Further idle DRRI musings - brightness on vib channel

[noisepolluter]

I read that some folks have fitted a push-pull volume pot on the vibrato channel as a way of switching the bright cap on and off. Effectively making it the same as the original run of BF/SF DR's with the bright switch, but without having to cut a girt hugeous hole in the control panel. Anyone tried an amp with this mod fitted?

Alternatively, I did wonder about some kind of modification to the second input (which already seems to be slightly 'padded') to take a little bit of brightness off the top for use with pedals at home.

Or I could just turn the treble on the amp/guitar/pedal down, I suppose, but where's the fun in that?

[paultheoneyoulove]

It might sound un rock and roll but the eq is there for a reason. Too trebly?turn it down. If the eq is quite interactive, you'll need to tweak the others.

I used to run my Laney with the treble at 1 or 2, mid at near full and bass at 0. It also sounded great with everything maxed out, but I preferred my eq. Occasionally the bass would be increased to 3 or so. This doesn't mean I'm only using some of the amp. It means I'm using all of it - a lot of my friends treat eq as going from 3 to 8.

Push pull is okay if it's footswitchable, too. That way, you would have access to two different sounds. But if you just want to tame treble for practice, its really not worth the investment. I tend to use the bright switch to make humbuckers more lively or to compensate a particularly dark guitar.

Sometimes, the bright switch also has an effect on the overall tone, too. So if your amp won't go there, it might be worth considering.

[ICBM]

The Bright switch has a different effect from the treble control, or the tone control on the guitar, so it could be worth making it switchable.

Input 2 has half the signal voltage level (-6dB) and a lot lower impedance (134Kohm vs 1Megohm for input 1) so it does dull the tone - but much less so if you're using a buffered pedal of any kind, or one of any sort that's turned on. This can actually make a true-bypass overdrive sound shrill, because the bypass tone is them much duller than the on tone.

[noisepolluter]

That way, you would have access to two different sounds. But if you just want to tame treble for practice, its really not worth the investment.

That's the thing, really. It's a non-issue when (rarely) playing louder, as the power valves start to smooth everything out.

Input 2 has half the signal voltage level (-6dB) and a lot lower impedance (134Kohm vs 1Megohm for input 1) so it does dull the tone - but much less so if you're using a buffered pedal of any kind, or one of any sort that's turned on. This can actually make a true-bypass overdrive sound shrill, because the bypass tone is them much duller than the on tone.

It does seem slightly more pedal-friendly on input 2. I can work with it or just use the blues junior, which is more pedal friendly at practice volumes, though the reverb isn't as nice and it has a slightly higher noise floor - might be due for a re-valve at some point later in the year as they've been (mostly quietly) in use for over 5 years now.

Thanks as ever for the sagely replies.

[ICBM]

That's the thing, really. It's a non-issue when (rarely) playing louder, as the power valves start to smooth everything out.

Actually because the bright cap has less and less effect as you turn the volume control up, until it does nothing at full up. It's just a treble-pass cap on the volume pot.

This is one of the main reasons BF amps don't take brighter-sounding pedals well - the other is the (non switchable) treble pass cap on the reverb mix stage. You can avoid both by using the Normal channel and jumpering to the Vibrato channel as a reverb side-chain.