Gretsch Treble booster for Hi Lo Trons?

[picknconk]

Hey Kids,
What is that gizmo, and should I get on for my Hi Lo Tron Anniversary guitar? Won't cap choices be enough?
What do they sound like and WHERE do they install in the circuit? Thanks,...Bob

[David Schwab]

This is a 9v battery powered active treble booster.

[picknconk]

Really? From the 60's? Or later? Are they worth doing? My guitar is a factory bogus Falcon, that is really a '59 Double Anniversary model, but I love it and am willing to hot rod it to death if this thing is good. What do you think, David?...Bob
It really is a a "59, with Hi Lo Trons and Filtertron covers, painted white, sold in '63 as a real White falcon to the guy I got it from. I'm cutting a hole in the back to access the electronics, and will do anything that sounds good...
Honestly, David, I'm skeptical that a 60's Gretsch thing is active. Do you have any place I can refer to? Look at ebay # 270866034297...that's an active gizmo? I know you're one of the gurus here, but I don't remember anybody doing active circuits back then. It just looks like a potted R-C network to add to the selector circuit. Help!

[picknconk]

Yep, shame on me, David for doubting you,...they were called the "Sonic Boom " in the day. Wish I could buy the one off ebay right now...Nuts...Bob

[David Schwab]

I would think any treble booster would do. There are some Dallas Rangemaster booster kits on the Internet:

Brian May Treble Booster

[Sweetfinger]

I cannot imagine a world where someone would need to "treble boost" anything with Hi-Lo Trons. Yowzah!

[picknconk]

Yeah, I started another thread about modifying the tone switch circuit to where the Master Volume would be a master tone, with the switch in parallel adding more C. I got good responses and will try that when the guitar comes back from restoration.
I've learned you're probably very right!...Bob

[David Schwab]

I cannot imagine a world where someone would need to "treble boost" anything with Hi-Lo Trons. Yowzah!

I guess that goes back to George Harrison. If you listen to the solo in Nowhere Man, they wanted a really bright tone, so they ran one channel on the board into another and boosted the highs on both!

The whole time the engineer was telling them they can't do that. lol

[picknconk]

Well, what I'm going to try once I turn the Master volume into a Master Tone, is....since the switch is in parellel with the pot, the caps on the switch will be cumulative. So,...015 on the pot (very bright), .0082 on one side of the switch, which adds up to .0232uf (close to Gretsch nominal), and .03 on the other side, which adds up to .045 for my deep tone. If it doesn't fly, I'll keep trying. I think the riff in Nowhere Man is utterly beautiful, maybe the .015 will come close through a Twin Reverb, or a Gibson Falcon....Bob

[David Schwab]

Or, replace the master volume with a rotary switch which selects different value tone caps.

[picknconk]

Oh no, my very own varitone Gretsch? oooh! That's too much Daddy-o!...Bob
Then my tone switch becomes a dead puppet.

[David Schwab]

Oh no, my very own varitone Gretsch? oooh! That's too much Daddy-o!...Bob
Then my tone switch becomes a dead puppet.

Well one side of the tone switch can be going to the rotary, while the other is another cap, so you have two presets.

[marku52]

I've always loved that solo. Can play it, can't get the tone. Now I know why. Thanks!

[David Schwab]

I've always loved that solo. Can play it, can't get the tone. Now I know why. Thanks!

They also had a lot of compression on the guitar. A lot.

The Beatles really came up with many of the tones people still use after all these years.

[Mike Sulzer]

With normal value capacitors and the pot on ten, changing the cap somewhat has no significant effect. The effect of the tone control over most of the range is due to changing the resistive loading of the resonant peak. A really small capacitor will cut the current through that shunt path even on ten, of course, but why do that? You can use a no load pot which switches it out of the circuit all together on 10.

Didn't Harrison use a Strat on that solo in nowhere man, accounting for some of the brightness?