AMZ Presence Control

The BMP Tone Control

The basic Big Muff tone control is a valuable building block and has been used by both commercial
builders and D-i-Y hobbyists. The original BMP circuit (shown below) does not give an even response to
the high and low ends of the frequency spectrum due to the high output impedance of the transistor
stage driving it (the response is better when driven by a low impedance source like an opamp). The
highs are slightly attenuated and there is also a dip in the mid range response around 1k Hz.

The New AMZ Tone Control

I have previously posted various derivatives of the BMP circuit that gave different responses or tonal
characteristics and recently I had the idea of modifying the basic circuit to add an additional control for
varying the mid response. Although this did not prove to do exactly what I had intended, the new
circuit has some interesting properties when used for controlling the presence or "body" of the signal.

This is the first version of the

new control that allows for an
additional range of responses
to be dialed into the circuit. A
25k pot has been placed in
series with the high pass
resistor to allow control of the
cutoff point of that filter
section. Some of the other
values have been optimized as
well.

The changes in components

have eliminated the mid range
cut and make a flat resonse
across the entire frequency
band. The graph to the left is
with the Body control at
maximum resistance; the tone
knob is at its mid position.
 If the Body control is rotated to
its minimum resistance, this is
the resonse of the circuit (tone
knob still at mid-point). Notice
the scooped response! Now we
have a single tone control that
is capable of both flat and
scooped response merely by
changing the setting of the
Body control.
If the Tone knob is rotated away from its mid-point, the high or
lows will be boosted or cut in a similar response to the original.
The Body control sets the depth of the mid range notch.

Version 2 of the AMZ Control

This is another version of the

AMZ Presence Control that has
a very different response.
Notice that the Tone control pot
is a higher value and has an
audio taper. The other
component values are now
quite different from the
original Big Muff circuit.

The new component values

have made a broad peak in the
frequency response much like
that from a TS-9. The mids are
emphasised but not so much as
through a wah pedal. This
graph has the Body control at
max resistance and the Tone in
the middle.
With the Tone control turned to
the bass side, the highs are
rolled off but there is still the
mid peak.
With the Tone control turned to
the treble side, not only is the
bass attenuated but the treble
is boosted and the mid peak is
gone.

This graph shows the response

with the Tone control back to
the middle and the Body
control set at minimum
resistance. The broad peak has
been replaced by a flat
response with a slight dip in the
mid range. Compare this to the
graph three examples back
where the mids were peaked.
Merely changing the Body
control has altered the entire
character of the Tone control
response.

Tone control to bass side with

the Body control at minimum.

Tone control to treble side with

the Body control still at
minimum.

For this graph, the Tone control

is still to max treble but the
Body control has been rotated
 to its mid point. Compare to the
last graph to see how the
change in the Body control has
shifted the response lower by a
couple of octaves.

This is an example of the full

range of response as the Tone
control is rotated from max to
min and back, while the Body
control is held at maximum
resistance. The high frequency
boost is graphically illustrated.
Top Boost anyone?

All of the examples above are with the tone control driven by a low impedance source such as an
opamp or even a mini-booster. The higher output impedance of a bipolar gain stage as in the Big Muff
would not be as suited to these examples and the frequency responses would be much different.

Obviously, you could also use a switch to add fixed values of resistance instead of the Presence pot. This
will allow you to toggle between different responses of the tone control: scooped, flat or mid boost.

The creation of the Presence or Body control has added a whole new dimension to the basic treble/bass
tone network. Either of the previous example circuits could be used with an effect or amp design to add
versatility. Other interesting frequency responses are possible by careful selection of all of the
component values and a future article will show more examples of this type of tone control.

Use it as you wish but give credit to where you learned about the idea! More mods for the BMP can be
found in the AMZ Muff-Rat ebook.

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