SHO tone talk !!

[HOTTUBES]

Is there any way to change the EQ or tone of the SHO , i'm finding it also to be a bit loose and muddy sounding at times when the
Volume is set past half way etc .



Thanks for any help !

[guitarmageddon]

I know what you mean, I sometimes find it a bit wooly with humbuckers.
Changing the input cap (the 100nf one) for a smaller value will reduce the bass content.
The last one I built used a .47uf cap there, but try a few to find what you like.

[anchovie]

I know what you mean, I sometimes find it a bit wooly with humbuckers.
Changing the input cap (the 100nf one) for a smaller value will reduce the bass content.
The last one I built used a .47uf cap there, but try a few to find what you like.

Eh?

.47uF = 470nF = bigger than 100nF!

[HOTTUBES]

Thanks for the tips , i will play with the cap value there and see what i like .....

[guitarmageddon]

SORRY!
I meant .047uf, or 47nf.

Geez, I finaly thought I'd found a help topic simple enough I could answer, and I screw up my repy!

[HOTTUBES]

Thanks for the " Heads Up "  !!


.047   !!

[HOTTUBES]

Ok , one more question


How do you control the amount of gain this circuit can put out , cause with the volume dial past about 1:00 o' clock it really starts to add gain .
Just wanting to know if there's an easy way to cut the Gain and increase the clean volume ?



Thanks for any help !

[guitarmageddon]

AFAIK the SHO just isn't a clean boost.
Instead you may want to try the Linear Power Booster (LPB) which is cleaner, or the AMZ booster/fultone fat boost, which are very clean.

[HOTTUBES]

I have a AMZ boost pedal that I built , and it has even more gain on the top end .

LPB & FATBOOST i have not tried ...

[WGTP]

You might set it where it starts to distort and check the bias to see if it is around 4.5v.  If it is off some, it might effect the gain and distortion. 

[Mike Burgundy]

Strange. The SHO was purposely built as a CLEAN boost, which it very definitely is. I believe it's capable of multiple Volts (!!) of clean output. I'd say it's not the SHO but the next stage (your amp, f'rinstance) that's doing the mushing/clipping, or there's something wrong.
- to avoid confusion, please be very clear on what you mean by gain.
Increase in clean volume by amplifier stage: *that* is gain. If that amplifier stage cannot put out the desired voltage swing and goes into cutoff/saturation, distortion of the signal occurs, introducing harmonics and compression which is often (wrongly) referred to as "gain".

[joegagan]

i've had SHOs, they were cleaner louder than the lpb1s and other boosters. the only other one i tried that was nearly as clean was gus smalley's npn boost.

the trick is to not hit your amp too hard.

[MikeH]

Since the SHO has gobs and gobs of output, it can handle a little tone-sucking from a tone control.  Try it with a BMP style tone control and see if you still have enough output.  There's an article at AMZ with a few different configurations on the BMP tonestack, as well as easy ways to 'lift' or bypass the tone control for extra output.

[Renegadrian]

two SHOs layouts, first has a volume and second has both volume and TONE pots added...hope it helps...

[HOTTUBES]

Renegadrian  , thanks for the info !


What value/ taper of tone pot do you use ??

[Renegadrian]

I cannot tell you, never built those versions, just found them in the gallery...

[MikeH]

The tone control in the layout above is designed to roll off high frequencies; if you're having problems with something sounding 'muddy' you want to decrease lows, not highs.

[HOTTUBES]

Yes , I want to decrease the lows a bit , and increase the mids and high end ....



Thanks !!
MikeH

[Mike Burgundy]

As stated, decrease the input cap and compare, maybe put in a socket for easy experimentation. You might have to go rather far - the MOSfet has incredibly high input impedance, so you'll need a pretty small cap to get into lower guitar range.

[HOTTUBES]

Thanks for the tip !