Browser-friendly Tone Stack Calculator

[jatalahd]

Hi all,

In some random thread almost two years ago there was some interest for having the classic Duncan's Tone Stack Calculator as a web-application. Me and fellow forum member ~arph had some discussion about this at that time, but the idea did not catch fire then. A few months back I decided to return to the idea and actually make a prototype. Luckily it was semi-successful. Today I want to release the proto to the public. The "main" page is currently the info page:

http://www.guitarscience.net/tsc/info.htm

That page has some details of the implementation, which replicates the original TSC frequency response for each tone stack. The links to the calculator pages are in the top part of the page, as in the original TSC. Currently we have discussed with ~arph that he would help on the visual side of the pages, so most likely there will be some development coming in the future. Also if someone is interested in contributing to the project (more tone stacks, more features), the project files are in GitHub, just send me a personal message for more details.

Hopefully someone will find this web-based TSC useful and fun to play with.

[marcelomd]

Awesome. I was thinking about doing this myself, but got stuck with the circuit->equation conversion.

I really really appreciate that.

Thanks.

[Chugs]

Great!

[ElectricDruid]

Excellent work, thanks. Bookmarking that right away!

Tom

[samhay]

Bravo.

Edit - you've been busy. There is a whole lot more to look at http://www.guitarscience.net including a very cool look book.

[GibsonGM]

Nice work - bookmarked!

[blackieNYC]

Nice!  never used it.

I take it these values are the original default Rs and Cx? It is amazing what it takes to flatten the response of these amps!  Which leads me to the question - did marshall, fender, vox, intend for the user to start at settings of "5" or 12 o'clock  for B&T&M, and start there?  Or might the manufacturers have actually recommended or shipped their earlier products with certain EQ settings. 
I had learned this at some point, but I would think Leo would say  "that's the sound right there - that BM&T equalization. Now to give each band +/- 15dB from this point."

Aria - very interesting! that notch gets so narrow it won't be observed as what we think of as a "notch".

[thermionix]

Are you going to have a way to edit pot tapers?  The Duncan TSC defaults to a linear mid pot for Fender, but it should be audio (log).  You can change that in the Duncan program, not seeing how to in this browser version.  I realize you said it was still in prototype form.

[thermionix]

did marshall, fender, vox, intend for the user to start at settings of "5" or 12 o'clock  for B&T&M, and start there?

Marshall just intended to copy a Fender Bassman.  Fender probably just copied an example circuit from a tube manual or something like that.  Leo didn't even play, but he knew when he heard sounds he liked.  Jim was a drummer and store owner, let Ken worry about cloning Fenders.

[GibsonGM]

I take it these values are the original default Rs and Cx? It is amazing what it takes to flatten the response of these amps! 

Aria - very interesting! that notch gets so narrow it won't be observed as what we think of as a "notch".

And remember...if you COULD make the response totally flat...you probably wouldn't like it       

Any time I've come close to making one flat, I found it lifeless...

[boppy100]

Thank you.  As a chromebook user, this is great.

[Bill Mountain]

This is fantastic.  Thank you!

[jatalahd]

Are you going to have a way to edit pot tapers?  The Duncan TSC defaults to a linear mid pot for Fender, but it should be audio (log).  You can change that in the Duncan program, not seeing how to in this browser version.  I realize you said it was still in prototype form.

This is a good idea. I will most likely add a dropdown menu infront of each pot-slider, to select the taper.

I take it these values are the original default Rs and Cx?

I did not go that far to evaluate the true terminating resistances in the amps. I used the values that were in the original Duncan's calculator. For some stacks it is quite sure that those are not "exact", and for example the E-series stack does not have the load resistance included in the model.

[Chugs]

If possible, including the Snapshot feature from the original would be great. Was useful for comparing changes when adjusting frequency response.

[deadastronaut]

brilliant, nice one man....bookmarked. 

[anotherjim]

A think Ampeg amps were some of the few that could actually, easily, set flat. They used the James or similar from what I've seen. Josh Homme uses them with pedals to take the sound elsewhere. Low-mids boost around 300-400Hz apparently.

Nice app' , and bookmarked of course.

[duck_arse]

take that, windows! nice to find something that'll run on linux [I'm using Vivaldi browser].

[jatalahd]

Just a small update on the progress.

Thanks to the contribution from ~arph, the visual presentation is now much more appealing. We also added the suggested dropdown menus for selecting the pot taper.

The project is still work in progress, but without any official project plans. Most likely this year there will not be any more updates.

[iiimonfire]

I just came upon this and it is excellent! Thank you!

Just a feature idea - I want to modify the filter cutoffs more quickly, and I find myself repetitively iterating through the following actions:

• Click "edit"
• Modify various resistor and capactior values (not only RB, RM, and RT)
• Click "Apply"

Could you implement sliders for these other Resistor and Capacitor values?

[j_flanders]

Instead of sliders, in Falstad you can simply hover your mouse pointer over a component (resistor, capacitor etc.) in the circuit and start scrolling up or down. It shows a menu with standard values and you see the effect on the frequency response 'in real time'. You can also double click a component to set a specific, non standard value.
You need the Java plugin in your browser for the applet though.

https://www.falstad.com/circuit/