Maybe a goofy question about guitar volume...

[DaveBlack]

I never hear anyone mention anything about the actual guitar volume so I was wondering where you guys usually keep your volume knobs at? Since I've started playing it's always been maxed out at 10. But the past few months I've found that especially with high gain amps I like to turn it down to like 7 or 8 and it really helps smooth it out just enough.

 

[colonel kurtz]

i keep that shit dimed, unless i'm playing a passage where i went just a liiiiiiiiiiittle bit of breakup...then i roll back to like 2-3

 

[Jind]

I used to keep it at 10, but I find myself playing around with quite a bit more these days. But then again, my playing has changed quite a bit from my old balls to the wall days.

 

[jval]

i make a rule of always having them all at 10
I've done projects where we mess with them and the player ALWAYS forgets and turns a knob by accident... goodbye tone

 

[Metaltastic]

i keep that shit dimed, unless i'm playing a passage where i went just a liiiiiiiiiiittle bit of breakup...then i roll back to like 2-3

Yup, I only use it for the "rolled down volume" effect

 

[Fragle]

at first i thought you were talking about the master volume on your amp!

always 10 for me, except for cleans

 

[DaveBlack]

So the general concensus would be that it doesn't have a big enough effect to be considered a factor in the sculpting of a tone?

 

[Metaltastic]

Nah, I'd say it kinda does, just not necessarily for the better - the guitar signal is weak enough as it is, better to have it as strong as possible and do the tone shaping from the amp IMO (especially with passive pickups, where the pots tend to bleed highs the more you turn 'em down, not an issue with actives)

 

[ForefrontStudio]

some volume pots roll off some higher frequencies when you turn the volume down too. always 10 for me. for cleans too.

 

[DaveBlack]

see, i always thought that the volume on a guitar was the equivalent of turning up the gain on a mic since your pickups are pretty much a mic.

 

[Metaltastic]

But you don't turn up the gain on a mic, you turn up the gain on the preamp amplifying the weak mic signal - thus, amp gain is your answer in that analogy

 

[colonel kurtz]

see, i always thought that the volume on a guitar was the equivalent of turning up the gain on a mic since your pickups are pretty much a mic.

its actually the opposite...when the volume is turned up to 10 on the pickups, that's their "normal" output...when you turn the pot down, more and more of the signal gets sent to the ground instead of the output jack as you turn down the pots

the EQ on many amps as well...a lot of people don't realize that a lot of amps have passive EQs that cut only - no boosting. when this is the case, i start out with all knobs at 10, then turn them down until i've cut what i don't like out of the tone

mic preamps, OTOH, actually raise the signal of the level as you turn the gain up...

 

[LeSedna]

Don't forget we're mostly rock/metal players. When you're playing on an archtop in a clean jazzy amp, the volume and the tone knobs are actually important.

Otherwise, yeah you should just keep it at 10 all the time. I use the volume like an on/off.

 

[abt]

10 - Boost early cut late I always say!

 

[Notuern]

the EQ on many amps as well...a lot of people don't realize that a lot of amps have passive EQs that cut only - no boosting. when this is the case, i start out with all knobs at 10, then turn them down until i've cut what i don't like out of the tone

From what ive heard 99,9% of the amps out there works that way that the mid-knob is cut only, and bass/treble is boosting.

 

[DaveBlack]

see, you learn something new everyday. It's actually very informative for me.

 

[Metaltastic]

10 - Boost early cut late I always say!

You know, it's funny - recently I've been coming to that conclusion myself, but I never saw anyone else corroborate it until now!

 

[Wolfeman]

From what ive heard 99,9% of the amps out there works that way that the mid-knob is cut only, and bass/treble is boosting.

Nah they are all pretty much cutting tone stacks. Only exception to this would be active EQ's like in many Peaveys.

Check out this amp building tool, its fun to actually be able to 'see' what your tone controls are doing when you turn them. You may find that it is not doing what you think it is....

 

[Forceps]

10. Allways.