PRS S2 disable tone control

[GrabtharsHammer]

Hi all,

I just bought a new PRS S2. Amazing guitar, but it sounds just a little bit too dark for my taste. I am already considering to install a pair of SD pickups, but before I do that, I would like to try to bypass the load of the tone control. Perhaps that could already give me that little extra treble I want?! I just looked at the schematics, but I'm not quite sure what to do. I assume I should cut one of the two black wires coming from the tone control. But is it the one in the middle? Or the outer wire? Or both? There are also two pairs of white/green wires for the coil tapping function, I would like to keep that intact. A guy on the PRS forum told me to "desolder the capacitor from the volume pot", but I'm not quite sure if this really is correct.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Re: PRS S2 disable tone control

Removing the tone control shouldn’t make that much of a difference.

In my experience PRS pickups are muddy sounding. Everyone I know with a PRS swaps the pickups out for Duncan or DiMarzio.

You can test it by disconnecting the wire to the tone pot. But when the control is on 10 the only affect the control has is some resistive loading.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Tone Meister]

Re: PRS S2 disable tone control

I have an S2 with what I believe are the #7 pickups and they are anything but muddy. All PRS pickups muddy sounding? Sounds like a hearing test is in order.

The pickups in my S2 Standard 22 are so forward in the high-midrange and have so much treble content that I want to switch them out for a set that is a tad more balanced. And please don't tell me to use my tone control.

 

[GrabtharsHammer]

Re: PRS S2 disable tone control

Anyone here that knows which wire(s) I have to cut to bypass the tone control and preserve the coil tapping? I don‘t want to damage anything and want to be sure 100% what I have to do.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: PRS S2 disable tone control

It looks to me like you might want to turn the tone control into a bass cut. That will cut the mud and make the highs more noticeable.

 

[shadowfire90]

Re: PRS S2 disable tone control

the bass cut is a nice improvement, I never had too much luck with them myself but have seen some great demos. Tried the G&L PTB style one and didn't hear enough of a difference to justify it. If anyone has any better ones I'd love to know as it's been years since I put a bass cut in a guitar. My two favorite tone control alternatives were the torres mid boost/scoop (passive mod) and the fender greasebucket tone control.

the capacitor on the volume across the two lugs is called a treble bleed, it smooths out the volume as you turn towards 0. Some people love them, others couldn't be bothered. The less components in the guitar the better I think
the capacitor you want to remove is just the tone controls, depending on how high the value of capacitor is you'll notice more of a difference

as always my suggestions are
stainless steel stings by Ernie Ball , Super brights by Dunlop or similar strings. The only steel strings I never had any luck with were Dean Markley blue steel strings. Go with your favorite brand of strings. Nickel plated steel and stainless steel will give you two different results.

Graphtech tusq bright or various companies acrylic picks (Gravity or D'Addario) are two pick types/materials

and last but not least besides mentioning 1m pots before any pickup to adjust the pole pieces on your pickups. This isn't the end game make every pickup perfect but in my experience a lot of people over look this when I used to work on their guitars.

 

[chadd]

Re: PRS S2 disable tone control

I have an S2 with what I believe are the #7 pickups and they are anything but muddy. All PRS pickups muddy sounding? Sounds like a hearing test is in order.

The pickups in my S2 Standard 22 are so forward in the high-midrange and have so much treble content that I want to switch them out for a set that is a tad more balanced. And please don't tell me to use my tone control.

I had the same #7s in my S2 singlecut and they were unusable. They somehow managed to be both fizzy and muddy through any of my amps. I have my SNS set in there now, and while I don't care for them, they are infinitely more usable than the #7s.

 

[freefrog]

Re: PRS S2 disable tone control

Hi all,

I just bought a new PRS S2. Amazing guitar, but it sounds just a little bit too dark for my taste. I am already considering to install a pair of SD pickups, but before I do that, I would like to try to bypass the load of the tone control. Perhaps that could already give me that little extra treble I want?! I just looked at the schematics, but I'm not quite sure what to do. I assume I should cut one of the two black wires coming from the tone control. But is it the one in the middle? Or the outer wire? Or both? There are also two pairs of white/green wires for the coil tapping function, I would like to keep that intact. A guy on the PRS forum told me to "desolder the capacitor from the volume pot", but I'm not quite sure if this really is correct.
[/ATTACH]

You might appreciate a "no load" tone pot. It's relatively easy to do : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN3SlH-cEAg

And yes, if you disconnect the capacitor from the housing of the pot, your tone control will be disconnected.

The tricks mentioned by other contributors are all worth to be tried:

-1M pots.

-"Bass cut" on a G&L style PTB control (https://www.seymourduncan.com/tonefiend/guitar/two-band-ptb-tone-control-useful-easy-cheap-awesome/ NOTE: any cap in series with a pickup MUST be wired INSTEAD of or AFTER a regular tone control, because a series cap THEN a tone control won't work: it will make the tone pot react like a volume).

-Greasebucket circuit (useful for less bass when a tone pot is lowered).

-LRC filters like the various arragments possible with a Bill Lawrence Q filter or the Torres mid control (although I would have mounted the midrange cut/boost control on 1M pots if I was Dan Torres... His circuit works way better once mounted on the 1M part of a Fender TBX dual pot IMHO/IME...)... Also and for example, a Q filter inductor mounted WITHOUT cap ( in series with a 15k or 24k resistor, the whole being in parallel with the pickups) will lower the output AND make the tone way brighter... like humbuckers wired in parallel, BTW.
A Q filter can be made with a cheap tiny transformer or even with the coil(s) of a dead pickup, FWIW.

Etc.

now, nothing replaces personal experience since the "proper" mod always depends on the precise guitar used...

Good luck in your experiments!

 

[ICTGoober]

Re: PRS S2 disable tone control

I'll jump in.... Install a Fender TBX. It's a stacked pot that operates as a normal tone knob in one direction (cutting treble), and cutting bass in the other. Best part? It's only $15.

 

[Tone Meister]

Re: PRS S2 disable tone control

I had the same #7s in my S2 singlecut and they were unusable. They somehow managed to be both fizzy and muddy through any of my amps. I have my SNS set in there now, and while I don't care for them, they are infinitely more usable than the #7s.

No mud from these, but the high-mid and treble response is fatiguing. I play through a modded 2204, Runt 50, BF Twin, BFDR, Landry LS100G3, and a Fractal AX8 system and those EQ peaks are still there with all those systems.

Haven't decided what to put in yet but I have a few good ones to try. I have on hand and plan to start with either a '59, APH2, or 59/C in the bridge and either a PGn or Jazz in the neck. I need a versatile axe with buckers that split well.

 

[BluesIsBlood12]

Re: PRS S2 disable tone control

I would think new pickups would be a better solution. Or maybe there's something wrong with the current wiring/pots that's causing this. I've got an S2 Vela that's very bright, and my buddy has an SE with the same 85/15s pickups as the current S2 standard models. That guitar is fairly bright as well.

 

[Mincer]

Re: PRS S2 disable tone control

I vote for the TBX control (short of getting new pickups). Removing the pot completely won't solve the issue.

 

[blueman335]

Re: PRS S2 disable tone control

I'd check the pots on a multimeter. Make sure they're nt running in the lower part of the tolerance range.

My way for brightening neck HB's is one or two 1meg pots, and spin-a-split, which adds high end and reduces mids. Cleans up pickups nicely.

On bridge PU's I use the Kinman treble bleed to keep high end when I dial the volume down.

 

[zionstrat]

Re: PRS S2 disable tone control

Tbx can work, but I prefer bass cut on thick guitars because I don't roll treble off if I am fighting mud... and they are so, so easy...

https://www.guitaryoudreamabout.com...d0a48dc1a2a7f3&wix-vod-comp-id=comp-jfvcdv70#

Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk