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Tone Controls


MCH

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I was wondering about tone controls for my next build. How many builders by pass the need for tone controls? Personally I would think the tone controls on the amp or the equalizer is all you need. I find most of the time I don't even touch the tone control on the guitar and usually it is set to bypass (max treble side). So my way of thinking is why bother with cluttering up the guitar face with these. Or am I missing something in regards to their requirements on the guitar? :D

any thoughts?

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What kind of guitar?

I've discovered there are plenty of tones

in the volume and tone controls.

Especially the tone.

The guitar will be using humbuckers. I don't understand the 'plenty of tones in the volume'? Only thing I can think of is different pots may have a slightly different sound or tone. On the Tone control all that is happening is treble frequencies are being bled off to ground (that is my understanding). So when the tone control is all the way up, you're basically hear the total tone of the humbuckers combined with the wood. With an equalizer you have much more control on what frequencies you want to alter, not just take away treble. Or even most amps have 3 frequency ranges Bass, Mid and Treble to alter the tone.

So bypassing a Tone control, a 250K pot should be used? I didn't know that. I guess a little experimenting is in order.

thx

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So bypassing a Tone control, a 250K pot should be used? I didn't know that. I guess a little experimenting is in order.

You don't have to - whatever sounds good to you... but when you have both volume and tone pots, they are connected to ground in parallel. 500k + 500k paralleled = 250k to ground, so if you just took out the tone pot you'd have 500k, which would tend to give you a brighter sound with a touch more output.

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... I don't understand the 'plenty of tones in the volume'?...

i can help illuminate here.

1 - with a normal volume control, if your cable has high capacitance, it darkens the tone the farther you reduce the volume.

2 - in 2-volume wiring, you adjust the mixing of the pickups, when both pickups are selected.

3 - in 2-volume "reverse" wiring (so when only one volume is at zero, the signal won't be killed), when you turn the volume(s) down, the pickup(s) are heavily loaded, darkening the tone.

in regards to the tone control: on a Strat, when you turn the tone down, 1/2 way it darkens the tone a bit. but when you turn it to minimum, it returns some of the brightness, with a shift in the peak, because the cap is directly in parallel with the pickup. (i like this setting!)

you can do the same thing with a HB, but you need an even smaller cap.

on a Strat the cap is 22 nF. for a HB you would want about 5~10 nF to get the same effect.

... but when you have both volume and tone pots, they are connected to ground in parallel. 500k + 500k paralleled = 250k to ground,...

i'll respectfully disagree.

when the tone control is at maximum, the 500k of the tone pot is also in series with the tone cap, so it is quite different than being directly in parallel with the volume control.

cheers,

unk

Edited by unklmickey
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...What's your take on this thread?

Since:

1. The resistance placed across a pickup primarily affects the height and width of the resonant peak (2.5 - 10 KHZ)

2. The tone capacitor has a much smaller impedance at the resonant peak than the tone pot,

yes, the parallel combination of the resistances of the two pots (250K) is what is effectively loading the pickup when both are on 10

.

i think Mike has taken some (mostly) correct information, and extrapolated a less correct conclusion.

yes, the capacitance has a lower reactance at the the range of frequencies he mentioned than the resistance of the tone pot.

but, it is still not zero.

more importantly, there are other effects from a purely resistive load, that occur below the resonant peak, where the the capacitive reactance is higher than the resistance of the tone pot.

so, i think his analysis is too simplistic to be completely accurate.

cheers,

unk

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