PRS SE volume pot question

[temorin]

Hi,

I have a Tremonti SE Custom. Im using my neck pickup with volume rolled down for clean'ish sound, but its still not clean enough, even though i dont have much gain on my amp (still gainy enough for metal). So my question is, is there a huge difference between a PRS SE volume pot and PRS volume pot in terms of how well it cleans up the sound, or would it be about the same? Besides this "issue", im pretty happy with the pots.

 

[Alessandro]

The se tremonti doesn’t have a treble bleed which is pretty vital when you want to clean up while rolling the volume back with lots of gain. I do that a lot also and adding a 180pf treble bleed cap to the pot did the trick for me.

 

[temorin]

The se tremonti doesn’t have a treble bleed which is pretty vital when you want to clean up while rolling the volume back with lots of gain. I do that a lot also and adding a 180pf treble bleed cap to the pot did the trick for me.

So do i just add the cap to the volume pot and thats it? Also, does it affect the tone in any other way? I like how it sounds, just want it a bit cleaner

 

[Alessandro]

So do i just add the cap to the volume pot and thats it? Also, does it affect the tone in any other way? I like how it sounds, just want it a bit cleaner

yea you just solder it to lug 1 and 2 of the pot and that’s it. It will clean up better an keep the similar tone of you’re full volume sound. When you roll back now it probably gets pretty muddy because when you roll off you pretty much just take away the highs Leaving all the lower frequencies. You may need to roll back a bit further to get there but the sound will be that much better. Plus you still have the tone knob if it’s too bright when rolled back after install. Your full volume tone will not change at all this mod is strictly affecting your rolled back volume tone

 

[Tone-y]

So do i just add the cap to the volume pot and thats it? Also, does it affect the tone in any other way? I like how it sounds, just want it a bit cleaner

The treble bleed cap will not make it clean up any more -as in less gain so that you have a clean sound. What it does is bypass some treble to output, meaning as you turn the volume down you keep a bright sound. Without the cap you tend to lose treble content as you turn the volume down which some people don't like.
You could try lowering the pickup slightly if you want a bit less output

 

[temorin]

The pickup is already flush with the ring cover. I checked the guitar, and it seems that there are 0.022uf capacitors already installed, but i checked the wiring and, either im dumb, or the cap is connected only to the tone pot. If i would try to go about this trebled bleed thingie, i would just need to re-connect one leg of the cap to the other pin (middle one, which is connected to the volume pot as well)?

 

[Tone-y]

The .022uf cap is the filter cap for the tone pot. Leave this one alone. The treble bleed is a tiny capacitor connecting the legs of the volume pot only. There should be plenty of guides online with pictures on how to do it. PRS uses just a 180 Pico farad for its treble bleed.
I'm not a fan of them myself, I like the warmer tone you get as the volume pot is lowered. The treble bleed gives a brightness that I just don't get on with. But many people love them, and it really depends on the kind of sounds you need to be able to get

 

[temorin]

The .022uf cap is the filter cap for the tone pot. Leave this one alone. The treble bleed is a tiny capacitor connecting the legs of the volume pot only. There should be plenty of guides online with pictures on how to do it. PRS uses just a 180 Pico farad for its treble bleed.
I'm not a fan of them myself, I like the warmer tone you get as the volume pot is lowered. The treble bleed gives a brightness that I just don't get on with. But many people love them, and it really depends on the kind of sounds you need to be able to get

Roger that. One thing im really confused about, is that my guitar has the capacitor connected to the tone pot 1st connector and to the ground..and if i check the Tremonti wiring diagram on prs website, it shows the capacitors connected between volume 1st connector and tone 2nd connector. So uh. Whats that about?

 

[Tone-y]

Roger that. One thing im really confused about, is that my guitar has the capacitor connected to the tone pot 1st connector and to the ground..and if i check the Tremonti wiring diagram on prs website, it shows the capacitors connected between volume 1st connector and tone 2nd connector. So uh. Whats that about?

I'm afraid you'll have to wait for others to join in to explain that, I'm certainly no wiring expert. I do know that there are numerous ways if wiring up the controls though. Did you buy this guitar new? It's there a difference between the US tremonti and SE wiring?

 

[Alessandro]

I'm afraid you'll have to wait for others to join in to explain that, I'm certainly no wiring expert. I do know that there are numerous ways if wiring up the controls though. Did you buy this guitar new? It's there a difference between the US tremonti and SE wiring?

If you’re no wiring expert why are you refuting the advice of wiring experts lol. By adding the treble bleed you are able to roll the volume back more resulting in a cleaner tone because you roll out the low tones but keep the highs resulting in a much cleaner tone. As I said you may need to roll back further then currently. Right now if you roll back without treble bleed you take away highs first leaving muddy bass and mids. With a treble bleed you can roll off more bass and mids and keep the highs. Less frequencies less output cleaner sounded.

 

[Alessandro]

A great YouTube channel that can articulate this stuff better than I can : https://www.youtube.com/c/SixStringSupplies. All kinds of great tutorials on the different wiring mods and tips on getting started with soldering if you’re not into it yet.

 

[Tone-y]

If you’re no wiring expert why are you refuting the advice of wiring experts lol. By adding the treble bleed you are able to roll the volume back more resulting in a cleaner tone because you roll out the low tones but keep the highs resulting in a much cleaner tone. As I said you may need to roll back further then currently. Right now if you roll back without treble bleed you take away highs first leaving muddy bass and mids. With a treble bleed you can roll off more bass and mids and keep the highs. Less frequencies less output cleaner sounded.

I'm not refuting experts, and you're really down to semantics here. A treble bleed won't give you a cleaner sound by itself. You may however prefer the clean sound you get with the volume rolled down with one fitted as like you say there is more treble and less bass. This is however irrespective of how 'clean' your signal is.
I will grant that many people prefer the clarity that a treble bleed gives with the volume down, though it isn't universal. I prefer the warmer clean sound when rolling the volume down without one

 

[Alessandro]

I'm not refuting experts, and you're really down to semantics here. A treble bleed won't give you a cleaner sound by itself. You may however prefer the clean sound you get with the volume rolled down with one fitted as like you say there is more treble and less bass. This is however irrespective of how 'clean' your signal is.
I will grant that many people prefer the clarity that a treble bleed gives with the volume down, though it isn't universal. I prefer the warmer clean sound when rolling the volume down without one

totally valid preference and sorry for coming off like an ass. The only reason I prefer treble bleed is because if I want the warmer rolled off tone you can still achieve that by rolling Volume and tone back some however Without the treble bleed you can’t achieve the same rolled off sound with the clarity.

 

[temorin]

If you’re no wiring expert why are you refuting the advice of wiring experts lol. By adding the treble bleed you are able to roll the volume back more resulting in a cleaner tone because you roll out the low tones but keep the highs resulting in a much cleaner tone. As I said you may need to roll back further then currently. Right now if you roll back without treble bleed you take away highs first leaving muddy bass and mids. With a treble bleed you can roll off more bass and mids and keep the highs. Less frequencies less output cleaner sounded.

Yeah i guess thats what im aiming for - to get a slightly cleaner sound when i roll down the volume. At the moment im using neck pickup on like ~2-3, just at that point at which the noise gte doesnt completely destroy the sound. I like the thickness of the sound, i just want it slightly cleaner. Its a bit weird how real amps allow me to get way cleaner sound with much more gain than plugins, maybe im just doing something wrong. Anywhoo, i was about to add the treble bleed until i noticed that my iron died, so will take a while until i get a new one. So tl;dr if i want to get cleaner sound with volume rolled off - i need a treble bleed, and there is no point in changing to the PRS US pots, correct?

 

[Alessandro]

Yeah i guess thats what im aiming for - to get a slightly cleaner sound when i roll down the volume. At the moment im using neck pickup on like ~2-3, just at that point at which the noise gte doesnt completely destroy the sound. I like the thickness of the sound, i just want it slightly cleaner. Its a bit weird how real amps allow me to get way cleaner sound with much more gain than plugins, maybe im just doing something wrong. Anywhoo, i was about to add the treble bleed until i noticed that my iron died, so will take a while until i get a new one. So tl;dr if i want to get cleaner sound with volume rolled off - i need a treble bleed, and there is no point in changing to the PRS US pots, correct?

I only play through a real amp so I have zero knowledge about what works well with plugins sorry but as far as the benefit of upgrading pots it won’t really help clean up any better. The treble bleed will help for sure. Upgraded pots are more for quality in regards to life expectancy without issues and maybe a smoother taper rolling up and down but thr SE alpha pots are more than fine and will clean up amazing with a treble bleed. Cu24 SEs come with a treble bleed stock and they clean up awesome with high gain.

 

[temorin]

I only play through a real amp so I have zero knowledge about what works well with plugins sorry but as far as the benefit of upgrading pots it won’t really help clean up any better. The treble bleed will help for sure. Upgraded pots are more for quality in regards to life expectancy without issues and maybe a smoother taper rolling up and down but thr SE alpha pots are more than fine and will clean up amazing with a treble bleed. Cu24 SEs come with a treble bleed stock and they clean up awesome with high gain.

I've checked wiring diagrams on PRS website, apparently not all US models have the treble bleed, which is kind of weird, since if you buy parts from the official store, it comes pre-installed. Another thing i noticed, is that different guitars use different tone caps. Is there a difference if you use 0.033uf vs 0.022uf caps?

 

[Alessandro]

I've checked wiring diagrams on PRS website, apparently not all US models have the treble bleed, which is kind of weird, since if you buy parts from the official store, it comes pre-installed. Another thing i noticed, is that different guitars use different tone caps. Is there a difference if you use 0.033uf vs 0.022uf caps?

yea not every model has it. It’s used for the more modern sounds so the customs And ce probably have them. For the tone cap basically the higher the value the more high end you’ll be able to roll off. Some say they can notice the tone on 10 getting darker also as you increase cap value but I’ve never been able to notice a change. I usually go with .033uf orange drop caps but the brand doesn’t even matter to me.

 

[George T Richman]

Hi,

I have a Tremonti SE Custom. Im using my neck pickup with volume rolled down for clean'ish sound, but its still not clean enough, even though i dont have much gain on my amp (still gainy enough for metal). So my question is, is there a huge difference between a PRS SE volume pot and PRS volume pot in terms of how well it cleans up the sound, or would it be about the same? Besides this "issue", im pretty happy with the pots.

The USA pot cleans up much better than Korean pot in your guitar. I replaced my Korean volume pot on my S2 Custom 22 with the USA pot used in their higher up models. The USA volume knob allows you to get much closer to zero than the Korean pot because it's sweep from zero to full volume is more linear/smooth. Hence, it cleans up much better. It has also added a crispy top end to the tone as opposed to an icepick boost in treble, that is nice. I highly recommend putting in the USA pot.

 

[roy76]

Hi! I also have PRS USA S2 Custom 24 and do not like the tone of my push-pull tone pot. It very fast drives too bright sound which I don't like it. What's pot best fits to my guitar not to have very high end? Or anything else?