This is the 3rd post in the Dead Kings preamp series.

Now to design the EQ module!

My initial idea was to create a circuit inspired from the classic tube bass amplifiers, like Ampeg Portaflex or SVT. I did some research and got somewhat carried away, so the circuit I came up with has ideas from many sources and doesn’t reproduce any of the existing modules. There were also ideas suggested by OnlyBass forum members that I’ll try to test out and maybe incorporate into the design.

So this is the first version that I came up with and ran through LTSpice simulation:

This is basically a “symmetrical Baxandal EQ in the negative feedback circuit”, with RC Bass and Treble and LC Mid sections. The LC/RC bridges are all high-impedance and require high-impedance next stage, hence the usage of the bootstrapped emitter follower (Q1) as a buffer with 250-300K input impedance. Q2 is the identical input buffer, and the Q4 buffers out the output – all of these make the EQ module completely independent and usable all by itself (perhaps as a separate pedal). As is, this EQ can be also easily transplanted into a tube circuit with minor or no modifications.

The pots are linear 100K, easy to source and more precise than logarithmic pots used in some of the vintage passive tone stack designs. For the Mid EQ inductor I’ll be using a primary winding of a small audio transformer, I have some handy but will need to test them in the circuit – it’s unclear what their inductance is, depending on the source it’s from 3 to 11 Hn.

The overall amplification is 0db (no amplification), the frequency bands give about 12 db cut and boost for the Bass and Treble and 8 db cut and boost for the Mids.

One of the things suggested on OnlyBass is to make the band frequencies modifiable, and I will be certainly testing this, to do that I just need to vary the capacitor values: C8 for the mids, C4 for the bass and C16/C21 together for the treble. In the final product I’ll maybe choose two values for each of the bands (using three switches, one per band).

Next step: to design and solder the board!