Do you use your Tone Control??

[mojoman]

I was just wondering how many of you actually use the Tone Controls on your guitars? I hear many people say "my guitar is to bright" and they run out and swap out their pu's, and I wonder why they just don't roll off their Tone controls?

When your Tone knob is on 10 your capacitors have little to no effect on your Tone. As soon as you start to roll it off your capacitor start to cut-off the some of the high frequencies.

The larger the value capacitor the more highs it will cut. For example a .047 uf cap will cut off more highs quicker than .022 uf cap.

I have a pair of Sprague .015 vitamin Q's in my SG. I always have bridge and neck Tone rolled off slightly and find that it adds a lot of warmth and thicker color to my Tone. Some people can hear the difference and some can't, but if you have a good ear you should easily be able to tell a difference between the various kinds of capacitors as well.

The little tan ceramic disc caps that come stock can be bitety on the top end and muddy on the bottom end. Paper In Oil Caps are my favorite and I have been collecting and testing capacitors for many years now.

Many people who have upgraded their stock caps with PIO have told me that it was just as dramatic a difference in Tone as changing out their pu's.

I have also found on Gibsons that a dark sounding LP will benefit from the "50's wiring" vs "modern wiring". So what I am trying to say is that even with good pu's there are many other ways to alter your Guitar tone by modding your pots and caps.

Just curious what your guys take on this subject is??

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Do you use your Tone Control??

I'm all over the Tone knob. It adds color and nuance to both leads and rhythms.

Haven't experimented with different values/materials, though. I'm quite happy with 47s and 22s.

 

[Ninja Monkey]

Re: Do you use your Tone Control??

I'm all over the Tone knob. It adds color and nuance to both leads and rhythms.

Haven't experimented with different values/materials, though. I'm quite happy with 47s and 22s.

This. The tone knob's there, why not use it? Using the tone knob means I don't have to go mess with my amp every time I need a darker or brighter tone. And, using your volume knob is a good idear too...

 

[Petrovsk Mizinski]

Re: Do you use your Tone Control??

Never use mine, not useful for me to be honest.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Do you use your Tone Control??

Regarding my guitars with dual humbuckers: Yes...on the bridge pickup for that "wah wah in its sweet spot" sort of muted trumpet thing. Rarely use it on the neck pickup unless I'm going for a very warm jazzy rhythm tone or Clapton style "woman tone".

I don't use it much on my Strats or Teles at all - again, unless I'm going for a muted trumpet kind of effect. That effect doesn't work quite as effectively on Strats and Teles as it does on humbucker guitars. But it's cool for those Hubert Sumlin kind of tones like you hear on Howlin' Wolf records.

 

[Bludave]

Re: Do you use your Tone Control??

I use it more like Lew does. Although my main Strat which is a Clapton Strat I do use the tone & preamp together, I rarely use the preamp on full, but I do bring it up a bit and roll of the tone some also. With "vintage" style Strats and Teles I don't use it as much, but the newer guitars have a TBX tone control that takes off less highs from 1 to 5,and from 5 to 20 it adds a lot of higher end.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Do you use your Tone Control??

i use my tone control a fair amount on all my guitars. i like .02 or .015 caps for the most part but i use .05 or .01 in some applications.

ive done some testing with caps as well and basically there is very little change once you arent using the little ceramic disks. i usually use orange drops cause i have loads of them but ive tried mallory, hovland, pio, mylar etc... on a recording none of us could consistantly pick what was what or a favorite other than most of the time we could pick the disk.

the 50's mod is good for keeping high end as you turn down the volume and does seem to brighten things up a little bit. i like it on some things but not others. horses for courses ya know?

 

[guitfiddle]

Re: Do you use your Tone Control??

With a Tele, I think the key to getting good tone is how and when to use that tone...it can take it from way too dark to way too bright and everything in between.

 

[Lazarus1140]

Re: Do you use your Tone Control??

On my strat the rear tone pot controls the "Lil" 59 bridge pup. I don't use the bridge pup alone too often, but with the 59 split and combined with an SSL in the middle (through some OD pedals) varying the tone control takes me from one side of heaven to the other.

 

[hazardous]

Re: Do you use your Tone Control??

Rarely, but I use it if I'm too lazy to reach for the amp.

 

[Diocletian]

Re: Do you use your Tone Control??

It depends on the guitar. My Jackson Kelly doesn't even HAVE a tone control! But on the strats and Les Paul I like to have the tone control down to about 3 for the neck pickup.

 

[Chas]

Re: Do you use your Tone Control??

I have it all the way up or all the way down depending on what I am going for at the time. Kinda strange I know.

 

[Tor]

Re: Do you use your Tone Control??

I am a set-and-forget person when it comes to amps and effects.. But I constantly tweak my tone controls on the guitar live..

As for brightness, the C5 I had in the bridge was just too bright on 10 (which I often used on my neck pickup). So I would always have to adjust the bridge when I was perfectly happy with the neck (just one tone control). I have now a C8, and the balance between the neck and the bridge is absolutely perfect. So now I can tweak because I want to, not because I have to.