Tone control confusion

[lscossar]

I have a 2017 Tribute S-500 purchased last month. Very nice guitar which I'm enjoying playing very much. Thank you G&L! One of the best features no doubt is the wide variation in tone I'm able to achieve by adjusting the pickup selector and tone controls. Part of knowing how to adjust the tone is understanding how the controls work. Reading about the PTB system I keep getting confused which tone control knob is which. All over the web, YouTube and even on this forum there seems to contradictions posted regarding this.

So, here's my question and it's an oh-so-simple one. Which knob on my 2017 Tribute S-500 is the treble cut and which is the bass cut? I think I understand how these roll off the treble and bass, but which one does which?

There are two posts on this forum that both seem authoritative that illustrate the contradiction I'm referring to. I'm not calling anyone out on this, I'm only showing why I'm confused. This post shows a diagram that clearly shows the treble cut as the middle knob (G) and the bass cut as the bottom knob (H). This is how I think the controls work.

http://www.guitarsbyleo.com/FORUM/viewt ... ols#p53627

But this post which is referred to by many on the forum as being a good explanation of how the PTB system works (RLB's answer at the top) clearly states on the 6th line "I find it convenient to think of the middle tone control as the Bass Cut control as it eliminates bass as it is turned up". So according to this often quoted source the middle knob is the bass cut not the treble cut as shown in the aforementioned diagram.

http://guitarsbyleo.com/FORUM/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=707

I see this confusion everywhere on the web and btw, I also see and read contradictory explanations of how the pickup expander mode works when you pull up on the middle control knob. But I think I have that part right in my mind.

I love the guitar though. Thanks for any help with this.

[Danley]

I'm interpreting it that the poster is saying the knobs are to a degree interactive; that turning *up* the treble "pulls down" the bass as it goes up or in other words... On full, the treble knob produces reduced bass vs. when it is say on half. That said, the actual bass cut should be knob H as pictured (functioning as removing bass as you back the control off.) Some amps are more sensitive to the effect of the knobs than others is one thing I noticed.

[Challenger]

I found it easiest to remember it like this:

Volume knob followed by two tone knobs.

Treble cut is the top tone knob (middle knob) T for treble cut. T for top.
Bass cut is the bottom tone knob. B for bass cut. B for bottom.

Pretty intuitive when you think of it this way.

[lscossar]

Challenger, I like your way of keeping it straight. Danley, I think you're on to something when you wrote the poster is saying the knobs are interactive. Cutting treble could be thought of as adding bass and cutting bass could be thought of as adding treble. But I don't think anyone would confuse cutting treble with cutting bass or cutting bass with cutting treble. For me RLB's explanation of the PTB system is backwards. If the middle knob is indeed the treble cut control then the bottom knob is the bass cut and nothing more needs to be said. In other words the middle knob removes treble from the tone of the guitar and the bottom knob removes bass. Simple! Got it!

[Craig]

There are some good points posted here, so I added a link to this thread to the Can you explain the PTB circuit? post.