F*** tone knobs, I want boost/single coils/other stuff

[sambrowne]

I hate the tone knobs on my les pauls. On full, they are "good", on anything else they are "shite". In all the playing I do, I never touch the tone knobs.

I wondered if those who know about pots and capacitors and things like that could tell me if I could do the following as mods on my les pauls. One has bareknuckle rebel yells, the other has zhangbucker custom PAFs.

Boost: Could I set up one tone knob as a boost VOLUME (regardless of which pickup is on) and the other as an on/off (where it sits in a bevel ala the PRS knob pickup switching system, so you can feel it click over from one setting to the other, and back). OR could one of the knobs be replaced with a switch to allow for this boost at a set 3dB and the other be a mid-boost control (i.e. how much mid boost you want)? That'd be cool!

Coil Tap: Could they be rewired to act as some sort of coil tap on/off on standard buckers? Some sort of bevelled arrangement appeals most once more.

Any other cool/unusual configurations you can suggest?

[mr_sooty]

I hate the tone knobs on my les pauls. On full, they are "good", on anything else they are "shite". In all the playing I do, I never touch the tone knobs.

I wondered if those who know about pots and capacitors and things like that could tell me if I could do the following as mods on my les pauls. One has bareknuckle rebel yells, the other has zhangbucker custom PAFs.

Boost: Could I set up one tone knob as a boost VOLUME (regardless of which pickup is on) and the other as an on/off (where it sits in a bevel ala the PRS knob pickup switching system, so you can feel it click over from one setting to the other, and back). OR could one of the knobs be replaced with a switch to allow for this boost at a set 3dB and the other be a mid-boost control (i.e. how much mid boost you want)? That'd be cool!

Coil Tap: Could they be rewired to act as some sort of coil tap on/off on standard buckers? Some sort of bevelled arrangement appeals most once more.

Any other cool/unusual configurations you can suggest?

You couldn't do a 'boost' without an active circuit, which would require hooking up a battery. Otherwise you could do a Master Volume, but it wouldn't be able to 'boost' the volume, just cut it. But of course, if it you played with it backed off a bit you could then 'boost' it by turning it up full. The same would apply to a Mid boost, a battery would be needed.

Coil tap is straight forward enough if you have four conductor wires from you pickups. The most elegant method is the push/pull pot. So you'd have to buy those pots. The other option is to wire up a 'bass contour' knob, like the Reverend guitars have. They wind off all the bass without affecting the treble, giving you a very 'single-coil-ish' sound, without actually splitting the pickups. I don't know how you wire this up though, I could probably take the Reverend apart to find out.

Here's a demo of my Reverend that shows the bass contour knob:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Dsk1n2jBW0

Coil tap

[rocklander]

What he said.. except since you don't use the tone as tone you could just use the tone knobs as the coil tap (as in, no need for push/pull pots).
I remember seeing on the SD website a simple diagram that takes the centre wire from the pups and drags it to earth (same as a volume knob on the whole pup) that way you can 'blend' the coil splitting. cool trick I thought, but haven't trie dit yet.

[Capt. Black]

I hate the tone knobs on my les pauls. On full, they are "good", on anything else they are "shite". In all the playing I do, I never touch the tone knobs.

You're not doing it right.

[Jenesis]

EMG Afterburner?

[sambrowne]

I hate the tone knobs on my les pauls. On full, they are "good", on anything else they are "shite". In all the playing I do, I never touch the tone knobs.

You're not doing it right.

I use the volume knobs a lot, often use the middle setting with treble on 10 and the rhythm pickup on 5, gets a nice full but crunchy tone. I just like my tone bright and out the front at all times, and reducing tone just seems like putting a blanket over my amp to me. To each his own I guess.

[mr_sooty]

I remember seeing on the SD website a simple diagram that takes the centre wire from the pups and drags it to earth (same as a volume knob on the whole pup) that way you can 'blend' the coil splitting. cool trick I thought, but haven't trie dit yet.

Actually, yeh, I did something similar on my old American Deluxe HSS Strat. Fed a ground from one of the tone knobs to one of the coils of the bridge pickup to make a variable splitter. Worked really well. Don't know why I didn't suggest it before.

[Some Bozo]

I hate the tone knobs on my les pauls. On full, they are "good", on anything else they are "shite". In all the playing I do, I never touch the tone knobs.

You're not doing it right.

I use the volume knobs a lot, often use the middle setting with treble on 10 and the rhythm pickup on 5, gets a nice full but crunchy tone. I just like my tone bright and out the front at all times, and reducing tone just seems like putting a blanket over my amp to me. To each his own I guess.

You could always go "full Neil Young" and bypass the controls completely...

[ash]

Here are some control options that will work on a Les Paul:

Pots
Pots with push-pull switches
Rotary switches
Toggle switches

and some things you can do with them:

Coil splitting via switch
Variable coil splitting via a pot (SD spin-a-split)
Series/Split/Parallel coil switch
Phase switch (most useful when you use two volumes for blending and phasing)
Active mid, bass or treble (like an acive bass-guitar EQ)
Active gain boost (EMG afterburner, SD pickup booster pedal etc)
passive mid or bass cut (like the Reverend bass contour and Fender TBX)
passive treble cut (a normal tone control which is obviously not what you want)
Gibson Varitone or a rotary tone switch (5-12 position rotary switch with fixed tone settings - ask Tsuken how he likes his one)
Direct out switch (bypass all controls and put the bridge pickup or all pickups directly to the amp, full bore)

and some potential problems:

Some LPs require stupid long-shaft pots and switches. Thats ok for normal pots, but if you need something od like a rotary switch, it might take butchery to fit. Other LPs are fine though.
Active boosts need batteries and space. Should be no problem in an LP cavity. You just have to remember to change them. Active-phobes should just think of it as a built-in EQ pedal, 'coz thats exactly what it is.
Passive boosts are simple enough, but not to everyones tastes. Just like normal tone controls
Variable coil splitting by pot can affect the un-split tone slightly, in the same way that a tone control at full doesn't sound the same as no tone control at all. Coil split switches avoid this, but are on/off, not blendable
Gibson varitones are arse.
Rotary tone switches are cool, but just a refined version of a normal tone control. If you hate those, you might not see the point.
Push-pull pots aren't quite as tough and normal pots. They'll often only last 3-5 years or so under gigging conditions.

I would suggest getting a rotary switch and a push-pull pot installed in place of the tone controls and they trying some of these things out. A bit of wire and capacitor juggling could let you try most of them on the same switch and pot.

[sambrowne]

Awesome, thanks a lot Adrian.

[Tsuken]

Gibson Varitone or a rotary tone switch (5-12 position rotary switch with fixed tone settings - ask Tsuken how he likes his one)
Direct out switch (bypass all controls and put the bridge pickup or all pickups directly to the amp, full bore)

Having both of these, I can say a big yeaaaah baby!! to both of them.

The tone control is great; it doesn't get muddy and indistinct - in fact some of the settings sound like the mids have been boosted slightly, rather than anything else.

The direct out switch (or the "oh fuck!" switch, as dubbed by Capt Black) is a god-send, allowing switching between complicated settings and full-bore open throttle very quickly and easily.

[sambrowne]

What's the difference in tone when you use the direct out switch and bypass the volume and tone knobs and go full bore instead? Significantly improved? Sounds cool....

[Tsuken]

What's the difference in tone when you use the direct out switch and bypass the volume and tone knobs and go full bore instead? Significantly improved? Sounds cool....

That's an interesting point. It's kind of like "true bypass" for your guitar On my old plywood Samick frankenstrat there was quite an obvious difference going from everything on full, to the direct switch engaged: it was a bit brighter and louder. It was the same on my Yamaha as well.

Interestingly, on my Ash 'Catherine' it doesn't seem particularly different from just all the controls wound up, leading me to think the quality of the components in the rest of the circuit are important; if they're tone-suckers, cutting them out will obviously give you a louder brighter tone, but if they're good quality, the difference will be more subtle.

It could also have something to do with the pickup, I guess; both the frankenstrat and the Yamaha had the same Super Distortion pedal in the bridge position (at different times, obviously ), but the Ash has a DiMarzio Breed, which - while hot - is not as hot or nasty.

I dunno; I think my first explanation is the more plausible

[sambrowne]

I think I need a neil young switch

Ok, here you go.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2oC3_POYJY