Do you use your tone pot?

[marnold]

None of my three guitars have tone controls. My old Model 7 had one, but it was almost never used. Since I'm going to rewire my Floyd anyway, what value would you see in getting a concentric pot to add a tone control? I know you can affect tone with the volume pot, but that also obviously affects volume. If I went that route I'd also need to add another switch somewhere for the neck-bridge and all-three pickup combos. I had planned on doing that with a push-pull. Obviously this would also affect the overall tone of the guitar because the tone would be passing through another pot.

Normally I wouldn't even bother, but reading some stuff that Joe Bonamassa has said and seeing him feverishly altering his controls in concert, I've been rethinking things.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

I do just a little, usually to take a little treble off for playing rhythm on certain songs. Otherwise they are dimed.

 

[Spudman]

Depending on the guitar and the situation I do. On the Luke all the time. It is very responsive to tone knob alterations and on my Teles too. It really depends on the voice I'm after and it's mostly used live. In a studio setting it's easy to turn knobs on the amp or amp device instead.

 

[wingsdad]

Yes, in at least 3 particular cases:
1) When playing a pickup combination. Adjusting the tone of one or both of the pickups is like blending shades of colors on a canvas, and if each pup has its own tone pot (and vol pot) so much the better.
2) when needing to roll off just a little top end to smooth out ragged (harsh)distortion with a bridge pup, or cream the sustain on the neck pup.
3) with an amp (or DI device) with no tone pot of its own, like a number of little vintage or reissue 5W tube amps. I don't have such an amp at this time, but I do have an original Scholz R&D Rockman, and the guitar's pots ARE the 'amp' pots with the thing.

 

[aeolian]

Yes, I use the tone controls often. Now that I think about it I use it more on a dual humbucker guitar than a single coil.

 

[mechanic]

I use the tone pot on my tele all the time.
It allows me to go from almost ice pickey treble to
a bass type of rhythm tone.
I also like to use them to "blend" the pickups on my SG and Vox std. 24 respectively.
Eric

 

[just strum]

As I progress I find myself using it more. I think it's a case of not having to focus so much on where the hell my fingers are and now being able to try to develop the proper tone.

Or I just like knobs.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

I use my GS tonepot a lot - it really helps take some of the sharp edge off the sound, if its full on with the bridge HB its like a tele on steroids - too much Ice pick for me. Rolled back to about 7 it sounds more SG like, and it helps with the middle/neck settings. It doesnt make the sound woolly either like other (cheaper) guitars I have had.

 

[Robert]

I use my tone pot on the bridge pickup only. For me, that is a must with bridge pickups.

 

[markb]

I use the tone on my tele all the time. It's a "no-load" pot that has a notch at the end of the travel which takes it completely out of circuit. This acts as a subtle boost when playing clean tones. Backing it off on the front pickup will bring the tone down to more jazzy textures, handy for the older country and western swing I like to play. Very nice with a slightly driven amp. Oh, and I find you just can't get that Luther Perkins sound with the tone control wide open, it needs a little backing off to get that "boom" he had.
On the SG I fine tune drives with the tone knobs.

 

[warren0728]

i do...but truth be told mostly just experimenting...i have to improve my playing capabilities before i can truly adjust my tone! :AOK:

ww

 

[t_ross33]

Since changing the pups on my Tele, I've discovered the joys of tweaking volume and tone on the fly :rotflmao: I've heard it said that you ain't playin' yer Tele if you ain't constantly adjusting your knobs

Oh, and I find you just can't get that Luther Perkins sound with the tone control wide open, it needs a little backing off to get that "boom" he had.

That's interesting Mark. I googled and searched some other forums to see if anyone could shed some light on Luther's iconic tone. Not much that I could find other than "bridge pickup" (yeah... you THINK?) and flatwound strings (interesting). I've always cracked the reverb and dimed the guitar and got the rest of the boom-chicka-boom with just the right amount of palm-muting. But now you have me thinking.... time to bust out my "Live at Folsom Prison" CD.

Trev

 

[Tone2TheBone]

I totally tweak the tone knobs while I play as well as the volume knobs and where I play up along the strings as I pick. Every position on the strings affects the tone coming out as you strike them and dialing in volume and tone also has a great affect as well.

 

[TS808]

I rarely use my tone controls on my strats, but find that I use them more on my Agile with the bridge pickup to roll a little bit off the high end. I like the tone controls wide open on my strats...love that twang and brightness from the single coils.

The Agile pups are fairly bright for humbuckers, so I tend to roll off a bit more with them.

 

[Sprinter]

Most of the time I leave my tone controls wide open. On my G&L, S-500's I turn the middle knob which is the treble knob back just a little bit.

Sprinter

 

[Guitar Gal]

i do...but truth be told mostly just experimenting...i have to improve my playing capabilities before i can truly adjust my tone! :AOK:

ww

Yeah....what he said

GG

 

[thearabianmage]

CAPACITORS! Capacitors, capacitors. That's what turns the volume pot into a tone pot. I swear, I had this one capacitor in Poop (Jackson DKMG), I think it was a mylar film capacitor, and it was okay. Average. Put it this way, I never used my tone pot. I changed it to this one called an 'Orange Drop' (from a site called www.axetec.co.uk) and it's fully made a difference! So, to answer your question: yes, I do use my tone pot now.

Experiment. That's the only advice I have for you.