How do tone controls work, either on the guitar or on an amp?
Tone controls are filters which cut or boost certain frequency ranges. You should bear in mind that a musical note contains lots of frequencies so, for example, turning up the treble doesn’t just make the top notes louder, it changes the sound of the lower ones too. Electronically, guitar tone controls are limited by the fact that they usually have only the pick-up signal to play with and no amplification available on the guitar. So it’s hard to get a true boost, all you can do is cut. Such “passive” tone controls cheat by cutting everything and getting a psuedo-boost by cutting a bit less where it’s needed. In an amplifier the tone controls may be archaic passive designs or more modern active ones – but the circuitry is very different and guitarists often like the traditional sound. Amplifiers often have a mid-range control which not only cuts or boosts a particular range, it also allows you to choose which range to affect. This is parametric mid-range (paramid). the ultimate tone con
