What does the Varitone control on a Gibson guitar do? Let Joe Bonamassa show you in this lesson from the blues maestro

In this column, I’d like to feature a very rare guitar, a 1959 Gibson ES-335 fitted with a Varitone circuit. For those who missed the previous column, the Varitone is a multi-position tone control that offers six distinctly different EQ settings. It also puts the guitar in stereo, so one needs to use a stereo cable to access the instrument’s wide array of sound possibilities.

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Joe Bonamassa

Joe Bonamassa is one of the world’s most popular and successful blues-rock guitarists – not to mention a top producer and de facto ambassador of the blues (and of the guitar in general).