Do volume and tone knobs make a difference?

[FromBelow]

ok so i wanted to buy some new knobs for my bass and for my guitar because they didnt match on my bass and i was at guitar center and i asked a guy who worked there about them and he said that some knobs who arent meant for the guitar ruin the sound of the guitar so i was wondering if thats really true? because i have regular black knobs on my explorer guitar and explorers always come with those knobs that have the numbers on them (i didnt put those on by the way, it came like that when i bought it used)

 

[Volpe25]

Do you mean controlling the volume and tone or the actual physical knobs?

 

[Unrepresented]

Black knobs give the instrument a darker sound.

 

[FromBelow]

ok im sorry if i was unclear, basically my question is, if i had these knobs in the picture here, would they somehow alter or worsen the tone of my explorer guitar Link Removed

 

[afiaowo]

Black knobs give the instrument a darker sound.

I prefer wood. They're more organic!

 

[afiaowo]

ok im sorry if i was unclear, basically my question is, if i had these knobs in the picture here, would they somehow alter or worsen the tone of my explorer guitar Link Removed

They will not change your tone.

 

[rstellar13]

is this legit?

 

[hdracer]

I prefer wood. They're more organic!

But it has to be the right tone wood.

 

[smeet]

ok im sorry if i was unclear, basically my question is, if i had these knobs in the picture here, would they somehow alter or worsen the tone of my explorer guitar Link Removed

Absolutely not.

Knobs have no effect on the sound.
Don't listen to anything that salesman tells you. He is either an idiot or he was making fun of you. Either way, don't deal with him.

 

[pacojas]

Black knobs give the instrument a darker sound.

especially, if they are OEM spec!

 

[FromBelow]

ok thanks for the help, sorry if this post seemed like a joke, the guy at guitar center really convinced me but i guess he just wanted to sell me more expensive knobs

 

[alexer47]

Really? Let's think about this. The guy at GC is a knob. If you change a wall plate for a light switch to a different color, it wouldn't change the intensity of the light fixture would it? Again the knob works for GC. They aren't the brightest bulbs out there. I think it is the shirts they wear.

 

[steve_rolfeca]

Nice. Salesman makes fun of customers at their expense.

I bet his manager would be interested in knowing what this turkey is doing for the image of the business...

 

[MegaSwing]

GC needs to educate its staff about repeating everything it reads on the Internet.

 

[Hopkins]

The sales guy probably thought you were talking about pots, but he would still be wrong. Most guitars and basses use 500k or 250k pots. They are no different between bass and guitar.

 

[darkstorm]

Good grief. I thought it ws going to be a question about do better pots give better sound. Yes they do. But No, knobs have zero affect on sound except for turning shaft of pots which can affect both tone and volume. But the knobs themself have zero effect on sound.

Besides replacing mini pots with full size for better sound, choosing wether you want 500k or 250k will affect tone some.