Posted: 23 Sep 2007 8:09 am
Pedal Steel guitars sound better in Missouri than anyplace in the world with or without FX.
where steel players meet online
https://leylines.no-ip.org/
Jim-I am with you onthe Tone controls, they should have them on all new steels. I know---the players wanted the pure tone coming direct from the pickup, but I had MSA"S with a BYpass switch for the tone and Volum controls if you didn't want to use them" so that takes care of that theory.The other reason probably was , it saved the builders some money and helped them in building. I remember when the players did not want tone controls so the builders complied with their wishes. The still put them on all Lap steels! Did anyone ever wonder why only lap steels?...al.:)Jim Sliff wrote:Aaron, I would not worry about it. I had extensive discussions with Fender designers (both guitar and steel over the years - including Leo, when his G&L shop was literally around the corner from my office) and they meant the tone control to be just that - a *control*. Most of the "big" guys - Leo, Fullerton, White, Tavares...and Don Randall, at the seperate Sales "division" - really disliked the "dimed" tone control sound. Guys on stage playing like that would be victimized periodically by Leo (if he was in the audience) actually climbing on stage during a set and adjusting the amp settings for LESS treble to try to compensate!Generally, as Jim says, a tone knob that works is an amazing help in these areas. I confess I still don't have the cojones to crank it open--the Fender I play has a "spot" which "eases in" the treble, and I rarely go too far past that spot....*sigh* someday soon perhaps.
Most Tele players find the "sweet spot" (depending on pickup height and, on early ones, luck of the draw regarding winding) to be (on "later" guitars where the tone control worked on the bridge pickup by itself) to be with the tone control rolled off 25% or so. It's interesting that the early models and Esquires with the bypassed tone control position are not as "icepicky" as when a tone control is dimed - which seems to make no sense, since the control is passive/subtractive and can't "add" treble...but that's the reality.
Anyway - on a Fender steel, you have the same scenario - the intended "sweet spot" is with the tone control rolled off a little. I only run it wide open when using an amp with heavy mids for more cutting power, like a wide-panel Deluxe or BF Vibroverb. The "wide open" treble sound was popularized by the "Bakersfield sound" - but it was not Fender's favorite, nor that of many others (personally, I love a lot of the Bakersfield-influenced playing, which I found the "back way" through Clarence White and Bob Warford - but that full-treble sound on both the guitars AND Twins is just not my tonal preference...I can only handle it in limited doses.
"It may seem off the subject as far as "effects" go - but a volume/tone circuit on a guitar is an "effect" itself - one sadly missing from most modern steels. "" "Oh, you just do the same thing with the volume pedal and amp controls"; nope, there's a totally different and symbiotic relationship between the guitar mounted circuits and external controls.