Can you explain what to "dime" something means?

[bigjonny]

I've seen this piece of jargon float around a lot, and I think I get it â€" does it mean to "crank" the circuit to the maximum level?

Anyhow â€" seems like it gets thrown around enough, it'd be good to have a thread that explains it.

Anyone?

EDIT: Changed my overly verbose Subject.

[BobPavao]

Hello,

To turn to "10"...

Bob Pavao

[bigjonny]

Thanks BobPavao, but it really should be "11", shouldn't it?  That's what all my pedals turn to.

[Hal]

but then that would be to "penny and dime" it.

[bigjonny]

but then that would be to "penny and dime" it.

Oh, I see.  Dime = 10¢ and all.  Why did I not "get" that before?  Silly me!

[guitarmonky55]

Thanks BobPavao, but it really should be "11", shouldn't it?  That's what all my pedals turn to.

my amp turns to 11  i used a sharpie over the 10

[zachary vex]

for years fender made amps that went to 12.  i guess they were diming and then putting their two cents in as well.

[bigjonny]

for years fender made amps that went to 12.  i guess they were diming and then putting their two cents in as well.

Ah yes, my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe goes to "12", wheras my Prosonic only goes to "10".  Guess that's why my Hot Rod is louder, right?  :lol:

[bigjonny]

Anyhow, I thought that "diming" something had its roots in electronics not in 10¢itude.

Maybe we ought to reevaluate this term?  I propose using "hendecasize" when we really want to make something sizzle.

[vseriesamps]

Or maybe just to "dollar" it . . . (x100)

K

[Paul Marossy]

Well, it really doesn't matter if a knob can be turned even up to 20. A pot typically has a 270 degree rotation. Whether it says "10", "12" or "20" is immaterial, it's just how many numbers they insert in that 270 degrees. "Diming" the controls really means to max the control, all the way to the right.

[javacody]

I thought it was when you sold 10 dollars worth of something rolled up in a baggie? Although, from what I hear, money doesn't go as far as it used to. LOL  

[Mark Hammer]

The origins of the Spinal Tap use of "11" are actually pretty clever and a true insider's joke.  Here's the origin, as I've understood it.

For generations, the face of the rotary clock was used as the standard for any sort of controls, but most particularly in nautical use.  That way, when someone said "Set the course/control for 3 o'clock", it was perfectly clear where the control/course would be set, and accidents could be avoided.  Naturally, controls would often be labelled with a 1-12 nomenclature so that control positions could/would correspond to the directions given.

Of course, the use of "12" tended to outlive the use of the clock-face arrangement, and in due time become somewhat dissociated from the original arrangement and purpose/reference.  When Fender amps initially came out, the "12" numbering arrangement was used, but if you look at any Fender amp from the pre-1960 era, you'll see that the "1" is essentially where 7 would be on a clock face, and 12 is where 5 would be.  Small wonder the nautical-electronic connection was not apparent to many.

Well before the vintage market evolved, legend had it that the older Fender amps tended to break up a little more easily and had a nicer distortion than the CBS-era Fenders.  We have a better sense of that now, with respect to the way early amps were designed in anticipation of weaker pickup signals (which were also partly a result of playing style, and NOT just pickups alone), and later amps were redesigned to accommodate a more aggressive playing style and still stay "clean".  

Of course, in a pre-internet era when there was little to go on except for stuff you heard or overheard in music stores or in beer-infused post-gig chatter, what tended to stick was that the Fender amps "that went up to 12", were somehow better and had the sound people wanted.  I recall that somewhere around 1974 I had heard that the Bassman was supposed to be great for guitar, but never really heard any distinction between tweed, blackface, brownface or silverface attached to that "tip".  Such was the thoroughness of amp wisdom at the time, and such was the basis of amp legends.

The superficiality of beliefs among musicians about this amp and that one, when the movie "This Is Spinal Tap" was made, was such that I'm sure Norman from Norman's Rare Guitars (who supplied the instruments in the famous "Goes to 11" scene) had plenty of shake-your-head-in-disbelief stories.  With Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, and Christopher Guest themselves having a musical capacity, I gather they had heard lots of similar legends around L.A., and the most foolish of them found their way into the movie, including "goes to 11" (11 being hommage to 12), and "Don't even look at it" (regarding a Fender VI bass that still had tags on it and had never ever been played).

Shortly after the movie came out, DiMarzio came out with a line of Tufnel-inspired accessories, including guita knobs that would also go to 11.

I have to say that my wife and I went to see Spinal Tap when it came out.  At that point, I had been the proud owner of a tweed Princeton for about 6 years or so, and I must have been the only person in the entire theatre to laugh during the "goes to 11" segment.

[panasonic_youth]

well,  you could acctually MAKE a stompbox go to 11 by buying a slightly larger pot. that would be the only real sense in it aside from the asthetics.