Charvel DK24 muddy when vol turned down

sorbz62

Hi guys,

I just bought a nice Charvel DK24 which sounds excellent with a JB/ Jazz pickup combination. The problem is that when I turn the volume pot down even a little bit, it loses all treble and gets REALLY dull.  What would you suggest I do and which would be the best capacitor/resistor pr whatever?

Cheers,
Jim

ICBM

What are you plugging it into? Have you tried a different cable?

Although some treble loss is normal, if it's extreme it's usually caused by the output being loaded down too heavily.

If there's nothing wrong with those and it's still causing more loss than you like, I would use a 220K resistor in parallel with a 680pF cap - that's the 'magic' value for humbuckers, for me.

Funkfingers

What is the resistance value of the volume pot? An A500k would be normal. An A250k would smooth off some top end frequencies. A 25k pot (intended for active circuitry) would murder the high end when rotated away from 10.

It might be worth temporarily bypassing the volume pot in case it is faulty or damaged.

Dave_Mc

ICBM said:

What are you plugging it into? Have you tried a different cable?

Although some treble loss is normal, if it's extreme it's usually caused by the output being loaded down too heavily.

If there's nothing wrong with those and it's still causing more loss than you like, I would use a 220K resistor in parallel with a 680pF cap - that's the 'magic' value for humbuckers, for me.

Grrr I don't think I got around to trying that value- I probably should have.

Out of what I have tried, I like 180pF (no resistor) for humbuckers- I think that's the PRS value. (220pF is close enough if you only have that value as it's more common.)

sorbz62

ICBM said:

What are you plugging it into? Have you tried a different cable?

Although some treble loss is normal, if it's extreme it's usually caused by the output being loaded down too heavily.

If there's nothing wrong with those and it's still causing more loss than you like, I would use a 220K resistor in parallel with a 680pF cap - that's the 'magic' value for humbuckers, for me.

I don't think it's the cables or amps, as they work fine with my other guitars.

I'll look into adding a cap and resistor.

Cheers,
Jim

sorbz62

Funkfingers said:

What is the resistance value of the volume pot? An A500k would be normal. An A250k would smooth off some top end frequencies. A 25k pot (intended for active circuitry) would murder the high end when rotated away from 10.

It might be worth temporarily bypassing the volume pot in case it is faulty or damaged.

The guitar is completely standard. I'll take a look at the electrics.

Dave_Mc

Does it have a no-load tone pot which you usually leave turned up full? That can sometimes accentuate the treble loss- not actually, but it can seem that way, because the standard tone-pot-out-of-the-circuit sound is so bright, the treble loss from rolling the guitar's volume pot down can be very stark by comparison...