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Topic: alternative tone control: toneStyler |
Michael Maddex
From:
Northern New Mexico, USA
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Posted 19 Feb 2009 6:06 pm |
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Has anyone here tried the ToneStyler tone control from Stellartone? The ToneStyler is advertised as a drop-in replacement for the stock tone control. Here's a photo:
http://www.stellartone.com/
The pages listed under Support/Diagrams at the above website give the technical specs. Briefly, instead of a pot and cap, this is a selector switch moving between caps of different values. Full treble is no cap, straight out from the volume pot. There are several models with different maximum capacitances and eight or sixteen steps. According to the web site:
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| The tone pot functions as a volume control to reduce the loudness of all frequencies above the bass tones. To make matters worse, that large value capacitor loads the pickup at all tone knob settings, which reduces mid-range clarity and signal level. |
This seems to make sense to me, maybe somebody with a little more electronics experience could weigh in? I'm thinking that this would be a great improvement over the tone control I've got now on my Fender 400. It seems to me that seven or fifteen cap values might me overkill. BTW, both Guitar Player and Vintage Guitar gave it good reviews on standard electric guitars. I'm thinking of trying to make something similar with three to five caps plus the straight out.
These units seem a little pricey to me, so I'm looking for comments from actual users and more experienced players/techs before I plunk down my limited cash for an experiment. Thanks for any input, suggestions and advice.
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"For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert." -- Arthur C. Clarke |
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Stu Schulman
From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
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Posted 19 Feb 2009 11:14 pm
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Wow! I've been thinking about getting a box built with a rotary dial that works like that...Now I can just buy that.
Thanks,Stu 
_________________
Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952. |
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David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
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Michael Maddex
From:
Northern New Mexico, USA
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Posted 21 Feb 2009 8:24 pm Thanks
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Thanks for the feedback, gents.
Stu, I'm glad you found the info interesting or useful. If you decide to give one of these a try, please give us all a little product review, especially if you put one on a steel.
David, thanks for the links. I'm glad to hear your bass project worked. I've got a little heap of caps and switches. Right now, my biggest issue may be space in the control cavity. I'm taking it one step at a time. I'll try out several cap values with some jumpers hanging off the volume pot first to see how many I actually want to use. And then, ...
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"For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert." -- Arthur C. Clarke |
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Stu Schulman
From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
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Posted 22 Feb 2009 10:29 am
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Michael,Thanks I sent a link to my friend who fixes all of my equipment,It should be easy to find a place on my steel to install it.I think that most of the magic tones are in the mids,and upper mids this would be great to have on board instead of trying to tweak them on the amp.I'll give a review if it happens,Stu
_________________
Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952. |
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Mitch Druckman
From:
Arizona, USA
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Posted 22 Feb 2009 9:24 pm
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| The 2 or 3 cap tone mod is a great idea, but the ToneStyler takes it further. The ToneStyler appears to use 15 or so tiny board mounted caps. The variation in tone should be great. I think it's a great idea in passive tone controls. |
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Eric Philippsen
From:
Central Florida USA
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Posted 23 Feb 2009 4:12 am
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| I have tried the Tonestyler in a Stratocaster. It is certainly expensive but it works well. In a few words, it "dials in" the guitar's tone into an unoccupied niche relative to the rest of the band. In so doing, the guitar jumps out. At least that's how I hear it. The lower settings are somewhat muddy & rarely useable to my ear for guitar. Wiring the control is different for various guitar configurations, however, for steel it would probably be pretty straightforward and easy. Just make sure you draw and keep a diagram of your guitar's original wiring before doing the switch. |
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Stu Schulman
From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
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Posted 23 Feb 2009 12:46 pm
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Eric,I noticed that they have a Jr. model with 8 clicks...Do you know anything about that?I'm getting close to ordering one.Stu
_________________
Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952. |
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Michael Maddex
From:
Northern New Mexico, USA
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Posted 23 Feb 2009 2:10 pm jr model
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Stu, you might want to check out Stellartone's specs page:
http://stellartone.com/Page.asp?NavID=165
It looks like the capacitance on the Jr model tops out at .010 μF as opposed to the .022 or .047 more commonly used. I was interested in eight (seems like it would be enough) rather than sixteen clicks, but I lost my initial interest in this model after noticing its limited range.
HTH.
_________________
"For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert." -- Arthur C. Clarke |
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Eric Philippsen
From:
Central Florida USA
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Posted 23 Feb 2009 5:47 pm
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Stu,
I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with the 8-click ToneStyler. That being said, the 16-clicker is way too much. SImply put, you never use that many. What happened to me (and I'm guessing it's probably true for other users) is that you find a couple-three "clicks" that you like and that's what you use. I will say that the highest setting, which essentially bypasses the tone control and gives you straight pickup, is useful. And the 4-5 clicks down from that are good, too. Again, my opinion. It would probably be a whole other animal if you were going to use it in a steel guitar. I don't use it in my steels - just 6-string electric. A couple of other things. First, it really does "niche-in" your guitar's tone because so often in a band setting that mid-frequency area is so crowded by every other instrument. You fight to find that niche. The ToneStyler gets you there pretty quick. Second, the ToneStyler is NOT good for quick changes in the middle of a tune. Too many settings. Finally, I'd think that the "junior" would be fine if the upper selections were the same as its big brother. Hope this helps. |
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Stu Schulman
From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
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Posted 23 Feb 2009 7:19 pm
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Eric,yes that helps a lot,thanks so much.
Stu
_________________
Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952. |
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David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
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Posted 24 Feb 2009 10:03 am
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Bear in mind, a normal tone control rolls into the capacitor gradually. If you made a bootleg ToneStyler with a .047 cap, that would be equivalent to a Fender tone control turned all the way OFF. A .022 cap would be like a Gibson tone knob cranked down to "1".... I'd like to say that a .010 cap is like a Gibson at "5" but of course the sweep stuff is way too complicated for that to be true (linear?) 
When I did my bass, I still have a pot that rolls to the caps, giving me three predictable presets anytime the tone knob is engaged - it's a high-C, short scale five string, specifically designed to play smokin' bass solos to the cats in my living room. |
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Michael Maddex
From:
Northern New Mexico, USA
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Posted 25 Feb 2009 3:38 pm
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| David Mason wrote: |
| ... I still have a pot that rolls to the caps, ... |
David, thanks for the clarification on your mod. I was wondering why you didn't leave a straight out position on the switch, now I see that the pot takes care of that. That also adds to my arsenal of ideas to try out.
_________________
"For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert." -- Arthur C. Clarke |
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