Turning the Knob Makes it Sound Weird! How to Deal with This Problem

You may wonder what I am talking about when you read the title, but have you ever thought that something is stuck when you turn a knob on an effects pedal or amp... or that it’s hard to turn?

You may have thought, "No, I've never thought about it..."

I'm sure this day will come for you too sooner or later. You never know when disaster will strike. But if you’re prepared, then you shouldn’t have to worry.

1. Types of Volume Pots

There are too many different shapes and sizes of knobs to introduce here, but the basic method of installation is either push it in and snap it on or screw it on and fix it in place.

A knob such as a volume pot is a part called a "pot" or "volume pot" (Japanese name is a variable resistor) inside, and a knob is attached to its shaft.

These pots are also very diverse and can be found …

I have collected a large number of pots of different shapes and sizes from our technical office. Since there are quite a few different types, I will only list a few examples here.
The shape of the pot, the length, shape, and thickness of the shaft, and even the number of terminals are all different. There are countless different values and curves for each of these, so even if you want to change the pot because it has a little bit of stiffness, it will be a challenge if you do not have the same pot. There are many different shapes of pots in various products, and to be honest, it is impossible to have all the pots of all kinds in the world.

When the pot is attached to the device, it looks like this.

Only the shaft is visible from the front, like this.

2. Getting Stuck When Turning!

Here is the main issue. There are times when you turn a knob, such as the volume, and it becomes difficult to turn it to a particular position. Most causes of this pattern can be narrowed down to two reasons.

Pattern 1: The knob is pushed in so far that it rubs against the chassis.

Here is an example

ROWIN / LTL-02 TIME LOOPER Looper

This new series of ROWIN enclosures are popular because of their compact size.
The pot in this one has a shaft called a D shaft. As the name suggests, when viewed from above, it is shaped like the letter D of the alphabet.

The D-shaft has the advantage that the knob's memory does not shift position, and is often used in recent products.

The receiving side of the knob has a D-shaped hole to match the shape of the shaft. The shaft is short.

You may notice this when you compare the shape of the shaft of this model with the shaft introduced at the beginning of this article.

While most pots are secured with a nut, this model has no pot secured to the chassis.
The pot is fixed to the board by soldering, which is a common design in recent effects pedals and mixers. How the board is fixed to the enclosure depends on the design of the product.

By the way, if you look closely at this effect pedal, you can see ......

The knob is not perpendicular to the chassis, but slightly slanted.
If you push the knob all the way in, the arrow will touch the chassis.

If you turn the knob in this condition, the knob will start to get stuck!

So, what should we do?

The answer is simple.

Just lift it up a little.

Just a little bit of force is all that is needed!

When you are turning a knob and think it is stuck in a certain place~!
It's when it hits the enclosure~!

When it hits the casing~!

I said this twice because it’s important. If the knob is not screwed on, pull it out a little.

The same applies if the knob has a screw.

If the knob has a screw next to it, as in this image, it is fixed to the shaft of the volume pot by the screw. By the way, this is the effect pedal in the image here.

WARM AUDIO / Centavo

If you look closely at the image, you can see that the knob is fixed in a position where it does not hit the enclosure. If you loosen the screw and put the knob deep into the shaft, the knob is sticky and will stick to the enclosure.

If you tighten the knob in this state, the knob will surely rub against the chassis, and it will feel very peculiar when you turn it! Therefore, it is necessary to tighten the screw with the knob floating as shown in the previous image.

Pattern 2. the screw that holds the knob in place rubs against the base of the shaft

This pattern occurs when the knob is screwed on and the shaft of the pot is short.

For example, if the shaft is sticking out like this, insert the Centavo knob mentioned earlier.
Then,

you can insert the shaft all the way to the back of the knob like this and still not feel it hit the chassis. However, if you tighten the screws and turn the knob with this, for sure, a peculiarity will occur when you turn it!

This.

The screw hits the shaft root of the pot.

If you turn the knob in this state, you will feel a click that means it gets caught somewhere! And then, it becomes "stuck"!
So, what should we do?

The answer is simple.

All you have to do is make the knob float a little.

When you are turning the knob and think it is stuck in a certain place~!

When the screw hits the base of the pot~!

When the screw hits the base of the pot~!

If the knob has a screw on it, loosen the screw and make it float to hold it in place.

Huh? Isn't what I'm saying the same thing? You are the one who thinks, "What's wrong with that?

That's right! That's right!

I've written a lot of sentences, but the bottom line is this:

"When you turn the knob and it gets stuck, just make it float a little bit to fix it in place."

That's all I want to say in this blog!!!

If you play a musical instrument, you should at least have a small flathead screwdriver and an Allen wrench!

⇒ Wrench list

I hope this will be helpful. Come again soon!