Tone And This Midrange Mod

[rockthe40]

i saw this mod a while back that is like a midrange cut/boost (IN ESSENCE), and i was thinking it would be very useful in a bass along with the tone control. i mean, mid cut and high cut, sounds great huh? i dont have all the needed parts for the circuit so i cant just experiment to see what works. i was thinking i would connect the wiper of the new "mid pot" to the wiper of the tone, am i right?

this is the site its on if you want to read about it

Mods

[JohnnyG]

hhhmm most interesting. my only thinking is that passive tone controls are unable to actually do a proper boost so in essence its more like attenuation of all frequencies with either more or less attenuation on the mids.

if i were doing a mid boost tone control personally id go active but thats just me.

i cantsee of anyreason why it wouldnt work, ill have a look at the site and the circuit in some more detail but hey if it does and its useful then who am i to argue?

[rockthe40]

youre right about the boost. i guess i should have explained what exactly it does--supposedly--other than assume that yall will look at the site

it cuts the mids from 1-5 on the pot rotation, then cuts everything BUT the mids from 5-10, so in a creative thinking way it boosts the mids. i also cant think of why it wouldnt work, but i wanted to check with yall before i make the investment in the parts

and i do mean the tone and mid cut pot working in conjunction

[lovekraft]

I've got one sitting on my bench that hasn't found a permanent home - it works, but not so well that I'd use it as a replacement for active electronics. They're great for fattening up a Strat with hot pickups a bit, or cutting the midrange of a dark dual humbucker axe a little.

[mattdowney]

that looks like a great mod, i am going to try it. i just have one question. there is only one wire connecting the tone to the volume, shouldent there be a second wire connecting the tone control to ground?

Edit : also is there a certin type of inducter to use? or will any one do?

Edited March 5, 2005 by mattdowney

[rockthe40]

lovekraft, thanks for that info. i think ill still go ahead and give it a try. how do you think i should connect that and the tone pot though? just connect the wipers?

matt, i would assume that you ground the pot because if you dont electricity cant pass through it (i believe). it says somewhere on the site to use a tl021 inductor. radioshack doesnt have them btw

[Biohazard]

Hi guys, rather than start a new thread, i thought i'd just as my tone pot related question in this thread, by apologise if it seems like i'm hijacking the thread.

I have a Fuzz Factory built into my guitar, my guitar has mater vol and tone, and two fuzz factory pots. Now, I dont ever use my tone knob, I just have it on 10 all the time like most people do, how would I wire up the guitar so the tone was in the guitar cavity, no pot, so i could replace that space with a third fuzz factory control?

thanks.

[JohnnyG]

well there are acouple of things you could do. you could just take the tone control pot and capacitor straight out, just desolder it from the rest of the electronics.

however this will probablly change the sound and may sound too bright for you.

if you want to keep the tone the same then the first thing to do is find out the value of the tone pot (will either be 500k or 250k) and the value of the tone capacitor (im afraid im not too sure what these normally are so you'll have to look)

once you know that, desolder the tone pot connector from whatever it was connected to. take it and the capacitor on it out. then in its place solder a resistor and capacitor in series with each other. these should go between where the tone pot origionally was and ground. this will keep the tone the same but get rid of the pot.

im not too sure if thats as clearas i wanted it to be but hopefully you get the idea. just ask if you dont understand

[lovekraft]

Matt, here's the "inductor":

42TL021 XFMR 4KCT/600CT

Use the primary coil, and tape off the secondary leads to avoid shorting.

Rockthe40, just connect the wiper directly to the output hot lead and ground the pot case - it works totally independent of the tone control, and doesn't have to be connected to it at all.

Bio, Johnny makes a good point, but I doubt that the extra brightness is going to be an issue for you. I'd just rip the tone pot and cap out first, and use that hole for another control pot. If it does get unbearably bright, then do the mod he recommends.

[rockthe40]

LK, thanks as always

how can you tell which side is the primary side on an inductor? or does it matter?

[lovekraft]

The one I have has a big P printed on the primary side, or you can use your ohmmeter to measure each side and use the higher resistance.

[mattdowney]

will this mod work well on a guitar? or is it more of a bass mod like it says in the first post? also where should i ground the mid control from, the back of the pot or one of the lugs?

Edited March 7, 2005 by mattdowney

[lovekraft]

The one I have was originally advertised to turn your Strat into an LP, or vice versa, so it works great with guitar.

[mattdowney]

ok thanks alot