Does a trainwreck actually need the bruight switch?

[allsavy]

Isn't it bright already?

[Cliff Schecht]

I run mine with the 500pF bright switch always engaged. I think Glen does the same thing. It's pretty dark sounding with the clean setting if you don't use it.

[ckpop]

The Bright switch give you a certain flexibility depending on your guitar, the sound you want and tone options. Yes most use the 500pf switch engaged on a trainwreck for a certain clarity, definition and harmonic content that stands out over the other positions. There are other times depending on what you are playing you may not want that 500pf bright.

It's all about choices and options. Remember bright does not mean harsh sounding but think in the terms of definition and cut. An example is a marshall can sound bright by itself but fits into a pocket with the rest of a band and the mix.

[Structo]

Man, I don't think I could keep up with that.

[Phil_S]

I dunno. My TW isn't true to the original design. I call that swittch bright, more bright, and more brighter. I guess my amp just isn't as dark as it's supposed to be. I don't engage the birght caps.

[dartanion]

It helps bring dark humbuckers to life when needed. A Liverpool or Express with a Tele and no bright switch works great, with HBs, the bright switch is nice to have.

[Structo]

As I recently found out, guitar cables can make a HUGE difference.

If you have a very bright amp, shoot for cables that have a higher pf/ foot.

I had a snake cable that I was going to use from my pedal board to amp and it sounded like somebody threw a blanket over the amp.
I measured one and it was 1500pf.

The ones previous were 500pf.

So I went back to those because the high pf cable really ruined the tone of my amp.

So you can use those specifications to your advantage depending which way your amp leans.

Glen has stated before he uses two 10 footers jacked together for his Express.

[M Fowler]

Yes the bright switch comes in very handy on the TWs and I would put it in. I usually end up using the 500pf.

[Cliff Schecht]

Glen uses two 20 foot cables tied together to make 40 feet. The idea is to not only add capacitance but also an equivalent amount of inductance and resistance, all of which act together to form a low-pass filter. Parasitics in the cable are acting to help reduce brightness.

When designing RF tuned circuits, it's not at all uncommon to design around the parasitics of a part you are using. What Glen and others do is a similar idea, they are shaping the response of their system by tuning around the parasitics of their devices.

[KellyBass]

It helps bring dark humbuckers to life when needed. A Liverpool or Express with a Tele and no bright switch works great, with HBs, the bright switch is nice to have.

Well said.

On my first express, I ended up just using a a single position switch and a lone 250pf cap with great results. I told the customer that "off" was for single coils...and "on" was for humbuckers.

[Structo]

Cliff thanks for the correction, I had a feeling I had the overall length wrong.
But I'm not sure I buy the rest of your statement.

[mumford]

For mine, it depends on the guitar. Some of them, the switches are overkill, others, essential.

[Cliff Schecht]

Cliff thanks for the correction, I had a feeling I had the overall length wrong.
But I'm not sure I buy the rest of your statement.

What is there not to buy? Every cable has an equivalent series resistance (ESR), series inductance (ESL), and a parallel capacitance/resistance that goes to "ground", or whatever your reference is. It acts as an LC lowpass filter with a damped resonance and is proportional to the wire length. Here's a schematic representation of ANY coax or shielded cable:
[img:220:134]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... nt.svg.png[/img]


Buy it! Buy it! .

[bigbeck]

I use my bright switch for switching a .01 cap in parallel with the .002 coupling cap. That put the Icing on the cake for lower volume playing with the Tele. It's still bright enough with the SG. If I played humbuckers a lot,I probably would have left it as a bright switch.

[Zippy]

What is there not to buy? Every cable has an equivalent series resistance (ESR), series inductance (ESL), and a parallel capacitance/resistance that goes to "ground", or whatever your reference is. It acts as an LC lowpass filter with a damped resonance and is proportional to the wire length.

What is the value of the "series inductance" and its origin???