I had muddy roll-off issues with my '02 Tradition CAB10 Tele before rewiring w/a premium kit that came with a 0.001 microfarad orange TB capacitor i briefly attached to the volume pot for almost a month when I realized I didn't really need it so I took it out. I dealt with that muddy roll-off on my '95 Fender MIM Strat Special for years until i swapped out the volume pot for an Alpha before i rewired IT completely after the HSS/SSS conversion. I have CTS 250K pots in both guitars and with pots like those, there's no need for a treble bleed cap when retaining highs rolling off the volume and I really like that!
After a few tries to see what works best for me I find the Kinman is superior in that the volume knob stays the same and it works best with a fuzz box.
The thing that sucks about strats, and treble bleeds, is if you want to experiment, you got to take the pickguard off, take the strings off, put the bleed in, and put it all back together. I picked a random one, and went with the Duncan Treble bleed, only thing about that one is it almost makes your volume knob useless. You got to turn it down to zero to get no volume, and there isn't much in between. Other than that it's good. I need to maybe try another one in the future. If you got a guitar with a control cavity in the back, it's a piece of cake, just attach the bleed to some alligator clips, and to the pot, and try different ones.
Excellent info, brother! I just recently discovered treble bleed after 20 years of playing. lol. Biggest change in the way I set my amp and use volume in my playing and tone shaping. Keep up the videos. 🎸🤘👍
Also, every cable is different, which is apparently what the treble bleed cap is offsetting. I have a few different caps on a rotary switch, and a 500k linear pot in series, in a little box.
Here I am, the guy using a 30 foot coils cable to cut the highs. I use the bright input on all of my amps, which is a treble bypass, just later in the chain, It’s just what I prefer. I also replace every single pot with a Mojotone “Vintage taper” pot that’s at least 250K/500K. I buy them in bulk, but you usually get a 3% tolerance which is entirely acceptable. I only use Luxe caps in my Custom Shop guitars too, and they are in the 1% tolerance range in my experience. Jupiter/Sozo and Sprague Ceramite ceramic disc caps are really tight too. Tone is subjective , but a treble bleed objectively bypasses high frequencies. It’s up to you.
@The Riff w Nik Sevigny I'm still working on my tone. I'm getting alot of high end treble that I don't like... I'm thinking it's the way they custom shop use the vintage wiring with mod #2. Every tone cap has a capacitor that increases the treble. I'm not real happy about this. I'm not sure itscwhat I want. I'm a vintage Strat person...... what can I do ?
I don't usually comment on videos but I have to say this channel is brilliant!!! Please keep the videos coming I loved the Philip sayce interview and videos like this that cut through the bullshit on the web and just give facts are fantastic!!! Keep up the good work, your tone is awesome by the way oh and the pro reverb you and jesey davey modded sounded unbelievable!!!
The Riff w Nik Sevigny hi Nik I've just watched the video again and that last capacitor you stuck in sounds great. As you said in the video "ask people what they use" so which did you settle with? Thanks.
The Riff w Nik Sevigny if you wouldn't mind when you get a minute that would be great!! It just sounds like you hit the perfect one that reacts perfectly with the pots sweep. Cheers man 👍
Like the video. Here’s a tip - use alligator clips at both ends for testing so it’s nondestructive. Would be nice to know what you ended up using at the end. Capacitor and or resistor value plus type. Thanks!
Touché, but you could use black tape or insulation shrink tubing to reduce the likelihood of a short. I just like the idea of soldering once - so you don’t damage a pot or something by repeatedly hitting it with heat.
Picked up a King Tone Mini Fuzz Ge couple weeks ago, and my Duncan Style treble bleed is now WAY too bright. Rolled off tone, bites your face off! Might do a push/pull on the volume (on/off)? I really like having a treble bleed for using a rolled down volume tone with overdrive? Almost never 🧐 want a muddy tone. Been using my tone pot to compensate, but now have to balance between two pots to get the right tone? Get the right tone is a lot of work!
Hi Nik, I know it's an older video and as you said, everyone's rig is different, but I'm curious which TB you used at the end of the video as I'm running similar gear (Strats and old Fender amps) and it sounds like what I'm going for. Cheers!
Because, it meant as a helpful tool. To just give a value, and have someone just install, would take away from what the video was trying to provide. The player has to find what suits his setup best
HEY NIK! if you could show how best to do some of the lead lines from the jimi hendrix song waterfall [ may this be love ] that would be killer i love that song and the snake'y lead lines on it.
@@theriffwniksevigny5473 but it would help to tell us if you used just a cap, cap resistor parallel, cap resistor series, etc. also, the values would give people a starting point, i am not sure why you don't want to say what worked for you. we understand different guitars are different.
Nik, would you be willing to do a treble bleed circuit kinman v duncan v a 50s wiring mod? From what I've heard, the 50s wiring has a cleaner, more natural sound. Cheers!
@@theriffwniksevigny5473 My '87 AVRI Strat liked 500pF ... but not every 500pF I tried worked. Silver micas and poly caps (all 500pF) were dull with the Volume on 8, but a tiny ceramic 500pF 1kV cap hit the sweet spot on my guitar. Thanks so much for sharing this tip ... I'll admit I was biased against treble bleeds because they all sounded strange to me, until you made me realize how every combination of pickups/pots/cables/amp is unique. Auditioning caps to find the right one is worth the effort. Keep up the great work, your channel is valued and appreciated!
Hey bro' Subscribed awhile back after the first video you did with matt on that dallas expo. Been watching a lot of your videos over the past few days and I dig'em a lot. Regarding this particular subject: can a treble bleed circuit "get worse" over time? Or maybe a wire gets loose..? 'Cause either mine always sucked and I didn't realize it or something happened recently- the guitar sounds too dark with the volume set below 4... Cheers
This was great, thank you! When you do some testing like this, are you stringing up with a new set each time, or reusing the same set? If reusing, do the vintage style tuners allow the reused strings to stay in tune fairly well? Also, once you've found your treble bleed, have you ran into any issues if you needed to use a different cable or anything? Thanks you!!!
Keep the strings the same The treble bleed should be selected to work with the rig. Not changing the rig for the treble bleed. Much like a pedal. To me a pedal should just add something to your tone, not change it
@@theriffwniksevigny5473 Thanks! Gonna do some testing today! I’ve got caps in 150pf, 220pf, 390pf, 500pf, 680pf, 1000pf and 1200pf. Resistors in 120k, 150k, 220k and 20k. I think that covers or gets close to most of the common values I’ve come across in search, but I also got one of those PMT variable treble bleeds so hopefully I can find something that works well for me.
Yeah I image cutting bass off into a Fuzz Face would be counter productive tone wise. I notice that the FF gets a really great sound when the tone control is on zero.Your making me think now. This would not harm the value of the guitar because it's reversible But I am thinking if you can find one these days. push on push off Volume pot and just cut the treble bleed out/on of the circuit. You sound Great Man.c];-)
You most likely are using too high value of capacitor. Use all the controls on the guitar and set the eq of the amp to sound best with the guitar alone. Thats where it counts
@@theriffwniksevigny5473 what sort of value are you using? I don't even know what mine is, I bought it on eBay but have forgotten the values. It's cap and resistor i don't even know if it's in series or parallel. I have a kingtone switch in my other strat, I might just pop that in.
Love the channel! I was wondering if you have any recommendations for strat pickups that sound like yours. Any ideas? I looked at Rocketfire and Rumplestiltskin to replace my Lollars. Thanks!
Hey man,nice video! Can you tell me where did you get your caps? I've been looking online forever but a can't find the right place...or they are crazy expensive. Please..thanks
@@theriffwniksevigny5473 thanks man! I did a little research and with what i red,i ordered different 0.001uf caps to try and some 100khom resistors...its hard to tell what is the best values but like you said im going to try them all and see what works best for me.
I had muddy roll-off issues with my '02 Tradition CAB10 Tele before rewiring w/a premium kit that came with a 0.001 microfarad orange TB capacitor i briefly attached to the volume pot for almost a month when I realized I didn't really need it so I took it out. I dealt with that muddy roll-off on my '95 Fender MIM Strat Special for years until i swapped out the volume pot for an Alpha before i rewired IT completely after the HSS/SSS conversion. I have CTS 250K pots in both guitars and with pots like those, there's no need for a treble bleed cap when retaining highs rolling off the volume and I really like that!
After a few tries to see what works best for me I find the Kinman is superior in that the volume knob stays the same and it works best with a fuzz box.
Beautiful Strat love the SRV sound
Great playing! Thanks for the video!
The thing that sucks about strats, and treble bleeds, is if you want to experiment, you got to take the pickguard off, take the strings off, put the bleed in, and put it all back together. I picked a random one, and went with the Duncan Treble bleed, only thing about that one is it almost makes your volume knob useless. You got to turn it down to zero to get no volume, and there isn't much in between. Other than that it's good. I need to maybe try another one in the future. If you got a guitar with a control cavity in the back, it's a piece of cake, just attach the bleed to some alligator clips, and to the pot, and try different ones.
Then again, theres the way you did it...Gotta try that next time...
Hey Nik! Appreciate this video thanks.
Glad to hear you playing again! Sounds like your hand is better and everything is right with the world! Great video!
This is an old
Video dude!
The Riff w Nik Sevigny
Well I feel like an idiot.
Excellent info, brother! I just recently discovered treble bleed after 20 years of playing. lol. Biggest change in the way I set my amp and use volume in my playing and tone shaping. Keep up the videos. 🎸🤘👍
Also, every cable is different, which is apparently what the treble bleed cap is offsetting.
I have a few different caps on a rotary switch, and a 500k linear pot in series, in a little box.
That Strat sounds AMAZING
That's a beautiful 61 Strat ! Lucky find !
Here I am, the guy using a 30 foot coils cable to cut the highs. I use the bright input on all of my amps, which is a treble bypass, just later in the chain, It’s just what I prefer. I also replace every single pot with a Mojotone “Vintage taper” pot that’s at least 250K/500K. I buy them in bulk, but you usually get a 3% tolerance which is entirely acceptable. I only use Luxe caps in my Custom Shop guitars too, and they are in the 1% tolerance range in my experience. Jupiter/Sozo and Sprague Ceramite ceramic disc caps are really tight too.
Tone is subjective , but a treble bleed objectively bypasses high frequencies. It’s up to you.
I LOVE TONE TIME IT"S MY FAVORITE TIME OF THE DAY!!!!
Thanks Nic ! I was so worried about my custom shop 1968 Strat Relic with the tone bleed altering the tone.
I use em in my old strats
@The Riff w Nik Sevigny I'm still working on my tone. I'm getting alot of high end treble that I don't like... I'm thinking it's the way they custom shop use the vintage wiring with mod #2. Every tone cap has a capacitor that increases the treble. I'm not real happy about this. I'm not sure itscwhat I want. I'm a vintage Strat person...... what can I do ?
@@MartinMignogna just wire it up like a vintage strat. And then pick your treble bleed. Try anywhere from 150pf to 680pf caps
I don't usually comment on videos but I have to say this channel is brilliant!!! Please keep the videos coming I loved the Philip sayce interview and videos like this that cut through the bullshit on the web and just give facts are fantastic!!!
Keep up the good work, your tone is awesome by the way oh and the pro reverb you and jesey davey modded sounded unbelievable!!!
paul wood thanks man. Much appreciated!
The Riff w Nik Sevigny hi Nik I've just watched the video again and that last capacitor you stuck in sounds great.
As you said in the video "ask people what they use" so which did you settle with?
Thanks.
paul wood im not sure. A few people have asked so maybe i can open the guitar back up and look. It does work really well
The Riff w Nik Sevigny if you wouldn't mind when you get a minute that would be great!!
It just sounds like you hit the perfect one that reacts perfectly with the pots sweep.
Cheers man 👍
@@theriffwniksevigny5473 Open it up man! :-)
Like the video. Here’s a tip - use alligator clips at both ends for testing so it’s nondestructive. Would be nice to know what you ended up using at the end. Capacitor and or resistor value plus type. Thanks!
Think of he alligator clip popping off the pot while its screwed down and sealed up. Or the the clip grounding out on something else in there
Touché, but you could use black tape or insulation shrink tubing to reduce the likelihood of a short. I just like the idea of soldering once - so you don’t damage a pot or something by repeatedly hitting it with heat.
Thank you so much nik! This is going to help a lot. Testing different ones out this week.
Very informative... will do this later. But what's that value that worked for you? Maybe I can include that in my roster.
Picked up a King Tone Mini Fuzz Ge couple weeks ago, and my Duncan Style treble bleed is now WAY too bright. Rolled off tone, bites your face off! Might do a push/pull on the volume (on/off)?
I really like having a treble bleed for using a rolled down volume tone with overdrive? Almost never 🧐 want a muddy tone. Been using my tone pot to compensate, but now have to balance between two pots to get the right tone?
Get the right tone is a lot of work!
Just try some different values. Maybe a lower cap.
Thanks for posting this !........your tone is great !........curious about what pickups you ahve in there ?..............Thanks!
1961
@@theriffwniksevigny5473 Ok I see and hear !!....haha!...Awesome !
Hi Nik, I know it's an older video and as you said, everyone's rig is different, but I'm curious which TB you used at the end of the video as I'm running similar gear (Strats and old Fender amps) and it sounds like what I'm going for.
Cheers!
Awsome vid as always bud definitely going with the jumpers great idea
Glad I found your channel. Thank you.
FYI: Some capacitors are polarized, meaning the are connected one way.
Right. But i havent seen a polarized axial cap in a guitar ever. General rule is a ceramic or mica style. Even orange drop
that's exactly the sound i'm looking for please tell me how? what kind of pickups are there and what amp do you use?
1961 stratocaster and a 68 super reverb
Search google for "PMT V-Treb Variable Treble Bleed Circuit". Very easy.
Good man for not using stupidly hyped caps.
Cool dude.Thanks
Thank you for the interest !
Thanks for the video, so what were your ideal values?
Or the difference between a linear pot vs treble bleed ?
What a capacitor you use on this vdo Nik ? treble bleed
Nice thanks for recommending this to me in an older video you did. I ended up going with the kinman. Works great!
Hey nick lm using 100k pots in my strat wondering if the value range you recommend in the treble bleed circuit changes ? Cheers!!!
Great video and playing. It’s kind of weird that you didn’t give the value of the treble bleed you ended up using.
Because, it meant as a helpful tool. To just give a value, and have someone just install, would take away from what the video was trying to provide. The player has to find what suits his setup best
What values did you end up sticking with?
HEY NIK! if you could show how best to do some of the lead lines from the jimi hendrix song waterfall [ may this be love ] that would be killer i love that song and the snake'y lead lines on it.
ben galvin i think its all right there on the G string starts on 12th fret then to 14th. Follow the major pattern
Hey Nik, Which value did you settle in?
Just capacitor or cap and resistor???
All guitars and setups are different. This is why i showed an easy way to test them. What works for me, may not work for you
@@theriffwniksevigny5473 I know, I know, I'm gonna get some aligator clips as well but I was curious.
@@theriffwniksevigny5473 but it would help to tell us if you used just a cap, cap resistor parallel, cap resistor series, etc. also, the values would give people a starting point, i am not sure why you don't want to say what worked for you. we understand different guitars are different.
rohadt Anyad in the video, you can see its just caps, no resistor. 300pf to 1000pf.
@@theriffwniksevigny5473 thank you. which one did you end up using?
Nik, would you be willing to do a treble bleed circuit kinman v duncan v a 50s wiring mod? From what I've heard, the 50s wiring has a cleaner, more natural sound. Cheers!
Which value did you end up using ? I believe Nick Johnstone used something around 330PF. Would be a great help. Btw great vid.
Every guitars electronics will respond differently. I will usually try values from 330pf to 1000pf
@@theriffwniksevigny5473 Is there a difference between a volume taper pot and treble blleed? Not that knowledgeable on both hence the questions
@@theriffwniksevigny5473 My '87 AVRI Strat liked 500pF ... but not every 500pF I tried worked. Silver micas and poly caps (all 500pF) were dull with the Volume on 8, but a tiny ceramic 500pF 1kV cap hit the sweet spot on my guitar. Thanks so much for sharing this tip ... I'll admit I was biased against treble bleeds because they all sounded strange to me, until you made me realize how every combination of pickups/pots/cables/amp is unique. Auditioning caps to find the right one is worth the effort. Keep up the great work, your channel is valued and appreciated!
Hey bro'
Subscribed awhile back after the first video you did with matt on that dallas expo.
Been watching a lot of your videos over the past few days and I dig'em a lot.
Regarding this particular subject: can a treble bleed circuit "get worse" over time? Or maybe a wire gets loose..? 'Cause either mine always sucked and I didn't realize it or something happened recently- the guitar sounds too dark with the volume set below 4...
Cheers
Try raising the value
Any thoughts on variable treble bleeds?
I believe Kingtone has something coming out.
The Riff w Nik Sevigny do you have any experience with them? I’m just wondering if it’s overall better to have a fixed value then a trimmer.
John Cruz i just find a value that works for the guitar and keep it that way
This was great, thank you! When you do some testing like this, are you stringing up with a new set each time, or reusing the same set? If reusing, do the vintage style tuners allow the reused strings to stay in tune fairly well? Also, once you've found your treble bleed, have you ran into any issues if you needed to use a different cable or anything?
Thanks you!!!
Keep the strings the same
The treble bleed should be selected to work with the rig. Not changing the rig for the treble bleed. Much like a pedal. To me a pedal should just add something to your tone, not change it
@@theriffwniksevigny5473 Thanks! Gonna do some testing today! I’ve got caps in 150pf, 220pf, 390pf, 500pf, 680pf, 1000pf and 1200pf. Resistors in 120k, 150k, 220k and 20k. I think that covers or gets close to most of the common values I’ve come across in search, but I also got one of those PMT variable treble bleeds so hopefully I can find something that works well for me.
Bruh, that guitar is more expensive than your apartment building 😂 just teasin' ya. Thanks for the video
That is the way it almost always is! It must be that way for any dedicated guitarist.
Yeah I image cutting bass off into a Fuzz Face would be counter productive tone wise. I notice that the FF gets a really great sound when the tone control is on zero.Your making me think now. This would not harm the value of the guitar because it's reversible But I am thinking if you can find one these days. push on push off Volume pot and just cut the treble bleed out/on of the circuit. You sound Great Man.c];-)
How do you keep the sparkly sound with a treble bleed and fuzz? For me it just makes it harsh
You most likely are using too high value of capacitor. Use all the controls on the guitar and set the eq of the amp to sound best with the guitar alone. Thats where it counts
@@theriffwniksevigny5473 what sort of value are you using? I don't even know what mine is, I bought it on eBay but have forgotten the values. It's cap and resistor i don't even know if it's in series or parallel.
I have a kingtone switch in my other strat, I might just pop that in.
What values should I experiment with? I have a John mayer strat
5:53
Thank you very much!!! You're so nice!!!
What song plays in all your intros?
X Fighter a song I wrote for the intro
The Riff w Nik Sevigny would love to hear the whole thing!
What year guitar is this one? Is it original or re-issue?
1961
Love the channel! I was wondering if you have any recommendations for strat pickups that sound like yours. Any ideas? I looked at Rocketfire and Rumplestiltskin to replace my Lollars. Thanks!
Alex Rouse so far. The only pickups that i have had in a guitar that have nailed the pre cbs tone have been Don Mare Formvar 50s or JM Rolph.
What pickpus are these (Fat50?) and what amp did u use?
Andre Botelho its a 1961 strat. And a super reverb
That sound is awesome!
Nice info but the is dark visually showing the pots but good info.
✌️
So we can use the same technic for testing caps value!? Cool...
CleanTone yes. But remember it’s only going to have an effect when the tone is rolled off
Of course, yes! I'll say it again : I really like the color of that '61 (faded Sonic Blue)!!!
CleanTone thank you! Its a great guitar
Hard to hear what your saying
Hey man,nice video!
Can you tell me where did you get your caps? I've been looking online forever but a can't find the right place...or they are crazy expensive. Please..thanks
Ebay. Any capacitor with the right value. There are any “treble bleed specific” caps
@@theriffwniksevigny5473 thanks man! I did a little research and with what i red,i ordered different 0.001uf caps to try and some 100khom resistors...its hard to tell what is the best values but like you said im going to try them all and see what works best for me.