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Dave Derr · 2nd May 2003

BRUCE - THE FATSO INPUT LEVELS

We are totally aware of that issue and have been trying to deal with it. Its a discontinued potentiometer story.

It all started with 10K Carbon Molded Clarostat pots which we used for years and years. THEY QUIT MAKING THEM! These pots had a TRUE LOGARITHMIC CURVE... something you almost cant get anymore. We had to match the pots but OOoo were they smooth once they were matched. Where you work at now (1-3 on the knob) was up at 4 - 5. When they Discontinued them last year, we went thru all hell trying to find more of them and even had them deliver some new ones that really just sucked (I dont mind saying it, Clarostat!). We then went to some 50 K pots with a special taper... they were touchy and didnt match. Then we went to Clarostat 10K Conductive plastic. Its a long story but even tho the curves in their data books say they are logarithmic, and identical to the old carbon molded pots - THEY ARENT! Especially down below 5. We just started shipping them about 3 months ago and anyone who is coming out of a +10 device such as goood modern DA converters, may have to deal with working the pots down in the 1 - 3 range sometimes, especially when hitting the Fatso lightly.

There is an attenuator we can send you, that is an XLR barrel to knock the level down a couple db going into the Fatso, or we can probably still find a couple of the old molded Carbon pots to make you happy. We have a couple guys working on it here, including me! It sucks when you come to rely on something like a pot that gets discontinued. At least it doesnt affect the audio quality whatsoever and the conductive plastic pots are supposed to last 10 times longer.

2nd May 2003	#24
Dave Derr The Distressor's "daddy" Joined: May 2003 Location: New Jersey, USA Posts: 461	BRUCE - THE FATSO INPUT LEVELS We are totally aware of that issue and have been trying to deal with it. Its a discontinued potentiometer story. It all started with 10K Carbon Molded Clarostat pots which we used for years and years. THEY QUIT MAKING THEM! These pots had a TRUE LOGARITHMIC CURVE... something you almost cant get anymore. We had to match the pots but OOoo were they smooth once they were matched. Where you work at now (1-3 on the knob) was up at 4 - 5. When they Discontinued them last year, we went thru all hell trying to find more of them and even had them deliver some new ones that really just sucked (I dont mind saying it, Clarostat!). We then went to some 50 K pots with a special taper... they were touchy and didnt match. Then we went to Clarostat 10K Conductive plastic. Its a long story but even tho the curves in their data books say they are logarithmic, and identical to the old carbon molded pots - THEY ARENT! Especially down below 5. We just started shipping them about 3 months ago and anyone who is coming out of a +10 device such as goood modern DA converters, may have to deal with working the pots down in the 1 - 3 range sometimes, especially when hitting the Fatso lightly. There is an attenuator we can send you, that is an XLR barrel to knock the level down a couple db going into the Fatso, or we can probably still find a couple of the old molded Carbon pots to make you happy. We have a couple guys working on it here, including me! It sucks when you come to rely on something like a pot that gets discontinued. At least it doesnt affect the audio quality whatsoever and the conductive plastic pots are supposed to last 10 times longer. __________________ Dave Derr