Just some thoughts about clean tone and tone knobs....

[Heady Jam Fan]

For a modern, jammy tone, I have always set my rig up with my guitar's tone knob at 10.

And for a modern, jammy tone, I keep my TS>Comp on - even for cleans - I just role my volume back. Do you guys do this too?

However, I feel like my cleans are always a bit dark and don't have much bite or liveliness compared to my dirty sound. If I set the amp, etc for a better clean, then its too gritty/harsh when overdriven.

Also, Trey's rig video shows his Mesa MKIII settings, which are notably brighter than mine. I tried this and found, once again, the dirty settings were too gritty and harsh, while Trey's are ridiculously smooth. I had kinda passed off the difference as maybe Trey having more broken in speakers, 2x 212's, post-processing, etc.

Recently I went back to the settings from Trey's video and rolled my guitar's tone knob back to about 6 (rather than 10) for dirty sounds and back up to 10 for clean (when I roll my volume knob back).

Anyone else using their tone knob like this? Anyone riding their tone when using a TS>Comp? 

[fulltone1989]

I too noticed my cleans were a bit dark for cleans but sounded great for dirty tones. I started EQing the amp for the neck pickup, then rolling the bridge tone on my guitar back to about 6 or 7 and it evens out pretty nicely. I haven't tried the TS trick but thanks for the advice i'll check it out tonight!

For a modern, jammy tone, I have always set my rig up with my guitar's tone knob at 10.

And for a modern, jammy tone, I keep my TS>Comp on - even for cleans - I just role my volume back. Do you guys do this too?

However, I feel like my cleans are always a bit dark and don't have much bite or liveliness compared to my dirty sound. If I set the amp, etc for a better clean, then its too gritty/harsh when overdriven.

Also, Trey's rig video shows his Mesa MKIII settings, which are notably brighter than mine. I tried this and found, once again, the dirty settings were too gritty and harsh, while Trey's are ridiculously smooth. I had kinda passed off the difference as maybe Trey having more broken in speakers, 2x 212's, post-processing, etc.

Recently I went back to the settings from Trey's video and rolled my guitar's tone knob back to about 6 (rather than 10) for dirty sounds and back up to 10 for clean (when I roll my volume knob back).

Anyone else using their tone knob like this? Anyone riding their tone when using a TS>Comp? 

[webephishin]

For a modern, jammy tone, I have always set my rig up with my guitar's tone knob at 10.

And for a modern, jammy tone, I keep my TS>Comp on - even for cleans - I just role my volume back. Do you guys do this too?


Anyone else using their tone knob like this? Anyone riding their tone when using a TS>Comp? 

I always, always keep my tone levels up all the way.  Maybe your thresholds are different, but at a certain point in in turning the knob where the change in tone is very drastic and becomes undesired...almost like an all-or-none response.  EVen though I use a compressor, my cleans seem much quieter than when i have even my mild TS9 engaged...it kinda bugs me

[Heady Jam Fan]

For a modern, jammy tone, I have always set my rig up with my guitar's tone knob at 10.

And for a modern, jammy tone, I keep my TS>Comp on - even for cleans - I just role my volume back. Do you guys do this too?


Anyone else using their tone knob like this? Anyone riding their tone when using a TS>Comp? 

I always, always keep my tone levels up all the way.  Maybe your thresholds are different, but at a certain point in in turning the knob where the change in tone is very drastic and becomes undesired...almost like an all-or-none response.  EVen though I use a compressor, my cleans seem much quieter than when i have even my mild TS9 engaged...it kinda bugs me

Used to bug me to (still does sometimes). Its less noticeable with my Mesa MKIII than with a Fender. I think part of this is beyond volume, but also the tone/cut-through, which is one of the reasons I started using my tone knob recently - adding some treble back in keeps it in the mix and sounds more natural going from clean to dirty and back.

There are different ways to wire the tone and volume pots, maybe yours is more subtle... With the TS9>Comp, the difference is subtle until it gets fairly low and below 6 (out of 10) I don't like the change, but at 6, it just tames the bite on dirty sounds enough so when I turn the tone knob back up to 10 for clean, it sounds more balanced.

[ColForbin]

I do something quite different actually.  I set my treble on my amp at 10, bass at 7 and when using my twin, set the mid for the same-ish as my bass.  I find my tone knobs to actually be a more responsive tone shaping tool than the eq on my amp.  I'm all over them, all the time depending on the tune, what I'm going for and what effects I'm using.  Plus, this allows me set each pickup differently, instead of the same, which is what your stuck with when you use the amp eq for tone shaping.  But it's not strange for my tone knobs to be halfway, give or take a few notches on either side.  I find this very useful, particularly when bypassing my effects.  I just do it differently I suppose, but it's what I'm happy with....

[Heady Jam Fan]

I do something quite different actually.  I set my treble on my amp at 10, bass at 7 and when using my twin, set the mid for the same-ish as my bass.  I find my tone knobs to actually be a more responsive tone shaping tool than the eq on my amp.  I'm all over them, all the time depending on the tune, what I'm going for and what effects I'm using.  Plus, this allows me set each pickup differently, instead of the same, which is what your stuck with when you use the amp eq for tone shaping.  But it's not strange for my tone knobs to be halfway, give or take a few notches on either side.  I find this very useful, particularly when bypassing my effects.  I just do it differently I suppose, but it's what I'm happy with....

So what you do differently from what I described is keeping the amp brighter to use the tone knob more than just opening it up for clean?

I used to EQ my Fender amps similarly to what you are describing for classic rock (with solidstate guitars - not sure if I didn't like it with hollowbody guitars or just with the effects I use for jam). I cranked the treble and turned the bass to min (these were blackface Fenders with too much bass IMO) and rolled back my tone knob halfway. It made the amp much punchier, but just doesn't work for jam for me.

Since I made this thread, I haven't been using my tone knob as much actually. I've been just using my bridge pickup for clean, not rolling back the volume, just playing softer.

[ColForbin]

So what you do differently from what I described is keeping the amp brighter to use the tone knob more than just opening it up for clean?

Yeah, I like having that amp eq bright, especially for Jerry stuff and just ride the tone knobs accordingly.  Sounds like you got a lot of different stuff on the go depending on what type of music your playing.

I used to EQ my Fender amps similarly to what you are describing for classic rock (with solidstate guitars - not sure if I didn't like it with hollowbody guitars or just with the effects I use for jam). I cranked the treble and turned the bass to min (these were blackface Fenders with too much bass IMO) and rolled back my tone knob halfway. It made the amp much punchier, but just doesn't work for jam for me.

Since I made this thread, I haven't been using my tone knob as much actually. I've been just using my bridge pickup for clean, not rolling back the volume, just playing softer.

Cool, I wouldn't mind trying your bridge pickup trick at home, can't say that I've ever experimented with that.

[Hans Moleman]

Interesting topic that I've actually thought about a lot lately. I ride my volume knob a ton but generally set my neck tone to almost full and the bridge tone backed off to a bit more than half then usually leave them. I then use the volume knob to increase gain and treble. Because of this I find a volume pedal indispensable. I use my guitars volume for gain/tone when they hit the pedals then use the volume pedal as a sort of master volume the gain pedals to the amp. Works for me...