Orange T/B boost as a tone stack in an OD?

[Brossman]

Hey all,

Been messin with the circuit for a while.  A lot of people seem to bash it for it's primitive nature, but I'm rather taken by it.  I'm using some salvaged Ge NPNs (2n1302/2n1306) from a 1960's Geiger counter; gain unknown; here's the data sheet...

http://www.datasheetarchive.com/dl/Datasheets-314/431842.pdf

I understand that the 'bass boost' is actually a 'treble cut', but i found that after my Vox Tonebender (which gets way too sibilant when the 'attack' control is maxed), by turning the knob down I can control the tone quite a bit, getting into nasty 'woofing' a la Big Muff, when all the way down. Normally anything that goes into the VTB gets chewed up and the only thing coming out is the 'VTB' sound... which is great, but i wish i had a bit more control of freq response, while keeping the drive higher with the 'attack' knob...

I was thinking of adapting the Orange T/B boost to act as a tone control in a fuzz or OD pedal.  I know there are other (likely, better) ways to implement tone controls and filters, but I was just curious to see/hear thoughts/opinions on this.  Has anybody tried it? pros/cons?

Thanks,

- Britt

[DavenPaget]

Hey all,

Been messin with the circuit for a while.  A lot of people seem to bash it for it's primitive nature, but I'm rather taken by it.  I'm using some salvaged Ge NPNs (2n1302/2n1306) from a 1960's Geiger counter; gain unknown; here's the data sheet...

http://www.datasheetarchive.com/dl/Datasheets-314/431842.pdf

I understand that the 'bass boost' is actually a 'treble cut', but i found that after my Vox Tonebender (which gets way too sibilant when the 'attack' control is maxed), by turning the knob down I can control the tone quite a bit, getting into nasty 'woofing' a la Big Muff, when all the way down. Normally anything that goes into the VTB gets chewed up and the only thing coming out is the 'VTB' sound... which is great, but i wish i had a bit more control of freq response, while keeping the drive higher with the 'attack' knob...

I was thinking of adapting the Orange T/B boost to act as a tone control in a fuzz or OD pedal.  I know there are other (likely, better) ways to implement tone controls and filters, but I was just curious to see/hear thoughts/opinions on this.  Has anybody tried it? pros/cons?

Thanks,

- Britt

I always believed the T/B was cutting mids .
I could be wrong though .

[PRR]

> salvaged Ge NPNs (2n1302/2n1306) from a 1960's Geiger counter; gain unknown

[PRR]

> believed the T/B was cutting mids

[Brossman]

Daven - thanks for the idea.  I've seen a synopsis that described the frequency response of the circuit before, but it was said that it's (ideally) unity at 20hz, and pretty exponentially at freq above that going to boost.  SO, maybe a couple dB by 2-300hz, around 7-10dB at the mid ranges (1-2k maybe?) and around 23dB around 10k, if I remember correctly.

PRR - I understand what the possible gain could be.  I just meant that the exact gain (a la RG's calc from GEOFEX) has not been measured.  There is a noticeable boost; when cranked to max, it becomes *quite* sibilant...  and when dialed down to about 12:30-1 o'clock, it's about unity with the bypassed mode (minus a bit of grittiness).  ALSO, thankyou for the wonderful Sim-diagram!

Also, it may be important to note that I haven't bought anything for the circuit.  All components are salvaged.  That means I dont necessarily have all components of the same value, and I'm not even sure if my transistor was biased hot/cold, or even at all. (shame on me)    In other words, I used the schematic as a guideline to BB off of, and have had great success, imho.

Any other thoughts on this guy?  Daven mentioned this (with PRR proving, to a point) that this is a MID-controlling Tonestack.  OKAY, so T/B stack vs. BMpi stack?