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varitone control distortion

N

newfuture

Jul 13, 2007
1,009
873
#1
Hi--

Any varitone control users here care to weigh in on if they get distortion or not when using the VT control?

I've got a HAS sound unit, and it distorts when engaged, with the distortion getting louder as the VT effect gets bassier. I suspect it's the tranny saturating as the distortion (and of course the treble) goes away if the tranny's bypassed. As a test I replaced the tranny with a Rat Shack inductor, no distortion, but the low value of the RS inductor makes it only slightly better than the bypass wire for treble retention.
 
#2
newfuture said:
Any varitone control users here care to weigh in on if they get distortion or not when using the VT control?
Click to expand...

I did with mine also. I mostly heard it in the two most clockwise settings. It was more apparent with both pickups in series.

I replaced the HAS Varitone harness I had in my Spirit XZ-25 fretted with a HAS Jazz Blender harness. The tone is a stacked passive and midrange cut control. No trace of distortion at all. Very nice sounding harness for a passive bass.
 
#3
likewise, the two most clockwise settings were quite distorted. The Rat Shack inductor has no distortion whatsoever (it's rated to 2 amps, but only 100mH)--I'm hoping to find an inductor with a higher current rating, and inductance of around 1.5 H. No luck so far.
 
#4
Newfuture.. I have since learned that Stan builds the Bass Varitones with that six position that produces the overdrive effect. So, it's not a problem with the Varitone, it's intentional.
 
#6
mjolnir said:
Is it the one with the regular caps or the Orange Drop caps?
Click to expand...
Mine was the Orange Drop model. Not sure about Newfuture's.

Maybe Stan will see this and clarify whether the regular, non-OD Varitone is built with the overdrive sound.

I'm thinking strongly about ordering another Bass Varitone OD from Stan. I really miss the crazy good tones I could get from that control. Although I would like to get it with a regular six position that doesn't do the overdrive sound, if Stan would build one for me that way.
 
#8
Hey Guys,

Just to clarify, the "distorted" setting on my Bass Varitone was not intentional in the beginning. It has to do with the large value #6 capacitor/coil combination. It also seems to be more pronounced the hotter the pickups are.

It doesn't really seem to make much difference whether I am using the OD's or the poly's.

I have considered changing the values of the capacitors to remove the effect but the current concensus is about 75% in favor of the current version and 25% not.

Obviously I will custom build one for anyone that wants less "distortion".
 
#9
Now I definitely need to sit down and play with the settings on mine again, 'cause I totally missed that...

As a side note, I'm about to install one of these suckers on an active/passive bass, should be interesting to see how the varitone works in active mode.
 
#10
mjolnir said:
Now I definitely need to sit down and play with the settings on mine again, 'cause I totally missed that...

As a side note, I'm about to install one of these suckers on an active/passive bass, should be interesting to see how the varitone works in active mode.
Click to expand...

Hi mjolnir- for some reason that is not apparent to me, it does not do it with every bass....another reason that I am reluctant to officially change it. :confused:

The best I can figure is that the hotter the output of the pickups, the more pronounced the distortion is.
 
#11
has-sound said:
Hi mjolnir- for some reason that is not apparent to me, it does not do it with every bass....another reason that I am reluctant to officially change it. :confused:
Click to expand...
...Huh. That's so strange... I got it in my single coil P, my fretless J, and had it in my marcus miller (I emailed you about that a few days ago if you recall), and it never distorted...
 
#12
MichaelVee said:
Mine was the Orange Drop model. Not sure about Newfuture's.
Click to expand...

Non OD model. The distortion I was hearing sounded like transformer saturation, and was most notable in the 6th position. In the 5th, it was slight.

I've since found a NOS inductor (UTC brand) @ 1.4H that, for me, has taken care of the distortion. Have sent one to Stan to see how he likes 'em. Unfortunately, they're surplus, so finding a steady supply of them would be difficult.
 
#14
thats the problem with Varitones with set resistors. I built a Varitone similar to the pic and any distortion can be dialed out with the R2 pot

varitone-jpg.jpg
 

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