Ignorance of electronics

[Frank McNerney]

I admit to ignorance - I know almost nothing about the electronics on a guitar and how they work

But what I would love is a situation where no matter what I did with the pickup selector or the tone knobs - the volume would stay they same (ONLY the volume knob could change the volume)

I assume this is either impossible or too complicated or too expensive.

If anyone feels like commenting - that would be great

Thans

 

[Birdsofprey]

My knee jerk reaction answer would be to have the guitar setup. I good setup with your input can cure the volume disparity. Pickup height adjustment will balance the volume. As far as loosing volume with tone knob adjustment, well when you roll off the tone the highs go away which can sound like a volume drop. which guitar are we talking about? Is it new or used when you received it?

 

[Greywolf]

It is in theory possible , a compact compressor/leveling pre-amp circuit would accomplish that . Easier outboard than onboard of there are factors like coil tap in play

 

[JasonE]

It would take a compressor. The best device I have played through for this is a Kemper. The compressor in the amp section is designed to not lose volume when rolling your volume knob back on the guitar. What I really like about it is that it isn't detectable. To get a compressor pedal to do that you would hear it at full volume, especially if you dug in on the string and made the initial string attack loud.

 

[Rider1260]

Depending on how you play this may already be the case. unless you are measuring with some type of meter you really don't know how loud you are on an SPL level , changes in tone can effect how loud you think you are.

 

[Malloc]

That’s tough with a passive guitar since there is very little signal to begin with and essentially everything else in the circuit is subtracting from that signal. There are plenty of ways to get a flatter signal response electrically, but then you run into complaints about it sounding too “sterile” or “inorganic”.

 

[John F]

A compressor pedal is designed to compensate for volume changes and keep volume constant.

If you want to go without the pedal, adjust tone and pickup selector for your quietest setting, turn the volume on the guitar to 50% to 75% and turn the amp up to get the loudness you are after. Select any guitar setting you want and adjust guitar volume to the right level at each setting change.

 

[JasonE]

Depending on how you play this may already be the case. unless you are measuring with some type of meter you really don't know how loud you are on an SPL level , changes in tone can effect how loud you think you are.

This is a big part of it as well. The "perceived" volume change can be all in the midrange frequencies. You could have two tones dialed up that are the exact same volume but one has more mids than the other. The one with more mids will sound louder.

 

[ViperDoc]

It all starts with your guitar. Balancing pickup output is your first goal, using the tips already discussed. If your treble pickup is where you want it, balance the neck pickup height to match. Your number of pickups and switch positions makes it harder as you go up, of course. Start there.

 

[AZGiant]

Rent or buy a sound pressure gauge and try it out, and see if you get the same volume or not. Or, if you record, mic the amp and play something on one PUP selection, then another. Watch the meters and see if they change.

 

[RC Mike]

Your phone can use an app to measure dBs.