Tone controls

[Sifu Ben]

I was reading another forum, where somebody said that tone controls harm the intrinsic tone of the guitar, hence why many players prefer not to have them. Is there any truth to this, or is it just a Van Halenism?

[gingataff]

Harm is probably a strong word, change is better. The output of a pickup is very low, thats why you need an amp, so any kind of circuit is going to have some effect on the sound, the more you have between the pickup and the input if the amp the less of the guitars tone will come through, but that doesn't mean to say it'll sound bad.

[Elliot]

If you play Jazz the tone control is normally important because you turn in way down.  So 'harm' sounds like the usual 'my guitar hero doesn't therefore if you do its wrong' cr@pola

[aisuru]

pfeh!

tone controls - especially with Bare Knuckles - can be used to great effect in shaping the tone. 'harm' is a matter of opinion, most likely held by people who have little or no experience in using tone controls effectively.

case in point: Eric Clapton. the 'woman tone' from the Cream days relied mainly on turning the tone pot right down. i defy anybody to listen to Crossroads and still think tone controls harm the sound of a guitar.

[gingataff]

Exactly, a tone control is a way to change the sound of your guitar, if you don't want to change the sound don't have a tone control! Likewise a volume control! It's in the circuit the same as tone. How many people do you know with no volume control on their guitar?

[Tricalibur]

Every tone control has a capacitor attached to it that Is designed specificaly to roll of 'high-end'. The degree to which a tone control affects your sound is often determined by the type of control pot being used (500K 250K) and the capacitor rating. But then even the volume pots on most guitars tend to roll off some frequency as well. Unless your using 1meg pots, In which case the p/u's will be running 'wide-open'.

[WezV]

The tone control on my ash bodied LP Jnr guitar i just built is a godsend.  Ash makes a very bright guitar (except swamp ash which is quite warm).  The tone control takes the guitar all the way from telecaster twang to LP growl  (the BKP-92 helps with the growl)

You can wire a bypass switch to your tone pot if you want to be able to cut it out of the system all together but still have it there when you need it.  I have also seen some people dismantle there tone pots and cover one end of the sweep with nail varnish then rebuild the pot.  This has the effect of giving you a true bypass at one end of the tone pot (usually the 0 end) but still having the rest of the sweep of the tone pot at your disposal

[Skybone]

OK, dumb question time then:

So what happens if you bypass the tone control?

A) The sound you hear through the amp is like when the tone is fully off?
B) The sound you hear through the amp is like when the tone is fully on?

Answers on a postcard to: ...

[Elliot]

fully on - My strat middle pickup has no tone control because I swapped it for a blender pot - you can't dull it, its just like a fully on tone control

[Tricalibur]

well yes, but even a fully on tone control will taper some of the high frequencies to ground,  but I doubt its noticable by ear.

[TwilightOdyssey]

i defy anybody to listen to Crossroads and still think tone controls harm the sound of a guitar.

Maybe not, but Clapton's playing harms my ears! PDT_008


Some guitars NEED a tone control, or they will be too bright. There's no reason to be a martyr about it, tho.

[Afghan Dave]

i defy anybody to listen to Crossroads and still think tone controls harm the sound of a guitar.

Maybe not, but Clapton's playing harms my ears! PDT_008


Some guitars NEED a tone control, or they will be too bright. There's no reason to be a martyr about it, tho.

Ben, If I remember rightly you only have an on/off switch on your Strat.

How well is that workin' for ya?

[TwilightOdyssey]

The switch is brilliant.

Actually, it's not an on/off switch. In the up position, it has a Gibson tone circuit with the tone control on 9, and in the down position it's a Fender tone circuit on 9. I'm doing the same thing with my Agile, too.

That guitar has no other switches or pots, tho ... it's always active!

[WezV]

fully on - My strat middle pickup has no tone control because I swapped it for a blender pot - you can't dull it, its just like a fully on tone control

Not quite, the bypass is suppossed to remove the tone control from the system so it has no effect on the sound whatsoever.  It will sound very similar to a tone control full on because the effect of having a tone control on the pure signal is very small untill its turned down, but there is an effect and some people are bothered by it even with the tone pot turned up full

If you want the purest tone from your pickups then you remove the tone pot alltogether but its a usefull thing to have.  The mods i suggested give you the best of both worlds but there will still be a tone control in the guitar and i am sure some people claim it will still affect the sound, but electrically speaking it is bypassed all together, its removed from the signal path between the pickups and the output.  

This isnt something i worry about, i like my tone controls

[Sebmarine]

I have no more volume or tone controls on any of my Strats, I never used them anyway and I like the sound more this way.