Too much level when my TS808 is dimed!

[simpleobserver]

So I use a TS808 clone (BYOC OD 2) in my set up and I like the Tone and Drive knobs both between 9 and 10, almost dimed,  so the Volume knob has to stay between like 0 and 2, and the point where i totally lose all my tone is like a touch one way or the other.  How do I get more play out of the Volume, make 0-2 0-6 or 7?  It's a B100k pot in there now, it's not as simple as using a B25k pot in it's place, is it?  Maybe an audio taper?

[simpleobserver]

Lookin' at the slopes, I'm really thinking just changing to an audio pot will help a lot...

[slacker]

Yeah that should fix it, the volume pot should be audio/log.

[Mark Hammer]

You may be one of a handful of people on earth who complain that they are getting too much output from their TS-808.    Most will ask how to get a little MORE volume from their pedal.

But yeah, using a linear taper pot where a log/audio taper ought to be used instead will often result in problems such as you face.  It was a frequent ploy (or at least suspected as one) "back in the day" for manufacturers to use linear pots for volume on amplifiers.  The customer would come into the store, be super-impressed with how loud the amp was at "2" and presume that it would necessarily be concert-worthy at "7", when what they heard at "2" was pretty much as loud as it was gonna get.

[simpleobserver]

I'm giving the A100k pot a try and putting it back in my rig.  I'll let everyone know how it turns out after the next show!

[simpleobserver]

So... let's just say, hypothetically, I wanted to lower the overall output of the TS808, how would I do that?  Resister before the Volume pot, right?  Maybe trimmer? 

I use a pretty low output instrument and I'm thinking, hypothetically, if i wanted a straight into the amp sound and a dimed TS808 sound, how would I get the two a little closer to the same volume?

[mistahead]

Dimed or Dimmed?

Dimed I don't follow... Ten'ed?

[slacker]

Dimed or Dimmed?

Dimed = turned all the way up.

So... let's just say, hypothetically, I wanted to lower the overall output of the TS808, how would I do that?  

Turn the volume pot down, it should go all the way to off. If for some reason you want maximum volume on the pot to be quieter then yeah you can stick a resistor in series before the pot. This basically just gives you a pot that can't be turned all the way up though, having exactly the same affect as turning the pot down.

[simpleobserver]

How much resistance are we talking about?  Lets just say i wanted to cut output by half, how big a resister would i need to put in?  What's the equation? 

[Paul Marossy]

I prefer to say "Volume at Max". "Dimed" is technically incorrect when you have an amp "that goes to 12". What do you say then? "Twelved"? 

[bluebunny]

Aha!  So that's the etymology!  Never really thought about it before...   

So I guess that those of us on this side of the pond (UK) - and old enough - might say "tannered"?  And sticking with "old money", then what Paul is after is "shillinged".   

[mistahead]

Thats about it - I was sitting here reading "dimmed" assuming internet level spelling and was waaaaaaaaaaaaaay off.

[ashcat_lt]

How much resistance are we talking about?  Lets just say i wanted to cut output by half, how big a resister would i need to put in? 

The same as the pot value.

What's the equation?

Vout = Vin * (R2 / (R1 + R2))
Google "voltage divider".

[duck_arse]

I thought a shilling was 20 pence.

[bluebunny]

I thought a shilling was 20 pence.

1 shilling = 12 (old) pence, or 12d

BTW, I bollixed up "tanner" - that's a sixpence...   

[R O Tiree]

We could have "florined", Marc - that's a 10p bit in old money... and then "shillinged" when you turn it to "12".  Sadly, 2 shillings = 1 florin, so is it a shade more or just half?

I like "dimed", because it reminds me which one of nickel and dime is which...

[bluebunny]

"Florined" is exactly the word that escaped me, Mike.  Or 10p in present money.  So = "dimed".    "Shillinged" is for going up to 12.    We just need an amp that goes to 21, then we could have "guineaed"...   

[mistahead]

A resistor of around 30-50k in series with output before volume voltage divider?

I made that suggestion to someone the other day in a booster conversation and it seemed ok.

That assumed a 100k vr as a volume knob, and will probably effect tone...

[duck_arse]

blue,

we was at decimal currency before I ever saw one, but yes, shilling x 20 = pound. didn't 10 shillings = half-a-knicker, or a tanner?

what the hell were those people thinking, messing with money AND weights AND measures?

[bluebunny]

I think "half a knicker" is the average young lady in the average British town centre on a Saturday night...  <sigh>

Edit: ...and tanner was a sixpence, and yes, money, weights and measures were mostly completely crazy in this country for a very long while!

But if we're ever in need of a little nostalgia, we can always visit the States...