ccssdxdx Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 Hello, I've recently purchased the ultra II and I'm blown away by such sweet sound it makes. The one thing I noticed about the gibson guitars is that there are 4 knobs you can turn on the body, but it doesn't say which one is which. Could somebody explain which knob controls tone/volume on my ultra II? I've played around with them for quite a bit but they seem to reverse roles as I select rhythm or treble - I'm fairly new to the gibson lineups :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccssdxdx Posted June 4, 2009 Author Share Posted June 4, 2009 Thanks a lot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grant Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 The knobs on the front of the Ultra ll are not the same as a standard LP. When the U-2 is standing in its stand upright and you are looking at the front of it, not holding it, two of the knobs are the same as a standard LP- the upper left is the volume control for the neck humbucker, and the upper right is the volume control for the bridge HB. But the lower left knob is a master tone control for all three pickups- you did know there were three right? The lower right knob varies the volume from the humbuckers to the Nanomag and I explain it further in a post I made to another new owner of an Ultra ll: Congratulations on the new Ultra ll. I've had mine over three months now and still love it. The action was very good as delivered, the satin neck will become slicker as you play but will still be faster than poly. The corners of the nut on mine were very sharp so I carefully filed them down a little to make it more comfortable to play. The nut is not hard plastic like my dot but some kind of softer bone-like material or maybe resin infused plastic so go easy if you decide to smooth the corners. I will give you my thoughts on using the Nanomag. First, I don't think of it as being an acoustic pup but rather a single coil that is much more Strat like than a P-90. I think it sounds rather shrill or tinny by itself and needs to be blended with the HBs. I think it sounds most like a Strat when blended with the neck HB. As for the Nanomag controls, I don't know why they put a gain control on an "acoustic" pup but I think having the gain more than halfway up makes the pup sound shrill. Problem is there really is no volume control for the Nano so if you turn the gain too far down you will lose your volume. The Nano "volume" knob on the front is really a continuous toggle between the Nano and HBs, but not exactly because if you turn all the way clockwise toward the Nano, you will still be getting the HBs as you have probably figured out. If you go counter clockwise you get the HBs but not the Nano. It sounds a little weird but I like it because as I said I don't like the Nano by itself anyway. When I want a Strat sound I turn the front "volume" knob all the way clockwise to the Nano then balance the HBs in with their volume controls, usually neck-8 and bridge-6. So the Nano gain is about 1/2, the bass dimed and the treble about 2/3. In Strat mode one does not have the power of an LP so I have to turn the amp up when I use the Nano/HB combination. If you haven't seen this yet take a look: Ultra ll demo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordy01 Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Grant described the controls very well. If you see the demo he left a link to, you will see that the guy is using an A-B - A+B switch. I've gone to that as well, and it makes the guitar even easier to use. Just a suggestion to make life easier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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