The Famous 5 Treble Bleed Guitar Mods Compared 

🎸 Finally got this video together, it was so great to compare these designs!

As shown, the single 330p cap bleed is the only one which really retains the audio taper of the pot. It only keeps treble, and you can easily fine-tune it to your desire (PRS uses 180p, Ibanez uses 330p, which is my favorite). You really can’t make volume swells in overdriven solos with the other types of treble bleed, because you’ll have an abrupt transition from 0 to 1 in volume, as those bleed circuits immediately let too much frequencies (highs but also mids) pass as soon as you move away from 0. Actually those bleeds transform the volume pot in a bass-cut pot, because as said not only high treble gets passed, also mids start to pass undisturbed through those bigger 1n caps. That’s most evident with the “mystery” bleed, with that gigantic 6.8n cap. PS: thanks for this very well made comparison, the best on RU-vid to date!

You are missing your calling as an online instructor in electronics. you are better than any instructor I had in college. Keep up the great work.

I come from an electronic engineering background, I started my improvised journey on what combo to go with , but it was cut short when I found the Octave Doctor treble bleed. It surpassed everything for me. Octave Doctor came up with the series combination of 1 nF capacitor and 150 k-ohm resistor. It's recommended by many sources as a good choice for maintaining a consistent resonant peak as volume decreases and presents that pretty well on an Oscilloscope (a way of converting audio signals into visual representations so you can really see if your ears are telling you the truth) . Your "Mystery" one didn't actually surpass the one I've settled on for me, it's a tangent I didn't go down because it felt like an unnecessary expense after finding a solution and in your demo it appears to stay louder longer which isn't what I need from it. You've made me glad I didn't pursue it. Everything I've said goes along with your point; it's a personal and individual decision.

Thank you for doing all of this work for us. What a brilliant way to do side by side of these variations. You've got me really interested in trying out a dual pot control to see how it does play with OD and fuzz pedals, as I do a whole lot of playing around with drive and fuzz levels using my volume pot. And yes, you did a fantastic job of explaining the electronics so that us non-electronics people could get it. I'm subscribed and looking forward to watching more of your videos!

Thanks very much for your efforts. Finding this solution is very time-consuming for certain guitars which physically put up a big obstacle to checking parts. I know I’ve gone done a long road finding the solution for my Strat, but once found, it is very gratifying. Having the right bleed behavior gives a player an infinitely variable sound palette with the simplest possible control - the volume. I’m happiest with just enough bypass to keep rolloff behavior but reduce it by what I’d call ‘about half.’ The variations are infinite but a solution can be found.

Awesome video, no more confusion with this mod. Thank you for all you hard work.

Thank you for explaining all treble bleed types. I will try out some variations. You are an inspiration! Great video! 😊

at least for the first 4, you could have done it with a rotary switch, it'd also make it possible to fit in a guitar. haven't reached the 5th option yet, shallsee.

Very informative! Loved the thorough comparisons and explanations of each alternative. Thanks so much for the video

Well, this has been very helpful to understand the concept of treble bleed(s) - you got me subscribed on the spot. I've actually - after some research - put the "series" type treble bleed (130K resistor and a 0.0012mF cap) in my Strat with Kinman Noiseless PUs a couple of years ago, but I'm still not sure if I’m really happy with it... I sort of feel like there now is some kind loss on the bottom end of the sound when I roll back the volume so the tone gets somewhat spiky and I wonder if this loss of bottom end is actually the case or if it is just an impression I get because the (retained/preserved) treble kind of overpowers the bottom end which only seems to be less present due to the "loudness" effect of hearing lower volumes.

I have my guitars wired like Jazz basses with the Duncan style (parallel) treble bleeds. I like the pickup blends and also keeping one of my pickups set at a lower volume and then the other pickup I can swell in or out. With the volume of one pickup at full and the other pickup volume at my cleanup setting you can't hear the blend until the louder volume is dialed back so basically I'm using one volume knob for most of my sounds at times. I think when having the input lead on the center lug and the output lead on the outer lead changes the tone and possibly the taper a bit when rolling down the pot. But when using the Duncan style treble bleed helps to restore the sound to a more conventional guitar wiring. If I used a conventional wiring I'd likely just go with a 50's wiring and no treble bleed as I have in the past. The tone pot wired to the input of the volume pot really affects the treble roll off when rolling down the volume pot but just moving that lead to the output lug remedies it a lot.

On one of my guitars I decided to put a treble bleed on a switch so I choose when I want it. On cleans it can sound really nice but it's nice being able to turn it off when I don't want it.

thanks for sharing, a very interesting topic. it gets even more interesting when you start playing around with different types of bleeds on the Neck and bridge pickups in an LP style wiring situation. that middle position becomes very interesting indeed!

I have been using a variation on the series method for a couple years on my main guitar. I forget the values off hand, but its 2 caps (one large, one small) feeding the outer lugs of a trim pot and the wiper serves as the output of the network allowing the trim to both blend between them and setting the series resistance. You can kind of go from either just the very high sparkly treble frequencies in the bleed to introducing more upper mids along with it depending on which cap the trim is panned toward. And since the trim pot is always in series with the caps there is no effect on volume pot taper, which is important to me as well. I typically run a simple single channel amp up nice and hot so a good treble bleed is essential to get both the clean and dirty sounds I am after.

After days with alligator clips hanging out of my guitar, the values I settled on are 1500pf cap in parallel with 150k resistor, 280k audio pot, Nashville Tele into deluxe reverb, 20ft low cap cable before first buffer. What I like about it is that I can go from (mostly clean) lead at 10 to totally clean funk rhythm at 7-8.5ish. This bleed gets pretty bright bellow 6, but that's fine because I really only use my guitar volume from 6-10. The other treble bleed all lost that funky neck + middle pickup magic as soon as I rolled the volume back a little

learned so much. Thank you for making this video!

Very good video, and it was interesting to hear the different types of Treble Bleeds in comparison with each other. Long ago, I tried Series and Parallel Treble Bleeds. Though the worked as described, one thing that is sometimes overlooked is that they can affect your ability to do traditional "volume swells." I ended removing the Bleeds, as even though I'm not doing volume swells frequently, it is nice to get both the change in volume and tone when I do a swell. Thanks

Great comparison of the different treble bleed circuits. But it's also really helpful to experiment with different cap and resistor values; especially the value of the series resistor in the series and parish circuits. Every pickup position is different. Try out a bunch with alligator clips. Or an adjustable trim-pot. You can really dial in exactly how much treble you want to keep while rolling off volume.

Great clear and valuable video on a topic that has been discussed many times over decades! That dual gang pot idea is fresh!

Absolutely brilliant man, thanks ! Its the series for me ! You are a fantastic resource, possibly the best ive actually found and i cant wait for your channel to start taking off. Its so cool to hear a familiar accent and decent playing too !

Awesome video. So much fun intently listened. Very comprehensive but not mental overdrive. Can't wait for more. Very helpful resource.

Thanks for the demo and explanation . Well appreciated 👍🏼

The “Mystery Circuit” reminds me a little of the Fender TBx control.

Woah, the definitive treble bleed video. Awesome content, thank you and congrats 👏👏👏

I put a bleed into one guitar project just to try it. Ive put them into most of my guitars now. I didn't do my Schecter because its got a Sustaniac and active electronics. And i didn't do one in my PRS SE custom 24 because it doesn't really need one. Also a D Angelico that i just dont modify.

Very informative, did not know the last two variations. Thank you for sharing your experiences

I just found your channel and I'm really enjoying your videos! Especially on mod topics. Keep up the excellent work!

Fantastic!!!! Would be awesome to hear the corresponding comparison with single coils and a 250K pot.

This was SO educational. Thank you for sharing. TOTALLY looking forward to that fuzz device vid. That was very interesting! Quick question, that is a little off topic, you mentioned the Audio vs. Linear tapered pots... I have an old amp that goes from zero to 10 in the first few ticks of the volume knob. Would replacing that pot with a linear style version make the ramp up to max volume more even across the dial? Or is an amp more complicated at that pot? Really appreciate this channel!!

the custom switcher is a labour of love, subbed :)

I use the volume knob for swells a lot. A year and a half ago, I bought a Jerry Donohue Signature Hellecaster Strat that had the standard treble bleed as stock. It messed up the taper enough that I had to clip it out in pretty short order. Most of the time I don't miss it, but sometimes when I turn down a little more than usual, say 5 or 6, (I tend to live around 7 or 8 and turn up to 10 for leads) I disappear in the mix. It'd be nice *sometimes* to have that little extra "cut". I don't know though, sometimes when I'm totally solo I really like how the treble rolls off just right along with the volume. I may have to try that series version, but to be honest, in that guitar, with all its extra switching function and extra wire packed in there and small pots, it'd be a bit of a pain to accomplish. Thanks for the comparison though. It's certainly helpful.

I really love having a Treble Bleed in my guitars, I have installed the parallel version, and I also tried the series, but testing these different setups with a stratocaster is not easy at all. Now, thanks to this video, I could hear the difference, and is not that much. One thing that I do not like about the TB is that from 0 to 2 there is no change in volume and then at 3 it is high. From 0 to 3 the raising of the volume is not progressive, I'm not able to what Jeff Beck does... 😃

Really usefull Video. Thank you. The treblebleed box is a clever idea and I really like the fuzz….

My favorite is also the series circuit but I prefer to have it on a linear volume. The mystery circuit is just like the one they use in the fender design for Eric Clapton mod to make his guitar sound like a Les Paul and he can vary his tone to add trouble or remove it to zero and then add more bass sound

Thanks for explaining that, I didn’t even know there were different types of treble bleeds. Once you engaged the fuzz I realised that I like the series treble bleed the most, that’s cool

Nice playing and video!! Pot = 7 9:16 - Pot = 5 10:36 Audio Taper Pot 11:54 Combine Cap + Series 14:42 Fuzz 16:00

Someone should make a commercially-available analog pedal like the one he is using. Could offload volume and treble functions to accommodate different guitars, pickups, and tones.

That was a pretty good explanation of whats happening in treble bleeds. Although it might have been more useful to draw it out as a schematic to show how things are connected and interacting with each other. There's so many differing versions of treble bleeds, it can be quite confusing for guitarists on which one to pick. Although I've never seen using a dual pot before, that was interesting. And different component values are used depending on whether you have single coils or humbuckers - generally because singles will use 250K pots vs 500K for humbuckers (and there's just as many variants of those). Building a switch box is a great way of trying things out for yourself to find what works best for the guitar. BTW Its interesting manufacturers generally use linear taper pots for volume and audio for tone. You'd think it would be the other way around, but that's just how things work.

Thanks most kindly! If I added an inductor/Q-filter, would it 'make the pot' more global, flattening the difference between pickups on different guitars? One other circuit related idea. If I used a stereo cable, would it be possible to make a foot pedal that handled things like phase reversal, coil tapping and treble bleed etc if the pedal's just a continuation of the circuit that starts at the pickups?

This was very informative. Thanks! One very frustrating thing for me is of the 5 guitars I play regularly, 3 of them have volume pots, that feel and sound like at least, they're on/off switches. Rolling the pot back it needs to get to nearly closed before anything effect is audible. Very frustrating and even a local Tech --said-- he did something to help one guitar (Reverend Agent OG) by adding a treble bleed @_@ w/e he did did nothing. Same problem with a parts caster strat and even my LTD EC1000. Conversely, my Eastman SB59 and old 78 Strat, the volume tapers beautifully....

Id rather just use your stomp box lol. Seriously, whip some up and sell them. Id take one if it was under $150

thanks this was a very helpful test, I like the series too, it think it is important to retain the volume and consistency of the signal as much as possible, with the other trebble bleed circuits I thought they added more than they needed to, for live guitarists they can be ok, but for the recording guitarist I think it is important to keep consistency across the board. cheers

Finally, a good video showing the differences between them. Turns out the one I was using is not the one I want but didn't want to keep taking the Strat apart to try them all. Going to change it out next time I change strings.

I'll take the mystery one, then your favorite is my 2nd choice! Great work!

This video is amazing! I will try the parallel one, to see if it extends the taper of my pot, as it falls to fast.

If you're not already hip to it yet, the best treble bleed mod IMO is simply the wiring of a volume & tone pot the way gibson used to do in the 1950's (as opposed to the modern way).. it only requires moving existing wires to different pot lugs; no extra components are needed. I tried all these treble bleed circuits without being impressed before hearing about the gibson '50s wiring. Now i just immediately re-wire every new guitar that way.

G'day Waylon, Thanks for a great video. I could never hear the affect a treble bleed has on a guitar, until this video. Great effort! As for your 5th treble bleed circuit, am I right in thinking that I can rewire my Strat so that the top Tone pot is wired into all 3 pickups, & the bottom Tone pot could be the adjustable treble bleed? Keep up the good work Andrew, from NZ West Island... ;)

I've become a fan of the combination parallel and series option. That way, if you find a parallel treble bleed that you like but wish it had a more subtle effect, just introduce a bit of resistance in series and that essentially becomes a regulator for how much of the effect you want. My current jam is 1nF/330k in parallel with an additional 100k in series.

Awesome vid man. Subscribed. Soo informative

Great video, thanks! hope you had a really short good-quality cable between your guitar & the test box :-)

Great video! What type of TB have would you recommend for a LP? One more thing - you mentioned that the Audio taper doesn't gradually go from 1 to 10 but more over in a jump from nothing to something... I am asking this because my Gibby has audio ones atm and I wouldn't mind a better and more precise control while rolling off the volume. Now a thing that I didn't understood (or misunderstood) is you saying that the linear pots change the dirty sound and are more suited for clean sounds. Is that correct and how? I am looking for a precise pot that will gradually turn my dirty amp sound sound into a clean one (or as clean as possible😃) with a gradual transition and not like the current one where from 10 to 6 something is happening and then from 5 downward nothing... I wouldn't want the linear ones if they are going to change my sound in a way of coloring it somehow... TB or no TB, this is a great video and a very informative one! Great job m8!

Waylon you did a masterful job here! I actually have experimented with this, and have a Paul neck pickup set up with it. But l have no clue what I'm doing. You have taught me the how and why of it. Thank you so much!👍🙂

Wow this is the first video I've watched of yours and what an excellent introduction! Well done on this! My go-to is the Parallel Treble Bleed cause I feel like I have more volume range and it works for me. Everything being subjective to taste of course. This was just a super awesome comparison and ultimately has me wondering if I should try out the Series treble bleed once just to see what its like in my playing. Thanks!!!!

What an amazing test rig!! Why didn’t I think of that? Really tempted to make one. Although I’d never use it! Other than to demo to customers!

that has got to be one of the best sounding Fuzz pedals I've ever heard on a demo. I like how its notal not 'bias' with humbuckers.

I always used the parallel one but I guess today I'll check out the series one on my Hamer. The taper seems to work better especially with drive with humbuckers. On my Strats I'll stick to my parallel ones because I'm used to it over the years. Thanks for the comparison. Great job!

Very good video, although one thing that didn’t translate to RU-vid well is the change in tone. The series seems to keep the tone intact where the parallel and the lone cap tend to remove all low end. The fuzz seemed to help show this but the wonky taper of the parallel masked that fact

I always apprecitated the push/pull HP filter featured on the Satriani Ibanez guitars.

I decided to try this on an HH Squier Thinline I had during Covid. Not having separate components I bought a bleed circuit off eBay. There’s are many available but all parallel. Definitely doesn’t cut the volume much until it’s nearly in off position…

That stacked pot is just a bit clever, thats a must try! Great vid sir :)

Useful video. I use treble bleed only on neck p.u with guitars that have seperate volume pot for neck or bridge ofcourse. I find it very useful almost all the time. Only when i play with fuzzpedals and roll off volume,it beacomes too trebly. Solution ? Yes, i mounted a push/pull pot with treble bleed in my in-position and no treble bleed in my out-position. My own design, clever, right ?

As far as I can tell, the input of the circuit of most fuzz pedals, like a Fuzz Face for example is the same or very similar to a treble bleed on the output of your guitar. I think this is why they retain brightness when you dial back the volume to clean up into a fuzz face. If that's right then the ideal setup if you use fuzz a lot is to have no treble bleed on your guitar.

Great video. My test for a treble bleed is to dial in a good heavy crunch tone on a tube amp and ear how the tone evolves when going from mean to clean by adjusting the guitar volume. If I can go from a balanced distortion sound to a nice balanced clean just like that , that's it !

Where can we get that dual audio-tapered pot, and is there a schematic for how to wire it up for the very last part of this video?

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You Sir ... crips, i have been floundering with my treble bleed, and Finally have a direction in mind. ( and Kudos on inventing the "6th desighn" treble bleed )

I just did a guitar with a parallel cap and a linear pot. The treble bleed works great and it reacts like a audio taper

Cool video. I learned that I really do hate all treble bleeds. So happy I tore it out.

Guess I'm a series guy. It's also what I'm used too but seems to have the least effect for me. Looking forward to the fuzz build video. That fuzz sounded great!

Excellent video, man! I’m only familiar with parralel paired with audio taper pots as that’s what I’ve installed for the last 20 years. I’ve always been curious tho, if using the parralel circuit causes the high end to come thru an audio taper like a linear, would a linear produce a reverse audio? Like would it produce a reverse bell curve where it tapers off slowly with a quick drop on the bottom end? Can’t think of a reason why it would even be useful 🤣 but still interesting to think about.

Thnak you! Very well presented!

Great. Thank you ! Just need a bit more comparison of different treble bleed mods with fuzz and volume knob behaviour. Can you tell please, How can i make kinman style series treble bleed a little less bright, closer to original wiring? Is it possible to make series mod less bright and make taper curve behaviour just a very little closer to linear curve in same time? (I just don’t understand what capacities will suit for this task) i really like volume swells on parallel mod, but fuzz compability is really important too and series mod is a little bright at first 1/4 turn on volume pot for it.

Came for the great mod video and liked also the fuzz!😄 Waiting for the next video about it!!!

I like the series-parallel. To my ear there something special about it. Although I still have to try what Ibanez's treble bleed on those JS1000 series. They sound smooth for those Dimarzios pu when volume is rolled down.

Put a 1nf cap un a muddy sounding les paul special Treble pickup, now I can roll the vol down to 3/4 for an almost acoustic Guitar tone , it actually sounds better than a big humbucker with that 1nf cap now. Don't even need a fuzz/OD pedal cos you can turn the master vol of the amp up and use the Guitar vol pot as a "Master" control..I almost got rid of the LP special till I put this mod in and replaced the the bridge with a Faber aluminium wrap around. So for a few quid(solder- 1nf cap from an old TV and a bit of patience and a torch ) a mediocre sounding instrument becomes the Guitar every-one wants to borrow!!

Thank you!! This is amazing and I am subscribing based on how good this video is alone

Thanks for that video. Now, that fuzz sounds extremely great. What circuit is it based on? Is there a kit one can buy?

Thank you. I've recently thought that it would be best to keep you guitar volume and tone at "5" and then adjust your amp accordingly. My reasoning is that if your controls are set to 8-10 you really have no where to go but down. Unfortunately, this won't work on my guitars, as they all have audio taper pots which, IMO, "wastes" 60-70% of the functionality of the control(s). But, I'm not too keen on swapping the pots for linear taper, as I'd have to have a tech do it and I'm trying to save money. Does anyone know of popular guitar models (that you might find at Guitar Center) that have linear taper pots?

Awesome Video, but now that I have all this new knowledge, does that mean I have to quit acting like a dumb guitar player? It's always a great learning experience when I watch your content.

Thank you, really helpful video and explanations.

Great videos..I have a problem with my Les Paul studio p90 pickups..My first e string is quieter than the others, what can i do to make it louder.?

WOW! Amazing (and a lot of ) work! Thank you!

I hope I have a 1 nf cap sitting around so I can try the series. From your examples I think it might be the right balance for my purposes as well. I’m a vol knob worker and I’ve always actually liked how it rolls frequencies off and the series seems like it retains a bit of treble but not as much as some of the other options.

I have a Strat that does not have a treble bleed circuit. The way I wire it, it acts as a treble bleed without anything added to the guitar to achieve the effect. It does not lose the highs as you turn the volume down and the pickups are opened up more and the output increases compared to stock type wiring.

Excellent video!! thank you!! i have a question, months ago i did the mod using 1200pf Cap and 130k resistance in series, but i noticed you are using slightly different values, does it make a big difference? thank you!! Subscribed!!!

Such a great, great demonstration 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Thanks for explaining this so clearly; great playing, too!

I wonder if this would work in the effects loop in something like a Fender Hotrod Deville/Deluxe? Great vid!

I wouldn’t want a treble bleed on a Les Paul, or any guitar that allows me to blend 2 pickups, but I’ve got the simple one on my Tele, and I love it. I generally run my Tele at about 6, and crank it up to push my amp a bit for dynamics, and my treble/bass balance doesn’t change. If I turn down enough (below3) it begins to function like a treble boost.

Could I use these mods on a blend pot, either for passive pickups or passive plus piezo, and does the pot value matter?

I think i have to ad a resistor for better results in dimmed Fuzz Situation...thanks a lot !!!

Great video! I learned a lot!

What are the values and what taper on the Mystery TBP

Wow, what a great comparison!!! Thank you for prefacing it with understanding what a treble bleed actually is. I've put a few in some telecasters but only because someone trusted told me I needed to without really understanding the core of the physics of it. One question, the mystery piggyback pot, Is that linear or audio? And is the smoothness of it because of the type it is? The mod? or both ? Thanks

The value of all five are all the same so there's no change in treble roll-off as you switched from one to the other. To each his/her own but I refuse to pay for a PIO cap that does the exact same thing as a ceramic, Mylar, or polypropylene cap all do... great informative video!

Waylon, so the mystery mode using a dual stack vol pot which is "wired for BOTH" Non-Treble bleed pot#1 and Treble bleed pot#2? Can you do a lesson about different Grease Bucket tone circuits because a Grease Bucket is adding a series cap to the tone parallel cap .033uf or .047uf so the series cap is adding in high pass so the tone control is not so muddy and dark.

What is your experience with the different capacitors that are available for treble bleed types. I found capacitors from 1pf up to 850pf and 1nf up to 47nf.... How they are related to the potentiometers of250w and 500w? I have had the idea to install a small potentiometer for fine tuning the treble bleed, but I found this now in the internet. 🤔

I've been using parallel bleeds but I quite like the series. What are the values you used in that series bleed? I use a telecaster mostly and would like to make that same one. Thank you!

I have a question and your experiences would be interesting: What do you prefer 50's wiring Vs. 60's with treble bleed? Plus: Does fuzz care?

Excellent content,thank you very much for sharing.