Managing shrill highs

[Tom Gorr]

My steel uses GL Eon's.

When I route my signal to an old model Goodrich 120, then straight to an all tube amp (eg SF Vibrolux, or Bandmaster Reverb, my tone is just fine.)

But if I intercept the signal with a tuner pedal such as the Boss TU3, or alternatively use the Telonics FP100B Pro (not the Standard model), the full range buffer of the Pro or TU3 make the highs sound shrill. I can barely get the high attenuated enough with the amp treble completely off, which is not ideal either as the treble interacts with the mids.

I dont want to add any more active circuitry to the signal path.. eg.. EQ pedal etc. I like a simple signal path.

(Btw, if I had to redo my Telonics decision again, I'd get the Standard version that rolls off the highs to approximate the pot pedal true bypass tone..I guess I thought the Pro pedal was a "step up" in quality... its simply a full freq range buffered version compared to a tonally sculpted Standard.).

There are other tuner pedals out there with different voiced buffers, or true bypass.

I am not concerned very much at the sophistication or even need super high accuracy in the tuner - I am concerned mostly about its impact on tonality.

Or maybe I should add a passive tone control circuit to my steel to roll off some highs before it hits the active buffer circuitry???

[Malcolm McMaster]

Get your self a Peterson clip on tuner problem solved, best thing I ever did. Run mine on MA9 setting, no effect on tone and one less set of cables to run.

[Jon Light (deceased)]

Just one thought, an option that's not mentioned in your post --
Taking the tuner out from the extra jack on the Goodrich (and I assume the Telonics also has one) and not running the signal through the tuner. You'll need to do the simple mod on the 120 that is pinned at the top of this Electronics section.

This does not address the problem of your simply not liking the sound of the Telonics but it should take the tuner out of the signal path with the Goodrich.

An additional option might be to use a Sarno Freeloader with the adjustable impedance.

[Glenn Demichele]

Or just get a 1meg pot ant put it across the output jack of the steel (either end pin of pot goes to ground, center pin of pot goes to hot). You can do this with alligator clips first to see if you like it.
If you like it, you can mount the pot in the guitar, or modify a short cord to your Volume pedal and make yourself a “Freeloader”.
If you like it, and find you leave the pot at one setting, you can replace the pot with a fixed resistor that can fit inside the jack end of your steel-to-pedal cord. To find the right value, set the pot where you like it, and measure ohms from hot to ground with nothing connected to pot. I’ll bet it’ll be around 300kOhms. You then put that resistor inside either end of your steel-to-pedal cord. Label your resistor cord so you know which cord has the resistor, and it won’t matter which way you plug it in between your steel and pedal (or tuner).

[Tom Gorr]

Hah, never noticed the sticky at top with the jack mod for the Goodrich. I will be doing that. And will also find the optimal loading and do the cable mod or possibly mount a trim pot on the goodrich.

Good ideas, thanks!

I'd likw to find a way to get the telonics working better as some of its tapers work for me better than pots. Thinking a passive tone pot ahead of it may be in order.

[Dave Stagner]

If you'd consider one piece of electronics, I find the Sarno Freeloader works great for managing shrillness and easily shaping my highs from venue to venue. (The Black Box could do the same.) And it has a separate tuner out, so I run steel > Freeloader > passive volume > amp, with tuner isolated from signal chain purity. It also keeps my tone intact if I decide to use pedals between volume and amp.

[Tom Wolverton]

I always use a Freeloader. I love it.
If you don’t like your Pro model of Telonics pedal, talk to Dave. He might swap yours for the standard model.