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Topic: What does it do? |
John Roche
From:
England
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Posted 12 Jan 2013 4:35 am |
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I have a steel with a capacistor connected to the hotwire on the jack socket , It has two switches which dont seem to do anything when switched, they are in series the last one going to the cap which is then going to ground.. when disconnected the guitar is very bright, and connected very dull..
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Carl Kilmer
From:
East Central, Illinois
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Posted 12 Jan 2013 6:54 am
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The capacitor is used to lower the high frequency responce
like turning your treble control down for a warmer sound.
The value of the cap will determine the amount of change.
_________________
aka "Lucky Kay"--Custom built Rittenberry SD10 3X5, Walker S/S, NV-112, and Hilton Pedal |
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Lane Gray
From:
Topeka, KS
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Posted 12 Jan 2013 8:21 am
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It's a "dark" switch.
Exactly the opposite of a "bright" switch
_________________
2 pedal steels, a lapStrat, and an 8-string Dobro (and 3 ukes)
More amps than guitars, and not many effects |
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John Roche
From:
England
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Posted 12 Jan 2013 11:02 am
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| Thanks guys, I'm trying to find what value cap to get a tone between very bright and very dull.. |
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Ken Byng
From:
Southampton, England
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Posted 12 Jan 2013 11:10 am
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John
I would take it off and use the tone controls on your amp to shape your sound. It is easier to tame the highs on your amp's controls than try to compensate for a 'dark' tone with your amp.
_________________
Show Pro D10 - amber (8+6), MSA D10 Legend XL Signature - redburst (9+6), Sho-Bud Pro 111 Custom (8+6), Emmons black Push-Pull D10 (8+5), Zum D10 (8x8), Hudson pedal resonator. Telonics TCA-500, Webb 614-E, |
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John Roche
From:
England
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Posted 12 Jan 2013 11:17 am
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| Ken I tried that and I had to turn off the treple and presences fully and it was still very bright.. |
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Carl Kilmer
From:
East Central, Illinois
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Posted 12 Jan 2013 12:08 pm
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If you have a .01 or .02 mfd capacitor give them a try.
Using just a capacitor it will be wired like this.
A cap and a pot will wire this way, and you can adjust the tone.
_________________
aka "Lucky Kay"--Custom built Rittenberry SD10 3X5, Walker S/S, NV-112, and Hilton Pedal |
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John Roche
From:
England
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Posted 12 Jan 2013 12:12 pm
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| Thanks Carl, I'm going to give it a go... |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 13 Jan 2013 7:51 am
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| John Roche wrote: |
| Ken I tried that and I had to turn off the treple and presences fully and it was still very bright.. |
What kind of amp are you using? |
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John Roche
From:
England
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Posted 13 Jan 2013 10:26 am
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| Donny I have a Roland xl80 |
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John Roche
From:
England
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Posted 14 Jan 2013 3:23 am
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Carl, I tried a 2 mf cap and could not hear any change in the tone. The cap fitted reads 4050 mf which is rather large i would have thought.
I did put a 100k pot in the circut before the cap and found I could get a better sound... the reaing across the pot at the good sound read 40 ohms. so I might try putting in a 40 ohm resistor and see if it works as well.. |
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George Macdonald
From:
Vancouver Island BC Canada
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Posted 14 Jan 2013 7:37 am tamming the highs
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| John, You might want to try a Black Box, Freeloader, or Matchbox to tame the highs. These are impedance matching devices and act as a tone control. I never play without one. I use the Black Box at home and the Freeloader when I play out because it is so compact. By the way, I'll be heading to the post office in an hour or so with your pickup. George |
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Ray Anderson
From:
Jenkins, Kentucky USA
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Posted 14 Jan 2013 7:48 am
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| Goodrich Super Sustain, inexpensive and very effective. |
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Carl Kilmer
From:
East Central, Illinois
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Posted 14 Jan 2013 10:07 am
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John, The cap should only be .01 or .02 mfd not more.
_________________
aka "Lucky Kay"--Custom built Rittenberry SD10 3X5, Walker S/S, NV-112, and Hilton Pedal |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 21 Jan 2013 3:17 pm
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I normally use something between .05 mfd and .5mfd for a high cut, and if either of those doesn't do the trick, your problem is elsewhere. An open pickup can give you piercing highs, but still be acceptably loud. (I suspect that may be your real problem.)
The cap you have in the picture must be 4050 pf, not mfd. If it were 4050 mfd @ 300v, it would be really HUGE!  4000 pf caps of high tolerance (like your 2% example) are normally used in RF applications, or pulse-forming networks, and are of too small a value for audio attenuation. |
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John Roche
From:
England
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Posted 22 Jan 2013 7:13 am
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| Thanks for all the help, I have now have it working,I put a 100k pot in the circut and got plenty of tone change.... |
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Carl Kilmer
From:
East Central, Illinois
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Posted 22 Jan 2013 7:27 am
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Great John, glad to see you got it working like you wanted.
I always liked a tone control on a steel to control the highs,
but my new ones don't have one. That's why I use a Hilton
pedal. The built in tone control in them works very good. 
_________________
aka "Lucky Kay"--Custom built Rittenberry SD10 3X5, Walker S/S, NV-112, and Hilton Pedal |
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Lane Gray
From:
Topeka, KS
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Posted 22 Jan 2013 9:04 am
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Carl, I think few steels get made with tone knobs because few people WANT tone knobs. With pedal steel guitars being custom made machines costing more than my stingy wallet pays for cars, I bet every maker would install one on request.
_________________
2 pedal steels, a lapStrat, and an 8-string Dobro (and 3 ukes)
More amps than guitars, and not many effects |
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