Wiring Question: MasterVolume -Master Tone -Master Mi?d Control

[Brett Valentine]

Re: Wiring Question: MasterVolume -Master Tone -Master Mi?d Control

Latest observation: Sitting here listening to Mark Knopfler's Shangri-La, Hamer plugged into the Guitar Port (whadaya want for 3:30 in the morning?) noodling around just to get used to the tones, I've been coming real close to most of his tones (well, at least the cleaner ones). Though the Jazz with the TBX on 10 (bass cut) and the Mids control on 10 sounds uncannily close into the '64 blackface model with compression and reverb; even down to the grit when I dig in.

Can't imagine what it would sound like into a real Blackface and an Orange Squeezer clone (just happen to have one of those clones around. . .).

Where the i21 tends to be on the bright side of things, the SATQ's warmer tone works out.

Brett

 

[Brett Valentine]

Re: Wiring Question: MasterVolume -Master Tone -Master Mi?d Control

Latest:

Playing live, the SATQ has a very balanced sound. The combination of the TBX and Torres are rather interactive. To get the TBX by itself, the Torres can be put in to "no load" and I can just deal with the TBX.

The learning curve between the two controls isn't steep and once you get used to it, it's pretty easy to get what you want. The TBX on 10 and the Mid control on 10 give a clear, warm but chimey clean lead tone on the neck and middle pickups in humbucker mode, but the PG can get just a bit honky, so backing off on the Mids helps. All good in single coil mode.

Bringing down the mids to about 2 gives instant funk, and the "Strat" tones (inner coils single coil mode) have more spank with the TBX's bass roll off, and the mids rolled back. Outer coils are a bit more Tele-like. In humbucker, the TBX bass roll off clears up the bottom end of the amp. Stacking pedals, sometimes the bottom end get's woofy, and that can clean things up well (very useful).

The control/pickup combination gives a very wide range of tones, and the pickups really shine through!


Brett

 

[Brett Valentine]

Re: Wiring Question: MasterVolume -Master Tone -Master Mi?d Control

My Brian Moore i21 (Duncan Alnico2 Pro/Pearly Gates(b) got the same wiring setup as the Hamer. The Brian Moore is a brighter guitar than the Hamer which is smoother and warmer to begin with. . .

Replaced the 0.001µF caps in the treble bleed circuits (also higher quality 130K resistors) and 0.0047µF caps in the bass roll off mod for the TBX controls on each guitar with Orange Drop caps (replacing the Radio Shack stuff I had in my little stash).

Also replaced the Mallory 0.047µF tone caps with an Hovland in the Brian Moore and a Teflon Film VH Audio V Cap ($46.00) in the Hamer.

At that price, I was a bit leery at first, but an email from Allen Rothstein at Rothstein Guitars convinced me to try one (have to order it direct from VH Audio as Rothstein guitars can't sell them individually, only as part of a wiring kit).

The Hovland was smoother sounding to me than the Mallory, but the V Cap was completely different. Rolled off, the V Cap was dark and warm but not as muffled sounding as the Mallory or even the Hovland. Rolling the tone down, the Hovland let the top end get warmer and the bottom end retained it's level giving the impression that the bottom end was getting bigger. Nice tone.

The V Cap rolling down, felt like there was more of the top end still in the tone as it rolled down. It felt like it was getting fuller as you went. Finally, as it got darker, it seemed to remain clearer. The bottom end seemed to remain proportional as things got darker, and the bottom end was tight and felt more balanced with the rest of the tone. The impression was almost as if you were using maybe an 0.040µF cap?

The difference was noticeable right away. A bit hard to put into words. The Hovland was more vintage, and the V Cap was smooth. Different, but real nice! Good if your neck pickup feels a bit dark and woofy, and your bridge pickup could use a bit of mellowing.


You can read about the V Cap on the Rothstein Guitars website - http://www.guitar-mod.com/rg_kit_caps.html

Have a second V Cap on order for the Brian Moore.

http://v-cap.com/tefloncapacitors.html

Okay, that's it for now until I gut the electronics on my friend's Epi Gold Top. . .:cool2: and my TexMex Strat. . . o and my little VibraCell travel guitar (string up a 5th to B). . .:32: and my Squire bass project. . .mg:

 

[Brett Valentine]

Re: Wiring Question: MasterVolume -Master Tone -Master Mi?d Control

Got a chance to hear the guitar from the front. Went to a jam/birthday party and I let the guitarist for the host band (a good friend) play the guitar for most of the last set.

First of all, he's a pretty amazing player and was getting some pretty sweet tones from the guitar. He kept looking at me with that "you gotta be kidding me" look on his face. The guitar went from warm to chimey to chunky to growl, and to musical harmonic feedback.

I was surprised at the tones coming from it myself. I'm now a big fan of the Jazz/Pearly Gates(b) combination in warmer wood guitars, and the combination of the 2 tone controls is a very happy "accident."

Seems like I might be making one just like it for my friend.

Interesting thing about the Pearly Gates. In the brighter Brian Moore, it's rude but has a nice upper midrange bite that growls with heavy gain, but is all Robben Ford/Larry Carlton with smoother edge of breakup o/d, and get's big and smokey when you roll the tone down.

In the warmer Hamer, it's darker and not quite as rude. It feels a little smoother and rounder.

In an all koa Carvin, it seemed a little bit over strong in the mids (the CustomCustom is a better match there), and in a Carvin DC400 (brightest of the 4 guitars) it's bright and aggressive but still dynamic.



Brett