Guitar surgery
 

I’m modifying my les Paul and one of my strats with a neat little thing called a treble bleed. My tele has active (battery powered) electronics so I can drop the volume knob with no change in tone.

On passive guitars when you lower the volume knob the sound gets muddy. These pots have a little circuit board with an adjustable resistor so you can dial in the tone at lower volume settings.

I could have just bought resisters and capacitors in different values and experimented until I got the right amount of bleed but instead I popped for these $13 pots (super nice CTS pots) with the adjuster.

Did the LP tonight and it sounds amazing. Mud be gone. Next up 25 year old strat.

The Fender Strat American Pro II has this treble bleed circuit and it works really well.

So it's a high pass filter that shunts the lower frequencies off to ground. The variable resistor allows you to pick and choose which frequency the pass takes place at. And they thought I wasn't paying attention in class 43 years ago....:dance:

OK Snik. This guitar has the treble bleed. Granted my recording gear leaves a whole lot to be desired but I think you can hear what it's doing -or not doing- well enough.

Volume on 10 until 0:30. From 0:30 to the end I rolled it back to 5. No other controls were touched. Just volume.

Close. It doesn’t shunt low frequencies. They stay almost the same. When you turn down the pot (a variable rheostat) it shunts some treble to ground. Just enough to make it sound sort of lifeless.

The mod (which can be as simple as putting a resister either parallel or in a series between the leads of a capacitor) “bleeds” treble back into the circuit. Turning the resistor determines how much treble gets reinjected and how much is shunted to ground.

The result is a usable volume knob that retains its tone at lower volume settings. You might want this if you turn down to play rhythm (with amp cranked) then up for solos.

You can also set the amp dirty, dial down to clean then back with just the volume knob. I just bought a fancier version of a simple mod.

I would have to try all different values until I got the amount of treble I want. This way, I dial it in.

I should have done this years ago.

Sounds the same! Very consistent. Fender took a cheap cap and a cheap resister, wrapped it up in a paper case to look vintage and sells it for a huge mark up. I bet that guitar came with what looks like a big cap.

Other than all that delay (it muddies up your playing in my opinion.) it sounds absolutely fantastic. Try lowering the output so there is less delay. Keep the tone, repeat and time the same. Lessen the mix. See if you like it.

You have a lot of accuracy. The delay hides it. Or do whatever the **** you want.

I personally don’t use delay unless it’s an effect (like slap back for rockabilly). I do have reverb, but I shut it way down at the club. There is natural reverb there so if I add more my guitar falls back into the mix.

Most of the time at a club I go with zero verb and zero delay.

The amp here is a Blues Jr LTD. My only complaint -and it’s not really a complaint per se- is the reverb. Anything above, say 4 and it’s just overwhelming. Other than that is a great amp. Super popular too.

I’d love a Princeton but I don’t *need* a Princeton. I don’t think there is a better sounding amp on the market if you’re chasing that Fender sound.

Why not buy a pre 1964 Fender?

I spent my gear allotment on the blue Strat. :yesnod: Which is a *really* nice guitar BTW. Along with the treble bleed it’s also got a push-push switch on the second tone control that activates the neck pickup in switch positions one and two. Leave it pushed in and you have the typical Strat positions.

Besides. I love the blue/maple combination which has nothing to with anything other than I like it. :D

Or build one. :shrug:

That cordless phone is almost as old as the amp. :lol:

My amp repair knowledge is limited to changing tubes. That's it. That's as far I go. :Jeff '79:

Still works just fine. Both amp chassis in the foregrounds are new (old) amps because I just finished building them. But that blonde Bassman in the background is a mint condition, vintage 1964 (February) that needs a cap job and some of the pots cleaned up. The classic 6G6-B circuit. :cheers:

I sure wish I had the money for one of your amps.

Out of curiosity what would it cost to build a pre CBS deluxe reverb?

Looks like the parts for a vintage Blackface Deluxe Reverb (AB763) would be around $1,100. Then there is the not insignificant wiring and soldering involved. I see where Victoria was selling them for $2,700. They called theirs the "Club Deluxe", but it was a hand wired Deluxe Reverb. Nice amp if you can find one. Avoid what Fender is calling their Vintage Reissue Deluxe Reverb for $1,500. They are Chinese circuit board amps. Sterile and lifeless. Miniature pots wave soldered crap.

If I ever came across a used Vicky Club Deluxe for a good price, I would jump on it because they were hand wired just like the originals in 1964.

I used to have a '65, but I sold it because I was young and retarded. It remains the only amp I ever sold that I wish I could get back. I may have to build one some day.

I’m thinking I can build one myself maybe? I was thinking of running a Tikiman Deluxe Reverb