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Vintage threads from the first ten years

Re: Volume control Tone

9/12/1997 3:31 AM
Steve Ahola	Re: Volume control Tone For some advanced tone controls, check out Torres Engineering in San Mateo, CA. (1-415-571-1507) Dan writes a column for Vintage Guitar magazine and sells kits and parts for all sorts of custom designs he has come up with. His version of the Varitone uses a small transfomer he gets from Mouser electronics for the inductor (I think it works out to 1.5 millihenries). He also has two different passive midrange controls that use a similar inductor. I built most of the Craig Anderton projects in my younger days, and while it was a lot of fun, the results weren't really "pro-quality". As I recall, the Anderton midrange controls routed the actual signal through the inductor and caps, which seriously degraded the sound. With the Dan Torres designs, the signal itself does not go through the inductor and cap- it is those frequencies being bled to ground that go through those components so that actual signal going to your amp is modified but not degraded. I'd suggest that you buy one each of his Super Midrange control kit ($14) and his Deluxe Vari-Tone kit ($29) along with a half dozen of the inductors. He has 2 versions of the inductor- one with 2 uncut leads for most kits ($3?) and one with 3 uncut leads for the Super Vari-Tone ($4?). Those inductors are hard to find elsewhere (I think Mouser has a $250 minimum order!) and with the spares you can experiment with your own designs...

9/12/1997 3:31 AM

Steve Ahola

Re: Volume control Tone

For some advanced tone controls, check out Torres Engineering in San Mateo, CA. (1-415-571-1507)
Dan writes a column for Vintage Guitar magazine and sells kits and parts for all sorts of custom designs he has come up with.
His version of the Varitone uses a small transfomer he gets from Mouser electronics for the inductor (I think it works out to 1.5 millihenries). He also has two different passive midrange controls that use a similar inductor.
I built most of the Craig Anderton projects in my younger days, and while it was a lot of fun, the results weren't really "pro-quality". As I recall, the Anderton midrange controls routed the actual signal through the inductor and caps, which seriously degraded the sound.
With the Dan Torres designs, the signal itself does not go through the inductor and cap- it is those frequencies being bled to ground that go through those components so that actual signal going to your amp is modified but not degraded.
I'd suggest that you buy one each of his Super Midrange control kit ($14) and his Deluxe Vari-Tone kit ($29) along with a half dozen of the inductors. He has 2 versions of the inductor- one with 2 uncut leads for most kits ($3?) and one with 3 uncut leads for the Super Vari-Tone ($4?). Those inductors are hard to find elsewhere (I think Mouser has a $250 minimum order!) and with the spares you can experiment with your own designs...

9/12/1997 7:20 AM
J Epstein	Do you mean these parts are a custom order subject to a minimum? 'Cause Mouser has no minimum order for normal in-stock items - I'm POSITIVE about that. -j

9/14/1997 2:09 AM
Steve Ahola	I haven't dealt with Mouser for many years, but if you have a current catalog maybe you can see if these parts are listed in it: "TL021" 6 leads/wrapped with blue tape (1.0H) "TL024" 6 leads/wrapped with yellow tape (?H) I suspect that these parts are miniature matching transformers (they are built like transformers, with a core and a u-channel frame wrapped around 3 sides of it). They measure 5/8" long, 1/2" high and the core is about 9/16" across. They have two tabs, 1/16" wide and 3/16" long, for mounting onto a PCB. The leads Dan uses are on the side with "P" (for primary?) printed on the tape. He uses the outer 2 leads on the TL021 for his regular and super midrange controls. He uses all 3 leads of the TL024 for the Deluxe Vari-Tone kit (with a push-pull pot to select which tap is used). When I saw "Mouser" printed on them, I asked him if he ordered them from Mouser Electronics and it was at that time that he mentioned the minimum order (which was something like $250). He gets a lot of his pots from them, too. If you can locate these parts in a Mouser catalog, let me know what the stock numbers are so I can order a bunch. (The "TL" numbers are printed in ink on the side of the frame which may or may not correspond to the actual stock numbers Mouser uses). I just got out my DMM to measure the DC resistance of these parts: TL021 "P" 146 ohms w/center tap unmarked 58 ohms w/center tap TL024 "P" 515 ohms w/center tap unmarked 132 ohms w/center tap Since the resistances aren't the same they are obviously not 1:1 matching transformers, but that is what they basically look like.

9/14/1997 2:09 AM

Steve Ahola

I haven't dealt with Mouser for many years, but if you have a current catalog maybe you can see if these parts are listed in it:
"TL021" 6 leads/wrapped with blue tape (1.0H)
"TL024" 6 leads/wrapped with yellow tape (?H)

I suspect that these parts are miniature matching transformers (they are built like transformers, with a core and a u-channel frame wrapped around 3 sides of it). They measure 5/8" long, 1/2" high and the core is about 9/16" across. They have two tabs, 1/16" wide and 3/16" long, for mounting onto a PCB. The leads Dan uses are on the side with "P" (for primary?) printed on the tape.
He uses the outer 2 leads on the TL021 for his regular and super midrange controls. He uses all 3 leads of the TL024 for the Deluxe Vari-Tone kit (with a push-pull pot to select which tap is used).
When I saw "Mouser" printed on them, I asked him if he ordered them from Mouser Electronics and it was at that time that he mentioned the minimum order (which was something like $250). He gets a lot of his pots from them, too.
If you can locate these parts in a Mouser catalog, let me know what the stock numbers are so I can order a bunch. (The "TL" numbers are printed in ink on the side of the frame which may or may not correspond to the actual stock numbers Mouser uses).
I just got out my DMM to measure the DC resistance of these parts:
TL021 "P" 146 ohms w/center tap
unmarked 58 ohms w/center tap
TL024 "P" 515 ohms w/center tap
unmarked 132 ohms w/center tap
Since the resistances aren't the same they are obviously not 1:1 matching transformers, but that is what they basically look like.

9/15/1997 1:20 AM
Steve Ahola	I checked out the Mouser site and found what appear to be Dan Torres' inductors on page 239 of their catalog: 42TL021 Ultra-mini audio transformer 4KCT/600CT $1.52 each ($1.38/10 lot) 42TL024 Ultra-mini audio transformer 10KCT/500CT $2.09 each ($1.74/10 lot) Their charges for shipping and handling seem to be very fair: they only charge you the actual shipping charges. Thanks for setting me straight about Mouser (I shoulda known better than to take Dan's word about the minimum order without checking it out myself!) Steve

9/15/1997 1:20 AM

Steve Ahola

I checked out the Mouser site and found what appear to be Dan Torres' inductors on page 239 of their catalog:

42TL021 Ultra-mini audio transformer 4KCT/600CT
$1.52 each ($1.38/10 lot)

42TL024 Ultra-mini audio transformer 10KCT/500CT
$2.09 each ($1.74/10 lot)

Their charges for shipping and handling seem to be very fair: they only charge you the actual shipping charges.

Thanks for setting me straight about Mouser (I shoulda known better than to take Dan's word about the minimum order without checking it out myself!)

Steve

9/15/1997 7:46 AM
J Epstein	Without getting into the relative merits of Dan Torres, it could have been a legit mistake - if they were not regular stock items when he ordered them his story could have been true - Mouser adds items to its catalog pretty aggressively, and these may be relatively recent adds. Most recent add : Sprague Orange Drops! -j

9/17/1997 12:18 AM
Steve Ahola	Sprague Orange Drop caps! When I get the new Mouser catalog via snail-mail I may find that I won't have to drive 50 miles out to San Mateo to get these weird parts for my amps and guitars! I think Dan was stretching the truth a little bit- for him to get 100 lot prices HIS "minimum order" is about $270. He said he has his Orange Drop caps special made for him built to his own specifications. They do have his name printed on them and they work great in guitar amps. I notice that you have a very low CompuServe address; did they ever get their internet connection working as well as the local ISP's? I hated to give up my account with them, but it got to the point where I just wasn't getting enough for my $19.95 a month. Limited hours, numerous vendors lost to the net, and very slow WWW connections...

9/17/1997 12:18 AM

Steve Ahola

Sprague Orange Drop caps! When I get the new Mouser catalog via snail-mail I may find that I won't have to drive 50 miles out to San Mateo to get these weird parts for my amps and guitars!
I think Dan was stretching the truth a little bit- for him to get 100 lot prices HIS "minimum order" is about $270.
He said he has his Orange Drop caps special made for him built to his own specifications. They do have his name printed on them and they work great in guitar amps.
I notice that you have a very low CompuServe address; did they ever get their internet connection working as well as the local ISP's? I hated to give up my account with them, but it got to the point where I just wasn't getting enough for my $19.95 a month. Limited hours, numerous vendors lost to the net, and very slow WWW connections...

9/17/1997 1:24 PM
J Epstein	Steve: I use what could best be described as a kludge to access the online universe. I have fast Internet access via my computer at work, this is how I access the AMPAGE. BUT, neither email nor news service is implemented on the company system. So I use Deja News through the work server for newsgroups, and I use Compuserve only for email, basically. I don't even use any of their GUI interfaces - I just sign on with a terminal emulator and scroll text. I used to participate in the INMUSIC forums - but when Gibson dropped out I guess I just missed Walter Carter so much I stopped visiting thre too. Plus there's quite a lot on the Web, ain't there? -j

9/17/1997 1:24 PM

J Epstein

Steve:
I use what could best be described as a kludge to access the online universe. I have fast Internet access via my computer at work, this is how I access the AMPAGE. BUT, neither email nor news service is implemented on the company system. So I use Deja News through the work server for newsgroups, and I use Compuserve only for email, basically. I don't even use any of their GUI interfaces - I just sign on with a terminal emulator and scroll text. I used to participate in the INMUSIC forums - but when Gibson dropped out I guess I just missed Walter Carter so much I stopped visiting thre too. Plus there's quite a lot on the Web, ain't there?

-j

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