Stupidly Wonderful

Tone Control 2
A Simple Passive Tone Control for Effects Pedals

This is the basic layout

of Mark Hammer's
"Stupidly Wonderful
Tone Control" (SWTC). It
is an excellent idea and
has numerous uses,
especially on the output
of fuzz pedals that have
a lot of harmonics to be
tamed. The idea is that
the amount of high frequency rolloff is modified as the
wiper is moved from left to right, while keeping the
overall output volume at essentially the same level.

This design works quite well but has one limitation in

that the high frequencies will always have some amount
of attenuation because of the R1/C1 low pass network.
In circuits with an abundance of harmonics and
overtones, as with distortions, this is perfecty
acceptable, but for other uses, a different response may
be needed.

By moving the C1 capacitor,

we have totally changed the
response of the tone control
circuit. With the wiper of R1
all the way to the right side,
the frequency response is
totally flat as if the capacitor
is not in the circuit, which it
isn't because the two ends of
C1 are shorted together in
that position. As the wiper is
moved to the left end of the
pot, proportional amounts of treble boost are added to
the circuit.

With the new "Stupidly Wonderful Tone Control 2", the

volume always remains the same but the amount of
treble is controlled from flat to boosted as the pot is
adjusted. There never is a low frequency rolloff with this
circuit.

I used a similar tone output in one of my compressor

designs. Compressors often have the effect of making
the signal a bit muddy or less clear, and this tone
control allows the user to dial a small amount of treble
boost back into the signal to open the sound up. I would
prefer Mark's design for fuzz and distortions and this
new design for compressors and chorus pedals, or other
circuit designs where a clear high end is desired.

I recommend R1=50k and C1=0.022uF as starting

values for this circuit.

The next
logical
question is
"How can we
combine the
two circuits?".
After a bit of
thought, I
found a way
to accomplish
this.

By adding a single resistor and moving the position of

the tone control potentiometer, I have made a tone
control circuit that has a response that can be altered
from high cut to high boost as the knob is turned. As
with the previous "Stupidly Wonderful" circuits, the
output resistance is constant so the volume does not
vary as the tone control is adjusted.

When the wiper is at the grounded end of the tone pot,

the R1/C1 network makes a low pass filter exactly as
with the original SWTC, and there is a treble cut. When
the wiper is adjusted so that it is at the top end of the
pot, the C1 cap bypasses R2 and it creates a treble
boost as in the previous SWTC2 circuit on this page.

The 100k tone pot and the 100k output volume are
always in parallel as a constant load. A linear taper pot
is suggested for the tone control and a log (audio) taper
for the volume control.

Suggested values for beginning experimentation are

R1=10k, R2=47k, and C1=0.022uF.

A limitation of this combined tone control is that there is

some signal loss, as with any passive network.
However, many pedal designs have plenty of output
signal level, and this tone control is an excellent option
for those circuits with enough drive.

Use this new tone control circuit as you like but credit
where you learned about it. A link would be nice too!

©2007 Jack Orman

All Rights Reserved

This page last modified on Tuesday, 18-Sep-2007 08:51:39 PDT

22266 hits since May 18, 2006

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