Solid State Guitar Amp Forum | DIY Guitar Amplifiers

Solid State Amplifiers => Preamps and Effects => Topic started by: voltwide on February 01, 2016, 06:57:40 PM

Title: active guitar
Post by: voltwide on February 01, 2016, 06:57:40 PM
Active Guitar Pre-Amp and Tone Control

This is my first posting here. So I want to contribute a bit from my long lasting DIY-experience tweaking my old strat and other innocent instruments.

Classical wiring of electric guitars was invented in the middle of the last century and addressed tube amps with low gain and high input impedance.  Since then magnetic pick-ups contain many thousands of turns of thin magnetic wire to achieve a maximum output voltage. This approach yields a high circuit impedance with a peak at resonant frequency in the range of 1~4kHz, depending on pick-up.
As a consequence the capacitance of the guitar cable tunes this circuit with audible effect: The longer the cable, the lower the resonant frequency, shifting the  resonant peak from ,,crisp high" towards ,,middle twang".
Furthermore, setting the volume pot to a lower level also reduces treble and makes the sound more dull.

Having said this there are some good reasons to put an active pre-amp into the guitar:
-get full treble response independent of volume pot setting
-get full treble response with any guitar cable
Furthermore an active tone control is added. In contrast to the normally useless factory tone controls this tunes the resonant peak smoothly over the entire range – similar to a guitar cable of tunable length.

Actually a prototype breadboard is working in my strat. The sound varies between very clear strat sound and something close to a humbucker sound. It was interesting to find that output level is nearly constant over the full range of tone pot setting.

The circuit is based on a JFET source-follower acting as a buffer with a voltage gain close to unity. The second source follower is driven by the tone control pot and acts as a variable capacitor tuning the pick-up resonant frequency. I learned this circuit trick by reverse engineering the VOX-Wah-Wah about 1970.

If space permits the circuit can be powered by a 9V-block. In space critical applications two Lithium coin batteries in series will do as well.

Although only tested with my Fender Strat, this circuit should work in any electrical guitar with passive magnetic pick-ups.
More to follow soon...
Title: Re: active guitar
Post by: voltwide on February 01, 2016, 07:03:35 PM
The TONE pot is 50k linear, the VOL pot 50k log.
C1,C3,C4,C5 are film caps. C2, C6 are ceramic/MLCC.
Title: Re: active guitar
Post by: voltwide on February 01, 2016, 07:13:43 PM
Measuring The Frequency Range

Using my favourite audio-analyzer program ,,ARTA" and a PC with a sound card (behringer UCA-202) it is quite easy to measure the resonant peak according to the TONE-control setting. Line-Out (right) feeds via a series resistor of 3.3megOhm the pickup. Line-In (left) is connected to the guitar jack.
Starting with the TONE-control in minimum position

Title: Re: active guitar
Post by: voltwide on February 01, 2016, 07:14:41 PM
Now somewhere in the middle
Title: Re: active guitar
Post by: voltwide on February 01, 2016, 07:16:27 PM
And finally TONE-contral at max position
Title: Re: active guitar
Post by: voltwide on February 01, 2016, 07:25:36 PM
In that case the resonant peak can be set between 1,4kHz and 4kHz. The pickup is not the original Fender single coil but some stacked humbucker with 12kOhm DC-resistance.
Adopt this circuit to different pickups by tweaking the resonant capacitor C3 (here 3.3nF).
The JFETs shown are SMD-types provided by ON-semi/Sanyo and can be replaced by 2SK170 or similar.
Title: Re: active guitar
Post by: phatt on February 03, 2016, 01:22:47 AM
Hey good effort,  :dbtu:  Will try it when time permits.
I actually have a small preamp that does a similar trick but no honk control.
I'm not sold on having on board preamps and as my pedal board is right at my feet my lead is always short so very little loss to active preamp. That way I can use all my guitars without the need for modification. Phil.
Title: Re: active guitar
Post by: UsableThought on February 03, 2016, 02:20:47 AM
Quote from: voltwide on February 01, 2016, 06:57:40 PMActually a prototype breadboard is working in my strat. The sound varies between very clear strat sound and something close to a humbucker sound . . .
Although only tested with my Fender Strat, this circuit should work in any electrical guitar with passive magnetic pick-ups.

This interests me for a very particular reason: I like to walk around a bit while playing; since I can't afford a wifi connector right now, a long cord is the only way - but then capacitance typically becomes an issue. In my innocence, I had thought I could get away with using a buffer close to the amp & the long cord in front of it, and only lately learned that putting the buffer by the amp is "too late" (though may have other benefits sound-wise). So now instead of being chained to my amp by a short cord I'm chained to my pedals!

I was advised that active pickups might solve this problem & give me back my long-cord freedom; but a preamp might do the same w/out having to switch out my present set of pickups. So I might want to try it at some point.

HOWEVER -  my guitar has humbuckers. You mention it should work w/pretty much any passive pickup. Does that mean the increased signal strength typical of humbuckers should not be an issue? Also are there particular components in the circuit that can be tweaked? I know very little of circuit analysis so my only way way of "analyzing" this would probably be to mock it up in something like LTSpice, though I am not that good at that either.
Title: Re: active guitar
Post by: voltwide on February 03, 2016, 03:17:23 AM
you are right, placing the buffer at the input of your amp is too late. Nonetheless this can improve sound if input impedance of amp is too small - and that is often the case.
I would expect no problems with the increased output of humbuckers - keep in mind that the voltage gain is less than unity. Using a 9V-Battery allows voltage upto 2Vrms (i.e. 6Vpeak-to-peak) without distortion - and that is pretty much.
The most important part for tweaking is the resonant capacitor which sets the frequency range of the tone control. Depending on the pick-up impedance and your personal taste I would expect anything between 1nF and 10nF.
Title: Re: active guitar
Post by: UsableThought on February 03, 2016, 04:20:10 AM
Thanks, very helpful. This may be my next little project!
Title: Re: active guitar
Post by: UsableThought on February 03, 2016, 04:35:42 AM
Quick question - looking at the schematic you show two grounds coming off R4. Am I correct in assuming this is only a convention to indicate how battery negative is tied in as 0V/ground to existing ground in the wiring harness, e.g. sleeve of guitar jack, strings, etc.?
Title: Re: active guitar
Post by: voltwide on February 03, 2016, 05:11:26 AM
Yes, this indicates a test point reserved for the wiring, same sort as input and pos voltage supply.
Title: Re: active guitar
Post by: voltwide on February 03, 2016, 05:16:46 AM
LTSpice is the tool I designed this circuit with. For playing around I will add the simulation file
Title: Re: active guitar
Post by: voltwide on February 03, 2016, 05:18:44 AM
Please note that the file extension ."txt" should be removed before loaded into LTSpice
Title: Re: active guitar
Post by: UsableThought on February 03, 2016, 05:28:45 AM
Thanks!


I got tired of LTSpice for Mac, poor interface, so yesterday installed it for Windows, much better.
Title: Re: active guitar
Post by: UsableThought on February 03, 2016, 07:32:29 AM
Voltwide, when I open the file in LTSpice, it complains "Couldn't find symbol(s) 'potentiometer 2" - both pots are therefore missing.

Is this 'potentiometer.sub'? And is that a model you built, or something I can find online in a library?


Googling I found this . . .

http://www.evolutionarytheory.com/downloads/LTSpice/Potentiometer.sub (http://www.evolutionarytheory.com/downloads/LTSpice/Potentiometer.sub)

. . . and copied it as a text file into both the same directory as gitpre.asc and also the "sub" folder inside my installation of LTSpce on Windows - however I still get the same complaint.


Also for these 2 pots, would they be audio taper, as with a traditional passive system?
Title: Re: active guitar
Post by: voltwide on February 03, 2016, 09:40:45 AM
If audio taper means logarithmic response, the answer is no. The spice potentiometer simulates a linear response.
This is the spice symbol I used:
Title: Re: active guitar
Post by: UsableThought on February 03, 2016, 10:11:42 AM
Thanks for the asy file - works.

As for the taper of the 2 pots - I figured the simulation would use linear - no point in getting fancy. I was actually asking, which type of taper you are using in your Strat?

Most players w/traditional tone controls prefer audio taper, but a few prefer linear for one or the other pot; and in this case I don't know your own preference, nor whether this circuit rewards linear taper in a way not usual w/a purely passive circuit.
Title: Re: active guitar
Post by: voltwide on February 03, 2016, 06:09:47 PM
This tone control shows a quite different response compared to the traditional pot - capacitor combination. I choose a linear response  for the TONE but a logarithmic for the VOL.
Title: Re: active guitar
Post by: voltwide on February 26, 2016, 08:33:37 AM
Finally the New Chinese Year celebrations are done and my pcbs (20x30mm) arrived today.
Later I will test and put one into my strat.