Jaguar strangle switch capacitor change

jellybelly

yo, some basic wisdom (but wisdom nonetheless) required. I like my jaguar very much, and have performed the 'series-parallel' mod on it. Which is great but there is far too much low end when engaged. 

"The fool" they all cry, "there's a switch on the jaguar that takes away bass!" But it takes away all the bass reducing the tone to similar proportions to the standard pickup options. What would I do to the 'strangle switch' so that it cuts a bit of that low end but not as extremely as the current stock circuit?? Different cap? A resistor? Thanks!!

ICBM

If it's the very low bass you want more of, try a 1M resistor in parallel with the cap. If you want more lower midrange and still not much bass, try a larger cap - I think the stock value is .003uF, so I would probably try .01uF first. You can add it in parallel (which will actually give .013uF) if you don't want to remove the stock one yet.

jellybelly

ICBM said:

If it's the very low bass you want more of, try a 1M resistor in parallel with the cap. If you want more lower midrange and still not much bass, try a larger cap - I think the stock value is .003uF, so I would probably try .01uF first. You can add it in parallel (which will actually give .013uF) if you don't want to remove the stock one yet.

Cheers man will give it a go tomorrow, think I've got the 0.01 cap from the lead circuit tone control still. I really need to try to understand how capacitors attenuate frequencies, as it makes no sense whatsoever. 

ICBM

jellybelly said:

I really need to try to understand how capacitors attenuate frequencies, as it makes no sense whatsoever. 

Essentially, they work by allowing charge to build up on two closely separated layers - there is no actual physical continuity through the cap. The layers can only store a small amount of charge, so a low frequency - which is a lot of charge flowing in and out slowly - gets blocked, whereas a high frequency - which is a small charge flowing in and out fast - doesn't. The higher the frequency, the easier it is for the signal to be passed through by alternately charging and discharging the layers - low frequencies are harder to pass through, ie are attenuated.

A larger cap has larger layers, basically - which means that it can store more charge and hence pass lower frequencies more easily than a smaller one.

Does that make sense?

jellybelly

Yes that does - I assumed it was something to do with blocking longer wavelengths i.e. Lower frequencies. How then does a tone control work in the opposite way, blocking high end? Or is it essentially allowing high end to pass to ground, removing it from the signal? I think that's a lightbulb moment right there. Thanks @ICBM !

ICBM

Yes, the tone control passes high frequencies to ground, so again a larger cap is more effective and then gives a bassier sound.