Tone Control for Boosters?

Started by Canucker, December 12, 2012, 12:27:17 AM

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Canucker

The only boost pedal I've really made use of is the Electro Harmonix LPB. Everyone comments that it adds some bass to your sound and I agree...then they often go on to say that change the caps to this or that value....what about adding a tone control rather then swap in and out various caps till you find one that suits you that day. I've never seen a booster with tone control but maybe I haven't looked hard enough since I don't really make use of them.

Eric.nail

Just recently i made a Super Duper 2 in 1 and added a big muff style one pot to it. Worked out pretty damn well too! was able to pull out some of the flabby bass and actually cut in some decent highs rather than just a wall of "BLHkldghas[dghal". And yes that's how i feel like it sounds without the tone control. ha!

I came, i saw, i taught little kids guitar for extorted prices.

tca

You could try a Garnet type tone control:



Just adapt C2, C3 and R3.

Ref.: http://amps.zugster.net/images/articles/tonestacks/
"The future is here, it's just not evenly distributed yet." -- William Gibson

Gus

Quote from: Canucker on December 12, 2012, 12:27:17 AM
The only boost pedal I've really made use of is the Electro Harmonix LPB. Everyone comments that it adds some bass to your sound and I agree...then they often go on to say that change the caps to this or that value....what about adding a tone control rather then swap in and out various caps till you find one that suits you that day. I've never seen a booster with tone control but maybe I haven't looked hard enough since I don't really make use of them.

It does not add bass it load the guitar/cable RLCs and reduces the highs. 

If you add a tone control to a simple boost like LPB you need to take into account the output Z of the boost and the input Z of what follows it.  You can add a buffer or boost after the added tone section.

Ben N

I know you are looking for a tone control for your LPB, but if you want to explore tone control by variable loading, try: http://www.runoffgroove.com/omega.html
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Canucker

I have the lpb to mess around with since its already built but I was more or less asking in general why you (or I actually) never really see boost pedals with a tone section. I figured it would be kind of useful and still pretty simple...and apparently it is!

tca

Any tone stack will attenuate your signal, and it does not make much sense to put it on a booster circuit. I guess that's the reason why you don't see tone controls in boosters. The Garnet type tone control is a clever idea to circumvent this attenuation. The configuration permits to do so with a smaller attenuation than other circuits.

Of course you could add a "regular" tone stack and add another booster at the end... but that would not be a simple one device booster.

Cheers.
"The future is here, it's just not evenly distributed yet." -- William Gibson


Canucker

Quote from: tca on December 12, 2012, 12:24:17 PM
Any tone stack will attenuate your signal, and it does not make much sense to put it on a booster circuit. I guess that's the reason why you don't see tone controls in boosters. The Garnet type tone control is a clever idea to circumvent this attenuation. The configuration permits to do so with a smaller attenuation than other circuits.

Of course you could add a "regular" tone stack and add another booster at the end... but that would not be a simple one device booster.

Cheers.
I just learned what attenuate means! I really have no background in electronics and have just been building things from available layouts. I figured that doing something different with a boost would be an easier place to start with getting creative. So does adding a tone stack to any effect cause signal loss? I etched a couple of pcb's with this design to put into something...would I have to do something extra to bring the volume back up?