# Using volume control on guitar instead of amp



## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

How many people use the volume control on their guitars more than the amp? I typically always have my volume know on the guitar to about 90% and leave it there and then use the amp volume to get the desired output volume. But maybe I am doing things wrong. Maybe I should be using the guitar volume a lot more and not adjusting the amp volume as much.


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## Tyler Savage (Nov 16, 2009)

I set my desired volume on my amp, and I use my guitar volume and tone for clean/crunch/lead tones. I dial my tone and volume back to about 7 for rhythm, and hit them both to 10 for leads. tone back to 7 and volume back to about 3 for clean tones. I find I can nail things easier like this because every room / mic setup sounds different. Maybe I should be using a volume pedal..


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## numb41 (Jul 13, 2009)

For me, it depends on which guitar, and which amp. I find my Tele and my Strat clean up well when I back off the volume, but my LP Custom needs to be floored.
Angus & Malcolm Young have been doing the guitar volume thing for 35+ years and I've got no complaints!


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

numb41 said:


> Angus & Malcolm Young have been doing the guitar volume thing for 35+ years and I've got no complaints!


Took me 35 yrs to find the volume knob.... forget to use it sometimes ,,especially singing


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## Ti-Ron (Mar 21, 2007)

Volume knob on my guitar all the way!
Took me some times to get used to this method but now I found it easier!


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

Tyler Savage said:


> I set my desired volume on my amp, and I use my guitar volume and tone for clean/crunch/lead tones. I dial my tone and volume back to about 7 for rhythm, and hit them both to 10 for leads. tone back to 7 and volume back to about 3 for clean tones. I find I can nail things easier like this because every room / mic setup sounds different. Maybe I should be using a volume pedal..





Ti-Ron said:


> Volume knob on my guitar all the way!
> Took me some times to get used to this method but now I found it easier!


Same here. I was using channel switching amps for a long time, but after I watched Gary Moore get all these different tones out of his LP with just some knob adjustments in this video

[video=youtube;lqAuuIDU2sw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqAuuIDU2sw[/video]

I decided I needed to learn how to do this. 

I find that using the knobs on the guitar gives you more subtlety and you can get tones that you wouldn't be able to get just by using the channel switch button on a 2/3/4 channel amp. It took a lot of practice and I'm still not all that great with it, but I'm constantly forcing myself to improve this aspect of my playing. I basically set my amp to my lead tone and turn down from there for everything.


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## CSBen (Mar 1, 2011)

IMO you have too, simply because there are A LOT of nuances available from your pickups. If you can't get good tones from their full range, there's something wrong with your pickups - there's no two way around it. If your pickups only sound good when there's on 10 and sound like much on 8...you need to look into the electronics of it asap as you're missing out bid time.

It is even more important if you use simple and efficient designs and circuitry Vs 3 channels, triple rectifier 20 knobs amps where IMO these nuances and substilities get totally lost.


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## PaulS (Feb 27, 2006)

With a good set of pots I say on the guitar all the way. I stress the good set of pots, they do make a world of difference.


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## blam (Feb 18, 2011)

I use the ones on my guitar a lot more than the amp. I use the amp to set my max volume and go from there.


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

Not as much as I should, but it IS the #1 reason I reverse the control plate on my Teles, so I can pick and roll the vol with my pinky at the same time. Basic design flaw to have the switch up front anyways! (hides from all the Tele/Leo worshippers)


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## hardasmum (Apr 23, 2008)

Volume controls?! That's what those knobs on my guitars are?


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## blam (Feb 18, 2011)

keto said:


> Not as much as I should, but it IS the #1 reason I reverse the control plate on my Teles, so I can pick and roll the vol with my pinky at the same time. Basic design flaw to have the switch up front anyways! (hides from all the Tele/Leo worshippers)


I HATE the location of that switch. i always bump it into bridge from the neck position on hard strums.


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## Brennan (Apr 9, 2008)

When recording, I use the guitar's volume knob quite often to get the exact tone I'm looking for. On a recording, it can make all the difference in the world. 

When I'm playing live however, I've always been of the opinion that volume is the sound guy's job and not mine, so I use the volume knob on the guitar very sparingly. I put a lot of effort into making sure that every tone I'm going to use during a gig outputs at about the same level (with the exception of times when I specifically want to fall back or come forward in the mix). I figure the more consistent my output is, the easier it'll be for the sound guy to balance and the more enjoyable it will be for the audience in the end.


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## jimihendrix (Jun 27, 2009)

I never touch the volume/tone knobs...They're always on "10"...I just pick lighter/harder to alter dynamics (clean/dirty)...along with moving the pick towards the neck (mellow/bass) or bridge (bright/treble) to alter tone...

[video=youtube;fkekR_EljJI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkekR_EljJI[/video]


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## Clean Channel (Apr 18, 2011)

Sorta goes without saying, but I'll just add that the volume knob is also the key to unlocking all the various tones in a nice OD pedal.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

I use mine a lot, although not so much to vary the level of dirt.


I use it to enhance dynamics (picking softly only goes so far IMO) but also as a sort of noise gate.




I've always hated what noise gates do to the sound of a guitar, and I've tried lots.

I generally have my guitars wired with a master volume.I don't frig with the amp's volume unless absolutely necessary, and only after advising the sound man.


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

PaulS said:


> With a good set of pots I say on the guitar all the way. I stress the good set of pots, they do make a world of difference.


Bingo! I've played so many guitars that might as well not have volume pots in them at all for all they do. You know the ones: anything between 2 and 10 is full volume, for a tiny little bit between 1 and 2 you get a cleanish sound and anything below the pickup is off. Gee, thanks!

CTS pots are ok. I've found some that I've really loved, and some that were pretty crummy. The best pots I had were the RS Guitarworks pots. Lots of play, good control and a very useable taper. I should get more of those!


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## blam (Feb 18, 2011)

my beef with CTS audio pots in the volume is most of the taper is in the first 3-4 settings. more noticeable when playing at low volume. more usable at high volume.


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

keto said:


> Not as much as I should, but it IS the #1 reason I reverse the control plate on my Teles, so I can pick and roll the vol with my pinky at the same time. Basic design flaw to have the switch up front anyways! (hides from all the Tele/Leo worshippers)


...i've made arrangements to have the electronics on my teles reversed.


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## ezcomes (Jul 28, 2008)

i'll be honest...i've played for about 16 yrs and am now just figuring out the volume knob...but...

when i'm playing with my classic rock buddies...i use my dual channel amp as a single channel...set the volume accordingly and then feather the volume on the guitar, and then use a dirt pedal (until i get a good clean boost) to get a little more gain when needed...neck with volume and tone way down to get a decent clean tone, and then bridge set around mid-point on the volume for my rhythm and then turn it up for leads...

playing modern music...i use the two channels again...strictly clean and strictly dirty...and then use the dirt pedal (again until i find a good boost) for solos...

feathering the volume for the classic rock works amazing well, and its nice to not be tethered to my pedal board sometimes....but i found with the modern stuff...i just couldn't get a difference with the volume knob and reverted to my old ways...

at least it works for me...


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## punt (Jul 9, 2011)

Depends on the amp. Solid state I find a nice volume on the amp with guitar knob cranked then find the volume I want to play with on the guitar.Tubes I dime it then use my guitar volume.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

I think I'd give up the volume control on my amp before I'd give up the volume control on my guitar. 

With a single channel amp, I set the amp for crunchy with the guitar on 10. Roll back to 6 or 7 and that's my clean sound. A boost or OD for solos.

With the Roadster, I've got 1 clean, 2 crunch and 1 high-gain channel. On the clean channel, rhythm is at about 7-8 on the guitar, roll up to 10 for clean solos. Either of the crunch channels (one black face, one british), levels are about the same so on either channel again the lower crunch rhythm sound is around 6-8 and I roll up to 10 for more gain for solos. Unlike a clean channel, with a distortion channel the volume controls more the amount of gain (level hitting the front end) than actually controlling the volume, which stays about the same. With the high-gain channel, the volume control doesn't make that much difference, but I don't use it much anyways, just for the occasional Santanaesque solo, which isn't really my thing anyways.

I started doing it this way probably 5 years after I started playing, so after 30 years of doing it this way, I don't think I could change now. That's what worries me about something like an Axe-FX. I just don't know if it will respond the same way to my guitar volume controlling until I really spend some time with it. And I've never had the chance to. But one of these days (so I keep saying.......).


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## Big_Daddy (Apr 2, 2009)

I was always an amp knob twiddler, because the volume controls on all the Fenders and Gibsons I owned were next to useless. Dropping the volume back even a little bit on any of my vintage instruments would just kill the tone. That all changed when I got my first PRS guitar. Holy crap, a volume knob that worked as smooth as glass, was in a usable position and opened up tone nuances that I never knew existed! Thank you, Paul Reed Smith. Now I'm a total guitar knob twiddler and leave my amp volume alone.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

There really isn't a right or wrong way, just different ways that affect different things. Generally I like my guitar volume cranked so that the most possible signal is delivered down the signal chain (passive guitars), then I use a volume pedal (Boss or Ernie Ball) last in the signal chain so that I have hands free control over the volume. It might take me a tune or two in a live situation to get the amp volume set right if it wasn't set during soundcheck, but usually I don't need to touch it. I'll use the guitar volume only for minor tweaks to the crunchiness.

Peace, Mooh.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

Big_Daddy said:


> I was always an amp knob twiddler, because the volume controls on all the Fenders and Gibsons I owned were next to useless. Dropping the volume back even a little bit on any of my vintage instruments would just kill the tone. That all changed when I got my first PRS guitar. Holy crap, a volume knob that worked as smooth as glass, was in a usable position and opened up tone nuances that I never knew existed! Thank you, Paul Reed Smith. Now I'm a total guitar knob twiddler and leave my amp volume alone.


Good point in terms of the volume and tone controls. If your guitar happens to have good ones that work as they really should then you have a lot of control over what is being put out. If they are crappy or dead then you more or less have to have them wide open just to work.


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## CSBen (Mar 1, 2011)

Big_Daddy said:


> I was always an amp knob twiddler, because the volume controls on all the Fenders and Gibsons I owned were next to useless. Dropping the volume back even a little bit on any of my vintage instruments would just kill the tone. That all changed when I got my first PRS guitar. Holy crap, a volume knob that worked as smooth as glass, was in a usable position and opened up tone nuances that I never knew existed! Thank you, Paul Reed Smith. Now I'm a total guitar knob twiddler and leave my amp volume alone.


I would have gone with RS Wiring kits WAY before moving to a PRS, especially is we're talking about vintage, broken-in feeling Fenders and Gibson!! You'll be amaze to how much of an impact it'll make.

Heck even new American series (and below) Fender's wiring and pickup all can benefit from good quality electronics; same with Gibson. You do get what you pay for so as you move into the CS territory, it makes a huge difference.


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

CSBen said:


> I would have gone with RS Wiring kits WAY before moving to a PRS, especially is we're talking about vintage, broken-in feeling Fenders and Gibson!! You'll be amaze to how much of an impact it'll make.
> 
> Heck even new American series (and below) Fender's wiring and pickup all can benefit from good quality electronics; same with Gibson. You do get what you pay for so as you move into the CS territory, it makes a huge difference.


I don't know about PRSi too much, but my Gibby Standard rolled off to clean just fine. My US Deluxe Strat was ok at it too. However, I will second the RS Guitarworks kits, because once I put an RS kit in my Strat, the controls became MUCH more usable. They weren't even bad at all to begin with (so I thought), but the volume roll-off and differences the tone knobs made were huge!

I keep meaning to get some more RS pots, but I haven't gotten around to it. Especially since I have some pretty interesting wiring in my guitars these days, but yeah, some of those CTS pots I pick up are a bit hit and miss


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## Morkolo (Dec 9, 2010)

When I used to play bass exclusively the amp would be the only volume control I used with the exception of the Jazz Bass because of all of those in between tones. But this past year I've gotten into playing electric guitar and seem to be doing the exact opposite, I leave the volume on the amp now and do all of my adjustments with the guitars volume. It works really nice for those sounds that mimic an amp just about to break up but at neighbor friendly volumes. That being said lately I've had gas for a good volume pedal after watching Mark Knopfler do the nicest volume swells on some of his Youtube videos.


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## Big_Daddy (Apr 2, 2009)

CSBen said:


> I would have gone with RS Wiring kits WAY before moving to a PRS, especially is we're talking about vintage, broken-in feeling Fenders and Gibson!! You'll be amaze to how much of an impact it'll make.Heck even new American series (and below) Fender's wiring and pickup all can benefit from good quality electronics; same with Gibson. You do get what you pay for so as you move into the CS territory, it makes a huge difference.


 Well, I did update the pots on my '82 ES 335 and, yes, it did make a difference, but I still don't like the placement of the controls or the fact that there are two volume controls. As for my vintage '64 Strat, well, I personally think that replacing any original parts on it would be an incredibly stupid move. My PRS CE-24 is one of the best laid-out and constructed guitars I have ever owned, and with the 57/08 pups and coil-splitting, it covers all the sonic territory I will ever need. yMMV.


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## CSBen (Mar 1, 2011)

Big_Daddy said:


> Well, I did update the pots on my '82 ES 335 and, yes, it did make a difference, but I still don't like the placement of the controls or the fact that there are two volume controls. As for my vintage '64 Strat, well, I personally think that replacing any original parts on it would be an incredibly stupid move. My PRS CE-24 is one of the best laid-out and constructed guitars I have ever owned, and with the 57/08 pups and coil-splitting, it covers all the sonic territory I will ever need. yMMV.


Well you're talking about a '64 Strat, which changes the perspective of it for sure! You'd still be able to swap everything you and keep the whole wirring kit, should you ever decide to sell it (but I doubt that you would).

My comment on the PRS was that though the finish on them is very high quality (well on their better line) I never like the shape of them personally. Still very good nonetheless!!


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## Petey D (Sep 8, 2011)

For me it depends on which of my guitars I'm playing. With my Big Daddy, I ride the master volume all the time, especially if I've got the gain dialed up. With the Rat Rod, I'm starting to use the volume a bit more now because my amp is no longer "Footswitchable." But when i did have a footswitch, the vol pots were dimed pretty much all the time.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

I sometimes play with the volume knob for jams with lower gain sounds, but usually it's guitar on 10. I don't feel I'm getting a big loss running a 4-channel Rectifier .

Also, if I put that baby to max... well, I wouldn't be able to keep it.


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## CSBen (Mar 1, 2011)

Budda said:


> I sometimes play with the volume knob for jams with lower gain sounds, but usually it's guitar on 10. I don't feel I'm getting a big loss running a 4-channel Rectifier .
> 
> Also, if I put that baby to max... well, I wouldn't be able to keep it.


Well you already have what, 30 knobs to fiddle with on that Mesa, no wonder you don't want a 31st : P 



j/k
B


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

CSBen said:


> Well you already have what, 30 knobs to fiddle with on that Mesa, no wonder you don't want a 31st : P
> 
> j/k
> B




Volume, gain, presence, bass, mids, treble - x 4. Reverb knob on the back, x 4. Output, Solo and FX level. Easy peasy!


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## Moosehead (Jan 6, 2011)

I also own a PRS and use the volume knob more than anything else in my setup.

Also my amp is only one channel so rolling off the volume for cleans is a must (jcm 800 4010-loudest 50w amp ever).

I do get some tonal loss when using the volume knob though, lose some high frequencies. 
that said I dont always like my pickups on 10 either so the loss of highs smooths them out a bit...

i was playing my buddies mex tele the other day and i didnt reach for the volume once so its a bit guitar/pickup dependant (tele sounded hot through my amp! mgith be gassing for one soon.... wink, wink, nudge, nudge)


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## J S Moore (Feb 18, 2006)

I could not live with one volume on a two pickup guitar. All those tones in the middle position mixing the two pickups together at various volumes. My favourite is bridge on 9 with the neck at 5. I got rid of my tone knob on my Tele. Put in a blender pot instead just so I could get those in between middle tones. Now if I want to tone down the treble on the bridge I dial in a little neck pickup, opposite for the neck position. Great setup.


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

when i played through the cube, i always kept the guitar dimed, but i did use the tone knobs some. now that i have an all tube amp, i use all the knobs. this capability was my goal from the beginning. i love it when a plan comes together.


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