Tone pot capacitor value math?

[neosadist]

All,

I have the JB/Jazz combo in my guitar, and I am going to replace the capacitor and tone knob. I was wondering if there is a website that will explain in relatively easy to understand terms how to use an equation (or get one) to calculate what frequencies I want to cut and what value capacitor to use for this. I tried searching the internet but didn't find anything useful yet. I am modding an ESP LTD guitar that doesn't have the capacitance value stamped on the tone capacitor. I'm not sure really what I want yet, since I have some minor things to fix with this guitar before I know how bright or not bright this combination is. However, using the tone chart, I know where the resonant peak is for both pickups. Ideas? Thoughts? I'm assuming that I'd want to cut mids, not highs, with this combo and this guitar (maple top, agathis body, rosewood fingerboard). Thanks!

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Tone pot capacitor value math?

I tried to get a table of sorts for this but there really isn't a way to do that. A given capacitor doesn't cut the same range throughout the travel of a tone knob -- it reaches lower and lower as you turn toward zero.

Basically the higher the number, the more treble is removed.

Removing mids is more complicated -- you'd need to combine a resistor and a cap for that. That's about all I know.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Tone pot capacitor value math?

P.S., the best way to cut mids is the Spin-A-Split mod.

 

[Robert S.]

Re: Tone pot capacitor value math?

The two most common capacitor values used for tone pots is .022mf and .049mf. I prefer the .022mf cap because the .049mf cap gets too dark at the bottom of the pot rotation and the sweep seems a little less dramatic with the .022mf cap. All the passive tone controls that I normally see are low pass filters and mid cut or mid boost tone controls tend to be active. There may be a way to wire a passive mid cut tone control but I don't know how.