for decades, it seemed like I never ever touched my volume knob, on either bass or guitar: always ran full open. And even considered removing the volume knob entirely...

over the last 3-4 years, I have started turning the amps up louder and controlling volume with the knob...and sometimes with a volume pedal.

I have noticed an improved "tone" response (fuller spectrum) as well as "feel" response (attack volumes) on both guitar and bass...in addition, I now have something to work with when the time is right to "turn it up to 11"!

re: Roy Buchannan- I had the good fortune to catch his show down at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano CA back in the mid-eighties...it left me speechless! He indeed did run his dual Fender amp rig wide open (if I remember correctly, it seems he had dual vintage tweed Bassman amps) and did amazing and astounding things with his hands on that old Telecaster...he used "the pinkie" and the "karate hand" on the volume knob all the while picking and fretting in his indubitable screaming wailing blues style...simply wicked beyond words!

-dp

Last edited: Apr 06, 2007 14:30:56

I once thought volume knobs were pointless and actually removed both volume and tone knobs, one pickup, because I never used either. Found out I really did need them!

Damn the both serve the most obvious uses. If it's too loud or distorted turn down the volume a bit (no treble bleeds for me thanks. I agree with DP that it alters the tone ever so slightly, an inherent "problem" that I actually perfer.). Too bright and piercing turn down the tone, problem solved. No going to the amp all the controls you'll need are at your fingertips. However most of the tone twirling occurs whilst using the bridge pickup, but it's worth it. Bridge pickup is my current favorite, so versatile.

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Open is the way I go, when your the lead guitar in a surf band
And when I'm not playing surf and playing Alterntative, mainstream, rockabilly, jazz ect.. both tone and volume are always opened full time you want to hear the guitars true voice and I do the same with bass guitar, the only thing controling my volume, tone, mid, bass is the amp

-Kyle

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eddiekatcher
I too use my volume control on my Jazzmasters a lot. I like having just a little more ommmph to jump out over Sticks and Richard when I need it. I too use the "treble bleed" (cap and resistor) circuit on all my Jazzmasters and Jaguar. I couldn't leave home without it.......ed

Would you review this mod for us Eddie? I've been interested in it, but i can't remember exactly what it does, and how to do it?

personally, I think most of my guitars sound best turned slightly down from 10 - like 9 or 9.5 when i play lead - down even more for rhythm. Although halfway into a show - it's full tilt.

I too, read the Outer Wave info, and have changed my amp settings. My tone controls are way up from their previous settings, and the volume is down.

Chris

Chris

"You can't tell where you're going if you don't know where you've been"

I turn my volume knob down to about a seven or a six, and do most of my volume changing on my amp. I think it sounds best the way I got it. Also, my bass won't clip my amp at all this way.

I am super sweet
www.myspace.com/thetremblors

Here's the treble bleed/volume kit mod...

http://www.fralinpickups.com/images/phazrev.jpg

I've tried various combinations of cap+resister suggested by Kinman, TV Jones, and some others. I always come back to Lindy Fralin's version. It sounds natural to me.

Hi Chris, that's the schematic but I use different values. I use a 1 meg resistor and a 1000 pico farad ceramic disk cap. This combo presents approximately 500 K to the pickups and yields a very usable curve. The treble stays strong down to about the 1/2 way mark then it starts to take over and somewhat choke the bass out. However in the normal use range of the last 1/2 of the pot sweep, It works great! It's REALLY easy on a Jag because the control plate has only 3 screws and doesn't require removing the strings to get at it with a soldering iron......duck soup....ed

Traditional........speak softly and play through a big blonde amp. Did I mention that I still like big blonde amps?

Sonichris - Yes. The overall balance of the tone actually remains as you turn down. Instead of having a usable range of 7-10 on the dial, now you get 2-10. Again, I've tried a bunch of different values for this cap+resister (TV Jones, Kinman, and others including a mod where you move the tone cap to the middle lugs of the volume and tone pots), but I always come back to Lindy's values. They seem to work with any guitar/PU combination I've put them on.

I use all the controls on my guitars, particularly the volume to control --- volume. I use a lot of dynamics. Using the volume and tone controls is just another technique of expression.

With the exception of a few RARE tracks, I seldom touch either volume or tone controls - I always leave both wide open. I always have both all the way up when I play bass.

Generally, if I adjust my tone on guitar, I do it by pickup selection choices.

~B~