ilovefuzz.com

oh hell yeah, I'm kinda the opposite in that I used to roll the tone knob off. I like a really dark sound and kinda hate string squeeky noises. Lately I've been swapping out the caps to be appropriate for what I want. That way I can have everything "on 10" and get the guitar to sound how I want. Lowering the pickups has also been a good thing to experiment with.

I usually leave the bridge tone knob at 10, but I'll roll the neck tone knob all the way down for some Kyuss or Electric Wizard goodness.

I'd had tone knobs on all of my guitars until really about a year or so ago when I started modding my guitars and building them etc. I realized I never used the tone knob on guitar, so I just left it off or took it out of the ones that I had. I've still got the rythm circuit in my Jazzmaster, but no tone knob. Very rarely do I use the rhythm circuit or roll anything off. I installed a tone knob on my J Bass but I still rarely, if ever use it.

On some guitars I like using the tone knob when they work well. Some they go from normal to instant mud, I'm not really sure what makes the different on a good tone knob. I bought a wiring harness from RS Guitarworks for my SG a long time ago, when I refurbished it, and that seemed to actually make the sweep on the volume and tone knobs functionally all the way around compared to what was in there stock. I don't know if it's just quality of the pots, caps or what. On bass I almost never use it. If it was just for one band and I had the tone I want dialed in, I could easily get away with one pickup and no knobs on either instrument, considering all the variety I can get with pedals and amp settings. When I'm doing a lot of home recording where I'm playing everything and doing overdubs though, I'll use different pickups, change the volume and tone settings and all that to get different sounds for different parts without changing any amp or pedal settings pretty frequently.

skullservant wrote:I'd had tone knobs on all of my guitars until really about a year or so ago when I started modding my guitars and building them etc. I realized I never used the tone knob on guitar, so I just left it off or took it out of the ones that I had. I've still got the rythm circuit in my Jazzmaster, but no tone knob. Very rarely do I use the rhythm circuit or roll anything off. I installed a tone knob on my J Bass but I still rarely, if ever use it.

This thread made me start rethinking the toan knob, but then I saw this post and realized that...yeah, I'm still never gonna use that thing. I don't like adjusting stuff on guitars. I only ever turn that one when something sounds wrong and I realize it's not fully open.
The only use for a tone knob for me is to make certain fuzzes a little less shrill. Beyond that it either feels like a really crappy emulation of flatwounds, or it's mud and sounds like butts.
Tone knobs are mudbutts.
If I had a volume pedal I would probably ditch that knob too.

Achtane wrote:

skullservant wrote:I'd had tone knobs on all of my guitars until really about a year or so ago when I started modding my guitars and building them etc. I realized I never used the tone knob on guitar, so I just left it off or took it out of the ones that I had. I've still got the rythm circuit in my Jazzmaster, but no tone knob. Very rarely do I use the rhythm circuit or roll anything off. I installed a tone knob on my J Bass but I still rarely, if ever use it.

This thread made me start rethinking the toan knob, but then I saw this post and realized that...yeah, I'm still never gonna use that thing. I don't like adjusting stuff on guitars. I only ever turn that one when something sounds wrong and I realize it's not fully open.
The only use for a tone knob for me is to make certain fuzzes a little less shrill. Beyond that it either feels like a really crappy emulation of flatwounds, or it's mud and sounds like butts.
Tone knobs are mudbutts.
If I had a volume pedal I would probably ditch that knob too.

I find my tone knob useful on a Jazz bass, but that's about it, really. I find a sweet spot and tend to leave it on everything else.

Achtane wrote:

skullservant wrote:I'd had tone knobs on all of my guitars until really about a year or so ago when I started modding my guitars and building them etc. I realized I never used the tone knob on guitar, so I just left it off or took it out of the ones that I had. I've still got the rythm circuit in my Jazzmaster, but no tone knob. Very rarely do I use the rhythm circuit or roll anything off. I installed a tone knob on my J Bass but I still rarely, if ever use it.

This thread made me start rethinking the toan knob, but then I saw this post and realized that...yeah, I'm still never gonna use that thing. I don't like adjusting stuff on guitars. I only ever turn that one when something sounds wrong and I realize it's not fully open.
The only use for a tone knob for me is to make certain fuzzes a little less shrill. Beyond that it either feels like a really crappy emulation of flatwounds, or it's mud and sounds like butts.
Tone knobs are mudbutts.
If I had a volume pedal I would probably ditch that knob too.

I don't fiddle with it. At this point I'm just rolling it off to a certain point and then leaving it there. I should mention I'm using a telecaster which is a naturally more treble heavy sound. I don't know technical anything but I know that right now it feels like this is one of the best discoveries for tone I've ever had.

van_muddlestein wrote:
I don't fiddle with it. At this point I'm just rolling it off to a certain point and then leaving it there. I should mention I'm using a telecaster which is a naturally more treble heavy sound. I don't know technical anything but I know that right now it feels like this is one of the best discoveries for tone I've ever had.

I used to wire up passive basses with no anything just pick ups straight to the output jack only recently after reading some things by SGD lutherie designs did I realize even if you always turn everything all the way up it's doing a little something and it's hella bright without some of that junk in there. So leave some of those passive components in there cranked all the way up. I don't know the math on this but put some Alligator clips on it and a/b it and if you are ordering a cap value or values try alternate makes and models of the same value cause then a tone knob gets magical.

I think I'm going to mod the knobs on my main guitar; I don't need to roll off the highs on the neck pickup, like ever. It's such a round sound that taking the highs out of it makes it dull with no character. I want to eventually wire up like one of the other guys on here so that the neck tone control acts as a blend between the 2 coils of the neck humbucker. This way I have shades of single coil, instead of the all or nothing of a tap. I like rolling the highs off the bridge sometimes though, you still get the bark of that position, and it takes on a foggy quality, like HoF's Surrounded by Thieves guitar sound. Muffled, yet aggressive.

HeavyXIII wrote: I want to eventually wire up like one of the other guys on here so that the neck tone control acts as a blend between the 2 coils of the neck humbucker. This way I have shades of single coil, instead of the all or nothing of a tap. .

Your ideas intrigue me and I wish to learn more...don't think I've ever heard of this being done before, sounds like it might be very cool

most of claptons awesome fuzz sounds were created by rolling the tone knob down back in the day. i usually go full blast on my tone, unless im doing jazz or finger pickin, than i roll off on it. im more of a pickup mover than knob changer. im constantly switching what p/u's im using.

benjuro wrote:

HeavyXIII wrote: I want to eventually wire up like one of the other guys on here so that the neck tone control acts as a blend between the 2 coils of the neck humbucker. This way I have shades of single coil, instead of the all or nothing of a tap.

Your ideas intrigue me and I wish to learn more...don't think I've ever heard of this being done before, sounds like it might be very cool

It struck me too when I first heard the concept. Here's the link that was posted when I saw it (I'd give credit where it's due, but I can't for the life of me remember who it was the originally shared this)

http://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/the-tone-garage/guitar-wiring-explored-the-spin-a-split-mod/