The best blues-sound single-knob tone control?

[smoguzbenjamin]

Hey all.

I'm designing a "small" multi-FX box to contain the basic bluesy/rock effects I like. I intend on fitting it with a DoubleD distortion, EA tremolo and a Stage Center reverb, all in a nice wooden case with an alu front footswitch to switch effects. Pot-wise I can just about fit it in, however I am constricted to one pot for the DDs tone control. (The chassis I have is pre-drilled.)

So my big question is, for a bluesy & rocky sound, what would be the best tone-control circuit to hang off the end of my DD?

Cheers in advance
Ben

[Mark Hammer]

Definitely NOT a BMP-style control.  If all you want is a single control, something like the 1-pole lowpass filter found in the Rat is close to ideal in my view.

[smoguzbenjamin]

We're talking 100k log pot, 1k5 resistor and a 3.3nF cap to ground, right?

[Mark Hammer]

That would be the one, although the component values can be changed to suit the context.  Some folks like .0047uf with the Rat, and there is no requirement to use THAT pot value.  All you need to remember is Freq = 1/(2*pi*R*C).  The 1k5 resistor in the original simply sets the highest rolloff point, and the pot value, when added to that resistor, sets the lowest rolloff point.

For example, say you had a .0047uf cap, a 3k3 fixed resistor, and a 50k pot.  The treble would be rolled off starting around 10.3khz at max treble, and around 635hz at min treble.  If you changed the 50k pot for a 10k pot, it would go from 10.3khz to about 2.5khz.  Up the cap from .0047uf to .0068uf, and you'd shift the range from 7.1kz to 1.76khz.  And so on.

Remarkably effective, and excellent for easily nailing your own "woman tone".

[SteveB]

...Up the cap from .0047uf to .0068uf, and you'd shift the range from 7.1kz to 1.76khz.  And so on.

Remarkably effective, and excellent for easily nailing your own "woman tone".

That sounds interesting. It seems that the frequency range changes with the turn of the pot. How would I go about making a fixed frequency boost/cut control. Sort of like a fixed 1 band parametic EQ. I would want to leave the highs & lows intact, but perhaps lessen some of the mids in the 700hz-2000hz range.

Thanks,
Steve

[Johan]

..no advice here..just a "WELLCOME BACK BEN"...hav'nt seen you around the last year...

johan

[Mark Hammer]

...Up the cap from .0047uf to .0068uf, and you'd shift the range from 7.1kz to 1.76khz.  And so on.

Remarkably effective, and excellent for easily nailing your own "woman tone".

That sounds interesting. It seems that the frequency range changes with the turn of the pot. How would I go about making a fixed frequency boost/cut control. Sort of like a fixed 1 band parametic EQ. I would want to leave the highs & lows intact, but perhaps lessen some of the mids in the 700hz-2000hz range.

Thanks,
Steve

For that, I will direct you to the articles on Parametric EQ over at www.geofex.com, and the schematic for the Anderton midrange booster that Jack Orman has posted over at www.muzique.com ( http://www.muzique.com/schem/ca-eq.gif ).  The Frequency booster doesn't offer cut but it offers a nice boost that is easily retunable and defeatable via a simple SPST switch.  Note that these stages can be cascaded.

[smoguzbenjamin]

Ghehe thanks Johan. I posted a little hello note over in the OT forum.

I think I'll stick to the values in the rat schemmo I found over at GGG for my schematic, I'll fiddle with them when I get home in three weeks time and have about a month of spare time to build this baby

My tone's gonna rock  :roll:  :twisted:

[aron]

Try the Shaka HV tone control and modify for your pedal. It's been very good for me.

[smoguzbenjamin]

Cool, thanks. I'll try both and see what I choose. I don't know if I will be able to post this month, don't have much time to be online, but you guys'll see me around anyway ;)h

[Ge_Whiz]

For blues tones (and general guitar tone controls), I've never been a fan of the old capacitor / pot combination. I much prefer a six-way (could be a 12-way) rotary switch with a series of capacitor values from about 1nF to 22nF (experiment according to pickups) switched across the output of the guitar.