enough, can virtually distroy your pots. Another possibility could be your jack, al though considering where it's located on your guitar, it would be very hard to damage it by having something drop onto it.

There is little else that could be the problem. Hopefully you didn't damage your guitar too badly. If the guitar was in front of me, it would be a relatively easy diagnosis.

Fortunately, volume and tone pots are inexpensive, and if you're handy with a soldering iron (or you have a friend that is) it is an easy install with four to six solder points, depending on your configuration. I don't want to assume it's a stock setup, but when you take off the rear electronics cover, you will immediately see what configuration you have.

If you have possibly damaged the pickup bobbins (assuming you have the stock humbuckers in your guitar), you would be able to see the damage, It would either look damaged,or work correctly. As you know bobbuns are simply wound wire, and that's not easy to damage. Plus your strings provide a minimal amount of protection, unless your amp head slammed it very hard. Start by replacing the volume pot. Cheapest parts first. There is no way to test the pot with anything like a potentiometer, because there is virtually no voltage that passes through the pot. Additionally, unless you have active pickups, your pickups cannot be either. If you do have to replace your electronics, you can find a large variety and even upgrade your parts by searching eBay. The good thing is that you havce a guitar, and guitar parts are abundant, relatively cheap, and most people change out electronics just to achieve a different sound.

If you are so inclined, most good guitar shops will diagnose your problem for cheap and apply the cost of the diagnosis to the cost of the repair. Good luck, and I hope I have given you some information to work with.

Thank you for using FixYa

If you can't clean the pots or if you just want to try replacing them, try using
500k pots again, in case one or both of the pots is worn or dirty or
defective. If that doesn't work, and cleaning or replacing the
switches doesn't work, then the problem is probably elsewhere.
You could put a 500k resistor (with a sufficiently-high power rating of at least half the power rating (Watts) of the pot) in parallel with the pot, or, to cover all bases, put a 500k resistor from each of the two outer lugs of the pot to the middle lug. That should change it into the equivalent of a 250k pot. You could even just temporarily clip the resistors on, with alligator-clip leads, if you're very careful, just to test it.

Good luck,

The dude.