Please browse the following information before you purchase your ATN to ensure you have all you need to get the most from it.
These are some of the important things you need to consider before buying your ATN in order to avoid disappointment with not being able to fit it to your beloved guitar. Not all guitars are created equal……..but for this, not all guitars are created with the same electronics, control cavity space and access, pickups, potentiometers (volume and tone controls), switches….the list goes on, but these are the most important ones for this purpose. Be sure to check our Returns Policy as ultimately it is your responsibility to make sure the ATN will fit where you want it to. Thank you.
Control cavity size.
Control cavity size varies from guitar to guitar. Sometimes even between different brands of the same style of guitar. During testing, for example, it was noticed that some different Strat type guitars had different depth cavity routing. If it is going to be tight then you have the option to route out your cavity but make sure you (or whoever you let at your guitar!) are confident that you know what you are doing and will be happy with the results. This one is totally on you!
The ATN is pretty universal but you do have to check and measure that you will have enough space to fit it before buying (see our Refund Policy). e.g. You may prefer the ‘bottle cap’ version but it is bigger and won’t fit in the cavity of a typical Telecaster, whereas the cuboid version will.
Check the individual listings of each type of ATN for dimensions.
Dimensions.
The ATN comes in several styles and sizes so make sure you know there is enough space in your control cavity for a particular one. Although they are pretty close, the ‘Bottle Top’ varieties vary and are typically a bit bigger than the ‘Cuboid’ version.
The wires on both are typically at least 8cm long and reach all the control configurations we have tested. If you think you may need longer wires, drop us a line via our Contact Page before you order and request longer wires (specify the reason and how long you require them).
Pickups.
The ATN will work with any pickup. During development we tested them with Strat and Tele style single coils, several different types of PAF style humbuckers, mini humbuckers and also high gain humbuckers. All gave a great response, although the higher the DCR (Resistance) and output your pickups are, the lesser the response in the more subtle tonal variations, especially when cranking up the gain. The optimum response is from Strat / Tele / PAF spec pickups.
Make sure you read the drop down box on ‘Amplifier settings’ for more on compatibility.
Switches.
For the more typical control configuration you won’t have to touch your guitar pickup selector switch. All the magic happens after the switch, which is great because it means that the ATN shapes the tone of any pickup you choose. As you switch between pickups you can learn to quickly change the tonal characteristics too. Maybe you love the ‘woman tone’ on the neck pickup but when you flip to the bridge, you want to cut the bass. Try every configuration and you will soon find some gems.
Controls.
The ATN has three parameters (four if you count the volume functionality!). Guitars don’t often come with three tone controls! Here is some information on how we get the ATN to work with pretty much any type of tone control configuration so that you can decide if you need to buy anything else before you can fit your unit:
ONE TONE KNOB: Replace the original tone knob with a 500K B Linear push/ pull pot. This way you get one paremeter as ‘on/off’ with the push/pull and then blend the other two as ‘either/or’.
TWO TONE KNOBS (3 single coil pickups): You don’t have to change anything here, if you prefer, as it all works with Tone 1 as one parameter outright and Tone 2 as ‘either/or’ between the other two parameters. You can blend Tones 1 and 2 together.
Ideally we would say to change Tone 1 for an ‘Entwistle Smoothtrak’ 250K or use a standard 250K A (log) pot and change Tone 2 for ideally a 250K MN pot (or a 500K B (linear) pot if you have a spare, otherwise buy the 250K MN pot for best results). Changing these will make the transitions smoother as you wind in the parameters (they can feel a bit sudden otherwise) but if you don’t want the expense and hassle, just use what came on the guitar. You can always upgrade later.
TWO VOLUME / TWO TONE KNOBS: There are two useable configurations here. If you really want to keep the separate pickup volume controls, you can change your tone pots for push/pulls as per the ONE TONE KNOB guidelines above, just doubled. The most versatile way is to have one universal volume and assign the other three controls a parameter each. Again, you can utilize what came on your guitar for this but you will get a smoother blend if you change the second volume control to a 500K A (Log) pot.
Amplifier settings.
We tested the ATN with many different amplifier settings. It works with all, but the higher you crank up the heavy gain, the less you will hear the more subtle tone shifting. Like with any EQ, it gets masked by the distortion.
This doesn’t mean the ATN doesn’t work with overdrive. It does. In fact, the ‘woman tone’ really sings with some gain.
The ATN works best with higher treble and/or mid-range settings. These allow the harmonic content to really shine.
The best advice we have for you here is…..experiment! Don’t just stick to your old settings because that’s what you have always used. Be brave!
The tone in your head.
We may not all be ‘tone-chasers’, as such, but we are all still chasing a beautiful tone from our guitars. The ATN would be a great addition to the guitar of any style player who wants to sculpt their tone more than standard controls will allow. Perfect for professional studio/session musicians, gigging/recording musicians and bedroom players, alike.
Check out our ‘What does it do?’ section for some more in-depth insight on this.