Brighter Tubescreamer

[rthryhorysak]

I recently built a ts808 clone, but experienced a problem. The pedal has no clarity and high end. Is there a way I can add a bit more high end. I was thinking take out the 51p cap, but are there other ways to do so? Thanks

[Frank_NH]

Does it get bright only when you max out the tone control?  If so, get a W20K (W taper) potentiometer and use that instead of the 25K linear pot.  My TS build's tone control didn't work right until I got the correct tone pot.

[Transmogrifox]

220n following the 1k resistor from the op amp output is rolling off the highs.  You can mess with that -- maybe even put it in series with a 100 ohm resistor or so.

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Some other ideas below if playing with the above doesn't do what you want
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Often "lack of clarity" in the high end reveals a need for a mid scoop -- often down around 250 Hz.  A bit of fiddling with the tone stack may help here.  Make the low roll-off a little lower and the high rolloff a little lower too so it lets more of the high fundamentals through and not only the fizz.

That would mean changing tonestack 220 nF cap to something larger -- like maybe start with 330n.

Another thing you could do is change the 47nF cap in the op amp feedback grounded leg to something smaller.  That will give it more bite, but you will lose the fullness of sound.  It's about right for tightness of crunch.  Much higher and it sounds a little bit thin.

I personally think of the TS as being too bright already, so I usually add 10 nF in parallel with the 47 nF to shift it down a bit and add more body.

[rthryhorysak]

Yeah it gets bright when maxed, but tone control does work correctly. I will order a different taper and see if that fixes it. I also play around with the 47n but that did not seem to help.