Volume pot sucks out the high freqs when turned down/too much

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On my telecaster, when i turn the volume pot little down to get cleans out of breaking up tones it sucks out way too much highs compared to my other guitars...any idea how to solve this?
 
Do a search on "treble bleed circuits".
I have yet to find a treble bleed circuit that doesn't screw up the tone or the taper of the pot.
So I usually wire them in with a switch so I can use it or not depending on the musical setting.

The other things you can do are:
1. Use active pickups like EMGs which are immune to this problem because they are buffered at the source of the audio.
2. Use an inline buffer circuit like the one in the version of the Demeter Fat Control that is installed in the guitar.
The stomp box version of the Fat Control also has a buffer that will help keep your highs in tact when running long cable runs but it won't affect the loss of highs when rolling down the passive vol pot on your Tele because of the length of cable between the guitar and the stomp box.

3. Develop a way of playing where you never crank your vol pot wide open.
The treble content from say 9 thru 0 on your vol pot should be pretty consistent.
It's only with the pot pot wide open that you hear the extreme highs.

BTW
It's not just Teles that suffer from this.
It's true of any guitar with passive magnetic pickups.
 
joegold said:
Do a search on "treble bleed circuits".
I have yet to find a treble bleed circuit that doesn't screw up the tone or the taper of the pot.
So I usually wire them in with a switch so I can use it or not depending on the musical setting.

The other things you can do are:
1. Use active pickups like EMGs which are immune to this problem because they are buffered at the source of the audio.
2. Use an inline buffer circuit like the one in the version of the Demeter Fat Control that is installed in the guitar.
The stomp box version of the Fat Control also has a buffer that will help keep your highs in tact when running long cable runs but it won't affect the loss of highs when rolling down the passive vol pot on your Tele because of the length of cable between the guitar and the stomp box.

3. Develop a way of playing where you never crank your vol pot wide open.
The treble content from say 9 thru 0 on your vol pot should be pretty consistent.
It's only with the pot pot wide open that you hear the extreme highs.

BTW
It's not just Teles that suffer from this.
It's true of any guitar with passive magnetic pickups.
Click to expand...

+1

Especially point #3 with single coil pickups. Dial in your tone with the volume pot (and tone pot) less than wide open. This was a huge revelation to me in getting good Strat tones.
 
Have the same problem. I'm going to give this a try,
cts_pot_with_vteb_2.jpg

.01 cap and resistor in series with a trim pot to adjust the amount of treble roll off.
 
I favor the resistor AND capacitor version of this. Understand that this essentially makes your volume pot a pot that turns down the bass part of your overall pickup tone. Your treble remains the same until you turn the volume all the way off. You'll notice that the volume of your guitar doesn't really turn down, but you can clean up the front end of a preamp by turning down your volume, because you are sending less bass to the amp, and therefore less signal. But your apparent volume will not sound less.

It is something you have to get used to for sure. I think with a Tele, you might want to do the mod someone suggested, where you have a mini switch that can bypass the mod, in situations where you intentionally want a smoother tone. If you read up on the top players in Nashville, there is a reoccurring theme where they've become accustomed to running their Tele volumes at 7 or 8 and turning up their amp treble to compensate. Then they have that special bite in reserve for chicken pickin or solos when they need it.
 
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GuitarElectronics.com - Guitar Wiring FAQs

What does a volume "treble bleed" capacitor do?
A volume "treble bleed" capacitor is used on a volume control pot to prevent treble frequency loss as the volume pot is turned down. This is done by placing a small capacitor (usually .001 MFD) between the input and output terminals of the volume control pot. As the volume is reduced, the capacitor allows high frequencies to bleed through to the output and keeps the tone from getting muddy at lower volume settings.
Click to expand...
 
I have experimented with lots of treble bleed mods and I found that I like a suhr treble bleed 150 resistor and a 680 pf .with the resistor in parallel .whats also nice about this mod is that also changes the taper in the volume pot.it still cleans up when you turn down ,but the volume pot now works from 0 to 10 . Also a push pull volume pot if you want to take it in and out of the circuit . I use it this way in other guitars with just a 330 pf cap

PS. Also found what works with one guitar and pickup ,doesn't work with others .easiest way to to experiment is to get yourself a couple of wires with alligator clips and clip onto where you're solder the treble bleed and try different things 330 pf cap ,with 150 resistor , parallel ,series, etc.:encouragement:
 
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Everything I own has a treble bleed circuit on the volume pots. Even my cheapo beater guitar. Can't stand my guitar to sound muddy when rolling back the volume. If I need to cut the highs off, that is what the tone pot is for ;)
 
thx for all the information guys, helped alot...i will think about all the options and definately first give a try to dial in my tones with lower volume pot settings...
 
RDeraz said:
Have the same problem. I'm going to give this a try,
cts_pot_with_vteb_2.jpg

.01 cap and resistor in series with a trim pot to adjust the amount of treble roll off.
Click to expand...

The V-Treb is what I use. I absolutely love it. I've been putting this in all of my guitars.
 
I only have one treble bleed in a guitar and I am in the process of removing it.

It has a strange loading effect on the tone to my ears and I don't care for it.
 
My solution is to use expression pedal on volume block before amp. I do this for 2 reasons. 1 is because I can put it after input gate so I always have full signal going into gate, and 2 it attenuates level going into amp without affecting tone. Nice because you can set modifiers any way you want per preset.
 
InsideOut said:
My solution is to use expression pedal on volume block before amp. I do this for 2 reasons. 1 is because I can put it after input gate so I always have full signal going into gate, and 2 it attenuates level going into amp without affecting tone. Nice because you can set modifiers any way you want per preset.
Click to expand...

Like this idea too. Would however affect tone. Lowering input to amp changes it's tone and behavior a bit. But, in this case it's a pro, not a con because that's what would happen on real amp. If you lowered your guitar volume the tone changes a bit, usually a little thinner, and the amp will clean up this way.

If you wanted zero affect on tone, a volume block at end of chain would keep all gain staging the same, just reduce level. The amps tone and distortion would stay the same as opposed to cleaning up.
 
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