[POLL] Keep the 3 way toggle or revert back to 5 way rotary?

[grausch]

I use an EQ pedal as a bass cut sometimes. It’s a really great thing, and I don’t have to screw around with rewiring.

So easy. Put it on the pedalboard, cut the bass a little, boom! Done!

I also use EQ to otherwise modify the tone of my guitars in addition to the usual suspect switching positions. For the life of me I can’t understand why everyone doesn’t use one to tweak the tone.

Makes sense. A bass cut like the one I linked to makes a coil split almost redundant. Single coil tones without the volume drop. Also a great way to cut the overdrive as reducing bass seems to clean up the drive as well.

Never really experimented much with an EQ pedal, but having one in front of the amp may yield the same effect and be much easier to implement.

 

[Outlier22]

I don't have an EQ pedal either but was using a tube screamer for a while as a mid boost. ...and I always wanted a Mesa Boogie where you could footswitch that EQ section to either boost mids or cut mids. I guess the EQ pedal does nearly the same.

 

[László]

Makes sense. A bass cut like the one I linked to makes a coil split almost redundant. Single coil tones without the volume drop. Also a great way to cut the overdrive as reducing bass seems to clean up the drive as well.

Never really experimented much with an EQ pedal, but having one in front of the amp may yield the same effect and be much easier to implement.

Yep, I use my EQ pedal in front of the amp. And the reason (besides preferring to avoid amplifier loops that cause their own sets of problems) is that I can use the EQ to impact what parts of the frequency range hit the preamp section. There they affect the frequencies at which the amp breaks up, they precede the tone stack, etc.

I’ve posed a zillion demos of my pedal setup using the EQ pedal I use (Pettyjohn Filter), and I won’t bother everyone by re-posting that, but yeah, I never play without it any more.

I not only use it to shape what’s coming out of the guitar, but shelving off a little bottom end, or tweaking the top end, allows me to tailor the speaker cabinet to the room better. It allows me to tailor frequencies at turnover points that aren’t necessarily the same as those in the tone stack. So it’s a great thing to have on hand.

Since I’m NOT a believer in extremely close miking while recording - I much prefer the mic at least a foot back to capture some of the tone in the room, and I almost always also use a room mic, so what I record sounds like what I dial in - being able to really tweak the very top and bottom of the frequency response curve is important.

But yes, I also use it to tweak what I want to hear out of the guitar. If anyone’s desirous of putting up with my craptastic playing long enough to hear how an EQ pedal works with my guitars/amps in the mix, let me know.

 

[Screamingdaisy]

When I first got a guitar with a 5 way rotary I hated it.

Things changed when I started using it live. We had songs with parts that we originally recorded with an acoustic and we wanted to stop using the acoustic live, but an electric with humbuckers was coming through too punchy.

The solution turned out to be a CE22 on position 7. Turns out those in between tones worked really well since they thinned the guitar out and had it sit further back in the mix, which is where we wanted it. It’s not my favourite sound, but now that I’ve learned how to use it I find it really handy.

That said, I wouldn’t mod a guitar with a 3 way to get the 5 way, particularly if you want it because you think it’s going to sound like a Strat. IMO it’s a different beast.

I’d suggest trying a PRS with one first, then deciding of that sound meets your needs or not.

 

[boardn10]

I'm the biggest opponent of the rotary. I've tried them but they just aren't practical (for me) in a live setting where you need to flip between settings quickly and easily.

Dwenfs on the use. I don't find it hard to switch I stantly with the five way. I find it faster than having to flip the toggle and pullup a pot.
Truth is, I rarely witch in thr middle of a song. On the 5 way, there are settings like the 2 and 4 that sound so much better than the split tones of a 3 way toggle push/pull and plus I can set it on position 2 or 4 for example and leave it for the entire song no worries. Some of our songs are more humbucker sounding and some are better single coil sounding and it's nice to just move the 5-,way to a spot and leave it for the song.
The only benefit I get with a toggle is being able to quickly switch to the middle humbucker spot or neck humbucker.
But I was able to get so go with my pinky on the five way that it was just as fast. Most people find it slower because they just aren't familiar with it.

 

[DISTORT6]

 

[RickP]

Rewire to get the sounds you want. Blended pickup sounds can be useful, if you use them. I like the in between position with the coil split active on my PRSi that have the splitter. In my opinion, it’s better to have options, but you have to make the call if it justifies the expense.

 

[vchizzle]

Jeez... why don’t I have one of these already?

That what I was asking myself!

 

[Lewguitar]

Everyone should experience the original design Paul intended. It is one of the quintessential PRS experiences. And, all of the sounds simply work. Personally, I prefer the 3-way with push-pulls for a gigging instrument, but once that requirement dissipates, I’m going back to the 5-way. Just my $.02.

They might work but they don't all sound great. Not to me anyway. You do get a lot of different sounds tho.

I'm going to sell my '02 CU22 and I'm going to restore it with the original pickups and rotary switch. It's worth more that way.

I'll keeo my '96 CU22 for the rest of my life

I found the 3 way switch I installed and Duncan Antiquity pickups I installed in both guitars to have a better sound for me, for the blues and rock styles I play than the original pickups and complex wiring.

What PRS is doing now with push/pull partial coil splits on guitars like the DGT sounds a lot better to me than the sounds given with the rotary switch and the Dragon 1 or 2 pickups.