Members Promit Posted March 25, 2013 Members Share Posted March 25, 2013 Don't get me wrong. Those three knobs are vital to how I work with the guitar. I'm just really unhappy with the particulars of how they behave.First problem, the volume knob. Output goes down but the treble gets shaved off too. Well known problem, I think. Should I just add the treble bleed cap and leave it at that?Second problem, the tone controls are only useful in a narrow range. 10 is great, 9 and 8 are great, 7 is great, 6 is okay, 5 starts to sound distinctly muffled, and it's effectively unusable from there. I'd really prefer something more linear, with less range or a wider usable range. I don't know what my options are here short of going to an active tone control stack.I'm thinking seriously about moving to master tone and repurposing the second pot to... something (blender mod?). Thanks in advance for advice/suggestions.(In case it matters, this is an HSS Strat with 500K volume and 250K tone pots, hot BG V60s and a BG Hellabucker. The lower tone control is a no-load pot to the bridge pickup.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members peskypesky Posted March 25, 2013 Members Share Posted March 25, 2013 i keep my tone controls dimed. i've never liked using them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kayd_mon Posted March 25, 2013 Members Share Posted March 25, 2013 Sounds like you prefer bright tones. Maybe you don't even need tone controls? Or, maybe you'd like a TBX tone control, which operates differently - 5 is normal, 6-10 is brighter, and 1-4 are darker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted March 25, 2013 Members Share Posted March 25, 2013 You need to swap out the capacitors for some with lower values. The tone controls on your Strat are essentially low-pass filters with the frequency determined by the value of the capacitor. Halving the value of the capacitor will move the frequency up by an octave; doubling it will move the frequency down by an octave. I have no idea what's in your Strat at present but if the capacitors are 0.047uF replacing them with 0.022uF, for example, will yield a brighter sound. Of course, when the control is a 10 the capacitor is out of the circuit and has no effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members peskypesky Posted March 25, 2013 Members Share Posted March 25, 2013 kayd_mon wrote: Or, maybe you'd like a TBX tone control, which operates differently - 5 is normal, 6-10 is brighter, and 1-4 are darker. I may have to try one of those! Thanks for the tip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members honeyiscool Posted March 25, 2013 Members Share Posted March 25, 2013 It's for people like you they make active pickups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members peskypesky Posted March 25, 2013 Members Share Posted March 25, 2013 my head hurts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LARRY L Posted March 26, 2013 Members Share Posted March 26, 2013 IPromit wrote: Don't get me wrong. Those three knobs are vital to how I work with the guitar. I'm just really unhappy with the particulars of how they behave.First problem, the volume knob. Output goes down but the treble gets shaved off too. Well known problem, I think. Should I just add the treble bleed cap and leave it at that? Second problem, the tone controls are only useful in a narrow range. 10 is great, 9 and 8 are great, 7 is great, 6 is okay, 5 starts to sound distinctly muffled, and it's effectively unusable from there. I'd really prefer something more linear, with less range or a wider usable range. I don't know what my options are here short of going to an active tone control stack. I'm thinking seriously about moving to master tone and repurposing the second pot to... something (blender mod?). Thanks in advance for advice/suggestions. (In case it matters, this is an HSS Strat with 500K volume and 250K tone pots, hot BG V60s and a BG Hellabucker. The lower tone control is a no-load pot to the bridge pickup.) The trebel bleed mod works great and IMO should be made a stock. I hated losing the brightness when I would bring down the volume, some like it that way but I already have 2 tone knobs so why allow the volume to also mess with the tone? The hardest thing to the mod is getting the pickguard off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members honeyiscool Posted March 26, 2013 Members Share Posted March 26, 2013 However, it is not exactly like that. It does change the volume knob into a bit of a tone knob, but one that bleeds instead of attenuates highs. It can have adverse effects on certain overdrive pedals, boosts, etc. The best way to have a fully flat volume knob is to go active, IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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