Onboard preamp ideas?

[Xavier]

OK here's the question.

I have two guitars, a Carvin Bolt strat, and a Washburn N4. I'm completely happy with the Carvin as it sounds bright and clear, with lots of natural resonance to it. The N4 sounds dull in comparison. Dull, dead-sounding, less wood, Floyd trem........ I know humbuckers sound darker than single coils, but I used to have humbuckers in the Carvin and the resul wasn't nowhere the same, so in order to match the sound of both guitars I want to modify the N4 to my tastes. I have some ideas in my mind:

- Raising the volume pot value from 500K to 1M. Difficult, as it's one of those "big" pots and finding a 1M can be tough. What would happen if I just wire a 500K resistor in series with the actual pot, wouldn't this be the same?

- Some kind of preamp. I don't want it as a booster. I want it to bring some life to the guitar. That means adding some sparkle (buffer?) and body, so it can't be a "flat" booster. Would the Tillman or Stratoblaster work for this purpose? or are they just clean boosts?

Thanks in advance

[Ben N]

A "flat" booster can indeed add "sparkle" by reducing the deadening effects of cable loading.  Any very high input impedance buffer or booster on board (i.e. ahead of the cable) will increase "sparkle".  JFETs (like Tillman) will do it, MOSFETs, like the AMZ Mosfet Boost, even more so.

Ben

[Xavier]

Just built the Tillman preamp (in 10 minutes. what a tiny piece of stripboard !!!) ,no gain pot, wrapped up in heatshrink tube, and tried it with a guitar similar to mine, a Washburn CS780 with cheapo stock pickups and Floyd Rose.

I still have to test it with my guitar and amp, but this thing probably will solve the issue. There's a *slight* volume increase -you really have to AB it 4 to 5 times until you notice the effect, and sure it has added some sparkle. It really makes the sound to come alive. Reminds me to the AMZ Mosfet boost -which is on my board- functioning as a buffer. Cleans things up and injects some "air".

I think this is another succesful build....

[TheBigMan]

There's about 3dB of boost with the Tillman preamp.  Not much, but noticeable if you know it's there.

[Paul Marossy]

If you want more boost from the Tillman circuit, put a 3.3 or 4.7uF cap to ground in parallel with the source resistor. I also like to use a 10K pot on the source so I can dial in the exact voltage that I want to have on the drain.

[Xavier]

There's about 3dB of boost with the Tillman preamp.  Not much, but noticeable if you know it's there.

Exactly, you MUST know it's there , otherwise the perceived effect is a presence increase, but not a boost per se. Maybe if I had used a different J201 the boost would have been more prominent, but to me it's OK as is. We'll see tomorrow with the rest of the band. Everything changes usually , but as I said I don't want it to boost.

BTW, I've built it following your vero layout !!!! I didn't mention it on my previous post, my fault....

[TheBigMan]

 

I deliberately made that one tiny in case anyone wanted to fit it into a guitar.

[Plectrum]

I have two guitars, a Carvin Bolt strat, and a Washburn N4. I'm completely happy with the Carvin as it sounds bright and clear, with lots of natural resonance to it. The N4 sounds dull in comparison. Dull, dead-sounding, less wood, Floyd trem........ I know humbuckers sound darker than single coils, but I used to have humbuckers in the Carvin and the resul wasn't nowhere the same, so in order to match the sound of both guitars I want to modify the N4 to my tastes. I have some ideas in my mind:

- Raising the volume pot value from 500K to 1M. Difficult, as it's one of those "big" pots and finding a 1M can be tough. What would happen if I just wire a 500K resistor in series with the actual pot, wouldn't this be the same?

There's also the issue of which humbuckers... they can go from hot n fat and compressed (ie. seymour JB) to bright and punchy (dimarzio bluesbucker) and thats leaving out the filtertrons, toasters and mini's. I'm not normally a big fan of dimarzio's, but the bluesbucker (the name's irrelevant) has a dash of p90 character to it, great in sweeter toned guitars. Word is, the fralin split pups are good too.

The volume control tricks are pretty subtle, and change the working range of the control.
Grant

[Xavier]

Well, I have the experience of having the very same pickups installed in different guitars, the sound is different, and heavily influenced by the woods used. I have a Bill Lawrence L500 in the bridge and an SD 59' in the neck position. Acoustically the guitar sounds already dull, so to me there's not any doubt, and the BL is a bright pickup in my book !!.

Haven't tried the Bluesbucker, but after trying almost all the DiMarzio catalog, they seem to overimpose their own character over the guitar's...

[Plectrum]

Well, I have the experience of having the very same pickups installed in different guitars, the sound is different, and heavily influenced by the woods used. I have a Bill Lawrence L500 in the bridge and an SD 59' in the neck position. Acoustically the guitar sounds already dull, so to me there's not any doubt, and the BL is a bright pickup in my book !!.

Haven't tried the Bluesbucker, but after trying almost all the DiMarzio catalog, they seem to overimpose their own character over the guitar's...

You're absolutely right, was just checking that avenue was covered...
I agree about the dimarzio's, but for me, the bluesbucker stands out.

There is also the option of an exiter circuit. I know this is heresy for many players, and I havn't tried it myself - but they are gaining popularity in some camps - it may be worth a thaught...? 

Grant.

[Xavier]

Well, I have the experience of having the very same pickups installed in different guitars, the sound is different, and heavily influenced by the woods used. I have a Bill Lawrence L500 in the bridge and an SD 59' in the neck position. Acoustically the guitar sounds already dull, so to me there's not any doubt, and the BL is a bright pickup in my book !!.

Haven't tried the Bluesbucker, but after trying almost all the DiMarzio catalog, they seem to overimpose their own character over the guitar's...

You're absolutely right, was just checking that avenue was covered...
I agree about the dimarzio's, but for me, the bluesbucker stands out.

There is also the option of an exiter circuit. I know this is heresy for many players, and I havn't tried it myself - but they are gaining popularity in some camps - it may be worth a thaught...? 

Grant.

And the most funny thing about it , is that actually our company distributes the whole range of Aphex products in my country, and that includes the Guitar Exciter, which we have in our warehouse.

Thanks for the idea, I'm taking one home and see what happens.

Anyway, I like the idea of having the circuit mounted into the guitar. I have way too many pedals already.....

[Plectrum]

And the most funny thing about it , is that actually our company distributes the whole range of Aphex products in my country, and that includes the Guitar Exciter, which we have in our warehouse.

Thanks for the idea, I'm taking one home and see what happens.

Anyway, I like the idea of having the circuit mounted into the guitar. I have way too many pedals already.....

LOL, that's funny!... been thinking of trying one out myself - But I did mean to build a circuit on-board... I did a search here and there's not much hard info on exciter circuits, appart from the usual "steep hi-pass filter with clipping" stuff.
I'd be interested to know your findings.

Grant.