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  #1  
Old 02-28-2014, 11:53 AM
Pualee Pualee is offline
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Default Novice Question - Low, Mid, High

On the amp, pedal, whereever, when dialing the nobs for the tone, does the low, mid, high setting affect certain frequencies of notes (regardless of string), or does it affect certain strings, regardless of frequency?

Does this also affect the gain/volume for those notes, so that you could push some parts of a lick into distortion, while others will stay clean?
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Old 02-28-2014, 11:57 AM
terrapin terrapin is offline
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In a well done Tone Stack the Treble/Mid/ and Bass Knobs regulate specific portions of the frequency spectrum. This is not specific to strings. Some Tone knobs are "Cut" knobs meaning they lower content as turned up others are "Boost" knobs meaning they increase that portion of the spectrum. You cannot push the amp into distortion/overdrive with the Tone Stack............If you can, something is wrong!

Last edited by terrapin; 02-28-2014 at 01:58 PM.
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Old 02-28-2014, 09:49 PM
BTF BTF is offline
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If it helps, the tone stacks on Fenders, Marshalls and Voxes and their descendants tend to be interactive rather than have strictly delineated bands. Also, WHERE the tone stack is located makes a big difference as well. Post-Tweed Fenders and most Mesa Boogies have their tone stacks early in the signal chain. Thus, where you set the tone controls can have an effect on how each band distorts (i.e. you can turn the bass down on a Boogie Mark 1 or 2 to help take the mud out of the distortion).

Ampegs used a Baxandall-type tone stack early in the chain and which has bands which don't overlap as much. These stacks can achieve a relatively flat frequency response. They also have much less mid cut than the Fender and Marshall stacks.

On the other hand, Marshall and its descendants tend to have the tone stack just before the phase inverter (after the preamp distortion). The Marshall tone stack can dramatically alter the overall sound of the distortion, but has essentially no effect on the initial formation of distortion. Marshall cured this early on by choosing a preamp voicing which rolled off lows to kept the bass tight.

Pedals tend to have their tone stacks after the clipping stages. This way the stack can have a more dramatic effect on the distortion.

The subject is FAR more complex than these generalizations. If you download the Duncan Tone Stack Calculator, it can show you just how each stack works (just to note, it works on W7 - I don't know about W8- but if you try to save your settings, the program may not respond. Honestly, that's not a big deal):

http://www.duncanamps.com/tsc/


Sorry to prattle, I just hope it helped. Bill

Last edited by BTF; 02-28-2014 at 10:02 PM. Reason: Note on W7/8 compatibility.
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Old 02-28-2014, 10:16 PM
terrapin terrapin is offline
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Good stuff BTF. And, to further muddy the water, Vox often uses a post Phase Inverter Cut contol that removes highs at the point of the Power Tubes. It is very effective. My AC15 has that as its ONLY tone control other than a Bright/Fat switch.
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Old 02-28-2014, 10:24 PM
BTF BTF is offline
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Nice point yourself!

That Cut control is a great way to take the "fizz" out of preamp distortion before pounding the power amp.

Another interesting tone stack was that used by the Canadian "Garnet". It used a dual pot. One pot was a standard tone control (i.e turning it down shelved the highs through a capacitor to ground) and the other pot cut in a cathode bypass cap on one of the tube gain stages to actually boost the high mids as you turned it up.

I modified the Garnet tone control for use in my JTM 45 rack power amp in place of the Marshall stack and it is VERY nice.
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Old 02-28-2014, 10:42 PM
terrapin terrapin is offline
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Never heard of that one! Very cool idea. As a rule, I would rather play an amp that was so well voiced when the circuit was designed that I can get away with minimal to no preamp based Tone Stack. When I first played an old very early '60's AC15 with only one unadulterated EF86 for a preamp and just the Cut control I fell in love. Mine was built to the exact Specs by Ben Fargen. I like to get my EQ at the guitar or pedals and let great amp shine!

A JTM45 RACK unit? I should have figured Marshall would do that, makes since. JTM45!!!!!!
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