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Re: let's talk about tone switches
Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2020 7:08 pm
by Dandolin
doh! - just looked more closely - yes, these result in a mild high-end roll-off as chromandre points out - I had assumed that the resistors were going to ground after a cap, which should cut bass...then i took the time to look at the diagram.
you want to implement a high pass, yes?
Re: let's talk about tone switches
Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2020 7:42 pm
by dubkitty
what about circuits that use a cap and a resistor?
Re: let's talk about tone switches
Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2020 7:55 pm
by Dandolin
that's why i ask what you want to acheive - you can cut lows with a capacitor/resistor arrangement, but you can also do it with just a cap - peep these:
https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/ ... focus-knob
https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/ ... ods?page=1
it's all about where in the circuit the cap or resistor is connected

Re: let's talk about tone switches
Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2020 9:29 pm
by chromandre
dubkitty wrote:what about circuits that use a cap and a resistor?
From my experience so far, the two most basic applications are:
1) you run your signal through the cap, that’s a high pass filter, and you can use a resister in parallel to lessen the amount.
2) You run signal to capacitor to ground for low pass filter , and use a resistor in series to lessen the amount.
Cap value determines the frequency in both cases.
Truth is I don’t know why the plain resistor to ground also filters out high and I couldn’t personally predict how any of it is actually going to come out but its pretty revealing to sort it out on a breadboard , I LOVE this thread btw , so nice when you actually get a good tone option on the guitar itself
Re: let's talk about tone switches
Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2020 9:38 pm
by Dandolin
Re: let's talk about tone switches
Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2020 10:16 pm
by dubkitty
i had no idea that a capacitor would have such different effect depending on where it was placed in the circuit. this explains why some of the switch positions on circuits posted above only use a resistor, which had me
i'm still at the stage of understanding guitar/amp electrics where my opinion of how amps work is that little angels live inside the tubes and when you give them signal it makes them happy and they dance on the speaker cone.
Re: let's talk about tone switches
Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2020 9:37 am
by Gone Fission
I need to come back and do better than skim, since pre-fuzz tone shaping is a topic close to my heart.
My external sources on this area are Dirk Whacker’s Premier Guitar columns and Joe Gore’s posts on his ToneFiend blog, such as these Varitone-related entries:
https://tonefiend.com/?s=Varitone+&subm ... mit=Search
I’ve enjoyed the THD Quintet, a modern day Varitone, for an age. Mine is in pedal form but they also sold an onboard kit.
Re: let's talk about tone switches
Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2020 10:26 am
by Dandolin
yeah - the Quintet is really nice
