Despot wrote: ↑Wed Sep 19, 2018 2:46 am
+1 to what David had to say on the varitone Yannis.
You're pulling out frequencies and you do get a perceived fall off in volume with that. Think of the varitone as a pre-set EQ pedal - it takes a bit of time to figure out how to use it ... but when you do it's actually a pretty useful feature. The absolute best thing about these reissues is that they've wired them for mono with a varitone!! Stereo wiring on the old guitars isn't a show stopper (there's a specific cable made by a UK company that will convert stereo into mono output without losing anything), but it does mean that you always have to have a cable specifically for the guitar in the case - and if that cable craps out you're out of luck.
As for the use of the varitone - I was never a huge fan of Suede, but Bernard Butler used his '61 (or '60?) ES355 for a lot of the early stuff and would routinely switch between settings between the chorus/verse of songs - you can get some pretty huge differences in sound when just going up or down a setting on the varitone - couple that with effects and it can be pretty useful.
It's weird with mine it seems...not only is there a tone shift, but the drive on the amp goes lower too...it's not just frequencies.
When I plug in straight into my Nano amp I usually have it on full and just roll the volume. If I go through the Varitone switches the distorted tone is cleaner and cleaner. Strange.
Well, not to worry, I still love position 1
On the Butler front, I am a huge fan of the first two albums where he played on...the story goes he had a '60 or '61 355 and it got stolen on tour, so Gibson got him another vintage one (I think that one is a '61) so long as he would endorse Gibsons. There was a great interview of his just after he left Suede on one of the UK guitar mags (not Guitarist, the other one....can't remember the name right now)
Resident Spartan.