Is there any need for a tone knob on a guitar?

[don_joe]

Not for me, I never touch it.

 

[Geezerjohn]

Are use my tone knobs all the time. They are an absolute necessity for my style of playing. I have been playing with them that way ever since I started playing the electric guitar.

 

[Jimmytwotimes]

I use them - sometimes you want to give the audience a little break. I always dial in my tones with the tone knob all the way up.
In a live setting - sometimes this can be too much bite - the tone knob is a fast easy way to tame it down a little. I never used to mess with it - but from years of watching people like Joe Bonamassa, who is constantly playing with his tone knobs, I have learned that the tone knobs are your friend !

 

[USMC_Trev]

"Is there any need for a tone knob on a guitar?"

If you use them, then yeah. If not, then no.

(couldn't be bothered to read past the thread title TBH)

 

[jefferski]

Forgot to add that on my main Strat, which is a G&L, it has a Treble knob and a Bass knob which is way more flexible than the standard tone controls. Especially bass, as we know it can be really finicky.

 

[jlynnb1]

I don't use them every often, certain styles require them more than others

 

[electronpirate]

Tone control is always required on a Telecaster

This is the ONLY guitar I use it on. Never on my LP. I usually dial in tones with the volume at 80%, the tone a bit over half way. That way I can avoid mud on neck, and taking off someones head with brightness on Bridge PUP.

 

[Muad'zin]

A knob that makes my guitar sound muddier? What on heavens would I use that for? I like clarity in my sound. I also have a bad habit of forgetting things so I see myself as having adjusted the tone knob for one song only to worry later why my sound sounds so muddy. If my sound needs to be warmer in a certain song I'd much rather adjust it in a preset specific to that song. In many of my guitar builds I've not even included a tone knob.

It can be helpful with fuzzes though. Oscillating fuzzes and reverse plugged in wahs seem to respond well to the tone knob, so for that I would included and use a tone knob.

 

[Rex]

This is the ONLY guitar I use it on. Never on my LP. I usually dial in tones with the volume at 80%, the tone a bit over half way. That way I can avoid mud on neck, and taking off someones head with brightness on Bridge PUP.

This — in general, anyway.

In general, single-coil guitars benefit more from the tone knob. A tone that works perfectly for the neck pickup of a Tele or Strat can be ice-picky on the bridge pup, but a little judicious use of the tone knob can make it also work great. If you split a humbucker mid-song, the tone knob is pretty much a necessity.

 

[unix-guy]

reverse plugged in wahs

Never heard of this...

 

[GM Arts]

A guitar tone control does 3 useful things. But first it's important to understand that guitar circuitry adds a high frequency peak with treble roll-off above that peak frequency.

(1) At maximum (setting 10) it loads the pickups at high frequencies, so the high frequency peak has less "level". This is often desirable for bridge pickups, maybe less so for other pickups. In this situation the peak is mostly caused by resonance between the inductive pickup coils and cable capacitance. Although this can be simulated with EQ, it would be tricky to do it exactly the same unless you measured the resonant frequency and its Q, and always used the same cable.

(2) At settings below 10 down to typically about 3, it lowers both the level and the frequency of the peak, giving a useful range of less bright tones.

(3) At settings below about 3, the tone capacitor adds to cable capacitance and boosts resonance while lowering the resonant frequency even more. Setting 0 is useful for a sound effect similar to leaving a wah pedal in the heel-down position, and popular for typical muddy/resonant jazz tones.

 

[Andy G]

A guitar tone control does 3 useful things. But first it's important to understand that guitar circuitry adds a high frequency peak with treble roll-off above that peak frequency.

(1) At maximum (setting 10) it loads the pickups at high frequencies, so the high frequency peak has less "level". This is often desirable for bridge pickups, maybe less so for other pickups. In this situation the peak is mostly caused by resonance between the inductive pickup coils and cable capacitance. Although this can be simulated with EQ, it would be tricky to do it exactly the same unless you measured the resonant frequency and its Q, and always used the same cable.

(2) At settings below 10 down to typically about 3, it lowers both the level and the frequency of the peak, giving a useful range of less bright tones.

(3) At settings below about 3, the tone capacitor adds to cable capacitance and boosts resonance while lowering the resonant frequency even more. Setting 0 is useful for a sound effect similar to leaving a wah pedal in the heel-down position, and popular for typical muddy/resonant jazz tones.

This is really interesting! So it sounds like it might be possible to simulate a similar effect in the Axe-Fx, but is probably a lot easier just to throw the tone control back in the guitar.

 

[MSS]

This is really interesting! So it sounds like it might be possible to simulate a similar effect in the Axe-Fx, but is probably a lot easier just to throw the tone control back in the guitar.

Try a low pass. It’s not exactly the same but works well for my purposes.

 

[Rex]

This is really interesting! So it sounds like it might be possible to simulate a similar effect in the Axe-Fx, but is probably a lot easier just to throw the tone control back in the guitar.

Exactly. It's so quick to dial in what you want.