Multi-band tone controls on pedals... why?

[DougH]

Seriously, help me understand. Maybe it's pretty anti-tweaker, but why do people always want to add knobs? All I've found with multiple band tone controls on pedals is:

1) they negatively interact with amp tone controls
2) the require more space in an otherwise small and efficient build/enclosure
3) the "flexibility" offered translates to "hard to dial in a good sound"
4) it seems I've never had problems hitting the tonal space I want with one knob.

Thoughts?

I agree, to a degree. Heck, I just built an amp with no tone controls...

I think it depends on what you're trying to do with it and how it sounds. If you expect to use a pedal with a wide variety of different sounding amps/speakers, chances are you will need some flexibility in dialing in the EQ. OTOH, the typical T-M-B amp tone stack that gets replicated in pedals with little thought can get pretty silly. And yes I've done it too... But what I've found is that has a tendency to just exaggerate the tone shaping that is already in your amp preamp. IME, it looks impressive and seems like a good idea, but can be fairly "unuseful" when used in front of an amp preamp. Now, for using your pedal amp as a preamp for a power amp it is a different story...

I think the best answer is to consider how you're going to use the pedal and then do what you need to do. One or two well thought out tone shaping controls can really help your pedal work in front of different sounding amps and make it more generally useful to you. And with fuzzes for example, mid cut/boost can be fun to just add variety. But other things like boosters may not require tone controls at all. IMO, just avoid doing something without thinking because it "seems like a cool idea". Test it out on the breadboard first and then build it to suit your needs. That's what DIY is all about.

[DDD]

Mid cut/boost is a great thing even in the "clean" booster if we think of the booster as of the pre-distortion tone shaper for the amp.
Also, the simpliest mid control (-3 to -15 dB at 900 Hz) is very helpful when you're playing even absolutely clean. It can greatly improve the sound of the not-so-expensive guitar.