Do You Set Your Amp To Sound Best With Tele's Volume/Tone "Dimed"?

[Brent Hutto]

At the moment I've got some pretty satisfying knob settings (Gain/Volume/Bass/Mid/Treble/Presence) on my Katana's "clean channel". Haven't really tweaked it much for at least a couple months now. I keep the Master Volume where it's not too loud in my music room, especially important when my tinnitus flares up.

But those settings work nicely with both knobs on my Telecaster turned all the way up. I pretty much never use the guitar's Volume and Tone because they quickly get too quiet or too dark, given the way my amp is set.

I saw an interview with Julian Lage that touched on how he uses his Telecaster. For starters, he said he "never" switches away from the neck pickup. Not sure he literally meant never or just that he uses the neck 99% of the time. I'm pretty much the same way. My whole reason for buying a Tele was based on liking how the neck pickup sounds.

But he also mentioned that most of the time his standard Tone knob setting is rolled back very slightly, just a little less than fully open. And he works the Volume knob to influence his tone and dynamics. He specifically mentioned there spending a lot of time with it "between 8 and 9". So I get the impression he doens't often turn either knob all the way up when he's playing.

Do you think it's worth me trying to find a slightly tweaked amp setting that sounds good with my knobs set to, let's say, Volume on 8 and Tone on 9? That would make the whole thing a little loud if I ever (briefly) bumped them both all the way up but I could have a little fine-tuning control by working that Volume knob up or down a little.

How do most Tele players set up their amps? Knobs dimed and just leave a little extra brightness and loudness that you can back away from as needed? Or knobs down a little so you can get either louder/brighter or quieter/darker by going both ways?

 

[brookdalebill]

Yup!
I think it sounds best.
I always have.
I rarely change EQ settings on the amp, either.

 

[skradlee]

Honestly, you don't get a lot of volume increase when you use your guitar's volume knob this way. I like to get a nice breakup tone with the volume at 10, then get an almost crystal clean tone by backing the knob down a couple clicks.

 

[telemnemonics]

At times I may get a better sound with guitar vol down a bit but not often.
If you do not like riding the guitar volume, and do not have sounds you like that require riding the guitar volume, there is your answer.
When I use it is generally getting very low volume from amps way too big for the used volume.
Rolling back the guitar volume there, is one more extra dash of warmth, when the amp is a bit harsh because it is turned down so far.

Also running a FF type pedal I may set clean to screaming sounds via the guitar volume.
Some amps also do that, set the amp to distort and get a clean sound by rolling off the guitar vol.
Other amps really do not respond that way.

 

[JustABluesGuy]

I used to dime my guitar and then set my amp up. Now I roll my guitar back and basically dime the amp (sort of).

I find that I can get a lot more tones by cranking the amp and rolling back on the guitar’s volume a fair amount. That allows me flexibility in both directions. I can add gain and a bit of volume (whenever possible I am right at the edge of breakup) for leads, or back off and clean right up.

This is in an ideal situation of course. Every situation is different, but I no longer dime my guitar right out of the gate.

 

[darkwaters]

I’m not your standard player. I like cleans only, neck 90% of the time; middle 10%. Never use the bridge pickup by itself. Ever.

Tone on 5, volume 5 with amp adjusted accordingly. I then tweak as needed. Never dime anything. Even my OD pedals have the tone rolled back to around 10:00. Gain around 9:00. Needless to say, I play mostly Jazz.

I’d listen to Julian. He’s a great player.

 

[Jakedog]

All knobs on my guitar are wide open always. The only exception is that I like a tone control on a strat bridge pickup, and I like it rolled back to 7 or 8 most of the time. Other than that, volume always on 10 unless I’m doing swells, or muting between songs. And I’ve just flat removed the tone circuits from several of my guitars because I don’t want or need them.

Pickups sound best at full tilt Boogie. Start rolling stuff off, and they get neutered. I hate it.

 

[LOSTVENTURE]

It really depends on which guitar I'm playing. Telecasters and Strats volume will usually be at 10, while changing the tone control is a constant search. Come to think of it, the same goes for my Gibsons, although most of those are P90 loaded, so similar.

 

[Swirling Snow]

If you've ever seen a graph of a guitar pickup's output, you know there's a big 'bump', or resonance, in the high end. By adjusting your knobs properly, you can reduce that 'bump' and extend the highs even further.

And seriously, the volume knob on your guitar is a remote control. Don't all you guys love having a remote?

 

[tacobender]

I used to dime my guitars. Then I started playing Marshalls.

 

[ndcaster]

depends

some pickups like volume on 10, some 8

tone, same

playing dirty? more to consider

experiment

 

[SixStringSlinger]

I set my amp so that, with my guitar controls dimed, my tone is the brightest, loudest and dirtiest I could want. Then I use the guitar controls to reduce any of those as needed.

 

[Chiogtr4x]

With all my electrics anymore ( usually) I'm using an always ON, pretty dynamic overdrive ( at moderate Drive).

And I'm getting a good Volume boost + some distortion, and therefore can control clean to dirty with my guitar Volume knob.

So I'm usually adjusting amp volume to be loud enough with my guitar Volume at '5' or '6' for clean rhythm, '7' or '8' for a lead with a little breakup & edge.
If I turn guitar up to '9' or '10'- it is saturated and distorting (.but not crazy)

The amp is basically a clean power slave to the guitar/OD and size of room.
* if this makes sense

Edit: I'm just an old R&R/Blues guy ( my age, and the music played), so, nothing complicated with my signal chain

 

[ShortintheSleeve]

I keep the volume close to dimed on my Tele most of the time. When I'm using the bridge pickup, which is the vast majority of the time, I set the tone knob about 1/4 way back.

 

[sax4blues]

Playing through the amp I like to adjust volume/tone. Through the modeler at church volume is full up, tone gets adjusted.

 

[JustABluesGuy]

With all my electrics anymore ( usually) I'm using an always ON, pretty dynamic overdrive ( at moderate Drive).

And I'm getting a good Volume boost + some distortion, and therefore can control clean to dirty with my guitar Volume knob.

So I'm usually adjusting amp volume to be loud enough with my guitar Volume at '5' or '6' for clean rhythm, '7' or '8' for a lead with a little breakup & edge.
If I turn guitar up to '9' or '10'- it is saturated and distorting (.but not crazy)

The amp is basically a clean power slave to the guitar/OD and size of room.
* if this makes sense

Edit: I'm just an old R&R/Blues guy ( my age, and the music played), so, nothing complicated with my signal chain

Makes perfect sense to me.

 

[bottlenecker]

My tone is usually rolled off a little, volume is up unless I'm using fuzz or a boost. I use the volume up and down a lot. The tone is rolled off a little because it often sounds best that way, and I like having somewhere to go. I often dime the tone when I'm on the neck pickup for a whole song.

 

[Robert H.]

Amps down, guitar up (with room to bump up more if need be).

 

[haggardfan1]

All my Telecasters have sounded best at probably 3/4 volume pot or better. I keep a little headroom out of habit because I'm accustomed to drummers and other band members who get louder as the night progresses.

But I like to get the most out of the pickups. I open the volume as described above, and work the tone as I see fit.
Been doing that for thirty years, at least.

 

[Gaylord Amsterdam]

I learned this trick from Steve Cropper interview. I set my tone dimed but roll the volume back just a smidge like maybe 1 or 1.5 for darker rythm tone, then full up for a "presence" boost for when I want a little more cut in the mix.