Hi dlwalke,

The tone control is pretty important on your guitar and can be used to create different types of tones when paired with your amp's settings.

Generally, if you want to keep your amp at a very specific setting, you can use the tone knob to back off on, say, your highs, by closing the tone with the knob.

It's a lot easier to simply adjust your knob on the guitar while playing, than going to your amp, bending down and adjusting something.

To reiterate, maybe you have your treble set pretty high on your amp, but you want to turn the treble down a little bit, you can use your tone knob to sort of control this, depending on the pickup you're on.

If you're the only guitarist in a band, and you're playing rhythm, you can simply turn the tone knob down so that your guitar isn't cutting through when it's not supposed to. You can then open the tone all the way and let the trebles through with the knob really quickly if you need it for a blistering solo as well.

It's just a simple and convenient way to sort of control treble, and tweak your tone overall for the situation. But you are right, sometimes you may not even need to worry about the tone knob at all. A lot of guitar players simply leave it all the way open, and go on with their day. It really depends on the style you're going for and the genre of music you're after.

It doesn't hurt to have more options, that's what I say.

-Billy