That's so true.....but we're most likely talking to people who,once they plug in to a pedalboard that looks like the space shuttle console and an amp with all the preset "classic overdrives of the world" and their guitar signal is processed,blended,homogenized,purified,rarified,and solidified....they wouldn't understand the differences that tone and volume knobs and pup switch can make if it smacked them in the face.

That's what I was think Mr. C. I am honestly surprised that anyone responded that the tone control is not an important feature on a guitar........

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Those that find no difference on various tone control positions, either they must have broken electronics on their guitar or they are playing through metal distortion pedals, set to maximum distortion.
Only then, the differences between 0 and 10 become difficult (but not impossible) to spot.

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Alexander
AMSTD Strat RW Candy Cola +Callaham + Texas Specials +Tortoise shell pickguard/Fender Blues Junior III SN FSR
Salonica-Greece


Macedonia IS GREECE the last 2500 years

I use my tone knobs all the time! If I am playing with the pickup (dirty) in the neck only, I roll down the volume just a bit, set the tone to about 5 and I get a pretty buttery sound. If I play that same configuration clean, it takes some of the harshness off the highs.

What was it I saw somewhere once?

"It's all about the endles pursuit of tone."

Strange though that I plug straight into a Marshall. No pedals. Just me, the amp, the guitar and the fun of dialing in a sound that motivates me to play.

+1000!

PREACH IT, BRUTHA!



Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

I've found that there is usually a sweet spot with most of the tone controls on my guitars...but I also really like the Delta or "no load" option for tone controls,having both a strat and a tele with this option installed. As far as TBX goes I found it pretty harsh at times and usually kept it off most of the time. I agree totally with the insight that a good responsive amp definitley adds to the pallete of colors that tone controls provide.

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I don't think my pedalboard is that elaborate!



Haha! (Really, I only have 1 Crybaby). Oh, and yes, I can hear the difference from my tone knobs, (nipples).

Gridlok

Passive tone controls are just potentiometers, exactly like the volume control, and they do the same thing: shunt signal to ground. A volume control sends the entire signal to ground until there's no more signal at the output. But a tone control has a filter cap attached lot it so it only shunts off a part of the signal, and the value of the cap determines which frequencies get thrown away.

http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/voltonecon.php

If you can't hear the effect of a guitar tone control, then either:

1. You have the wrong values for either your pots or caps

2. The pot is broken

3. You are deaf.

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Jim Bordner
Gravity Music - www.gravitymusic.com
Composer, producer, Egnater Artist

+1000!

Nothing further need be said.

Succinct and comprehensive post, Egfryer.



Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

Thanks, Arjay. Reading this thread I noticed that while there was a lot of conjecture about whether or not a tone pot is a useful thing (a pretty silly argument, oh, I must say), but still no answer to the question, "what do tone controls do?"

In my experience, it's way easier to make value judgements (and, obviously, to troubleshoot) when you know what the equipment you use is actually doing.

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Jim Bordner
Gravity Music - www.gravitymusic.com
Composer, producer, Egnater Artist

Absolutely, sir.

Hand salute!

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY