Been playing with EQs over the past couple weeks...
Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2016 8:13 pm
First I wanted to make an exact duplicate of my Hiwatt's tone stack (well I didn't bother with the Presence control, just wanted a quick listen of how its 3 regular bands would work in a stompbox format). Good news: it works. Bad news: way too lossy. Then adding a gain-makeup stage after brings up a massive noise floor. So that's out.
So I went to an active 3-band tone stack. I also designed a really cool pre-gain stage (instead of just a buffer at the input) that features soft, ever-so-slightly-gritty germanium-diode compression as you turn it up (not unlike the sound of a Klon in cleanish-boost mode). Good news: it works great! No loss, obviously. Noise level is fine, can do a flat response with all controls at noon, can boost or cut all 3 bands no problem. Only minor issue: after playing with it, I got frustrated with the lack of ability to fine-tune and target specific midrange bands. It's more of a "sledge hammer" approach to tone control. Works super great but not particularly good for precision or elegance. You can stay flat, add a bit of compression, do a very honky midrange hump, or a doomy mid scoop, etc., etc.
So now I want to make a new version where I can have 3 separate midrange bands, parametric, each with freq, Q-factor, and boost/cut. Plus bass and treble, each with 3 selectable shelving freqs. Have not proto'd this version yet, but I will soon.
Now I'm thinking, why not both? Why not make a 3-band version and a 5-band parametric version too? I already have names picked out for both...
So I went to an active 3-band tone stack. I also designed a really cool pre-gain stage (instead of just a buffer at the input) that features soft, ever-so-slightly-gritty germanium-diode compression as you turn it up (not unlike the sound of a Klon in cleanish-boost mode). Good news: it works great! No loss, obviously. Noise level is fine, can do a flat response with all controls at noon, can boost or cut all 3 bands no problem. Only minor issue: after playing with it, I got frustrated with the lack of ability to fine-tune and target specific midrange bands. It's more of a "sledge hammer" approach to tone control. Works super great but not particularly good for precision or elegance. You can stay flat, add a bit of compression, do a very honky midrange hump, or a doomy mid scoop, etc., etc.
So now I want to make a new version where I can have 3 separate midrange bands, parametric, each with freq, Q-factor, and boost/cut. Plus bass and treble, each with 3 selectable shelving freqs. Have not proto'd this version yet, but I will soon.
Now I'm thinking, why not both? Why not make a 3-band version and a 5-band parametric version too? I already have names picked out for both...