Difference between 'tone stack' in bass guitar amps and guitar amps?

[DougH]

What is the type of tones tack (I think this is the correct phrase) for a bass, mid and treble knob arrangement for bass guitars.

 

So, I want to scrounge some parts from an old stereo and make it into a bass guitar preamp to plug into the PC. I want to have a basic preamp and put a bass mid treble on it. Something that I can sit on the desktop and plug in a 9v supply to. Any schematics or advice on how to make a tone stack (I think this is the proper word) for a bass guitar? Thanks!

[Merman]

Have a look at the schematics at http://www.schematicheaven.com/fender.htm (esp. the older Bassman schematics) - generally Fender used a tone stack very similar to that of their guitar amps, except the cap associated with the bass pot was often about twice as big.

 

Of course your preamp will need to have a high input impedance, so you'll need a buffer stage (transistor or opamp) before the tone stack.

[isaac42]

The TSC (Tone Stack Simulator) will show you the schematics for various tone stacks. You can substitute parts to see how they affect the response, too.

 

http://www.duncanamps.com/tsc/index.html

 

Note that there are other things that can affect the total response of an amp.

[Prog]

What's with the "stack" term, anyway? It makes no sense. Is something stacked?

[Merman]

Stack refers to the way the schematic is typically drawn. In Fenders, Marshalls and similar amps, the Treble, Bass and Mid are typically drawn one above the other, with capacitors joining them at the junctions. So the pots form a vertical "stack".

[Prog]

How silly. Most people never see a schematic, much less know how to read one. Usually it's just called a section or a block (from the block diagram).

 

Oh, well. Thanks.

[isaac42]

Most people have never heard of a tone stack, either. Engineers designed them, and engineers decided what to call them. That's just the way it is.

[Prog]

I've never heard a single engineer call it that. I've only heard it from guitarists, etc.

[isaac42]

 

I've never heard a single engineer call it that. I've only heard it from guitarists, etc.

 

 

Where do you think guitarists got it? For myself, I've never heard a guitarist call it anything other than "tone controls", unless they wer also knowledgable about electronics. I'm quite certain the term comes from the electronics side, nut the musician side.

[DougH]

Thanks for the response.

 

I just saw the term used to describe some guys mods and he was referring to the fender amp.

 

I am using the bass though the mic input on my sound card. With an amp sim it isn't all that bad. But I wold like to have more control with out moding the bass itself, so a pre with 3 controls or so would be the answer. I would like to make a little pre also to plug it into the less noisy line in.