This may seem sacreligious but..

rdchapman · October 1st, 2004, 07:33 AM

I own an SF Princeton. While I like the tone with my Strat, I find the tone is not what I want from my Tele. The tele is a 2003 America Custom Telecaster (the limited edition) with Nocaster pickups. I bought the guitar based on the sound of the bridge pickup. There is a sound I find in most Tele bridge pickups and it also a major tone in a p-90 that I do not like . It's a high midrange sound I don't like. I looked for a tele that had the least of this tone and found this one. When I was testing guitars i the store, I used a DRI as I knew a fender seems to bring out this tone and makes it easy to identify. When I play with my group, I use a Laney VC-30210 (30 watts 2 10's all tube) and this amp does accentuate the unwanted tone. It is said the amp is Vox sounding.

I love the volume and most of the tone I get from the SF Princeton, But the high mid thing with the tele make me stay away from the bridge pickup that I love so much. Can I change out the speaker with something along with tube to get more british tone from the amp? I was thinking a Weber Blue Pup and perhaps some different tubes. I don't want to hack the amp. Anything I find today with the tone I am looking for is usually not a good quality amp and not easliy serviced. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Anonymous · October 1st, 2004, 08:20 AM

I'm going to ask a silly question, and please forgive me if this is all old news to you... but are you familiar with the whole "sweet spot" idea with Telecasters? The idea is to <u>roll the tone control back</u> on the guitar just until the "ice-pick in the ear" quality disappears.

Lots of folks who've mainly played Strats are accustomed to keeping the tone control wide open, and on most Teles, that's too much treble – or too much for my ears, anyway. ;-)

Do a search on "sweet spot" here and you'll find the subject discussed at length. It was a real revelation to me when someone finally gave me "permission" to use the tone control. ;-) Just a guess. Hope it helps, CS :-)

Will V. · October 1st, 2004, 08:31 AM

The tone control on a Tele is much more powerful than it is on any other guitar, IMHO. I agree.

That said, if that doesn't do the trick for you, there is nothing wrong with looking into a different speaker. I'm not sure I'd go with a British-type speaker, but I would suggest a Weber 10A125 or 10A150 series alnico speaker, but you would want to talk to Ted at Weber to get his opinion on the exact flavor. He's very helpful.

rdchapman · October 1st, 2004, 08:32 AM

Yep, I do know about the tone control and have been given permission to use it ;) I find that this frenquency is not high treble that is controlled by the tone control. This guitar dosen't "ice pick" to my ears, It's a bit lower in the frenquency range. It's more of a very high midrange metallic tone like a tin horn for lack of a better description. The guitar that does this the most is my 76 Gibson Les Paul Special (p-90's) on the bridge pickup.

rdchapman · October 1st, 2004, 08:36 AM

I also mis-typed one part. The Laney does Not accentuate the unwanted tone. I can play the guitar with the tone on the no load setting and it's fine.

October 1st, 2004, 07:33 AM	#1 (permalink)
rdchapman Tele-Meister Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Saratoga, NY Age: 54 Posts: 413	This may seem sacreligious but.. I own an SF Princeton. While I like the tone with my Strat, I find the tone is not what I want from my Tele. The tele is a 2003 America Custom Telecaster (the limited edition) with Nocaster pickups. I bought the guitar based on the sound of the bridge pickup. There is a sound I find in most Tele bridge pickups and it also a major tone in a p-90 that I do not like . It's a high midrange sound I don't like. I looked for a tele that had the least of this tone and found this one. When I was testing guitars i the store, I used a DRI as I knew a fender seems to bring out this tone and makes it easy to identify. When I play with my group, I use a Laney VC-30210 (30 watts 2 10's all tube) and this amp does accentuate the unwanted tone. It is said the amp is Vox sounding. I love the volume and most of the tone I get from the SF Princeton, But the high mid thing with the tele make me stay away from the bridge pickup that I love so much. Can I change out the speaker with something along with tube to get more british tone from the amp? I was thinking a Weber Blue Pup and perhaps some different tubes. I don't want to hack the amp. Anything I find today with the tone I am looking for is usually not a good quality amp and not easliy serviced. Does anyone have any suggestions?

October 1st, 2004, 08:20 AM	#2 (permalink)
Anonymous Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 0	Maybe not the amp? I'm going to ask a silly question, and please forgive me if this is all old news to you... but are you familiar with the whole "sweet spot" idea with Telecasters? The idea is to <u>roll the tone control back</u> on the guitar just until the "ice-pick in the ear" quality disappears. Lots of folks who've mainly played Strats are accustomed to keeping the tone control wide open, and on most Teles, that's too much treble – or too much for my ears, anyway. ;-) Do a search on "sweet spot" here and you'll find the subject discussed at length. It was a real revelation to me when someone finally gave me "permission" to use the tone control. ;-) Just a guess. Hope it helps, CS :-)

October 1st, 2004, 08:31 AM	#3 (permalink)
Will V. Tele-Meister Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 142	The tone control on a Tele is much more powerful than it is on any other guitar, IMHO. I agree. That said, if that doesn't do the trick for you, there is nothing wrong with looking into a different speaker. I'm not sure I'd go with a British-type speaker, but I would suggest a Weber 10A125 or 10A150 series alnico speaker, but you would want to talk to Ted at Weber to get his opinion on the exact flavor. He's very helpful.

October 1st, 2004, 08:32 AM	#4 (permalink)
rdchapman Tele-Meister Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Saratoga, NY Age: 54 Posts: 413	Yep, I do know about the tone control and have been given permission to use it ;) I find that this frenquency is not high treble that is controlled by the tone control. This guitar dosen't "ice pick" to my ears, It's a bit lower in the frenquency range. It's more of a very high midrange metallic tone like a tin horn for lack of a better description. The guitar that does this the most is my 76 Gibson Les Paul Special (p-90's) on the bridge pickup.

October 1st, 2004, 08:36 AM	#5 (permalink)
rdchapman Tele-Meister Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Saratoga, NY Age: 54 Posts: 413	I also mis-typed one part. The Laney does Not accentuate the unwanted tone. I can play the guitar with the tone on the no load setting and it's fine.