The Steel Guitar Forum

Then one would just dial in the sound to fit their ears vs what someone else thought was a great sound.

When you play with a different guitar, pickup, amp, speaker, effects unit, volume pedal, bar, picks, chords, band volume, room dynamics, crowd size, you get my point.

To many times players come to me unhappy with their sound, LEARN TO TURN THOSE DAMN KNOBS UP AND OR DOWN. The amp setting police do not roam my neighborhood, so I sleep well at night.

I don't know. . . I find them useful. kind of like the settings on a thermostat: it's nice to know where it's set when you turn it on.

I think that someone else's ideas about the 'best settings' (on an amp that one has never played through before) might possibly serve as a starting point but that's about all.

Knobs get accidentally moved when loading gear - the numbers are useful for a quick glance next time I play. Even then it's only a starting point as rooms and conditions vary, of course. One constant for me, regardless of what amp it is, would be 7 or 8 on the bass-control. All the others I fiddle with a bit.

No numbers on my Telecasters - I just 'squeeze' that tone control 'til it's just short of being too bright - then it's perfect!

I use the same amp every gig and I’m glad the knob numbers are there. Set and forget, maybe dink with the Master Volume one way or the other.

Even when using an unfamiliar amp, the numbers are convenient for reference while experimenting with treble/bass/mid.

Roger, I think you and I went to the same Tele school

.
I like the numbers on my knobs.
Fender went to a lot of trouble and cost to put those numbers there.
If I didn't use the numbers Fender would be angry with me.


and........AND........I use the numbers because when I grab a different guitar I know
exactly where to place the knobs that are appropriate for the guitar and/or sound I want.

You can also purchase knobs that have no numbers on them if you like.

Ok points well taken😁

I agree Larry! Knobs do way more than most people know because they never experiment with them very much. A one-number change in a mid control can change the sound far more than any pickup swap you might make.

I like having numbers on my volume control knobs... because mine go to ELEVEN!

Jim -

Great "Mod" for loud lead players.

Too bad that 'Mod' isn't commercially available to all of us!!

I have my own settings, but I do like the numbers there for a index mark just incase someone messes with your amp by mistake.

I like at least a mark on the knob so I, at a glance, know where the knob position is rather than having to find the ends by sweeping the entire length of the knob just to get an idea where the pot is set.

On knobs without numbers I crazyglue a rhinestone on to give me a clue. At least in proper light, the stone reflects the knob position.




But yeah, using the knobs on the guitar is a mature approach vs having them pegged and expecting the amp to do all the thinking.



Then you appreciate your guitar's ability to dial in those tones! Turn the tone knob down and back off the volume knob, crank the amp sort of thing.

I like having numbers on my volume control knobs... because mine go to ELEVEN!

as with everything, it is all subjective. i have different brands of amp, so i start with the numbers and tweak from there. then, i tweak the guitar. done!

play music!

On a similar vein, I recently decided that I was suffering from “Graphic Equaliser Guilt Syndrom’ as I was sucking so much middle out of the steel sound, the extreme ‘V’ shape made me uneasy. Ive gone parametric and all is well!
Totally agree with the use your ears thing. One of the worst things you can do is start following someone else’s ‘knob’ settings. Once worked with a drummer who insisted on his personalised EQ regardless of what it sounded like.......
Cheers
Calum

C. D. Maclean wrote:On a similar vein, I recently decided that I was suffering from “Graphic Equaliser Guilt Syndrom’ as I was sucking so much middle out of the steel sound, the extreme ‘V’ shape made me uneasy.

I recently went through a similar thought process. I've spent years chasing tone and always assuming that too much mid was a bad thing. The "aha moment" came when I looked at the frequencies of the notes on a steel. On the E9 neck, virtually all of the notes fall in the mid-range frequency spectrum. Why would I want to cut them? Now, I start with mids turned up, and adjust bass and treble accordingly. Not only has it increased the overall volume of the amp, but I'm much happier with the tone.

I don't really like numbered knobs neither. I have a Milkman amp i bought off the forum here {amongst several other amps}, i took the original knobs off the milkman, and put on some solid black effect pedal knobs on it. I found where i wanted my sound, marked the knobs with a white painted line. I can change it one way or the other for any particular place i'm playing, but still dial the original sound i like back in, in an instant. As far as where someone else sets their amp, i could actually care less. Chances are, what might be great for them, wouldn't work for me or the next guy.

Tommy I have preaching that for years, turn up those damn mids and shifts(PV) adjust the others accordingly.

Yeah but...how do you set your amp?

-t

Larry Behm wrote:Too many times players come to me unhappy with their sound, LEARN TO TURN THOSE DAMN KNOBS UP AND OR DOWN. The amp setting police do not roam my neighborhood, so I sleep well at night.

I love this!!!! Hahahaha!!!


B

Although I have been playing steel since Jim Morrison was still drinking.... it has always been mostly through solid state amps, or an all tube amp...

Now that I have an amp with both, tube pre-amp and SS power amp... I've just started to reexamine all I've ever done about knob settings.

Instead of going to a preset knob setting I've been trying this method out:

Tune the highs with the treble knob, lows with the bass knob, and mids with the tube pre-amp gain knob.... THEN..

as the crowd builds or thins out, I subtly adjust to still sound good in that room.... mostly by adding or taking away the warmth of the tube pre-amp. So far this has been working well for me.

I don't mind the knobs, but now I just don't notice them.

Oh yeah, this on using mids...

My Quilter "Steelaire" doesn't have the parametric "shift" control, like my older PVs... but it does have both, a "low mids" AND a "high mids" control... that's a great idea, and really lets you fine tune those frequencies, IMHO.

I never look at numbers, and just turn them until I like the sound.

I would have a problem with an amp that didn't feature numbers on the knobs. It's about being able to replicate settings. Of course, listen to the bloody thing to decide where to set them. But in the middle of a gig (or a song), if I make a change, I'd like to be able to set it back to where I had it without having to diddle with it. Or in a recording studio situation, if I come back to re-record something, I sometimes need to be able to get back to the same amp settings. Numbers can be your friends.

I recently played guitar at a house party. My friend let me use his Blues Jr. amp, which I had zero experience with. Plugged straight in, no FX. After being disappointed with every magic setting I had ever tried on a Fender amp, I decided screw it and just turned everything all the way up. Bingo! From there, all the adjustment was from tone and volume knobs on the Strat. Happy happy joy joy.