Tone control on Crunchbox.

[THOMMO]

Hey folks, just wondering if some one could point me in the right direction for adjusting the tone control on my crunchbox.
I used this layout:
http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/main.php/v/diyuser/MI+Audio+Crunch+Box.gif.html
At the moment anything lower than about 75% on the tone control it's like throwing a wet blanket over the amp lol.
Really love the sound of this circuit though!! Here's the box from the pictures thread.

Cheers Jason.

[RandomGlitch]

Try a smaller C8 capacitor. Maybe 10 or 22nf. Maybe even smaller!

[J0K3RX]

Hey folks, just wondering if some one could point me in the right direction for adjusting the tone control on my crunchbox.
I used this layout:
http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/main.php/v/diyuser/MI+Audio+Crunch+Box.gif.html
At the moment anything lower than about 75% on the tone control it's like throwing a wet blanket over the amp lol.
Really love the sound of this circuit though!! Here's the box from the pictures thread.

Cheers Jason.

You don't have to mess with C8 at all... Replace R9 with a 20K linear pot! It will give you a new presence knob... night and day difference! Or, if you want just replace R9 with a 10k or 15k or 18k resistor... just depends on how much presence you want..? Say goodbye to the wet blanket! 

Edit: Here, maybe this will help... by the way, you can use a small 20K trim pot also.

[THOMMO]

Thanks for the replies guys  Unfortunately I don't think I have enough room for another pot. I'll check that out when I open it up again. Might go for the trim pot or maybe socket the resistor and find the value I like best. Now that I know where I'm looking the ideas are flowing 

[alexradium]

Yes that's version 2 of the CB,that presence trimmer is really the key to get multiple sounds.
There are many layouts for that around
Rapid riot has a nice one

[J0K3RX]

Yes that's version 2 of the CB,that presence trimmer is really the key to get multiple sounds.
There are many layouts for that around
Rapid riot has a nice one

Correct alex, CB version 2! The presence mod is a must do, even if you just change the resistor... I rarely ever change the presence knob once I find where I like it... Haven't seen the Rapid riot?

Another variant that I think I like even more than the crunch box is the tone freak severe!! If you ever get a chance I highly recommend that one for sure!!

[alexradium]

I tried the tone freak.
It was nice,but my Riot is better.

[J0K3RX]

I tried the tone freak.
It was nice,but my Riot is better.

You mean suhr riot clone?

[alexradium]

Yep

[J0K3RX]

Yep

did you do the jymaze mods? I really didn't care for it much until I did those... I owned a real Riot pedal and compared them back to back and there was no comparison! The real Riot was totally different and better by 100%! The jymaze mods fixed it but still sounded different than the real pedal but at least it sounded just about as good, maybe better..?

[alexradium]

I modded it a bit with my values and use it mostly with an Emg spc in front.
My opinion is that it lacks at least one stage,maybe just a buffer in front.
Guys that did RE stripped it down too much.
I heard JS mention a jfet once...

[THOMMO]

I ended up just banging a pot in.    What a difference!!!!

Thanks JOK3RX!

[J0K3RX]

Jason, you're welcome!! BTW - what is the chicken head knob doing on the right side? You have some kind of boost in there with the CB?

[njkmonty]

brian may treble booster?

[THOMMO]

It's a MayQueen circuit(bought PCB). I added two toggles, both on-off-on. One for clipping. Red LED's and 1n34a's. And one to add in bigger caps to the output. A .1uf on one side and a .2uf on the other. I called those options Smooth 1 and 2. This is the PCB on Ebay http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/May-Queen-Distortion-PCB-DIY-guitar-effect-pedal-/330775230856?pt=AU_Instrument_Accessories&hash=item4d03bd7988#ht_3393wt_1174. I think it was a bit cheaper when I bought mine 

[WGTP]

I modelled it with LTSpice and the 20K trim pot (which is the way my clone came) and placing the trim pot in the middle (10K) produced the least midrange.   

[mikestahlme]

Yes, the trim pot is a must! I made mine an external pot, which sounded great until the pedal suddenly became very gated and fizzled out. But the presence pot really expands your tonal options a lot!

[Goodrat]

I'd love to see the response curves from a simulation, because personally, mine sounds best with presence full up, so it may as well not be there.

[Goodrat]

I played around with an on line simulator today to understand the Crunch box presence control.
It seems to me that all the presence does is control how loud the highs can get with the tone control (more high attenuating slope slope to start with).
That's the best way I can describe it and it seems to have  nothing to do with mids as I heard somewhere.
I'm still not convinced that is useful. It would be like turning down the highs on your amp tone control.
I guess, maybe if you have many pedals and you don't want to tweak your amp every time you turn on a crunch box, but you could always just tweak down the Crunch box tone control.
I don't know, I don't get it.
Maybe they just couldn't decide what tone cap to use so it would sound good at max treble, so they put a trimmer and called it a feature.