SE Swamp Ash Special - treble bleed issue

[pizzaguy]

Hey guys,

Just got a brand new SAS a few months ago and I love it, except...when the volume is at 9-10, it sounds awesome, as I would expect it to sound. But when I turn the volume knob from 9 to 8, the treble drops noticeably...in a non-linear way.

Has anyone else experienced this? Does this sound familiar?

PRS support was pretty non-committal when I sent them a video, but they're sending me a new volume knob with treble bleed cap just in case.

Forgive me, but I'm a keyboard player and this is my first guitar in about 30 years, so any perspective would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Peter B.]

I've noticed this as well. I was disappointed that including the middle pickup made the sound so dark and then I realized that it was fixed when I turned the volume up. The treble bleed is apparently not working correctly, or doesn't work for this model of guitar.

 

[pizzaguy]

Here's what I've found since my original post.

I took it to Eric's Guitar Shop in Van Nuys, CA. They're highly recommended for repairs (I'm pretty sure that's all they do, despite the name). Eric was very patient with my explanation of the issue, but when he plugged it into his amp by his workbench, he didn't hear it. I was stunned. He then had me plug into another amp in another room, I think it was a Line 6, and there it was...very obvious to both of us. He told me it was either the pot or the bleed capacitor, or both, or maybe the impedance match with my amp. I left it with them.

Next day, they called in the morning and it was ready. (real fast turnaround!). They replaced the pot with a high quality CTS pot and replaced the capacitor too. We plugged it into their Line 6 amp and it was night and day better.

Now get this...I got home and plugged it into my Pod Go, which I've been using the whole time and it was only a bit better than before. The next day I just so happened to replace my Pod Go with a Helix LT and bam...the issue was completely gone.

So, my conclusions:
- The SAS volume pot isn't the best quality. Maybe the actual resistance is not accurate which might lead to that treble bleed issue with some inputs.
- Pod Go doesn't have a buffered input which results in treble loss with some guitars. A Helix does have a buffered input.
- The combination of pot in the SAS and the Pod Go were my problem.

I think.

Hope that helps.

One more thing...I would call PRS and tell them about the issue. They need to know it wasn't just me.

 

[Veetwin]

All perfect with mine and a Boss Katana

 

[Peter B.]

Thanks for the update. I happen to be using a Line 6 Bogner amp so perhaps not an amp problem. I'll do a little more testing and then contact PRS.

 

[RC Mike]

I thought I remembered something about early Pod Go input issues.

Any official response on Pod Go Impedance issue?

While researching Pod Go issues before the purchase, I discovered multiple reports on difference in sound with same presets compared to Helix. Apparently this is known issue, and many solve it with placing additional pedals before guitar input. Here is the main thread: pod-go-impedance-problem He...

line6.com