Well there's another use for that tone control you ignore.

[Mark Hammer]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Guitar-Parts-Electronics-ACTIVE-CIRCUIT-MOD-Distortion_W0QQitemZ7343110683QQcategoryZ7266QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[Bill Bergman]

I think it kinda neat. :oops:

[Fret Wire]

Tone boost version.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Guitar-Parts-Electronics-ACTIVE-CIRCUIT-Expander-BOOST_W0QQitemZ7343770812QQcategoryZ7266QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I don't think you'll be using a FF or Rangemaster with these.

[Arn C.]

Buy Them Here:

http://www.guitarheads.net/main%20pages/electronics.htm

Peace,
Arn C.

[Fp-www.Tonepad.com]

Cool.

I've thought of including a purple peaker inside my strat.

Fp

[vanhansen]

These 2 examples actually sound pretty cool.

[bwanasonic]

The tone (and volume) knobs on my guitars are vital parts of my sound, and are never ignored!  Combined with the pickup selector and picking-hand technique, I am constantly modulating/tweaking the timbre.


Kerry M

[petemoore]

Preetty Coool.

 The kids are gonna love this.

[Joe Hart]

Did anyone notice that one of the settings is "clean overdrive"? Kind of an oxymoron.

But it sounds kind of cool, and looks pretty professional. And not too expensive either... hmmm...
-Joe Hart

[Joe Hart]

Oh yeah. I also use my tone control and volume knobs all the time, too. Although I don't get anything as radical a change as this guy does!
-Joe Hart

[spudulike]

UK/Europe buy em here. Scroll down about 1/3 of the page. Prices are £26 to £29 (free postage). I have fitted these to other people's guitars and they are pretty darn good

[powerplayj]

I like this little gem...

http://www.billlawrence.com/Pages/Pickup_Window/Q-Filter.htm


I wire it straight into my middle Strat pickup via a tone control (I also use a master TBX tone control for my neck and bridge pickups).  When you roll of the middle tone control using the Q-filter, it is like reducing the impedance of the pickup.  So, you get a semi-acoustic tone when you turn it down to 1.  It  is also useful for emphasizing the "quack" when combining the middle pickup with either bridge or neck via the slector switch.

[Coriolis]

Cool idea, and reasonably priced, I think. Personally, I would love a Frank Zappa style Boost/ Parametric EQ built like that with SMD...! Now that would be something! Guess I'll have to build me one somehow... :wink:

[Paul Marossy]

I would love a Frank Zappa style Boost/ Parametric EQ built like that with SMD...! Now that would be something!

And how!  

[bwanasonic]

Personally, I would love a Frank Zappa style Boost/ Parametric EQ built like that with SMD...!

I often wonder what this specific circuit is. I know it was built by Frank's brother-in-law, *Midget* Sloatman. Keep in mind that he used that EQ in the context of a setup using a veritable flottila of amps, at a very large scale, air mass wise. Combined with his uncanny knack for frequency recognition, it made for the greatest display of controlled feedback I have since witnessed.

Kerry M

[Paul Marossy]

it made for the greatest display of controlled feedback I have since witnessed.

I remember the first time that I listened to that three album set "Shut up and Play Yer Guitar", I really wondered how he had such great control over what sounded like raging feedback that never got out of hand. Then I re-read the Oct. 1995 issue of Guitar Player after Zappa's death, and they explained how he did it and then it suddenly all made sense. It's just brilliant!

Here's a quote from that article:

Working with Frank's discerning ears, Sloatman developed an onboard preamp/EQ system that was eventually installed in nearly every guitar Frank played. "They were identical parametric filter circuits", explains Sloatman. "One of the filters was set for the bass frequencies from about 50Hz to 2kHz and the other one was set for the top end, from about 500Hz up to about 20kHz." The filters had a variable resonant frequency ("Q") independent from the EQ gain. You could find a tone and get right on top of it, tweak it, and nail it", says Sloatman.

Now that we know how it was done, there must be something out there that can be adapted to do this...

[Mark Hammer]

There are an abundance of parametric EQ-section circuits floating around.  The best provide identical Q for both boost and cut (not always guaranteed that boost is as selective as cut in all such circuits), greater boost and cut, greater sweep of resonant frequency, and of course less distortion.  For our purposes, "best" also means something that will run off a 9v battery and draw little curent.

Of course, if all one is interested in is being able to have extreme emphasis of a specific frequency when you want it, then the simple circuits RG Keen has at GEOFEX in the Parametric EQ made easy article will probably do nicely.  Since the user doesn't care about whether the cut is as selective or extensive as the boost, these simple circuits are well-suited to the purpose.

[Paul Marossy]

I was just having a thought... anyone familiar with Anderton's "Frequency Booster" circuit? It seems as though you could use a pair of these to get something similar to Zappa's setup. Any second opinions?

(Project #10 in "Projects For Guitarists")

[Mark Hammer]

It's a decent circuit and simply, just not the degree of selectivity or boost that some players might want.  Frank Z's tone was pretty intense.  The Anderton circuit can't do that.  On the other hand, if you want a nice Billy Gibbons gronk out of your overdrive, it will do that nicely.