u/metallicsonatas

First, I want to say thanks to several of you who have helped this beginner troubleshoot (and fix!) a couple of my first builds recently. I really appreciate this sub’s willingness to help people learn.

One thing I’m most interested in learning is how to increase or decrease bass in circuits. I’ve read that this often can be done by experimenting with capacitor values, so it would be super helpful to know before starting a build which capacitors to experiment with, so that I can solder sockets for those capacitors.

I know the input capacitor is a common place in which increasing the capacitor value can increase bass. But I’ve also read (in places like the excellent article here https://www.coda-effects.com/2020/01/all-you-need-to-know-about-capacitors.html) that “coupling capacitors” are the thing to look for.

So, two potentially dumb questions:

1. Will an input capacitor usually be marked C1 on a schematic? If not, what’s a better way to identify it?
2. I don’t fully understand from the article I linked above HOW to identify coupling capacitors. I believe the article says they come after a “DC stage” in a circuit, but ai don’t really know how to identify that, either.

Can anyone point me to any resources that might help me learn the answers to these questions, or is it easily explainable? I’m still trying to grasp reading schematics. Learning the symbols is one thing, but identifying how the components and stages work together is still tricky to me.

I know there are other subs for questions about guitar pedals, but I really like the community here, and I think those of you who are musicians will answer better than other subs.

I’ve long been a diehard tube-amp owner. Recently, though, I got a Quilter amp (after seeing Ron from Bongripper with one) that’s made for amp modelers, and I plugged in an EAE Model feT pedal (an emulation of a Model T). Does it sound exactly like a real, 120db, 50lb amp head? No, but nothing but a real head is going to do that. Does it sound and feel pretty badass anyway? Yes it does, imo. Whoever made that pedal loved the Model T circuit, and there is some art inside that box.

I want to try more preamp or amp/cabinet-modeling pedals, mainly for recording on my DAW, that feel and function similarly to big doomy amps, especially ones that break up like tube amps when other gain pedals go into them. I’m behind the times on this.

I’ve looked at a few pedals like the Frost Giant Architecture of Reality (a Laney AOR preamp) and the Does it Doom Baghdad (Soldano SP77 and a Matamp 120). And then there seemingly a million other tube amp/cab modeling options (the Boss IR-2, etc.) out there that may or not do the heavy gain/breakup I’m looking for.

Do any of you have any suggestions? I’m totally new to this world of amp/cab emulation, so any recommendations you have will be helpful info for me. Thanks.