The problem with this is, when you really work to find issues…you find them. Fender amps are beautiful machines that you really have to work to find issues with. How do you get a flat EQ with a Fender amp? A sharper scoop like this means there are more mids present in the mix compared to a gradual sloping of an EQ curve. The mids barely move, but the bass and treble…especially the treble frequencies…get turbocharged. All controls maxed - Same thing, just more emphasized in the highs and lows. Blackface-era amps were noted for their mid scoop. The mids are a moving target, based on where the other controls are set. Vox, on the other hand, features an interactive EQ. For the bass we want the opposite, a low-pass filter, so we can play with stuff down in the low end.Really, the only interesting thing about this is the difference between linear and interactive tone stacks.Įach EQ voicing…bass, treble and occasionally middle…interacts independently of each other. For the treble control, we made a high-pass filter in order to play with stuff up there in the zingy, sparkly ceiling of sound. When the Introduction to Tube Amplifier Theory says in its short summary, my notes in brackets. Now as you pan left you find a baritone and a tenor standing in the corner. You thought the bright and pretty soprano on the right was the only one there - she was all you could see.
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It seems we can never add or boost in the tone stack. Turning the treble control clockwise imposes the least attenuation of this high-end sound isolated by the high-pass filter made by the treble capacitor and the three pots. It sees resistance from the Treble pot, then the Bass pot, then the Mids pot, with ground at the end. So, being at the top of the stack, the treble circuit has the longest journey in terms of resistance, which is resistance against losing stuff to ground. The signal comes in, hits the treble capacitor, then, in place of a single resistor to complete a high-pass filter, like a neat little component on a circuit board, it instead sees the combined resistance of all three pots - the Treble, Bass, and Middle pots - which lie in a row between the treble cap and ground. The treble circuit is first in the tone stack. It is called a stack because in an electrical diagram the sections sit on top of each other like this, incoming signal at the top, ground at the bottom.
![fender 5e3 farting out fender 5e3 farting out](https://robrobinette.com/images/Guitar/5E3P_Build/5e3_PPI_Master_Volume_Mod_Before.png)
The diagram and the article describe the so-called FMV tone stack the design used by Fender, Marshall, and Vox, and the hundreds who followed in their footsteps. Unnervingly, if you see it enough it even begins to make sense. I recommend opening the little circuit diagram in a new window to keep your bearings while reading. A low-pass filter lets sounds below a set frequency through, and is formed by a resistor followed by a capacitor.
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It is however handy to know that.Ī high-pass filter lets sounds above a set frequency through, and is formed by a capacitor followed by a resistor. I will sometimes have to use words like capacitor and resistor, but only to identify where we are.
FENDER 5E3 FARTING OUT HOW TO
An understandable description for players who want to better grasp how to get the tones they seek. As I forced myself to learn it anyway, I took notes using the ordinary language that my brain prefers. Why does one control seem to alter what another one does? Why does the mids knob affect volume? And why is the treble pot more like a blend control? There seemed to be two camps: guitarists, who, despite an adorable belief that the three knobs do what the labels suggest, have no understanding of it and amp builders, who understand it too well and talk to each other in Martian.