Why Boost Treble

[BJF]

WHY BOOST TREBLE ?



Why Boost Treble?

The human ear is very sensitive to changes in treble. The amount of treble to an instrument will determine the position of it in a mix. Echo reflections are distinguished in distance as their treble content for instance. Any change in treble response will have a great impact of final sound. Up to fatal levels of volume an increase in output level will also appear to be an increase in brightness because of the way we hear things.

Consider having an amplifier with bright switch (capacitor connected to volume control). This amp would sound best when volume is set to 6. With Little Red Trebler (LRT) you can have adjustable treble boost at any levels, so you will get the correct treble at all playing volumes.

If you connect a distortion pedal to an amp set for a bright, singing clean tone you very often end up with very bright shrill tone. There are not that many pedals with kind of construction and tone controls that can handle an amp with bright switch on. If you place the LRT in front of your distortion you will give more sparkle to your distorted tone without affecting the overall treble-balance and at same time give correct treble for your clean sound.

You might have an amp that has a soft treble tone and any attempt to increase treble results in a loss of bass and/or honky higher midrange instead of brilliant high-end. This amp has her own beautiful voice and you might be happy until the second guitar player in your band comes with his new amp with treble of silver and your amp sounds bit dull next to it. The LRT will let you dial in brilliance without changing the magical positions of your amp that makes it sing like angels (but not heard). You can have the shimmer when ever you need it by footswitch and now it's easier to cut through in a mix and still have the right balance of bass and middle that are so important to your tone.

On the other gig you have set your amp for light breakup with your single coil pickup guitar. For some songs you need to plug your old trusty "Paul" with humbuckers

After a little fiddling with the controls sound doesn't seem to be right. Lowering the volume helps correcting the break up, but treble response seem to suffer- focus is shifted either way you turn the tone controls as midrange and bass are also affected. The LRT might make things a little easier in this situation. String balance may be aided with the LRT - especially so with a jazzy neck pick up.

The LRT may also give a new life to the tone controls on a guitar - most tone controls on guitars are of the lowpass kind where a capacitor reacts with choke/s in the pick up bleeding highs to ground. The combination of this choke based low-pass filter and treble boost give rise to a resonant effect, somewhat like a wha set in between. (Some tweaking to the tone-control cap may be needed to get your exact in between sound)

This effect is all the more evident with distorted sounds - some combinations may result in your ordinary treble roll off being converted into a resonating, sweep able mid-control. Note that LRT does not give this effect but enhances it, making it more evident. Some guitarists have used this resonant effect (tone control, treble booster, distortion) with an almost infinite sustain, with a flute character as a result.

Some old fuzz pedals may benefit from having a bit of treble boost before them - making them more contemporary (while still organic) and all settings more useful.

Your rehearsal amp is a -70's transistor radio - a pack of slightly worn batteries to get the radio distorting and a treble booster may be all you need. The LRT will suit fine in this application.

Consider having a non master-volume, tube amplifier with bright and normal inputs. This amps break up into nice distortion when volume is advanced to 6. Workable range is volume 5 to 8 - above that sound gets fuzzy, and below sound is clean. Distortion devices on this amp work excellent up to volume 6 where distortion gets distorted. With the LRT on the normal channel (which has slightly more gain) volume 7 makes the amp trip to 10 without getting to fuzzy.

The treble booster trick to this kind of amp is the embryo of later master volume models from more than one maker of such amps, and has been used by many a notable player.

Have fun
BJ

[DocRock]

That's a great read. Thanks for the insight!!!

[mrpicard]

If you connect a distortion pedal to an amp set for a bright, singing clean tone you very often end up with very bright shrill tone. There are not that many pedals with kind of construction and tone controls that can handle an amp with bright switch on. If you place the LRT in front of your distortion you will give more sparkle to your distorted tone without affecting the overall treble-balance and at same time give correct treble for your clean sound.

The bright switch on Fender amps can dry out the tone totally, that is, once it is engaged the amp has a very bright, dry tone to it. However, once you engage the LRT you can get the same additional bright tone but without the dryness. So, it adds brightness or "sparkle" without taking away too much of everything else. The LRT will give you a bit more balance when you are want more treble.

[SunnyRollins]

Bjorn, do you use germanium transistors for the LRT? do you still build them?
Thanks

[DocRock]

Bjorn, do you use germanium transistors for the LRT? do you still build them?
Thanks

Not that I'm speaking for Bjorn, and I'm only trying to help ... but yes, I believe the LRT can still be had on special order through Custom Sounds in Finland. As for how the LRT is made, I can say that Bjorn does not have a history of disclosing that type of information.

Cheers,

Doc

[SunnyRollins]

thanks doctor!

anyway, my question regarding germanium trannies wasn't inquisitive at all. We all know the "flavour" a germanium trannie give to the sound so it would be interesting to know.

cheers

[DocRock]

thanks doctor!

anyway, my question regarding germanium trannies wasn't inquisitive at all. We all know the "flavour" a germanium trannie give to the sound so it would be interesting to know.

cheers

It's all good, and I know what you mean. One thing that really sets BJ's work / design philosophy apart from the norm is the attitude that it's not so much in the parts themselves as it is in how they are used. Bjorn is the type that could make a Si fuzz sound like it's Ge and vice-versa, all with the tuning from his very skilled ear. I myself know absolutely nothing about how he makes his pedals, but only that conventional wisdom regarding how a given type of part (such as a germanium transistor) is "supposed" to sound does not apply to his work.

I agree that it would be interesting to know. That said, I suspect only Bjorn and his goop will ever know what's in there ... and I'm okay with that. I'm just so grateful for the tools to help me get my sound, I really don't care what's in the pedals.

The LRT is a fantastic pedal, by the way. For what sort of application / set-up would you be looking to use one?

Cheers,

Doc

[SunnyRollins]

well Doc, i play mostly jazz and hendrixy jams. I use mostly a Les Paul copy and an archtop through a tube Marshall combo.
I also dig rockabilly and country sounds although I'm not a telecaster man.

I love germanium boosters since they add a definite "flavour" and balls while still keeping things clean (I use a Honey Bee for overdrive sounds). That's why i'm intrigued by this one.

Cheers!

[BJF]

Hi,

Well, the LRT is a nontraditional circuit from what you'd expect a treblebooster and it's more an enhancer than a screaming bird-pun intended.

It's a silicon circuit as that allows lower noisefloor and it's a little more complicated than a rangemaster and it won't sound similar to a rangemaster.

I think a good description of what the LRT Amount control does is more that of the function of a presence control than your typical treblebooster.

Have fun
BJ

[Donner]

yeah I think what sunny was asking is if it does that 'treble shine' thing that a Rangemaster or germ fuzz does when you rolll off the vol knob,

and like BJ said its not a rangemaster - it doesnt so much add a flavor as it corrects what may have been lost in the existing chain or for correcting the differences between different settings ....

My favorite use of it is to set my bridge pickup to my amp/drive pedals ...then when I switch to a neck pickup and engage the LRT the treble /tone balance is correct - it makes both pickups useful....

its also wonderful in front of the MGMV or Phaser ~ just gives them more detail kind of like turning the light up in a room

If memory serves the LRT also has the same buffer that the BPB does and in a big board its nice to have the LRT at the beginning and the BPB at the end