Tone Pump fatness

[Chevy]

Hi guys,

Am reposting this... first one didn't post for some reason... apologize if it's a duplication...

Finally got a newer-version Tone Pump pedal. Like it a lot... I use it for my blues tone... playing mostly clean with a touch of grit on top.

I like it, but I'd like to get a slightly fatter tone out of it. I have the bass cranked, and the mid doesn't cover the freq range desired.

Does anyone know of a simple mod to add fatness (bottom) to the new Tone Pump? Any other user experience on this would be helpful.

Thanks kindly!

[David Barber]

What frequency range would you like the midrange to cover?

[Chevy]

Hi David,

Thanks for the response, but not directly what I'm interested in. How do I increase the fatness / bottom end on my Tone Pump?

Chevy.

[David Barber]

Hi David,

Thanks for the response, but not directly what I'm interested in. How do I increase the fatness / bottom end on my Tone Pump?

Chevy.

Normally I would address bringing down the midrange so the bottom could be heard, the mid control on the Tone Pump is powerful enough to overcome the bass..I was looking for midrange info you mentioned, before I led you down the wrong path...I guess we can go at this without addressing the mids, but it could go terribly wrong.

I you just want to get in there and start modding something, then try looking to the bottom left of the opamp and find the 4.7k resistor, clip that out and install a 6.8k....hope this works for ya!

[Chevy]

Hi David,

Thank you. Hmmm... ok, I guess I can give that a try... you now have me concerned about things going terribly wrong... could this result in a Chernobyl-type incident? (I can always just reinstall the 4.7k R, if it doesn't quite the trick on the low end, right?)

I follow the comment about bringing down the mids (and I assume the high end too) to bring out the bass... makes sense, but it seems the low end freq response of the pedal isn't there as I'd like it to be. Those low frequencies just don't make it through the pedal, or are attenuated too much.

FYI, I play a Strat in Eb, and really dig the low end, ya know?

Anyways, thanks kindly for your support... mucho appreciato!

[David Barber]

Have you tried turning the mids all the way down yet and the bass seemed attenuated? Or have not had a chance to give it a try?

[Chevy]

Hi David,
Yes, I got a chance to try turning down the mids, before trying any mods, and it didn't seem to do the trick.

Then I did try a subtle mod... hate to mess up a pristine pedal... instead of doing any surgery, I left the 4.7K in there and I located the associated cap and gently tacked some additional C in parallel with it... about 80nF additional. This amount of C seems to make the bass output on my Eb Strat "about" the same as when the pedal is bypassed... which is great. I haven't finished fine tuning the whole thing yet, but the body/bottom that was missing to my ears seems to be there now. Doesn't seem to be much of a negative impact on the overall tone, either... but not done checking things out yet.

Best,
Chevy

[David Barber]

That should work well and accomplishes the same basic idea, let me know what the final outcome is.

[fullriotgear]

Hey guys,

I see that this thread is almost a year old, but hope for some help. I also love my TPeq, but notice the loss of my guitar's orig tone esp in the low mid area. I also have the bass knob all the way up. I'm not experienced at all in electronics or soldering & very wary of messing up my baby. Just want to be able to have full range when the TP is kicked in (when I'm in full band, all skate situations, this is not a prob, as the TP sits perfectly in the mix, however, when it's just me, or band overall level comes down, the lack of lower end full range is noticeable). Any mod board or other help I can even send my pedal in for? Thanks kindly!!

[plan-x]

Here is the note shape mod David tutored me on. Remove that resistor with some mini dikes and solder on to the remaining legs the new leads to the trim pot and resistor. These pics have the goods to pull it off. Download, enlarge, & follow the new black wires I used.


I'm an amatuer electronics dude, so the added resistor and trim pot values elude me since doing this mod over a year ago. I believe the trim pot is a 10k. I just googled resistor color codes, the new resistor is a 3k.