AMZ Tone Control Mods
Expanding the TS-9 Tone
the tone pot rotation.
When the tone knob is all the way to
the treble side, the gain stage is
essentially as shown here. The 20k
variable resistor is essentially out of
the circuit so we can drop it for clarity.
Note that the 1k/0.22 RC low pass
network on the input side is always in
the signal path and it rolls off the highs
above 720 Hz. This is part of what
Control
This is the classic tone control
from the TS-808, which was
also used in the TS-9 and its
related versions. It is a simple
and effective control section
but is limited by some
elements of the design.
To get a better idea of what is
happening with the tone
control, we can examine the
response at the extremes of
If we roll the tone control back to the bass
side, we get a circuit much like this example.
The signal path is now heavily filtered by the
220/0.22uF pair that is now positioned in
parallel with the input RC network.
The low pass corner frquency is now at 360
Hz., but with a bit of a kink in the response
caused by the 220 ohm resistor. This is heavy
filtering for any guitar signal.
makes the TS so mid-range heavy.
However, since the clipping stage is
ahead of the RC network, it does help
to take some of the fizz out of the fuzz.

In this novel example, the

parts are all the same values
as in the original but by moving
them around, a different tone
control circuit is formed.
Compare the modified circuit to
the first schematic on this
page.

You will see that the 0.22uF

near the input is no longer
directly grounded but instead is
connected to the tone control
pot and grounded through the
wiper and its resistor.

The deep low pass filtering is no longer present as the control is opened up.

Another advantage of this tone

control is that we now have
independent control over the
low pass (C1) and high pass
(C2) filter components. In this
version, the C1 capacitor is
made smaller so that there are
more highs passed, even when
the pot is turned to the bass
side. This opens up the tone
control and allows more useful
range.
 Another way to modify the
response of the tone control is
to change the resistor values.
This example has had all of the
resistors altered to illustrate.

The values shown make a

perfectly acceptable tone
control.

There is more gain on this

version when the treble is
boosted and the opamp may be
driven into distortion, which
adds a bit of grit to the sound.

A further rearrangement of
components gives one of my
favorite versions. The resistor
on the wiper of the pot has
been moved to the non-
innverting opamp side of the
control and the wiper connects
directly to ground.

The advantage here is that the

bottom end of C1 can go
directly to ground and give
complete rolloff without a shelf
in the response.

All of these tone control networks work well with overdrive pedal designs and can be a
pleasant alternative to the stock TS-9 type control, especially where it is desired to
removed some of the mid-range heavy character.
Lagniappe -noun An
unexpected benefit or bonus
(frequently used in south
Louisiana)

Our lagniappe is a quirky

clipping circuit derived from the
modified tone control.

Give this circuit a test if you

are looking for an out-of-the-
ordinary clipping signal!

Update! As I played around

with some variations of the
tone control, I decided to toss
in a 500mH (0.5H) wah
inductor to see what kind of
response could be had. When
the inductor is placed in the
potentiometer's wiper-to-
ground circuit, a variable
midrange filter is made.
 The first
image here
is with the
tone knob
turned all
the way to
the bass
side. A -
12db notch
is made in
the
frequency
response at
around 480
Hz.

With the
tone knob
to the
treble side,
a mid peak
of +9db is
produced at
the same
480 Hz.

The center frequency (resonance) of the RLC network is calculated as follows:

F= 1000/(6.28*sqrt(L*C)), where L is in H and C is in uF (C=C1=C2)

For our example, F = 1000/(6.28*sqrt(0.5*0.22)) = 480.1 Hz

The tone control is not limited to just the wah inductor. On the Lab Notebook Tipspage,
I have a chart of the inductances of several small transformers available from Mouser.
The primary or secondary of one of these transformers could be used as the inductor in
this circuit for different resonant frequencies and responses.
 Since the previous circuit lost
most of the control over the
high frequencies when it was
modded, I decided to
reintroduce that back into the
new tone control by adding a
single capacitor in parallel with
the inductor.

Notice that the high frequency response goes up and down, but we also have the mids
tracking in parallel.

With this version, we are controlling the highs and the mid-range band with a single
knob!

The response will be flat when the tone is in the middle position.

A more complex control such as this one can add some unique character into an
otherwise
Use this idea as you wish but give credit to where you learned about the idea! A link
would be nice too...