BSIAB - humbuckers/single-coils

[DWBH]

I like my BSIAB just the way it is, when I play with humbuckers. Fat, crunchy tone.
Now that I have gotten myself a single-coil equipped guitar, it sounds a bit weaker. Well, single-coils don't have half the gain the humbuckers do, so now the BSIAB sounds more like an overdrive to me.
The thing is, it's too brittle, to bright. I normally roll off a bit of treble with the tone knob on the Telecaster, but still, it doesn't sound right. I think it needs more clarity, and a bit of more bottom end and thickness. Probably changing i/o caps is the way to go, but I want to hear those who have had the same issue.
Do enlighten me.

[kungpow79]

I pretty much have experienced exactly what you're describing.  I have the BSIAB2 from GGG.  With my LP thru a Blues Jr, the thing sounds great.  However, with my Strat, it just sounds weak.  Thought I havn't tried adjusting the trimpot on the inside; I don't know if that would make a difference, but that would be annoying to have to adjust that thing everytime I switched guitars.  I don't know what to tell you, but at least you're not alone.  I think I'll keep tinkering with mine, and see if I can dial in some fat tone.  Maybe try a booster in front of the BSIAB2.

[DWBH]

Today, after months of not playing electric guitar thru a true, real, tube amplifier, I plugged my Tele into my BSIAB (and the pedal into the amp, obviously).
And, today, I loved it. I think I'm more used to single-coils now, and their brightness doesn't affect me anoymore. At least not negatively, as it, in the past, did. Now, I wet my pants when play that tele. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, so I really liked the tones today.
However, one thing I noticed between switching the pedal on and off, is that the pedal adds a tiny bit of treble to the sound.
Anyone felt that before? I mean, as a distortion/overdrive/whatever, it should, by nature, boost frequencies, but I think the added top end is just a little bit too much. I guess that it makes the distortion uneven and fuzzes it a bit.
Any comments?

[PerroGrande]

I've experienced the same thing.  My rig is set up exactly like I want it for my Les Paul (humbuckers).  However, when I bring out my P90-based guitar, it just doesn't have the same level output. 

My solution, which will undoubtedly be frowned upon by purists, was to build a clean boost (first in the chain) that I simply bypass when I'm using my LP.  I just set the gain so that my P90's drive the next stages with about the same amplitude as the LP... 

For me, this scores three big wins...

1) I don't have to monkey with my rig when I change guitars
2) I don't have to monkey with my amp when changing guitars
3) I present a high-impedance input for my P90s -- no tone sucking!

YMMV

[mdaudet]

With singles it sounds great, however its more like a heavy Brit drive than a killer distortion.

I suggest you to change the caps on the RC network at the end of the circuit, from 2n2 to 3n3 to cut more highs. Perform that and let us know.

¿Are you using 2N5457 in the first stage?

cheers.

[ubersam]

Try a 10uF or 22uF source bypass cap on Q1.

[DWBH]

With singles it sounds great, however its more like a heavy Brit drive than a killer distortion.

Exactly....
Thanks for the suggestions
I'm using the stock transistors (no mods changed there).

[aron]

for the added high end can't you just turn the tone knob down?

[John Lyons]

Up the source Cap (as Sam noted) to give you less treble boost.
Larger caps will pass more/all frequencies.
Smaller caps will pass upper freqs mostly (1uf)
You could put those on a switch. Normal/fat switch 

If you play with the BSIAB2 at half gain then you can make the treble bypass cap on the gain pot smaller
or just take it out. This cap bleeds treble when lower than 3/4 or so on the dial...making the tone brighter.

The 470k/470uf combo also is a treble boost/high pass filter. You can make the cap bigger and or change the resistor there.

There aren't really any input or output caps to make bigger so that's not an option.

john

[DWBH]

Try a 10uF or 22uF source bypass cap on Q1.

Should I remove C3a and C3b, or just put the capacitor you're talking about in parallel with the caps that are already there?

EDIT: forget what I said.

[DWBH]

I've quickly cut one leg of the treble bypass (treble bleed?) cap on the gain pot. Haven't done anything else, cause my soldering iron is on vacation...
Anyways, it improved (to my taste) the sound quite a bit, removing that high end that was kind of annoying. It also removed a bit of the background noise, so its a plus.

Next mods: up 2n2 to 3n3; 10/22uF on source bypass cap.