Am I the only one who doesn't adjust my volume/tone knobs?

[Skarekrough]

Re: Am I the only one who doesn't adjust my volume/tone knobs?

As I gravitate towards more traditionally vintage gear I find the tone and volume knobs to really be necessary for tweaking.

On my Les Pauls I find the neck and bridge volumes I tend to EQ for the neck to have less volume and the tone wide-open and the bridge to have the volume wide open and the tone backed off a bit. Generally once I get this set up I'll just switch t the bridge for solos unless I'm doing a Cream rip-off and then I'll just bring the volume on the neck pickup up for it.

On my Strats I wire up the neck and bridge pickups to the first tone pot and the middle to the second. For rhythm work I'll keep the volume at 6 or 7 and then take it up to 10 for solos. I'll have a pedal in the mix but will typically EQ for continuity with everything else and just leave it on.

 

[TimmyPage]

Re: Am I the only one who doesn't adjust my volume/tone knobs?

Well. Nothing can be done with my guitar, the pots and caps are really really terrible, so rolling it down past a 10 brings it to 9, then when it gets to zero the sound just suddenly shuts out.

Yay for new ones with new pickups.

 

[greendy123]

Re: Am I the only one who doesn't adjust my volume/tone knobs?

I use mine all the time for cleans. I just roll my volume knobs to 5 for clean and up back to 10 for distortion. This lets me get okay cleans with my one channel amp. For tone I roll mine down to about 7 when I use my neck pickups for a smoother tone.

 

[JohnnyGuitar]

Re: Am I the only one who doesn't adjust my volume/tone knobs?

I roll the tone knob almost all the way down for the neck pup.
Lately I have started tobring the treble up on the amps I'm playing and I get great tone with the bridge pups not on maximum treble (although still pretty high)... It really depends on your setting.
Volume knobs go to 10 only for solos...

 

[Perry D]

Re: Am I the only one who doesn't adjust my volume/tone knobs?

i always leave my tone knob cranked i just dont like the sounds if it was not. if it didnt make the guitar look ugly i would just rip it off. to me i have no reason to even use it. the volume knob depends on how im feeling. i do know that if you want to get a cleaner tone when you are on distortion you can turn it down and give you a mellower sense. im just a straight up player i dont like to mess with too much stuff if i dont have to. i just like to play it.

 

[Forbes]

Re: Am I the only one who doesn't adjust my volume/tone knobs?

I'm so good i don't even need tone knobs...

 

[Sludgenutz]

Re: Am I the only one who doesn't adjust my volume/tone knobs?

Ever since I started playing, I've always left all controls on my guitar on 10. Do the majority of people play with them maxed out, or turned down to a 'sweet spot'?

Just curious...

Scccrrreeeecccchhhh! >> car brakes locking up sound!:smack: Lets put on the brakes here for a just moment.

Spuds, you have a valid point. Much of the reason why people do not try different knob positions, and take longer to master the tones of any particular guitar is the manufacturer's fault to an extent. They do not provide a real reference point for the different positions across a particular volume/tone control's sweep.

I recommend a set of "knob pointers" for all guitars (don't believe the stories of 4 pints of blood needed in the ER for snagging the hand on the "beak" of the pointer) until you have tried it for yourself. Stewart McDonald has a good price on them for a dozen. You can get "hooked" on them as a guitar player, as they offer the MOST REPEATABLE way of getting a particular tone out of a guitar. I think you will dig them. On import guitars, the hole-fit is a little slack, but all you need to do it pull the slack in the same direction on all the controls before tightening them down.

Stewmac linky:

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Knobs/Position_indicators/Knob_Position_Indicators.html

I like "the mix" of the neck pickup (from 3 to 6-1/2) with the wide-open bridge tone, but this totally depends un-calculable factors. Learn your guitars, and your particular style!

 

[Nightrunner]

Re: Am I the only one who doesn't adjust my volume/tone knobs?

Try turning your volume down to 5 with a steep noise gate in your chain & see what happens... :smack:

I also tend to use my multi-fx to shape my sound (although I'm learning to rely less on my pedal now that I have some SDs...). If you're using a preamp with a separate input & output level, changing the guitar's volume setting affects the input level dramatically. This can create desired tones by backing off the intensity a bit if that's what you're going for. Guess it all depends on how you use your rig.


--Nightrunner

 

[spuds]

Re: Am I the only one who doesn't adjust my volume/tone knobs?

Scccrrreeeecccchhhh! >> car brakes locking up sound!:smack: Lets put on the brakes here for a just moment.

Spuds, you have a valid point. Much of the reason why people do not try different knob positions, and take longer to master the tones of any particular guitar is the manufacturer's fault to an extent. They do not provide a real reference point for the different positions across a particular volume/tone control's sweep.

I recommend a set of "knob pointers" for all guitars (don't believe the stories of 4 pints of blood needed in the ER for snagging the hand on the "beak" of the pointer) until you have tried it for yourself. Stewart McDonald has a good price on them for a dozen. You can get "hooked" on them as a guitar player, as they offer the MOST REPEATABLE way of getting a particular tone out of a guitar. I think you will dig them. On import guitars, the hole-fit is a little slack, but all you need to do it pull the slack in the same direction on all the controls before tightening them down.

Stewmac linky:

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Knobs/Position_indicators/Knob_Position_Indicators.html

I like "the mix" of the neck pickup (from 3 to 6-1/2) with the wide-open bridge tone, but this totally depends un-calculable factors. Learn your guitars, and your particular style!

Thanks, I'd probably check them out. I always thought they were handy but never got round to installing them.

Since I've posted this thread, I've started looking at my gear in a different light. I've spent the last few days playing around with different settings on my tone/vol knobs, and even doing a few pickup swaps to see how each one responds to different guitar knob/amp settings. So thanks for all your advice. I'm finding that some of the pickups I didn't like are great when I do some tweaking.

And no, I'm not a beginner, but through all the years, I've just been in the habit of leaving all guitar knobs on 10, and adjusting my tone through my amp and pedal settings.

 

[Mephis]

Re: Am I the only one who doesn't adjust my volume/tone knobs?

I've never had a guitar with a useable tone knob. And everything I use is low-output. (I really haven't found a need for rolling off, unless I'm boosting the hell out of my amp and I want to revert to more of a rythm tone.)

If I played on stage and stuff, yea I'd use my volume to adjust drive and stuff, but sitting infront of my amp at home... nah.