Guvenator - More Cowbell! No, I mean more Bass

[Spiff4565]

I assembled a Guvenator recently and over all I am very happy with it.

I'm building another one and rather than PCB mounted pots I'm going to fly leads to the solder lugs.

The reason I'm doing this with the pots is because I want the controls laid out like you would find on a Marshall amp panel, Bass, Mid, Treble, gain and volume. The PCB pots put the order of tone controls Treble, Mid and Bass.

Which brings me to my query. The bass on this pedal is a bit anemic, IMHO. Want I am looking for is essentially a bass boost.is this possible by just changing out passive components or would such a modification require circuit/component wizardry? To be clear I am not looking to change the range of frequencies, I am looking for a way to accentuate the frequencies currently controlled by the Bass control.

I've played any number of amps that employed a bass boost and it is this effect I would like to integrate into the Guvenator.

If there is an existing PCB that sounds similar to the Guvenator that already has this feature or characteristic already baked into the design, please let me know which
board to look at.

 

[joelorigo]

I remember a thread that someone was discussing replacing some cap/caps with different values to get more low end thump. I was thinking about doing that too but I got distracted with other building. Search “Govenator” and it will probably be easy to find.

 

[Nostradoomus]

Simple Guvernator mods

What with the current noise about the original Marshall Guv'nor, Drivemaster, Shredmaster etc being made by Marshall again I thought I should have one more try at a Guv'nor. An original Guv'nor was the first drive pedal I ever used at a gig way back when they were first released. I always liked...

forum.pedalpcb.com

Buddy's Breadboard - Guvernator Distortion

Here is a breadboard layout of the stock Guvernator Distortion. Upon initial testing this is definitely close to a medium-high gain Marshall sound. You can alter the clipping diodes if you'd like, but most of what I've read elsewhere said that Marshall uses red LED clippers so I left it. The...

forum.pedalpcb.com

The info in these two threads should get you were you wanna be.

 

[phi1]

I would guess the main things is that R3 and C3 make a bass cut filter at 723hz. Increase C3 will lower that to allow more bass through.

 

[Elijah-Baley]

If you need just a little mod you could increase C6, 1uF for example, to get more low end. If you want still a little more even C4.
You could try a 220nF for C3, too, as phi1 said, but this will move the boost peak on lower frequency, could be ok for you, but I guess it change a bit the effect.

If you want to try something more what about the Deep control as in the GV2 Guv'nor Plus version?
If you don't want PCB mounted pots could be easy to add, after the Volume pot, this low end boost. If you don't want it as an external control on the panel you could just set with an inner trimmer, or why not, reachable with a screwdriver on the panel, in the back, maybe.

This are the frequencies boosted, where the less is the zero boost, normal frequency of the Guv'Nor:


Adding the new circuit you'll get more volume, (indeed in the Marshall pedal the volume is adjusted before the Volume pot with a couple of resistors as voltage divider, even if this cut volume comparing it with the original Guv'Nor).
I have on my pc some veroboard layouts, I still never tried them, but I imagine those are verified.

 

[Bucksears]

Wampler ID'd some mod option years ago, including more bass, but I can't find the link. It was an old video.