Tone knobs?

[CommonCourtesy]

How many of you use your tone knobs on your guitar?

I never ever have to turn them so I'm considering just taking them off, at the moment I've gaffer taped them so I don't accidentally turn it down mistakenly for the volume knob (I've done this several times live and not noticed!)

Does it really affect the sound that much if you roll it off on either pickup?

[gwEm]

I use them all the time with Fender single coils (strat, tele, jazzmaster).

On humbuckers and P90s, not really very often at all - I leave them fully open. I sometimes think I can do without, but very rarely it comes in useful.

If you unsolder the tone pots and remove them you should notice a slightly brighter tone.

[Kiichi]

I have them on all of mine and have gotten around to using them too. For a long time I ignored them (ignored the volume too for the most part) but now I am getting into them. Part reason is that I changed my signal chain and amp settings and that led to the effect being much nicer and I also changed the caps (tried both different values and manufacturers) plus 50s wiring on most guitars. Now I have a nice feeling taper and value so that I actually like to use it.

I find it great to make leads a bit smoother for the neck or make the bridge rythm bit less agressive and more ballsy thick at times. That combined with variatons of the volume knob can really do a lot of work I find and I play with it more and more. Bit of volume roll down and tone enough to smooth out the highend and my IT middle can do amazing singing with a pretty high gain amp. Also nice if I want my Mule neck to be a bit more Slash-ish to name just two examples.

[littleredguitars2]

The most I ever used tone knobs was on my old fender jazz bass

[Philly Q]

I love tone controls.  Neck pickup with the tone on 0 is one of my favourite guitar sounds.

[CommonCourtesy]

I might wanna add this is for my main band guitar which is a Les Paul Studio, don't play solos or cleans so never feel the need to fiddle with the tone.

For the Fenders I have (Strat and Tele) again I see no use in it for me, just volume.

[dave_mc]

I use them all the time with Fender single coils (strat, tele, jazzmaster).

On humbuckers and P90s, not really very often at all - I leave them fully open. I sometimes think I can do without, but very rarely it comes in useful.

If you unsolder the tone pots and remove them you should notice a slightly brighter tone.

same here. other thing is, as you said, because removing the tone pot makes things slightly brighter, if you have a tone knob you might always leave it on 10, but things might be too bright with it removed.

[gwEm]

I use them all the time with Fender single coils (strat, tele, jazzmaster).

On humbuckers and P90s, not really very often at all - I leave them fully open. I sometimes think I can do without, but very rarely it comes in useful.

If you unsolder the tone pots and remove them you should notice a slightly brighter tone.

same here. other thing is, as you said, because removing the tone pot makes things slightly brighter, if you have a tone knob you might always leave it on 10, but things might be too bright with it removed.

That is true - things might be too bright with the tone pot removed (generally I like to have things bright, so didn't consider this a negative).

One thing you can do, is wire the tone pot so its permanently on maximum. To do this, remove the wire (or it can be a capacitor with long wires) which is connected to the middle terminal of the tone pot. Solder it instead to the terminal which is not connected to ground. Then the tone of the guitar will remain just the same, but adjusting the pot will no longer have any effect.

Kiichi has already mentioned 50s wiring, which is another way of wiring the tone pot, but it gives you a more effective range of adjustment and a volume control which is less muddy. Lots about that online. Search 50s wiring, or modern vs vintage wiring.

[Telerocker]

The toneknob is a great tool to tailor tele's and strats to the amp you're using. A strat sounds better on the single coils with the tone just a tad back. At least that's what I like on most amps.

[CommonCourtesy]

So i'm guessing this is all relevant to Strat and teles and not Les Pauls? I hardly ever have to roll off tone for rock stuff, just muffles the sound so its not as crisp.

[Kiichi]

I use em with HBs too, though I do choose a slighly lower value and 50s wiring so I can get a more even and controllable rolloff keeping me from turning it dull and muffled. Plus I guess ones amp settings really have to work with it too. My base sound is I think on the bright and crisp side, so I have room to roll off. With some of the sounds I have heard from other peeps I can see how rolling off will just suck, but I always feel they would benefit from having the option of having more.

So it might be worth an experiment to add treble on the amp, go for a bit more bright and lively sound (if that is something you can do for your taste and musical style) which then gives you the room to do the on the fly changes with your guitar controlls.

[MDV]

Take em off.

They serve no purpose and it sounds better without them in.

[Toe-Knee]

Take em off.

They serve no purpose and it sounds better without them in.

+1 on this. Also change the volume pot to 1M too

[Lucas]

To be honest I use tone knobs/pots very rarely, more on my old old Ibanez copy guitar (HSH) when in the middle position.
With the Dean Caddy honestly very occasionally. It`s handy to keep them on, just imagine the situation when in the rehearsal room/gig you have to use someone else`s amp which doesn`t suit to your tone. There`s also possibility of adjusting tone knob apart from the amp obviously. Handy option in my opinion.

On the other hand, there`re guitars with no TONE at all, like Peavey Wolfgang as far as I remember and think some signature Fender which belongs to that guy from Blink 182. But might be wrong on the last one :D

[CommonCourtesy]

The Jim Root sig tele has just one master volume, i like this simple no-frills approach!

And yeah fair point about possibility of sharing amps but I rarely do this at shows anyway, i'll keep them on there for now but tape them down, so its not permanent that i can't use them, i just never turn them lol