When I turn the volume down it sounds like the tone goes down too

[PoPo75]

I recently purchased a Washburn Idol. It comes stock with a Seymour Duncan '59 reissue pickup in the neck Seymour Duncan Custom Custom pickup in bridge. Sounds great, plays great, however if I roll off on the volume control it sounds like I'm turning down the tone control as well. So, in turn, it sounds lousy with the volume at any setting other than 100%. I've never had this problem on any other guitar and have installed quite a few pick-ups in my time. Any suggestions?:wrf:

Also, I forgot to mention, the guitar comes with a spin-a-split which Washburn calls "VCC"

As you can see from the photo I changed nothing except for trying the treble bleed mod (in Parallel). How ever it did not work so I'm going to try it in series. My concern is that there are no tone controls so I'm not sure if the 50's mod is applicable here.

Here is what the circuit looks like. The neck pick up is exactly the same.

 

[DesertRat]

Re: When I turn the volume down it sounds like the tone goes down too

Yeah, treble bleed mod will allow the high frequencies to pass through as you turn down the volume.

 

[DesertRat]

Re: When I turn the volume down it sounds like the tone goes down too

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=treble_bleed

 

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: When I turn the volume down it sounds like the tone goes down too

HEY!
There is faulty wiring.
I had this happen to me in a washburn. The wires were soldered together strangely. Go look at a diagram of your guitar and make sure everything is in place and nothing is touching.

 

[trevorus]

Re: When I turn the volume down it sounds like the tone goes down too

This is part of the nature of a volume control.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: When I turn the volume down it sounds like the tone goes down too

In a few guitars, I've actually used that as an advantage, rather than drawback.....but it doesn't sound like what you want in your guitar.

Study up on capacitors, and you'll probably find the one that preserves your tone the best.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: When I turn the volume down it sounds like the tone goes down too

^ +1

It might have helped if you had given a fuller description of how your Volume control is altering your Tone AND how your amplifier is set up.

When I play through very high gain valve amplification, I treat my Volume pot as an overdrive saturation control. Inevitably, rolling the control down reduces the higher overtones, creating the illusion that treble has been lost.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: When I turn the volume down it sounds like the tone goes down too

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=treble_bleed

+1. The treble bleed or 50s mod as suggested by Hermetico works well. I think the bleed works best. In my guitar I have a .001uf cap and a 220k resistor, but I'm sure the mod in the url above will be very similar.

Try it, you'll like it.

 

[tenniso]

Re: When I turn the volume down it sounds like the tone goes down too

definately do the 50s mod. i did it last night and it does make a noticeable difference and is easy to do.

 

[PoPo75]

Re: When I turn the volume down it sounds like the tone goes down too

:thanks:Since I'm not sure if the 50's mod or the treble bleed mod will work with the "VCC". I'm thinking of just scrapping the VCC and going with 2 spin-a-splits instead. It's essentially the same thing right?

 

[Stratman]

Re: When I turn the volume down it sounds like the tone goes down too

Photograph show's the treble bleed modification quite clearly....

So there has to be a different thing going on with that wiring...

 

[Spudman]

Re: When I turn the volume down it sounds like the tone goes down too

Photograph show's the treble bleed modification quite clearly....

So there has to be a different thing going on with that wiring...

I noticed that too. The guitar should already be doing the treble bleed according to the cap and resistor in the photo. Most likely there is some other demon plaguing your guitar.

 

[PoPo75]

Re: When I turn the volume down it sounds like the tone goes down too

I'd like to thanks everyone for the insight. I wound up scrapping the VCC and going with 2 spin-a-splits instead since I don't really use the tone controls that often. I am a lot happier with the results and there is no "tone" issue. Again, thanks to all who put in their 2 cents.