D-Style Tone stack boards

[Gainzilla]

Hey all,

I do a ton of amp mods, and am working on a Dumble style amp mod. Through that process, I thought it would just be easier to implement the Tonestack by designing a small PCB daughterboard. They’re roughly 2”x 2 1/5”. They have pads for connecting the pots, connecting to the main circuit, and pads to connect to SPDT switches for mounting to your amps front panel. The actual switching is done via relays, mounted on the board. My question is would there be any interest in making these boards available to the group? I could either sell the boards at cost, or post the PCB files somewhere like github or Oshpark.

Cheers,

- Bryce

[Jered]

I would buy at least a couple

[pompeiisneaks]

We love sharing here. I'm sure people would appreciate the sharing part. Also many don't want to go through the trouble themselves and I'm sure would be happy to buy them, if you could post pictures of the product, that would help.

Sounds like a great idea to me.

~Phil

[xtian]

Kindly post schematic or drawings so I can decide if this would be useful to me. Thanks!

[Gainzilla]

So, I don't actually have the final product yet. I was going to send out for the boards today, and they usually take a week. The quality is excellent, though. I can post some pics of boards I've ordered in the past. In any case, I used the attached D-124 schematic as my reference, and I've also attached a caveman-like schematic showing exactly what is included on the board, as well as a screenshot of the general board layout. The assumption is that you already have a suitable supply. If not, I have some little boards, or Hoffman sells a little supply as well that will work with this.

Any feedback is welcome. If the form factor is less than ideal I could re-design the board. Also, if there is a "better" or more idyllic tone stack than the one I chose, I'd be happy to revise. Also, this DOES include the volume control as well.

Thoughts?

ToneStack_D-Style_Rly.png

ToneStack_D-Style_Schem.png

D-124 amp.png

[tristanc]

Looks great. Sharing these things would be useful - I'm just working on getting my boards working with the latest KiCad so others could open them without issue.

Re: mounting holes - on my tone stack and reverb boards I made it so the pcb could also be mounted vertically using L brackets - this was really useful for saving space and keeping the wires short between the board and pots. Might be an idea to have 3 (or 4) mounting holes to allow multiple orientations? Also, are you planning to use any Phoenix-style connector to allow solder-free connections? I'm a huge fan of these for ease of use...

T

[Gainzilla]

It just occurred to me that these boards are designed with an emphasis on compact-ness, so the caps could be something like Wima, or Panasonic. I realize this is something like a cardinal sin for purists. Any advise in at area, or are compact caps fine (lets face it, using a board like this would not be a very traditional approach anyway.).

[xtian]

I have had very good results when using WIMA box caps, both in tube amp builds, and in FET mic preamp.

[Gainzilla]

Looks great. Sharing these things would be useful - I'm just working on getting my boards working with the latest KiCad so others could open them without issue.

Re: mounting holes - on my tone stack and reverb boards I made it so the pcb could also be mounted vertically using L brackets - this was really useful for saving space and keeping the wires short between the board and pots. Might be an idea to have 3 (or 4) mounting holes to allow multiple orientations? Also, are you planning to use any Phoenix-style connector to allow solder-free connections? I'm a huge fan of these for ease of use...

T

Can do extra mounting holes. The way I like to do it, is to remove the PCB mounting screw from the original amp, install a female to male standoff, and mount the daughter board to the standoff with the original screw. Then it's kind of floating above the main board. If that makes sense.

I could definitely re-configure for Phoenix style connectors/headers. I've used those on other projects and they work great. At a minimum, I could space and size the solder pads so that they could accept a connector and then you could have the choice.

[tristanc]

Can do extra mounting holes. The way I like to do it, is to remove the PCB mounting screw from the original amp, install a female to male standoff, and mount the daughter board to the standoff with the original screw. Then it's kind of floating above the main board. If that makes sense.

I could definitely re-configure for Phoenix style connectors/headers. I've used those on other projects and they work great. At a minimum, I could space and size the solder pads so that they could accept a connector and then you could have the choice.

I was nervous about doing a 'double layer' of PCBs, but it makes good sense if you're happy there's nothing going to interfere etc.

At the simpler end of the spectrum, here's my board for Merlin's Bone Ray stack. And another pic of how I've used a mixture of standoffs, verticle and jack mounted to pack as much in as I could. And this build is very quiet indeed - not sure I need the shielded cable runs... The tone stack is bottom right.

I'll share all these designs on GitHub now that I've verfied they work well. When I get round to cleaning up the files...

[Tony Bones]

I could definitely re-configure for Phoenix style connectors/headers. I've used those on other projects and they work great. At a minimum,I could space and size the solder pads so that they could accept a connector and then you could have the choice.

This works well and is my recommendation. Plated through-holes 5mm on center can be used as eyelets or will accept Phoenix connectors if desired. I don't remember what size the hole should be, but if you follow the datasheet the holes will accept up to 16AWG wire. 3.5mm pitch also works.

[Gainzilla]

At the simpler end of the spectrum, here's my board for Merlin's Bone Ray stack. And another pic of how I've used a mixture of standoffs, verticle and jack mounted to pack as much in as I could. And this build is very quiet indeed - not sure I need the shielded cable runs... The tone stack is bottom right.

I'll share all these designs on GitHub now that I've verfied they work well. When I get round to cleaning up the files...

Love it! I have a ton of little utility boards like that. Funny, but I was going to try the Bone Ray recently, as I've been looking for a great sounding, compact tone circuit. I'm also looking at Two Knob stacks as well.

Also, I've done a whole set of modular boards, just like yours. I'm not joking, they even have the phoenix connectors. I do like how you've got the tone stack on edge. That's pretty cool. Can't believe I didn't think of that. ROFL

Cheers!

[Gainzilla]

This works well and is my recommendation. Plated through-holes 5mm on center can be used as eyelets or will accept Phoenix connectors if desired. I don't remember what size the hole should be, but if you follow the datasheet the holes will accept up to 16AWG wire. 3.5mm pitch also works.

Awesome. I think I'll do that, then. I love the flexibility aspect.