Author Topic: OBEL before or after tone controls? (Read 280 times)

chinacat · « **on:** August 13, 2015, 06:22:53 PM »

On Alembic guitars, where does the OBEL reside in the signal chain from pickups to tone controls to volume-out? Is there flexibility as to where the OBEL might reside? Pros/Cons?

David Houck · « **Reply #1 on:** August 13, 2015, 06:39:46 PM »

According to the Tribute Owners Manual, each pickup has its own filter and selector switch (off/on/bright); these signals are then fed into a summing amplifier, and then on to the volume control. By changing the connections inside the control cavity, the effects loop can be inserted before or after the volume control, as shown here.

chinacat · « **Reply #2 on:** August 13, 2015, 07:02:19 PM »

Thanks, Dave. So the OBEL and output volume control are downstream of the tone filters and summing amplifier, and the flexibility is limited to placing the OBEL before or after the output volume. Got it.

David Houck · « **Reply #3 on:** August 13, 2015, 07:33:34 PM »

Since each pickup has it's own filter, I'm guessing it would be somewhat difficult to insert the loop between the pickups and their filters. Thus it would seem that before and after the volume control would be the only options.

However, I suppose one could custom order a layout where the pickups don't have individual filters, and where the one filter could follow the loop. I don't know; that would be something you would need to discuss with Mica.

mica · « **Reply #4 on:** August 13, 2015, 07:36:23 PM »

It's switchable! There's an internal patch to set it to suit your needs.

mica · « **Reply #5 on:** August 13, 2015, 07:46:08 PM »

Sorry - I read that in haste. It's switchable before or after the volume control, but the volume is always AFTER the filters. Hope this helps.

chinacat · « **Reply #6 on:** August 13, 2015, 09:12:08 PM »

Understood with thanks!