2016 Les Paul Standard DIP Switch Control Assembly Functions
2016 Les Paul Standard DIP Switch Control Assembly Functions
Among the array of the unique features on the 2016 Les Paul lineup of Gibson USA guitars is the DIP switch functions, allowing for a seemingly endless number of tonal adjustments. Read below for further insight into how this impressive control assembly works, and what you can do to achieve your desired sound!
Push/Pull Control Functions: Down is traditional Humbucker. Up is modified
Neck Volume: Up to Tap/Split
Tap or Split determined by DIP Switch location
Bridge Volume: Up to Tap/Split
Tap or Split determined by DIP Switch location
Neck Tone: Up for Out of Phase
Reverses electronic phase of Neck pickup to be opposite of Bridge pickup when both pickups are combined resulting in a thinner, hollow-type tone with a distinctive mid-range character.
Bridge Tone: Up for Outer Coils/Down for Inner Coils
Determines which coil is active during coil-splitting and tapping.
Result= The Outer coil of the bridge pickup will have a brighter and thinner tone than the inner coil. The Outer coil of the neck pickup will have a deeper and warmer tone than the inner coil. When both pickups are combined, the inner coils will have a distinctive mid-range character while the outer coils offer more balanced highs and lows.
NOTE: All Volume and Tone controls feature 500K Audio Vintage Taper pots and “50’s” style wiring.
5 Position DIP Switch Functions:
1. Neck Pickup Tap or Split (Tap=Off / Split=On)
Tap = Technique that accesses (taps into) the pick coils through a filter. Effectively accents a particular frequency range for a “tuned tap”.
Result= Fatter, P-90 style single coil voice with balanced output. Also offers lower noise and hum than true single coil.
Split = Isolates one coil in the humbucker pair. This effectively changes a humbucker into a single-coil pickup.
Result= Brighter single coil sound with lower output than humbucking.
2. Bridge Pickup Tap or Split (Tap=Off / Split=On)
Tap = Technique that accesses (taps into) the pick coils through a filter. Effectively accents a particular frequency range for a “tuned tap”.
Result = Fatter, P-90 style single coil voice with balanced output. Also offers lower noise and hum than true single coil.
Split = Isolates one coil in the humbucker pair. This effectively changes a humbucker into a single-coil pickup.
Result= Brighter single coil sound with lower output than humbucking.
NOTE: The pickups are Reverse Wind/Reverse Polarity to retain hum-canceling operation when both pickups are combined.
3. Neck Volume High Pass Filter (Treble Bleed) (Off=Out / On=In circuit)
As a volume control is turned down, high frequencies tend to be attenuated. The resulting sound is darker as the volume is lowered due to the interaction of the coil inductance and the volume pot. The High Pass (Treble Bleed) circuit effectively offsets these losses by passing higher frequencies as the volume is lowered. This effectively results in a cleaner, “crisper” sound at lower volumes
4. Bridge Volume High Pass Filter (Treble Bleed) (Off=Out / On=In circuit)
As a volume control is turned down, high frequencies tend to be attenuated. The resulting sound is darker as the volume is lowered due to the interaction of the coil inductance and the volume pot. The High Pass (Treble Bleed) circuit effectively offsets these losses by passing higher frequencies as the volume is lowered. This effectively results in a cleaner, “crisper” sound at lower volumes.
5. Transient Suppression (Off=Out of Circuit / On=In Circuit)
Transients = A sudden, loud spike from the initial attack phase of sound.
Example: Pick attack or noise.
ON = Works to suppress the harsh transient noise or spikes which A/D convertors can sometimes pass when recording directly into the high impedance input of a DAW interface or digital mixer. Due to the inherent input compression of typical guitar amplifiers, this circuit is virtually transparent even if left on in the circuit.
