Tone Sculpting

N

noobGuitarSlinger

New member
So, the other day I wasted several hours and quite a bit of money chasing a guitar, amp and pedal board around. It all happened in a studio and cost a little money. The bulk of the problem was the pedal board. Somehow I ended up getting a low mid boost out of the outputs that no combination of effects/knobs/etc could erase. Not only that, but the only feedback I could muster from the setup was the high-pitched nasty stuff. The culprit was the pedal board. Now that I've matured in the last 2 weeks to using almost all tube overdrive, straight from the amp (Deville on the clean channel), I'm now hoping to either mix and match caps and resistors (IC's even, maybe) to make a filter that can either install into the cavity of my Schecter C1 (currently stock, but that's gotta change to suit my needs), or install into an enclosure that can rest on a newer, more improved AND smaller!!! pedal board.

I used to be a Strat guy. (An infatuation with SRV. Still, but more in tune with a wider scope of guitar tones). Unfortunately it was only after selling the Strat that I realized that a HPF would've kept me madly in love with her.

The guitar I'm trying to modify is a Schecter C1 Custom.

It's got Seymour Duncan HB in both positions and a coil tap (nearly useless, but I'm sure that's Schecter's problem.)

Neck - Custom '59 SH-1n

Bridge -Seymour Duncan Custom SH-11

SO, I'd like to present my schematic that I've clipped and fiddled with from within LTSpice for the picking apart of people who know audio electronics a lot more than I do.

The Schematic.

Schem1.jpg

The .ac test (I'm just hoping it's really a freq response printout)

Freq1.jpg

For starters, I'd like to make my 3 way selector a HPF selector

UP=110hz (for lead)
MID=165hz (lead also)
DOWN=225hz(sparkly rhythm)

And not to offend any audiophiles, but I could really do without the push/pull pot. Not only are the coil taps lower output (yes, I know single coils are lower output "typically"), they just don't do it for me. It's like a cheap imitation of a Tele that could use a little bit of ooomph.

As far as pickup switching, I've gotten extremely comfortable with using the Vol knobs to adjust my tones.

Dear God, I know I sound like I just bought my first electric, LOL!!! I feel like I have though, because I've always dimed the knobs and let pedals do the work. The advice of "less is more" didn't really sink in until I chased my tail for 5 hours on guitar parts I've been playing for years now.

Anyway, if anyone would like to offer up suggestions on how to get what I want, I'd be amazingly appreciative.

Thanks
 
Re: Tone Sculpting

Man you're asking for big things here. And a little all over the place. What is this schematic for, a pedal or a guitar internal? You said you hoped to use the 3 way as a cutoff selector: how will you choose pickups? Your schematic, based on the frequency response, is actually a band pass filter. I'll try to sketch up something real quick that would help you, but for rhythms why would you want your cutoff so high? wouldn't you want more bass in the rhythms? You have a lot going on here lol
 
Re: Tone Sculpting

Okay to get you about what you'd want, you'd run your guitar signal before the output into a capacitor, .068uf

From there you run one wire to the output jack, one wire to a 10k linear taper potentiometer. off of the output leg of the pot, connect a 10k resistor, then to ground.

Final signal from tone&volume>.068uf>output
____________________________v
__________________________10k pot
____________________________v
________________________10k resistor
____________________________v
___________________________gnd>ouput jack

(those lines &v's are supposed to help show the signal chain better, sorry I'm in class and can't spice RN)
the result will be a variable cutoff HPF with cutoff frequencies ranging from ~235Hz to 117Hz, with 117 occurring when the pot is at full 10k resistance

convert one of your knobs, use the other one with concentric pots and you'll have enough control there. Also it's passive so no battery drain, works every time
 
Last edited:
Re: Tone Sculpting

Sorry to triple post here, but the linear taper is critical. It gives you a hugely useful variation in cutoff frequencies. Audio taper would give you a short range of usefulness (between like 7-10 on a conventional knob)
 
Re: Tone Sculpting

... Or you could do what I did, and buy a parametric EQ to put in your amp's loop, to notch very specific frequencies and bands. A good one isn't horribly expensive... a really good one can get a little pricey, but in the long run...
 
Re: Tone Sculpting

noobGuitarSlinger said:
So, the other day I wasted several hours and quite a bit of money chasing a guitar, amp and pedal board around. It all happened in a studio and cost a little money. The bulk of the problem was the pedal board. Somehow I ended up getting a low mid boost out of the outputs that no combination of effects/knobs/etc could erase. Not only that, but the only feedback I could muster from the setup was the high-pitched nasty stuff. The culprit was the pedal board. Now that I've matured in the last 2 weeks to using almost all tube overdrive, straight from the amp (Deville on the clean channel), I'm now hoping to either mix and match caps and resistors (IC's even, maybe) to make a filter that can either install into the cavity of my Schecter C1 (currently stock, but that's gotta change to suit my needs), or install into an enclosure that can rest on a newer, more improved AND smaller!!! pedal board.

I used to be a Strat guy. (An infatuation with SRV. Still, but more in tune with a wider scope of guitar tones). Unfortunately it was only after selling the Strat that I realized that a HPF would've kept me madly in love with her.

The guitar I'm trying to modify is a Schecter C1 Custom.

It's got Seymour Duncan HB in both positions and a coil tap (nearly useless, but I'm sure that's Schecter's problem.)

Neck - Custom '59 SH-1n

Bridge -Seymour Duncan Custom SH-11

SO, I'd like to present my schematic that I've clipped and fiddled with from within LTSpice for the picking apart of people who know audio electronics a lot more than I do.

The Schematic.

View attachment 64637

The .ac test (I'm just hoping it's really a freq response printout)

View attachment 64638

For starters, I'd like to make my 3 way selector a HPF selector

UP=110hz (for lead)
MID=165hz (lead also)
DOWN=225hz(sparkly rhythm)

And not to offend any audiophiles, but I could really do without the push/pull pot. Not only are the coil taps lower output (yes, I know single coils are lower output "typically"), they just don't do it for me. It's like a cheap imitation of a Tele that could use a little bit of ooomph.

As far as pickup switching, I've gotten extremely comfortable with using the Vol knobs to adjust my tones.

Dear God, I know I sound like I just bought my first electric, LOL!!! I feel like I have though, because I've always dimed the knobs and let pedals do the work. The advice of "less is more" didn't really sink in until I chased my tail for 5 hours on guitar parts I've been playing for years now.

Anyway, if anyone would like to offer up suggestions on how to get what I want, I'd be amazingly appreciative.

Thanks
Click to expand...
Is this first schematic a pedal? A modded guitar? Really? This looks nothing like how my Schecter C+ is wired.
 
Re: Tone Sculpting

guys, more than a pedal, that seems like an on board preamp, the LT1057 is an integrated circuit, an stereo (twin, 2, dual?) jfet based buffer (if i'm right) are you trying to build this one and attach it to a switch, or series of pots to control the values in an active way? if it's in effect an onboard i suggest using a 3pdt switch, so when you turn off the filter also the battery gets disconected (open circuit) in order to save power, about your cap and resistor values i really can't help you, since all my trials at active filters (proyects at high school) failed
 
Re: Tone Sculpting

It seems like very specific tone sculpting. Why those frequencies, and what are the Q factor and gain reduction?

I have to ask, what's your amp? An eq seems like an easier (ie., not over engineered) solution to your problem. And it it's adjustable in case something else changes along the way.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Re: Tone Sculpting

If the low mids are too woofy, replace the Alnico 2 magnet in the custom custom with an Alnico V. Its easy to do and instructions are in the forum.
 
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