Boss GE-7 "level" boost/cut - 20k pot instead of 10k?

Started by aion, July 14, 2015, 10:44:28 PM

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aion

GE-7 schematic for reference: http://www.hobby-hour.com/electronics/s/schematics/boss-ge7-equalizer-schematic.png

What (if anything) would need to be adjusted in order for this part of the circuit to be adapted to a 20kW pot (TS tone control)? Would it work as-is or would a person need to adjust the proportions of the resistors to get the same behavior?

I like the boost/cut functionality of this level control over a typical output volume control for "balance correction" situations where getting all the way to zero is pointless - e.g. an EQ circuit like the GE-7. It's just more user-friendly having the center be flat. I understand pretty well how it works—it's basically a Tube Screamer tone control, but with a corner frequency of 7 Hz so essentially full-range, and the resistors are set so it's almost exactly 15dB (5.54) as advertised. But I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around the importance of the actual pot value, and how this application is different from the TS tone control.

snap


aion

(Do you mean R26 and R27?) Since this is a non-inverting configuration, would the input resistor have any impact on the actual gain structure other than dropping the load on the input?

If I was tacking this onto another circuit could I do it with just that single op-amp (5/6/7 of IC4) and some coupling caps?

Thanks.

snap

R24/25 was referring to swapping VR1-VR7 (a misunderstanding).
For changing VR8: R26 & R27, and possibly R2. You want to put this section into the Pearl-Eq?

aion

Yep, that's what I'm looking at doing. I always liked being able to tweak the GE-7's level so you could use it as a frequency-driven boost pedal as well - like placing it right before a drive pedal to essentially get a second channel out of it and bring out different clipping characteristics.

Could it feasibly replace the entire first stage of the EQ - that bizarre parallel-transistors bit? I would normally think to tack volume stuff on the end of a circuit, but the GE-7 puts it before the frequency sliders and I think that makes perfectly good sense in a unity-gain circuit like this one.

PRR

> 20k pot instead of 10k?

Just do it.

The ill-effect is a wider zone of "not much happening" at center. At the ends the effect is the same. You also get an insignificantly lower hiss level. All in all, not worth re-calculating everything.

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blackieNYC

BTW, I swapped my ge7's op amps (4558s?) for TL072s and lost a fair amount of hiss.
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aion

Thanks so much for all of your help. I feel like I "leveled up" in my understanding of op-amps after diving into this (along with the Pearl PE-10 in another thread, which this question is related to) and figuring out the "whys" to accompany the "whats" that you guys all generously provided. I was having a hard time finding a good technical explanation of what was going on until I came across this:

http://www.ecircuitcenter.com/Circuits/op_bandcut_boost/op_cutboost.htm

It helped me see the GE-7 level control as basically a full-frequency (high pass above 7 Hz) boost/cut tone control. I understood the two extreme ends, but I was having a hard time understanding what was happening in the center position of the pot where the gain is 1. But reading through that article and playing with the SPICE models, I realized that in the middle position, the attenuation at the input is the exact inverse of the gain at the op-amp, and it clicked from there.

Anyway, I doubled all the resistors to accommodate the 20k pot, and left the 10uF cap in place since it's full-frequency anyway and we're talking a difference of 7 Hz vs. 3 Hz. Haven't tested it out yet but I think this is going to be perfect.