I'd be interested to here some of your favorite knob/switch settings on your guitar.

Unfortunately I don't own a jaguar (yet!), so I can't tell you where I put all 50 switches & knobs, but.... I've been liking the neck pickup with tone on 0. I like it because it sounds real boomy and tuff and you just hear the notes your playing with not a lot of pick/string noise. Kind of jazz tone, but you don't have to play jazz.

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I have yet to roll off the tone knob, and I play for more than 25 years. Of course I have touched it, but only to check if it’s fully open, or if the germanium fuzz has got a really harsh sounding tone.
Or jamming some mock jazz with a pal.
In recent years I started to roll back the volume knob back a little, for certain fuzz flavors.
When I want it softer for a song, I step over to the amp and adjust the sound there. I want everything to meet the 12ax7, and shape the result of that.

KK

The Exotic Guitar of Kahuna Kawentzmann

You can get the boy out of the Keynes era, but you can’t get the Keynes era out of the boy.

Thanks WR I seriously was just about to bump this thread.

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IvanP
I'm not really interested in a super clean sound. Dick Dale, Eddie Bertrand, Jim Messina, the Atlantics guys, they all played with a bit of 'hair' in their tone, with the amps overdriving a bit.

I think much of that overdrive tone comes from the speakers. I use that bit of grit sound as well, but when I hook up my bassman to speakers other then the jbl I usually run it through, it stays perfectly clean - which is not so perfect.

WR

Rules to live by #314:
"When in Italy, if the menu says something's grilled, don't assume it is."

https://www.facebook.com/The-Malbehavers-286429584796173/

I tend to favor the neck pickup for lead on my Jaguar, also going for an more aggressive sound. I don't know if it's just my guitar, but the neck pickup is hotter and for me gets a little dirtier. For songs that have a little more finesse, both pickups. I never use the choke, not really sure why it's there.

Ivan, have you ever experimented with changing the wiring of your strat to allow the neck and bridge pickup on together? Mel suggested it may get a more "jaggy" tone.

I play an old Pro Reverb - 40 watter, 2 twelves, that's biased very high. The sweet spot is on 4, just starting to get the grit, but plenty of sparkle and frikkin' loud. I go back and forth between brt swtch on-treble2-bass6, and brt swtch off-treb7-bass5. Reverb is mostly 6-6-6, though I cut back the tone depending on the room.

Wannes is right, speakers make a huge difference, some sound hi-fi, some dark and dirty. I believe mine are the dark and dirty type and I love them.

Danny Snyder

"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

Playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

Formerly a guitarist in The TomorrowMen and Meshugga Beach Party

Latest surf project - Now That's What I Call SURF

I have a lot of amps to choose from including a 1964 white Tremolux, a 1963 white Bassman, a pair of Princeton Reverbs, a 74 Pro Reverb, a 74 Super Reverb, an 84 Fender Concert, a Musicman 210HD One Thirty, a Roland JC55 and a 76 Hiwatt DR504 halfstack. I used to use the Hiwatt all the time but I kept getting too many volume complaints. It sounded like a really good Fender amp on the clean setting but was way too much for most venues especially since I ran it in stereo with one of the other amps. It was really nice with the the Roland Jazz Chorus. Those get a great clean sound especially when combined with a clean tube amp. I like to run a pair of amps because it helps get the volume up, it helps spread the sound around a bit better and I can get a cleaner sound with enough volume because I'm not pushing one amp too hard. Plus in a live situation you have a built in backup in case one fails.

I use a lot of different tones and Trad surf is only one of them. I've found that in order to get that tone I need the 1963-64 white cabinet series Fender amps. Anything else breaks up too easily on the low notes unless I'm using a Jaguar. My Jazzmasters, Strats, Wilson Bros. and assorted other guitars have a tendency to push the preamp section too hard even when using the 6db padded input. I can switch cabinets around but the head needs to be white. I particularly like my Tremolux head because it has that sound but at a very usable "venue friendly" volume.

image

There is Surf east of Sepulveda.

'Tend to run Strat on middle pup with V and T about 7

JM and Mosrite V and T about 6-7, both pups.

'65 RI Twin Reverb T 7, M 4 1/2, B6, Rev 7 for surf.

All settings subject to boo-boo-ing with as needed.

Thanks all, for sharing. Some stuff to try!

Wow Robi, that must be a very treble amp to keep the knob so low. Especially since the JM isn't the brightest guitar either.

Danny Snyder

"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

Playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

Formerly a guitarist in The TomorrowMen and Meshugga Beach Party

Latest surf project - Now That's What I Call SURF

My main stage amp is a blackface pro reverb (40 watts). I usually run the volume at between 7 - 10, 7 being the point where the note 'blossoms'. My main guitar is a strat which I normally use the treble pick-up on, but sometimes I'll use the other two depending on the song. Guitar tone knob always on 10. With this guitar, the amp treble knob is on 3 - 4, bass full up. If I use my jazzmaster or another guitar, I'll change the amp tone accordingly, which ussually involes boosting the treble 3 clicks and lowering the bass a couple of nothches.
My reverb tank is usually set at 7,5,7, although this varies with the room and song,
My signal chain is: Guitar, fuzz pedal, echoplex, reverb tank, amp.

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Jazzmaster: both PUs for surf - bridge + OD or fuzz for eleki tones

reverb unit: dwell 7 - mix 7 - tone 5

68 showman + 2 x 12 cab - tremolo chanel: vol 6 - bass 6 - mid 10 - - treble 6 - intensity 10 - speed 6

El Papu & los Fantasticos Reverberantes