Valvecaster tonestack insertion loss

[HeavyFog]

Alright first post, lets hope i'm doing this right.

So i'm planning on building a valvecaster since i really like the sound i can get by making a few small changes to a few values. Only thing i don't really like is the tone control, so i'd like to remove it entirely and add a 2 band tone stack in between the 2 stages for a bit more control and hopefully a better sound. I'm divided between a brown face Fender stack and the Baxandall stack and the only thing i'm concerned about is getting enough volume to overcome the insertion loss caused by adding in a tonestack since all the other valvecasters iv'e made had a fairly low volume when compared to other drive pedals. The plan right now is to run it at 12v dc for a bit more headroom with a JJ 12au7. I'm not looking for a massive increase in volume so i don't mind if it doesn't get that high above unity volume so would either of these tone stacks get me close to that or would the difference in volume be minimal? If the volume loss is too much would doubling the voltage to 24vdc make any difference? I'd like to keep the circuitry all tube.
Any help is appreciated!

[vigilante397]

Welcome to the forum

The Valvecaster is a killer circuit, loads of people have built it, but the tone stack is a common thing that comes up. My best advice would be to breadboard it, or if that isn't an option find some non-permanent way to wire it up so you can hear for yourself if it's going to be a huge difference. I would also recommend just trying it without any tone stack at all. You'll have a lot more gain, and frankly I've always thought the stock Valvecaster was too dark and cranked the tone most of the time anyway.

As for running at an increased voltage, what kind of sound are you looking for out of this pedal? If you're actually trying to get a drive, increased voltage will give you increased clean headroom, meaning less dirt. If you're going for just a tasty clean boost in order to push a tube amp, it might work out for you.

Hope this helps

[stallik]

The valvecaster can sound very dark. My first 2 were like this and I always had the tone at max so built the third one with no tone at all. I've recently discovered that much of this was to do with the input cap. By lowering the value (lots but adjust to taste) the tone control comes into its own, there's more overdrive and less mud.
I'm currently using 2 values on a switch - can't remember what they are and can't look as I'm away but the point is, it's worth at least socketing this cap. It's likely that the effect of a different tone stack will be altered by changing this value

[HeavyFog]

Thanks for the help guys! Iv'e actually tried it without the tone control at all (had a switch installed for that option) and i didn't find much of a difference personally. Maybe its just because of the changes i made to some of the values like lowering the input cap to 0.022uf and lowering the plate resistor values made that difference minimal but i never found it changed the gain so much that much that it made a large difference. Il probable try out both stacks and experiment with values to see what one i like more and maybe later il try and add Rick Holt's tremolo add on.

[HeavyFog]

Ok iv'e settled on the brown face fender tonestack and to solve the problem of any posible insertion loss i added a second valvecaster circuit in series after the first to bring up the volume levels. Il run both at 24vdc on the plates and 12v on the heaters for better headroom. Then i decided to add 2 more cirquits in series before those 2 and now i looks like il be building a quadcaster. My only concern now is figuring out values for the input and output caps. I removed the 1uf cap from the first 3 cirquits so the input cap of the next circuit will become its output cap. Don't want things to get muddy so i lowered the values of the first 2 circuits so the end result isn't overly bassy but i still should get a good range from the tone stack.

Stage 1: 0.022uf
Stage 2: 0.022uf
Eq stage: 0.082uf
Stage 3: 0.047uf

Should i really be worried about the values of these caps and is removing the 1uf caps a good idea?