2 knob amps - 1 volume 1 tone

[Tommy Tourbus]

what does the Tone knob do? is it similar to the tone control on your guit?

 

[decay-o-caster]

On many, yes, it is similar to the high-cut on guitars.

The Dr. Z Mazerati works differently. Its tone knob kind of moves the sweet spot around, low to high. Gorgeous amp and you can dial it in in seconds.

 

[airwarrior]

I'd assume it would work like a tone knob on a pedal, where pushing it up adds treble, back adds bass, and the middle is a flat EQ.

 

[Critter]

I needs me a mazzerati... Schwing..

 

[SatelliteAmps]

Tone controls don't "add" anything. They are usually treble cuts. If the tone control was not on the amp, it would be like the tone control was turned all the way up.

The only controls that "add" are active. I don't know of any amp with a single tone control that is an active control. It might exist though.

 

[airwarrior]

Ok, so would you say that this is a better description: Pushing it up cuts bass, back cuts treble, and the middle is a flat EQ.

 

[epluribus]

Actually it depends on how it's wired, and they can be very different. Here's a cool little free download you can play with to see what the pictures look like...TSC.

--Ray

 

[riffmeister]

On my TopHat Club Deluxe, the tone control which acts on the preamp stage adds upper mids and highs and gain as it is turned clockwise. There is also a cut control acting on the poweramp stage which subtracts highs when turned clockwise.

 

[ROKY]

On my TopHat Club Deluxe, the tone control which acts on the preamp stage adds upper mids and highs and gain as it is turned clockwise. There is also a cut control acting on the poweramp stage which subtracts highs when turned clockwise.

Same deal with my TopHat Embassy. :AOK

 

[rmconner80]

Ok, so would you say that this is a better description: Pushing it up cuts bass, back cuts treble, and the middle is a flat EQ.

Still not right. It's usually just a rhestat arrangement, meaning variable resistor in series with a tone cap to ground. Increasing resistance (turning it up) means less higher frequency is shunted to ground. Also, larger tone caps move the frequency point of the shunt to some degree (i.e. how much "upper mids" and "mids" are affected underneath the "treble")

It is just like your guitar tone control but likely with a different tone cap and potentiometer. No bass is ever cut. It might sound that way, but that's just because the treble is louder as you turn it up.

Because a tone control is only subtractive, a net effect of turning up a tone control is usually more volume and more gain because more (high) signal is getting past.

The 5E3 tone control is cool and a bit different - it uses a traditional treble cut tone control, with the other side of the pot wired in series with a fairly large treble bypass cap on the volume (read "bright cap"). So as you increase resistance between the tone cap and ground (increasing treble)... you are also lowering series resistance in the treble bypass circuit, again creating more treble (and mids).

I say "creating"... but that's not right. All that treble and midrange content is already in the signal. You are just affecting how much gets to the next stage... and how much is sent to ground.