Do you use your tone control?

[Eagle]

Do you have a favourite tone circuit ,what is it and does it only work with one guitar and one set of pickups?
I think tone controls work better on lower output pickups and particularly well with single coils .
Pot values have a huge effect and tolerances are poor on all but the best cherry picked ones.
My personal favourites are CTS 450 series and measure the actual pot you’re using before you use it.
Caps ;
I favour high voltage paper in oil because they seem to not kill all the treble instantly like very low voltage ceramic one seems too.
On fender circuits I like high value caps too typically the 50s designs .
Treble bleeds are not needed in these rigs either .
My personal favourites

That is the inside of original 59 Strat and LP .
You really can get a wide range of usable tones that definitely don’t sound like a one dimensional tone or not control on many guitars.
Another trick for smoother leads is using the volume control at about 7on a Strat to take out the spikes.
You can do all this with modern parts ;

This is a different value cap for the bridge pickup but I don’t think it’s really better that the stock vintage wiring with the EJ tone mod.
What do you use?

 

[newholland]

good lord yes. always.

my favorite is a tele with a 47 cap because its global, necessitates relatively small moves (i.e. top 1/3 of throw is sufficient and i can see the grub screw as an indicator), and its just easy and isnt bouncing around on four knobs. and it works with most pickups!

 

[Eagle]

good lord yes. always.

my favorite is a tele with a 47 cap because its global, necessitates relatively small moves (i.e. top 1/3 of throw is sufficient and i can see the grub screw as an indicator), and its just easy and isnt bouncing around on four knobs. and it works with most pickups!

What pickups in there?

 

[newholland]

oh! i generally always use orange drops cause theyre cheap, abundant, and reliable.

i have one tele with p90s, one with a mare 0038 and a duncan stkt2 neck, and a nashville tele with two cheapie stocks and a stkt2 bridge. that ones still got the 22 in it.

 

[Eagle]

oh! i generally always use orange drops cause theyre cheap, abundant, and reliable.

i have one tele with p90s, one with a mare 0038 and a duncan stkt2 neck, and a nashville tele with two cheapie stocks and a stkt2 bridge. that ones still got the 22 in it.

I like the 200v version.

 

[newholland]

I like the 200v version.

i think thats what i use- i dunno if they make em any smaller than that, do they? theyre still pretty doggone big

 

[metropolis_4]

I use mine all the time, but I haven’t done much experimenting with different caps and pots. I probably should, I would love to find a way to make my Les Paul tone controls more useful. They do almost nothing until they get below 5 or so

 

[LCW]

After I had seen this I started using my tone a whole lot more… and volume too.

 

[FuzzyAce]

I've been putting 0.1µF cap on my tone controls lately. I prefer to gradually put a blanket over the tone if needed, although it can do the pseudo-wah effect when used a certain way. Usually a 500K pot, sometimes 1M. Although my main tele has 250K pots. A lot of my other guitars include a bass contour/cut pot as well.

 

[Chocol8]

On my Strats I have moved to dual no-load tone controls wired as masters. That allows me the option of none, both or either one. I am still playing with the values, but I am leaning towards a combo of the vintage 0.1 and something significantly smaller like a .022 or maybe a .01.

 

[newholland]

I use mine all the time, but I haven’t done much experimenting with different caps and pots. I probably should, I would love to find a way to make my Les Paul tone controls more useful. They do almost nothing until they get below 5 or so

with buckers i generally feel the same way unless i jack the treble up on the amp and sneak it back on the tone- which is absolutely what i do with teles for better gain and texture control... but im kinda going p90s and singles anymore!

 

[sleewell]

after years of just making sure it was all the way up now i roll it down a little bit now some times and i do use the bass contour knob on my reverend bc most of the time when its all the way up its too bassy especially with my mesa 4FB

 

[Eagle]

I use mine all the time, but I haven’t done much experimenting with different caps and pots. I probably should, I would love to find a way to make my Les Paul tone controls more useful. They do almost nothing until they get below 5 or so

Post a pic of what is in your Les Paul.

 

[la szum]

Always, and forever and ever, amen!!

I actually prefer to load down my base tone with volume and tone rolled back (7 to 8-ish),
and then I have somewhere upward/brighter/louder that I can go when I need to. And I
always need to.

When I think about it now, it kind of makes no sense to set the base tone with
everything on the guitar fully maxed and wide open. Does it? But it is assumed to be
standard operating procedure.

 

[Chocol8]

When I think about it now, it kind of makes no sense to set the base tone with
everything on the guitar fully maxed and wide open. Does it?

I set my amps with the guitar volume on 7 and the tone rolled back to 7-8 for exactly the reasons you mentioned. It leaves me with finger tip control to go up or down on either.

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

Always, and forever and ever, amen!!

I actually prefer to load down my base tone with volume and tone rolled back (7 to 8-ish),
and then I have somewhere upward/brighter/louder that I can go when I need to. And I
always need to.

When I think about it now, it kind of makes no sense to set the base tone with
everything on the guitar fully maxed and wide open. Does it? But it is assumed to be
standard operating procedure.

Seconded!

 

[JiveTurkey]

On a tele, yes. Everything else, no.