jesse
New Member
Posts: 34
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Post by jesse on May 3, 2007 12:09:26 GMT -7
So I was flabbergasted when I learned that you can insert a simple short/open marshall-style channel switch into the low input of the RXES, while plugging into the high, and use the switch to cut the 3db pad in and out of the circuit! I've been using a passive volume pedal to achieve the same effect, but, in theory, with the pad control switch and the boost switch, I could travel with no pedalboard and still get four levels of gain/overdrive: 1. pad on, od off 2. pad off, od off 3. pad on, od on 4. pad off, od on Plugging into the amp almost always sounds better, so this dual amp-controller idea is pretty cool... the only pain is nobody really manufactures a passive channel switch w/LED indicator, much less a dual one that would operate both the boost and the "low/high" toggle trick. Seems like a kind of nifty idea for the Doc to think about ... a dual-action Z foot controller that switches between "low/high input" and "od on/off." But maybe the only person who would buy it is me.
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Post by ruger9 on May 3, 2007 12:56:28 GMT -7
Does it POP when you switch the pad in & out? I remember when Z suggested doing this on the forum, he said it would probably "make a hell of a pop"?
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Post by benttop (Steve) on May 3, 2007 13:34:29 GMT -7
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Post by JASON (aka jgleaton) on May 4, 2007 0:10:40 GMT -7
Should be able to get a pedalmaker like Tim Jauernig to make you one...
battery only used to light the L.E.D.'s with both the switches being passive...
should be very do-able I would think, if thats what you want...
Just a thought...
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Post by billyguitar on May 4, 2007 8:42:57 GMT -7
Is 3 db worth the trouble instead of turning your guitar down a hair?
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Post by ruger9 on May 4, 2007 9:29:43 GMT -7
Is 3 db worth the trouble instead of turning your guitar down a hair? I don't find that to yield the same results. I do use my guitar volume knob, mostly to clean up a bit from an overdriven sound, but in my experience, unless the volume pot is wide open I can't get a lively tone out of the amp, clean, overdriven, whatever. I can't, for example, turn the guitar vol down, get a good clean tone then turn the guitar vol up for overdrive- it just doesn't yield the same results as turning up the amp, which is what the overdose essentially does. I guess what I'm saying is "all volume boosts are not created equal" Which is why I love clean boost pedals, which is sort of what that overdose is on the RxES.
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Post by benttop (Steve) on May 4, 2007 9:38:18 GMT -7
You may not want to modify your guitar, but it sounds like your volume pot on your guitar is missing the famous "volume kit" that I have on mine. On my RXES, turning down the guitar volume is EXACTLY like plugging in to the low jack - sounds exactly the same. And it should - the only thing that jack does is change the divider resistor in front of the first tube.
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Post by ruger9 on May 4, 2007 10:00:12 GMT -7
I have a treble bleed on my tele- but there are several different ones out there. I tried a few, and chose the one that seemed to work the best with my tele, which is this: Evn tho there are no resistors/caps involved, it has something to do with how the pickups are loaded. ALSO, perhaps even more important with my rig, is I noticed how much BETTER the treble bleeds on ALL my guitars work with a line buffer. Helps retain those highs much better when turning down the guitar vol.
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mikek
Full Member
Posts: 144
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Post by mikek on May 4, 2007 10:12:31 GMT -7
Steve's right. I was poking around inside my RxES last night, and the input jacks are set-up in classic Fender fashion. The low input has a series 68k with a 68k to ground. This creates an input impedance of 136k (loads the signal), and a resistive attenuation at -6dB (not 3dB). The increased grid resistance, compared to the high input, and the Miller capacitance of the triode also creates a low-pass filter with a higher knee than the high input. Its something like 12kHz compared to 20kHz for the high input.
The high input impedance goes to the paralleled 68k's of the low input (now sees 34k) and has a 1M to ground. This gives it an input impedance of 1M (no loading), and no attenuation (no gain decrease).
The low to high inputs have different tones not only due to their attenuation, but also the RC filters inherent to their relationship with the triode's grid-to-plate resistance and stage gain.
If you feel like you lose spank (and miss it) with your guitar's volume down, I like a 560pF silver mica cap in parallel with a 270k carbon film resistor. This combination goes across lugs 3 and 2 of the guitar's volume pot. Different values work better with different guitars/pickups/amplifiers. Like ruger9 said, there are thousands of different combinations you can try.
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Post by rcrecelius on May 4, 2007 10:43:03 GMT -7
I have a treble bleed on my tele- but there are several different ones out there. I tried a few, and chose the one that seemed to work the best with my tele, which is this: Evn tho there are no resistors/caps involved, it has something to do with how the pickups are loaded. ALSO, perhaps even more important with my rig, is I noticed how much BETTER the treble bleeds on ALL my guitars work with a line buffer. Helps retain those highs much better when turning down the guitar vol. I changed my tele like this a few months ago and I like it.
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Post by kruzty on May 4, 2007 11:32:03 GMT -7
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Post by telejas on May 4, 2007 19:15:39 GMT -7
I have a treble bleed on my tele- but there are several different ones out there. I tried a few, and chose the one that seemed to work the best with my tele, which is this: Evn tho there are no resistors/caps involved, it has something to do with how the pickups are loaded. ALSO, perhaps even more important with my rig, is I noticed how much BETTER the treble bleeds on ALL my guitars work with a line buffer. Helps retain those highs much better when turning down the guitar vol. Do I need any special pots if I want to try this, or will what I have in there now work? I hate using my volume knob too, because it kills my tone by making it all muddy...... will this fix that? Will it change my full open tone? I'm running Lindy Fralin's in my tele if that makes a difference.
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Post by benttop (Steve) on May 4, 2007 19:31:07 GMT -7
Your standard pots are fine. Here's the diagram off of Fralin's site: I'm telling you, this works great - I can turn my guitars down to 2 and it still sounds bright and chimey. Highly recommended.
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Post by ruger9 on May 5, 2007 6:21:44 GMT -7
Do I need any special pots if I want to try this, or will what I have in there now work? I hate using my volume knob too, because it kills my tone by making it all muddy...... will this fix that? Will it change my full open tone? I'm running Lindy Fralin's in my tele if that makes a difference. The pots you have are fine, altho if you are running a cap/resistor treble bleed now, I have no idea how that would interact with the above diagram. When i did this mod, I removed the previous treble bleed I had on there. I like this better. It will NOT change your wide-open tone at all, and it does help to retain clarity with lower settings. I've never tried a treble bleed that kept things "chimey all the way down to 2", even Fralin (the other diagram above.) I guess it depends on each rig individually, and I suspect the PICKUPS ESPECIALLY. I'm running a hot pickup in my bridge, I suspect with a normal pickup the clarity would be maintained to a lower setting on the vol knob. Benntop- what pickups u runnin?
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Post by benttop (Steve) on May 5, 2007 8:22:06 GMT -7
Benntop- what pickups u runnin? Fralin Blues Specials. Time for another clip I see...
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Post by Tom the Guitar Guy on May 9, 2007 15:24:02 GMT -7
Your standard pots are fine. Here's the diagram off of Fralin's site: I'm telling you, this works great - I can turn my guitars down to 2 and it still sounds bright and chimey. Highly recommended. Technical Question: Since the volume pots (at least on my tele's) are 250K, does adding the 220K ohm resistor across lugs 2 & 3 effectively make it a 500K pot? or a smaller one? I'm just trying to get my electronics logic in check. Thanks a bunch! tomtheguitarguy
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jesse
New Member
Posts: 34
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Post by jesse on May 9, 2007 15:34:54 GMT -7
Wow. That's pretty cool. Great suggestion! I wonder how those switches feel vs. standard metal push-switches.
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Post by benttop (Steve) on May 9, 2007 16:16:34 GMT -7
Your standard pots are fine. Here's the diagram off of Fralin's site: I'm telling you, this works great - I can turn my guitars down to 2 and it still sounds bright and chimey. Highly recommended. Technical Question: Since the volume pots (at least on my tele's) are 250K, does adding the 220K ohm resistor across lugs 2 & 3 effectively make it a 500K pot? or a smaller one? I'm just trying to get my electronics logic in check. Thanks a bunch! tomtheguitarguy Actually, the resistor changes the taper of the pot. The capacitor is doing the tone work. With my old Frankenstein Tele, I had to turn the volume down about 3/4 of the way to get down to rhythm volume, but after I put that resistor on there I get rhythm volume at about 1/4 turn. Works fine, lasts a long time.
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Post by drew on May 11, 2007 9:43:50 GMT -7
I have Fralin high output humbuckers in my PRS SAS and used the Fralin recommended Humbucker coil tap and .0025uf cap 220k resistor bleed circuit and am very happy with the functionality. The guitar has the original 500K pots plus I installed a 5 way rotory switch. It switches like a traditional strat plus the added functionality of spliting both coils on the push pull knob. YMMV. One thing I noticed with the Fralins is the last 1/4 turn on the volume knob pushes the humbuckers into fat city. Just as Lindy said it would. He recommended the High Output p'up over the Un-bucker for my needs, which was for a vintage single coil and humbucker tones. Differnt stokes for different folks.
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