Felix
New Member
Hi. I hope someone can help me make sense of, and perhaps learn to properly make use of, the PRS wiring subtleties and the resulting effect upon the instruments.
I have two post-2007 PRSi: a CE-22 and a Hollowbody II. Both are wired with PRS' post-2007 wiring [edit: not true; the HBII is wired the "ordinary way"], which has been described to me as similar to what is called in Gibson circles "'50s wiring", referring to what was apparently either a fortuitous mistake in wiring and quality control at Gibson in the '50s, or a clever workaround for the problem of treble dropoff in the signal when lowering the volume using conventional wiring, which is often "worked around" these days using a treble bleed capacitor, either alone or with a resistor paired to the capacitor either in serial or parallel.
My CE-22 has post-2007 wiring, and has, in addition, a treble-bleed capacitor (a ceramic one, at that - though of a strangish value (180pF)), and it is a very bright guitar. I love the pickups, but it is too bright for the tone control to fully tame, when the volume is up full. Turn down the volume, even a little, and the tone drops to a manageable level, if the tone knob is down to 4 or below. In fact, the guitar's most mellow tones, when the volume is up full, are when the tone knob is just above 2; either the volume rises, or the tone brightens, or both, when the tone knob is turned below 2. As the volume knob is turned down, the brightness initially falls off to that of what you might expect the tone knob to do, though still very bright overall, but then the brightness rapidly rises as the volume is turned down a bit more (the treble bleed cap I assume), until it seems, at lowest volumes, that mostly treble is being passed, sucking my tone down the tubes, so to speak.
I would expect a bolt-on, maple-necked guitar to have a bright and "spanky" quality, in fact I quite like it. The wiring on my CE-22, however, seems to accentuate this to a great degree, and the odd response the tone knob produces on the tone - an asymmetrical v-shaped curve, if that makes sense- has me scratching my head.
My Hollowbody II is much more mellow-sounding and is much less of a problem as far as being too bright; it does have that strange response with the tone knob, but lower volumes both resolve this problem and dial in the tone quite nicely; I have found, though, that the tone is subtly different when engaging the "blend" mini-toggle with no battery in the guitar from that of turning down the volume; in fact, I cannot match the tones at all. The "powerless" blended sound is sort of blurry and jazzy, very mellow, and I quite like it. Can anyone comment on how the blend control works, and how much of the signal is cut, & at what ranges of the control, and how, and so forth? The signal is never 100%-magnetic / 0%-piezo, or the reverse, but what is the ratio range? Mostly, how does the magnetic pickup side get cut and how does this affect the tone of the instrument?
My main issue is the inconsistent response of the tone knob of both of my machines. On either guitar, the tone knob (with volume on "10") "bottoms out" at between 2-3; the slope changes rapidly with lowered volume. The effect seems more pronounced with my CE-22, which has a high-capacitance cable in the circuit (to help cut the highs a little bit), and also a treble-bleed cap rated at 180pfd and tone cap of .022 uf, as opposed to the Hollowbody II, with a low-capacitance cable, no treble bleed cap, and a tone cap of .033 uf (which looks, though it is hard to tell through the f-hole, like a PIO or a Mallory cap; does anyone know for sure what type is used in the Hollowbody II?).
Can someone help me make sense of all of this? -And perhaps suggest some solutions? Thanks.
I have two post-2007 PRSi: a CE-22 and a Hollowbody II. Both are wired with PRS' post-2007 wiring [edit: not true; the HBII is wired the "ordinary way"], which has been described to me as similar to what is called in Gibson circles "'50s wiring", referring to what was apparently either a fortuitous mistake in wiring and quality control at Gibson in the '50s, or a clever workaround for the problem of treble dropoff in the signal when lowering the volume using conventional wiring, which is often "worked around" these days using a treble bleed capacitor, either alone or with a resistor paired to the capacitor either in serial or parallel.
My CE-22 has post-2007 wiring, and has, in addition, a treble-bleed capacitor (a ceramic one, at that - though of a strangish value (180pF)), and it is a very bright guitar. I love the pickups, but it is too bright for the tone control to fully tame, when the volume is up full. Turn down the volume, even a little, and the tone drops to a manageable level, if the tone knob is down to 4 or below. In fact, the guitar's most mellow tones, when the volume is up full, are when the tone knob is just above 2; either the volume rises, or the tone brightens, or both, when the tone knob is turned below 2. As the volume knob is turned down, the brightness initially falls off to that of what you might expect the tone knob to do, though still very bright overall, but then the brightness rapidly rises as the volume is turned down a bit more (the treble bleed cap I assume), until it seems, at lowest volumes, that mostly treble is being passed, sucking my tone down the tubes, so to speak.
I would expect a bolt-on, maple-necked guitar to have a bright and "spanky" quality, in fact I quite like it. The wiring on my CE-22, however, seems to accentuate this to a great degree, and the odd response the tone knob produces on the tone - an asymmetrical v-shaped curve, if that makes sense- has me scratching my head.
My Hollowbody II is much more mellow-sounding and is much less of a problem as far as being too bright; it does have that strange response with the tone knob, but lower volumes both resolve this problem and dial in the tone quite nicely; I have found, though, that the tone is subtly different when engaging the "blend" mini-toggle with no battery in the guitar from that of turning down the volume; in fact, I cannot match the tones at all. The "powerless" blended sound is sort of blurry and jazzy, very mellow, and I quite like it. Can anyone comment on how the blend control works, and how much of the signal is cut, & at what ranges of the control, and how, and so forth? The signal is never 100%-magnetic / 0%-piezo, or the reverse, but what is the ratio range? Mostly, how does the magnetic pickup side get cut and how does this affect the tone of the instrument?
My main issue is the inconsistent response of the tone knob of both of my machines. On either guitar, the tone knob (with volume on "10") "bottoms out" at between 2-3; the slope changes rapidly with lowered volume. The effect seems more pronounced with my CE-22, which has a high-capacitance cable in the circuit (to help cut the highs a little bit), and also a treble-bleed cap rated at 180pfd and tone cap of .022 uf, as opposed to the Hollowbody II, with a low-capacitance cable, no treble bleed cap, and a tone cap of .033 uf (which looks, though it is hard to tell through the f-hole, like a PIO or a Mallory cap; does anyone know for sure what type is used in the Hollowbody II?).
Can someone help me make sense of all of this? -And perhaps suggest some solutions? Thanks.
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