rangemaster questions

[airplanehuh]

i just built a dallas rangemaster. it all seems to work good but i was just wondering if you were supposed to lose any bass frequencies when it is on. i'm pretty sure this one is actually cutting some lows as well as boosting the highs. would biasing the transistor have anything to do with that? or does anyone know of any mods that increase bass response. i guess it would be pretty simple to mess with the values of the input and output caps. also is there supposed to be any gain produced by this pedal alone or does it only increase the gain through the input of an amp or another pedal?

[petemoore]

Lost pages...oh well... short version
 Changing the input cap...

[petemoore]

LArger value input cap begins attenuating bass at a higher frequency waveform...or...lets more bass into the circuit.
  GEO Rangemaster article, printed out, aided me in learning...and Rangemastering, which depends on many things, results may vary quite widely from amp to amp, guitar pickups etc.
 .0047uf is often referred to as 'small', adding a different incap value and switch is an option frequently referred to with Rangemaster.
 Socketting that cap, for the 1rst rangemaster tweeking session [these things really should be tweeked] is something I'd like to be able to pre-suggest...I dislike bringing that up at this point in a Rmaster project...if you mess with an input cap socket, don't splash the solder around...that way trying more bass into the circuit is liek changing a light bulb.

[Dragonfly]

i just built a dallas rangemaster. it all seems to work good but i was just wondering if you were supposed to lose any bass frequencies when it is on. i'm pretty sure this one is actually cutting some lows as well as boosting the highs.

it is working EXACTLY as its supposed to then...its a "treble booster".

does anyone know of any mods that increase bass response. i guess it would be pretty simple to mess with the values of the input and output caps. also is there supposed to be any gain produced by this pedal alone or does it only increase the gain through the input of an amp or another pedal?

try increasing the input cap.....a .068 has a nice balance of lows, but retains enough high end to cut through....



andy

[R.G.]

i just built a dallas rangemaster. it all seems to work good but i was just wondering if you were supposed to lose any bass frequencies when it is on. i'm pretty sure this one is actually cutting some lows as well as boosting the highs.

No, it's not. It's a treble boost pedal; that means it has some gain, and cuts bass a lot. The two are the same thing.

would biasing the transistor have anything to do with that?

No. Bias sets the DC conditions on the transistor. In general, bias has no effect on audio frequency response, although this is not always true for some RF devices.

or does anyone know of any mods that increase bass response.

Change the value of the input cap. Bigger input caps give a lower bass rolloff frequency, and therefore the appearance of more bass. At some point, between 0.5uF and 1uF, you have the rolloff point below what a guitar produces, and no further increase in capacitance will increase the apparent bass response.

i guess it would be pretty simple to mess with the values of the input and output caps.

It would be, yes.

also is there supposed to be any gain produced by this pedal alone or does it only increase the gain through the input of an amp or another pedal?

The pedal is a simple transistor gain amplifier, with frequency shaping by the input cap. It produces gain on its own. I'm not really sure how you would make a pedal that only increased gain through the input of another amplifier.

By the way, have you read the 'Austin Treble Booster' article at GEO?

[bwanasonic]

also is there supposed to be any gain produced by this pedal alone or does it only increase the gain through the input of an amp or another pedal?

The pedal is a simple transistor gain amplifier, with frequency shaping by the input cap. It produces gain on its own. I'm not really sure how you would make a pedal that only increased gain through the input of another amplifier.

I think this may be a case of the word gain being used as a synonym for clipping. The Rangemaster does produce some clipping, but if you have a clean amp with tons of headroom (ex. Fender Twin Reverb), you might not achieve the desired results. I personally found that having the bias set higher than -7v made for a really trebly *transistor radio* sound. The Rangemaster is not a distortion pedal per se. It does it's magic by beating the frequency specific snot out of the amp (or next pedal in your signal chain).

Kerry M

[barret77]

agree.

my amp, for example, (an old gibson tube) goes from the complete clean to the break limit; the volume knob ends where the distorted sound would begin. So the rangemaster magically kicks in and produces some "creamy" tone...
oh my God, I need to build my own, the ge transistor is here waiting for me...

[R.G.]

I think this may be a case of the word gain being used as a synonym for clipping.

Yeah- could well be. That distinction is so clear to me that I completely miss it when someone else doesn't have it.

To airplanehuh:

Gain is not clipping or distortion. Gain is making a signal bigger. Clipping or distortion is making it distorted. You get distortion by using too much gain for the electronics to respond linearly, but gain is not equal to distortion.

[airplanehuh]

man you guys get real specific. sorry i tend to use slang terms that i hear thrown around a lot, i just figure you guys would be able to tell which way i would be using the word based on the context and for the most part you did. so why does the word matter that much? i guess i'm a little anti-proper english and bit newbie-diyselfer.

thanks for all the help.

in geofex's rangemaster article it says to get a new transistor if you have to go above or bellow certain resistor values during the biasing process. is that simply because the pedal wouldn't sound anything like a rangemaster or is there a more important reason?