New 5E3 build...Tone Control Issue

[screamin eagle]

Thanks for your help. It is 8am here and I won't be able to get to doing this til about 2 or 3 this afternoon, I will do exactly what you recommended, and I will report back.

Now for another newbie question. I haven't done anything detrimental (even if only moderately) have I? I assume that it was operating as if that .0047 cap was just not even there since all the pots were connected directly together and those wires were the points of least resistance--no harm, just no real working tone control. So even though there is continuity through the ground, the vol.'s and tone have to travel through the cap when wired correctly?

Should I notice a significant more amount of bass, or will it just be that I can cut off some of the treble? The bass will stay the same but may seem more prominent if I roll off the treble? If this is the case then I will still be a little surprised as everything I have read seems to suggest that these amps are more middle and woofy than anything--when I compared it to the pro (which, I know has a 15" speaker, among other differences) it sounded more tame like a princeton--not bad, but not tweed.

[MWJB]

No you haven't done any damage...your tone pot was wired as a master vol, for want of a better phrase. Normally, with the tone pot down, hi freq is bled to ground via the 0.0047uf cap. With the the tone pot up, the resistance of the pot prevents the cap from bleeding off the highs, brightening the tone.

You were not bleeding any highs off with the way the pot was wired, this may have made the amp unusually bright sounding. There's not really anything in the controls that adds or subtracts bass, more dialing in/out highs.

5E3, when set up right, are very versatile tone-wise, you can get everything from thick creamy overdrive to sweet cleans by playing with the 2 channels, the 2 volume pots & the tone pot. I prefer them with a 5V4 rectifier to tighten up the response a little.

The 5E5 pro is very similar (bigger speaker & power tubes), the 5E5A pro is a totally different animal.

[Shea]

Maybe this will help:

http://www.ampwares.com/ffg/schem/deluxe_5e3_layout.gif

.0005 = 500 pf.

Shea

[screamin eagle]

What is interesting is that all the values of the caps and resistor for the weber kit that I got are exactly the same as the fender schematic--so clone kits aren't. But this tone cap is different. It is the only different value cap/resistor (oops just noticed a 2 watt resistor difference).

Anyways, what effects will it have on tone to change the value of that cap that goes from the tone control to ground--the one that is suppose to bleed off highs to ground. Increasing the value does what? Decreasing the value does what?

[Shea]

The bigger the cap, the more treble it will cut out when you turn the knob down. And if you keep making it bigger, will start cutting into upper midrange. The frequency at which the tone knob starts to have an audible effect will get lower as the cap gets bigger.

Shea