The tone knob...

[LEOKV2]

Ok, seriously, I have spec'd my custom KV-2 to have a tone knob (2 vol, 1 tone) but honestly I don't know why, I actually think at this point it will be because I like the way the layout looks.

BUT, anyone here uses the tone knob?

I definately use the volume knob specially now that I play hard rock, to get a crunchy tone in some riffs that don't require much distortion without changing channels, but the tone knob, I NEVER use, I mean, never ever.

Actually, I just use it when I accidentally rolled it a bit down, so I roll it up again.

But, I know some guys, specially with single coils on strats that do use them to remove the high end harshness for some licks, but, is that the case with Jackson users? I mean, Jackson is a hard rock/metal guitar overall, at least, it looks like, does it make sense to have a tone knob? Will you use it ?

[rjohnstone]

It's a preference thing man.
I almost never use the tone knob either, but once in a blue moon I'll have a need for it.

[toejam]

I can live with or without it. I'll screw around with it on some of my guitars, but rarely. My Charvel Star doesn't have one, and I don't really miss it. I think two volume controls would be more useful.
If I had a guitar with only one pickup, I might be inclined to use a tone control a bit more.

[Sunbane]

It's the first thing I do to a newly purchased guitar; taking away the tone knob (and putting the vol knob in its place).

[axeman81]

I sometimes dial back a bit on some clean sounds when using the bridge pup, other than that? it stays full on for most of the time.

[kelly user]

i use it to harness a rock/blues sound on my neck pick-up, which is a 60, but you won't miss it unless you play clean alot

[toejam]

i use it to harness a rock/blues sound on my neck pick-up, which is a 60, but you won't miss it unless you play clean alot

I use a 60 as my neck pup on my Dinky, with an 85 in the bridge. EMG tone controls actually seem to be a bit more responsive and more useable than passive tone controls, IMO.

[guitarsjb]

Never use mine.

[Tashtego]

I use them a lot on my LP and some on my Jackson. I like to have the amp set up so that the treble is too harsh for most of what I want to do and I use the tone knob to twiddle in what sounds good to me.

[mm2002]

If you put the right capacitor on a tone pot you can get some very cool "wah" effects with it. Almost like a parametric EQ with a sweep. I don't remember the actual value of them now, but I just looked at one of my favorites, and it says Z03M on it. Maybe one of our electronic gurus can help.

[tanpsi]

When I had them on my Les Paul I would sometimes with full gain, roll the treble all the way down for a synthy kind of sound, or toggle between pickups.

[LEOKV2]

Well, for a "wah" kind of sound, then... I'll just get a wah, I think.

Anyway, I was kinda curious about it you know?

[JACKSONFREAK]

I do use my tone knob but only a couple of my guitars for the most part. My 3 pickup Les PAul custom to get the smoother tone without so much bite or when i blend pups. And on my Dean thathas a phase switch on it . Its H/S/S conifg and when i use the tone knob with the bridge out of phase with one of the singles i get a meaty raw nassle honk thats great for metal. Although i do fiddle with it on some of my other guitars that have tone knobs i use more on those two.
Gil

[Big D]

Tone knobs on Jacksons are generally worthless, I never use mine. On a few of mine, I've just disabled them entirely.

On my Tele's and Strat though, different story. Much more sensitive and actually a noticeable difference when you back the tone knob down a bit.

[LEOKV2]

That was what I was guessin', probably because the single coil has a punchier range in the mids and highs than humbuckers I suppose so the tone actually has a noticeable effect on those frequencies.

I think most guitar companies put tone knobs because it's like an industry standard or something, for example, the average customer who buys a guitar, say, for example a 15 year old kid who starts to play guitar, my guess is he will want to get the guitar that has "all the regular features" because if he goes to his other friend on his band who has a guitar with a tone knob and his guitar hasn't he will be like "damn, my guitar is incomplete, it's missing the tone knob..." right? I think that's the direction, kinda like a psychological issue.