Tone Knobs - Why?

[Two hands31]

I've been fiddling around with my tone knobs on my Strat for the first time since I got the thing, and I'm beginning to wonder what's the use of them. *They don't really adjust the tone, it seems, just the amount of tone. *I turn them all the way down and the thing sounds dead. *If there's no practical use for these things, I'm probably gonna replace them with a couple more volumes. *I could use those a lot more.

[keith]

Hmm...the usability of the tone pot is arguable. I usually leave it at full treble cos that enables the most versatility from 2 p/u's.

I must say tho that the sound varies greatly. The bridge humbucker in my rg520 can go from vintage high-gain to sonic bass overload with just the tone knob....but then when i change to the neck p/u the sound just isnt right.

I also find that with the tone pot at full bass position, saturation and distortion do not occur very cleanly...they get a squariness about them. This may be from the amp tho.....Laney LC30.

[Vaibanez]

I feel the tone knob is a through back to the days when amps had no form of EQ. It was the only way to shape the tone.

Nowadys, it's usefulness is very suspect. But to many players, if it weren't there, they'd scream "...HEY...where's the damn tone knob?!!!!", even if the majority of us never use it.

J>

[darren wilson]

Call me nutty, but i actually use my tone control on a semi-regular basis.

It's nice to roll off the treble sometimes and get that nice, warm, rounded jazzy tone from the neck pickup or to dull the bite from the bridge pickup without having to patch in entirely new EQ settings.

[Project Guitar]

You sure can hear the difference using it if your running hot pickups like the Dimarzio X2N.....

[Noodles]

I think it all depends of the knobs because on my rg's I notice a big difference but I have tried guitars where they have no effect, so I would try replacing the tone knob with what Ibanez is using and see if that helps.

(Edited by Noodles at 4:40 pm on Mar. 18, 2001)

[carlos seo]

I use them a lot. When I don't need that high output out of my Evos, I just roll it back a little and it makes the sound warmer and more jazz-sounding. Wanna a loud screaming pinch harmonic? Just roll it to max.

Besides these obvious uses, I also use them as a tool to expand the sound capacities of my guitar. You can get some weird (sometimes cool) sounds messing arround with your tone knob, specially if you combine it with some effects, like a talk-box, wah-wah or lots of delay.

In my opinion, taking this knob out only restricts your sound options available.

[Two hands31]

Considering in my case that we're talking about a Squire Strat, it's probably the pots. *I'm running through a DiMarzio Super Distortion, and hear almost no change. *I think I'll go for a couple more volumes (one for each pickup) when I get the money, cuz I don't really use the tones, and have a pretty good EQ in my Korg AX-1G.

[mecca777]

I never used to use a tone knob, ever. I disconnected them in one of my guitars, and removed the tone in my main RG so I could put a series/parallel/split switch in for the humbuckers instead.

Of course, life being the wonderful journey that it is, I never use the split humbuckers anymore, and I've now discovered that with my RG670, amp and effects set up just right, if I roll all the tone off on the neck HB and hit a note, it turns into this marvellous rolling "flutey organ" sound that sustains forever, so I'm putting the tone controls back into my other guitars.

Of course, if I put all of the controls I could conceivably use onto my RG, the control cavity would look like the offspring of a Casio MIDI guitar, a 70s BC Rich and a Gibson Switchmaster. :sarcasm:

[Spagbol]

Listen to Coming Home from Darren Householders "Generator Man" album... he manages to get a Wah sound just from using the tone knob. I personally use it as a quick method of taking a slice off the top end if needed without having to mess about with EQ in the rack. On my rg it does actually make quite a difference, but more than half way back can make the tone real muddy. I'm guessing different capacitors and tone pot ohmage would make a difference to the amount of tonal change? (I'm no electronics expert!)

[J Todd Beachler]

I've seen Steve Morse do the wah thing with the tone knob. *Pretty cool to see and hear.

[carlos seo]

Quote: from Spagbol on 7:46 am on Mar. 19, 2001


I'm guessing different capacitors and tone pot ohmage would make a difference to the amount of tonal change? (I'm no electronics expert!)

My experience says that you're right. The same goes to the volume control: for instance, *if you install a .005 mF capacitor and a 150 K ohms resistor parallel to the volume pot, you have a better volume control, with no treble loss.

You can mess arround with different capacitors and resistors to modify the effect of your knobs, but I can't tell for sure what to install in your guitar (my knowledge in electronics is only for the circuits, not for the sound effect! ). I think I saw a site once that explains in every detail the effects of each type of electronic component in your guitar sound. If I find it again, I can post it here.

[carlos seo]

Quote: from J Todd Beachler on 8:43 am on Mar. 19, 2001
I've seen Steve Morse do the wah thing with the tone knob. *Pretty cool to see and hear.

That's really cool. And simple... the wah-wah effect is a tone knob in a pedal, basically. Get a circuit diagram and you'll see it.

I think now we've found why the tone knob is important! :biggrin:

I was wondering.... who was the genius that decided to put this in a pedal? Anyone knows??

[Rich]

Probably some Cry Baby :biggrin:

[Vaibanez]

Quote: from Rich on 5:12 pm on Mar. 19, 2001
Probably some Cry Baby :biggrin:

Booooooooooo.....:biggrin:

J>