Sherwood Treble - Bright Even When Turned Down

[Idlebeach]

Hello!

I built the Sherwood last night and everything seems to function but I think in general there is too much treble even with the knob turned all the way down. From what I can remember it should be pretty flat when the bass and treble are at noon but it seems like there is a presence (?) increase.

I imagine this will be a very simple fix/mod, probably changing out a cap (c14 or c11?)? I went back to make sure and the values in place are what was on the pcb.

If anyone else on here has built a Sherwood do you feel it is too bright or does it sound like I screwed up?

Thanks gang!

 

[Coda]

Does the knob change the tone at all?

 

[Idlebeach]

Does the knob change the tone at all?

That is a wonderful question! Now that I am really focused on it - it definitely boosts but doesn't seem to cut. Maybe I have a bad pot/cap/joint?

Edit : I cleaned off the pcb a bit, re-heated the caps and pot I assume are the correct ones - didn't help. I took the pot off and made sure it was working both ways and it seems to be. I replaced the 4.7nF but it didn't change anything either.

Is it a cap or a resistor that define the frequencies that are being changed? Maybe I need to go through and read the color bands to make sure all those values are right.. I am usually pretty darn careful with that though.

 

[Idlebeach]

Does anyone have any ideas for me to try? It's weird that its almost perfect but the treble cut doesn't seem to work.

 

[Jonnytexas]

I am not the troubleshooter that many here are, but I would double check the pot values and reflow every joint. Since it is a relatively small parts count circuit, reflowing everyrhing should take just a few minutes. Did you use pot condoms?

 

[Idlebeach]

I am not the troubleshooter that many here are, but I would double check the pot values and reflow every joint. Since it is a relatively small parts count circuit, reflowing everyrhing should take just a few minutes. Did you use pot condoms?

Yeah for sure, I always use those plastic covers on my pots if they are definitely going to be close to the pcb.. I did all that stuff and checked values of everything. I changed up my search on here (I think I was either looking up westwood or sherwood and I needed to look up the other) and found another thread similar to mine about the treble issue. Turns out this version (maybe the real one too?) actually only boosts treble. There were a couple options to tame the highs or to make both pots cut/boost like I expected. I tried the first and it worked, haven't tried the second out yet. I appreciate ya!

 

[daeg]

Does anyone have any ideas for me to try? It's weird that its almost perfect but the treble cut doesn't seem to work.

This is a common complaint with the Westwood. The lack of tone-shaping in the clipping section was supposed to be a feature and not a bug, but a lot of people, myself included, find it too stingy even with the active Treble control turned all the way down.

Turn 'Gain' to zero and set Bass and Treble to 1/2 way. The pedal should be completely transparent. If you find that it isn't, then you can invest time into looking for mistakes in your build.

The other issue that makes this pedal less popular than the Timmy or a couple of others in it's class, is that the Bass control is post clipping. The problem with that is the Bass will be equally distorted, no matter where you set the 'Bass' control. This compresses the lows and litters your lower-mids with fuzzy harmonics that most people find unpleasant. The Timmy and others attenuate Bass before clipping, so you get a cleaner feel and sound.

 

[sticky1138]

I built this pedal a while ago and I'm actually a huge fan. It doesn't sound like you messed up, the treble control is flat at zero and boosts from there, unlike the real Westwood which is supposed to be a typical cut/boost from noon, although I haven't played one to compare.

There are a handful of mods in other threads to tame the highs, and I tried a couple, but they ended up making it sound like a generic Tube Screamer, which I dislike and defeats the purpose of this style of overdrive. The treble boost can be useful with dark pickups, but your best bet is to just keep that control close to zero and use your guitar's tone knob as needed rather than going down the mod rabbit hole.

 

[daeg]

I built this pedal a while ago and I'm actually a huge fan. It doesn't sound like you messed up, the treble control is flat at zero and boosts from there, unlike the real Westwood which is supposed to be a typical cut/boost from noon, although I haven't played one to compare.

Are you sure? I'd be really surprised if @PedalPCB made that kind of mistake tracing it.

Earthquaker Devices - Westwood [traced]