Tone circuit idea posted at hammer.ampage.org

[Mark Hammer]

I've been really impressed with the flexibility of the tone control I ended up with on the Rosey-Ray (wish I could lick the low-frequency oscillation thing, though), and have posted a kind of generic structure schematic of it, with an explanation of what it does and how to make it do tricks.  While I haven't stuck it inside of one, my gut sense is that a marriage between this circuit and just about any of Joe Davisson's high-gain pedals (Blackfire, Obsidian, etc.) would be really nice, with a very broad range of colours and textures; more than any 3-knobber has to right to.

Step right up and try your luck ladies and gents, no matter what continent you live in.

(Postscript: I just checked, and the link is not working right.  I'll have to get back to you on this one)   :oops:  :cry:

[StephenGiles]

The closing words of your post remind me of...........Step right up folks, see Little Egypt do the famous dance of the pyramids, she walks she talks she crawls on her belly like a reptile, just ........remember the Downliner Sect??

[puretube]

http://ampage.org/cgi-bin/hammer/index.cgi?I=0
interesting read,there! Looking forward to the schem...

[bioroids]

This sounds really great, I hope you can fix that link soon!

Luck

Miguel

[petemoore]

Enticing description...sounds very interesting indeed Mark.

[WGTP]

Mark, if you get a chance, try the Boss OS-2.  It has a SD-1 type circuit/sound that is mid-range heavy on one side of the blend knob and a DS-1 notched mid circuit/sound on the other side of the knob.  It also has the standard treble control.  Interesting effect, sort of like panning between a Tube Screamer and a Distortion Plus with added eq to accentuate the differences between the 2 types of distortion.  I find that I start the evening more to the SD-1 side and end the evening more to the DS-1 side.  The idea of a "Morph" control greatly appeals to my tweakiness.  

[strungout]

I've thought some about the BMPTC (Big Muff Pi Tone Control - another for the acronyms thread!) since I put it in the strong gout. Basically, the BMPTC is a "blend the signal from two types of filter" control, so those filters could be as simple as the original or as complex as filters get?

I finally got around to building the Rosey-Ray, I really like the metal side of it   :shock:  I'm not big on mids, tho since I found a Megadeth tape, they been creeping up on me....

[Mark Hammer]

You're the first person I've heard make one of those besides me.  Do you have a problem with interference from oscillations at high gain settings?  

As a metal pedal, it has some ridiculously searing tones, largely from the unintended feedback path through the tone control to the input of the second stage (an entirely serendipitous and unintentional version of the "sonic death" circuits that Ansil and others have tinkered with).  I find it also responds to a wah ahead of it really well.  It sounds "stressed" the way that some of Steve Vai's and Frank Zappa's wah sounds appear stressed, like they're gonna break.

If the tone control shown there (and unfortunately not illustrated at the posting on my page  :oops: ) works right, it packs in treble cut at one end of rotation and treble boost plus mid cut at the other.  As used in the RoseyRay it pans between two different clipped signals, but it can also be used to pan between a single clipping stage's output and two different types of filtering.  Just don't expect as much change in tone as achieved with the RoseyRay.

[strungout]

No oscillation or overwhelming hiss. Of course, I made some minor deviations to accomodate for what parts I had: I omitted the 500k gain pot for max gain straight out, used np caps for the two 2.2uf, have a 200k + 47k in the fb loop of the 2nd stage and my volume pot is 100k. Other than that, I use the power module from ROG to power my project board which has a 47uf cap at Vb.

I added the same notch in the RoseyRay to my modded rat (in paralell with the original tone control) and I like it, I can add a bit of that searing tone to the mix or go metal. Only drawback as you might have guessed: there's a huge difference in volume from full rat to scooped mids. A 470k after the rat lp to compensate does the trick of leveling things out, but also changes the "balance" of the two and lower the overall volume one can get out of it.

Maybe you can have someone else host the rebel image while things are worked out.

[RickL]

I guess I'm the second one to build (or at least post about) this one. I thought I was getting the same oscillation problem you describe at higher gain settings. I first tested it in a hotel room through a little battery powered practice amp with a 5 inch speaker and I was getting oscillation at high gain with the tone control turned up anywhere past about 1/4.

When I tried it at home through a JC 120 I didn't have any problems. It has a great range of tones from reasonably mild overdrive with the gain and tone turned down to very metal sounds with both turned up.

More people should be building this one.

[Mark Hammer]

Given your vast array of pedals, I'm truly flattered to have that endorsement.  Thanks, Rick.  The original was tested out with a little pedal-sized battery-powered amp and 3" speaker so there are "sins" which don't necessarily get heard during development (I hope that black thing I showed you will help in that regard).  I wish to heck I knew what to do to both predict and constrain the oscillations so that it could be used in any context without problem.

But yeah, I find it's one of those designs that makes you go "Whoa, is that the same pedal?"  Immensely satisfying in that regard.  Stick a wah in front of it, dime the tone and distortion controls, and you're instantly into Steve Vai territory....for better or for worse. :wink:   Responds VERY nicely to wahs.

[toneman]

Hi Mark,
i can get to--

http://ampage.org/cgi-bin/hammer/index.cgi?I=0

and read the text...no problem.

But what about the gif....says "not on this server"??
U know,  pictures worth 1K words......etc etc...

LMK
AFN
tone

[Mark Hammer]

I'm not sure why, but all attempts to post the gif by the standard means provided to me by Steve "T-Boy" Morrison (the AMPAGE webmaster who graciously provided me with the space and coding) are not working.  I'll see if I can Photobucket it and link you there until all of this is sorted out.  At the moment, it is another 66 minutes until they open for registration, so be patient.

[Marcos - Munky]

I can't access the file too. Anybody can send it to me in my e-mail (NOSPAMdiygescorp@yahoo.com.br)?

[Mark Hammer]

Okay.  You can go here now: http://photobucket.com/albums/v474/mhammer/

[Kleber AG]

Hello Mark

I tried and it says: """*Account is private"""
And ask for username and password...

Thanks for sharing your stuff with us!
Kleber AG

[Peter Snow]

Mark, it tells me the account is private and requires a password....

Cheers,

Peter

[stm]

WARNING, TIP AHEAD!

For BLAAAAZZIIING FAAASTT picture posts I use:

http://tinypic.com

You just browse the location of the image on your HD, press "Host It", and then copy/paste the address it gives!

No bloody delays or registration!

Regards,

STM

P.D.  Don't forget to save a link to the actual image if you plan to use it for future reference.[/b]

[Marcos - Munky]

Here asks for a password too.

[Mark Hammer]

Obviously I don't know how to use Photobucket.

Let's try this one: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/mhammer/FlexibleMetalEQ.gif