Tone Control

Prepared by: Armando V. Barretto

Tone Control
A tone control circuit is used to adjust the gain or attenuation of certain range
of frequencies.
Tone control circuits can be made up of active devices and / or passive devices.
Below is a diagram showing a Baxandall tone control circuit, which has an
input signal coming from the output of an emitter follower amplifier (Q1).
The output of the tone control circuit is fed to an amplifier with Q2 as the active
device.
Vcc
To input
device
To next
amplifier
stage
Q1
Q2
Bass Control
Treble
Control
R1
R2
R3
R4
R5
C1
C2
C3
C4
Tone Control
The bass control is used to adjust the gain or attenuation of low frequency
signals (signals with frequency below the center frequency of tone control
circuit), while the treble is used to control the gain or attenuation of high
frequency signals (signals with frequency above the center frequency of tone
control circuit).
Below is a circuit showing the bass control adjusted for maximum boost.
To input
device
To next
amplifier
stage
Q1
Q2
Bass Control
Treble
Control
R1
R2
R3
R4
R5
C1
C2
C3
C4
Vcc
Tone Control
When the bass control (R2) is set for maximum boost of bass frequency signals,
the following conditions apply:
C1 is effectively shorted.
As far as bass frequency signals are concerned, C1 and C2 are open circuits
and bass frequency signals effectively pass through R1, R2 and R3 only.
The voltage of bass frequency signals appearing at the left endof R4 and at
the base of Q2 will be at its maximum, thus the total gain for bass
frequencies will be at its maximum.
As far as treble frequency signals are concerned, R2 is not present because
they pass through C1 and C2 only. Any adjustment on R2 does not affect the
treble frequency signals.
Tone Control
The figure below shows the bass control adjusted for full cut.
When the bass control (R2) is set for full cut of bass frequencysignals, the
following conditions apply:
C2 is effectively shorted.
The voltage of bass frequency signals appearing at the left end of R4 and
at the base of Q2 will be at its minimum, thus the total gain for bass
frequencies will be at its minimum.
To input
device
To next
amplifier
stage
Q1
Q2
Bass Control
Treble
Control
R1
R2
R3
R4
R5
C1
C2
C3
C4
Vcc
Tone Control
Below is a circuit showing the treble control adjusted for maximum boost.
Bass frequency signals do not pass through R5 because they are effectively
blocked by C3 and C4.
When R5 is adjusted for full boost, voltage of treble frequency signals
appearing at the base of Q2 will be at its highest, resulting tomaximum total
gain for treble frequency signals.
To input
device
To next
amplifier
stage
Q1
Q2
Bass Control
Treble
Control
R1
R2
R3
R4
R5
C1
C2
C3
C4
Vcc
Tone Control
Below is a circuit showing the treble control adjusted for full cut.
When R5 is adjusted for full cut, voltage of treble frequency signals appearing
at the base of Q2 will be at its lowest, resulting to minimum total gain for treble
frequency signals.
To input
device
To next
amplifier
stage
Q1
Q2
Bass Control
Treble
Control
R1
R2
R3
R4
R5
C1
C2
C3
C4
Vcc