Stagecoach build seems very dark

[DadTheTinkerFairy]

I have built a Stagecoach (Barber BUSS) and I really like it except even with the tone knob all the way up, it doesn’t have much treble and no presence at all. I’m wondering if this is normal for this circuit. And, what is the deal with C6? Seems like it would be dumping treble to ground before it even gets to the tone control low pass filter. Would removing C6 bring back some treble?

 

[DadTheTinkerFairy]

I tore this thing down because I wanted to replace the volume pot with an audio taper, so I removed C6 while I was at it and that was definitely what was making it so dark. I suppose it is tuned to be used into a really bright amp, but the 2n2 cap makes the tone control so it doesn’t have very much effect. Might be useful for some to put a switch on this cap.

I decided to socket the pads so I could try some different values. Testing with the tone knob all the way up, 450pf was barely noticeable. 1n5 cut the presence and some treble. I ended up leaving 1n in place, taming some noise and distortion hash in the treble frequencies. I’ll run it like this for a while and see how I like it.

 

[HamishR]

I thought the same thing until I found out how Paul intended it to be used. The treble pot is meant to be purely a cut. So start with it fully CW and only turn it down when needed. There is a thread on here about it.

 

[Brett]

I thought the same thing until I found out how Paul intended it to be used.

Who's this "Paul" you speak of?

 

[hamerfan]

What HamishR said. Here is the manual.

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/65b06a7618b86c6c69ea8b04/t/67df7db6a8e4b9477b4aae5f/1742699958995/FWW_BUSS_KW_EDIT.pdf