2021 CE-24 'treble bleed' when turning down volume

[dlong266]

When I turn down the volume knob lower than 8, the high freqs get filtered out dramatically. To the point where I don't use the volume knob for dynamics. It just stays at 10 to avoid any muddy sounds when the volume is turned down. Anybody else experience this? I do see mods for 'treble bleed' to switch to a 180pf on the vol pot. The CE-24 already has this. Any help would be great.

 

[JasonE]

If there is no treble bleed circuit in the wiring, attenuation of the treble frequencies would be normal when turning the volume down. Some folks like it to work that way. If you want it to retain the high end you will want to install a treble bleed capacitor. You have already found the correct value for it. it is pretty easy to do if you know how to solder. You will see some treble bleed circuits use a resistor in parallel. This is needed if the capacitor messes up the taper on the volume when you put it in. I have put a bunch of the 180pf caps in guitars and it usually doesn't mess with the taper much.

 

[dlong266]

If there is no treble bleed circuit in the wiring, attenuation of the treble frequencies would be normal when turning the volume down. Some folks like it to work that way. If you want it to retain the high end you will want to install a treble bleed capacitor. You have already found the correct value for it. it is pretty easy to do if you know how to solder. You will see some treble bleed circuits use a resistor in parallel. This is needed if the capacitor messes up the taper on the volume when you put it in. I have put a bunch of the 180pf caps in guitars and it usually doesn't mess with the taper much.

Thanks for the quick reply! To be clear, the CE 24 does have the 180pf cap. I'm going by the spec sheet. So, my guitar should be good. The parallel resistor would be a mod. I'll open her up and confirm all of this.

Thanks!

 

[JasonE]

I am wondering if there is an issue with the solder joint on the capacitor or if the capacitor is faulty. It should be letting the high frequencies through when you turn down. What you are describing tells me it isn't working like it should.

 

[dlong266]

I am wondering if there is an issue with the solder joint on the capacitor or if the capacitor is faulty. It should be letting the high frequencies through when you turn down. What you are describing tells me it isn't working like it should.

Yeah, I agree. I'm going to check it out. I build my own pedals here and there, and have the tools available should I need to get the iron hot.

 

[TFC]

One thing you may want to try is to lower the pickups. That should reduce the lows (mud) and accentuate the treble and might make the lower volumes more useful for you. I use the volume knob on my PRS guitars all the time and find all volume levels useful. Recently I had the same issue you're having on a guitar I just got and it was pretty frustrating to the point where I swapped pickups and even swapped capacitors to try to fix it. It turned out the pickups were just too close to the strings.

 

[dlong266]

One thing you may want to try is to lower the pickups. That should reduce the lows (mud) and accentuate the treble and might make the lower volumes more useful for you. I use the volume knob on my PRS guitars all the time and find all volume levels useful. Recently I had the same issue you're having on a guitar I just got and it was pretty frustrating to the point where I swapped pickups and even swapped capacitors to try to fix it. It turned out the pickups were just too close to the strings.

I'm definitely going to try that before open up the back. I'll post soon on the results. Thanks!

 

[tonyguitargoat]

Try the Chris Kinman mod. Perfect!