I have the S&M Special. With all toggle switches in the UP position, the tone stack hardly makes any difference regardless of what settings I have. When the Mid toggle is down and/or the amp is switched to Jazz, the tone is much more tweakable.
Strange. I always wondered whether there's something wrong.
thats because both these setting reduce midrange. More mids= fatter tone, less signal loss at the tonestack but you lose the dramatic bass and treble tweeking. Scooping the mids, or using an amp like a blackface fender will give you much more tweekability. it's just the nature of the tone stack.
IN reality you shouldnt need dramatic tonal changes because the original ODS' were designed around the players tone. Meaning the tone stack isnt meant for getting SRV, Hendrix, carlton, and santana tones all by the twist of one or two knobs. The tonestack on dumbles is mainly there to provide fine adjustments like room EQ and sometimes your backup guitar. Theyre made to create the finest tone possible, not emulate everyone elses tone.
If you should need a dramatic change then you should tweek the amp just like Alex D*mble would have
to keep the forums alive.
Author