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The Bright Switch

How does it work, exactly?

I have a beautiful 112 RP 65 and I find I have to leave the bright switch IN to get a reasonably good sound. With the bright switch OFF (down) the sound is way too muffled.

So how does the bright switch work, exactly? How does it change the frequency response? It almost seems like if the bright switch is OFF it's cutting or filtering the high frequencies. The bright switch IN sounds "normal" to me.

Does anyone else ever experience this?

And for that matter, how does the DEEP switch work? It's far too boomy to even use, so I never touch it.

Thanks.

Full Name
Mike Griffin
Music Man Equipment
MM 112-RD-65

Member for

10 years 9 months

mgriffin155 Mon, 06/15/2015 - 16:37

With Lo Switch on, it bypasses an inter-stage coupling capacitor allowing all frequencies to pass directly through to the next stage. With Lo Swirtch off, all frequencies will pass through the coupling cap and very low frequencies get attenuated on their way to the next stage. The Bright Switch works a little differently. With Bright Switch on, it activates a resistor-capacitor network to ground in one of the op-amp feedback loops in the pre-amp stage to force the op-amp to have more gain as frequency goes up. With Bright Switch off, the resistor-capacitor network to ground is disconnected and that same op-amp now behaves in a linear fashion regardless of frequency. The use and non-use of those switches and their effect on tone is very subjective. Both of my guitars have humbucker PUPs and I rarely have either of them on. On the other hand, my buddy likes the Bright Switch on when he plugs in his Am Std Strat. Go figgur.......... -mgriffin

Full Name
Thomas Hanser
Music Man Equipment
112 RP

Member for

10 years 6 months

thanser Mon, 06/15/2015 - 17:32

Thanks, mgriffin.

I've never had an amp where the bright switch needed to be ON all the time to sound reasonably "flat" or normal. My bright switch is quite remarkable or dramatic.

Full Name
Mike Griffin
Music Man Equipment
MM 112-RD-65

Member for

10 years 9 months

mgriffin155 Tue, 06/16/2015 - 07:28

In reply to by thanser

Where do you set the Treble and Mid pots? They have a huge affect on tone. A tired speaker can also muddy the tone. -mgriffin

Full Name
Thomas Hanser
Music Man Equipment
112 RP

Member for

10 years 6 months

thanser Tue, 06/16/2015 - 07:39

Currently:

The speaker is brand new (Eminence.)

All tone controls are set to 5.

I need the bright switch to be ON, or in the UP position to sound reasonable flat or "normal." It's way too dull and muffled, in my opinion, with the bright switch off.

Music Man Equipment
2/12/65 combo & HD130 Reverb Head running two Carvin 2x12 cabinets 4ohm.

Guitar: G&L Legacy Special. We have a few home made tunes posted at..

https://soundcloud.com/partly-banded Please drop in and have a listen (It's all free!!) if you're bored, a little fuzzy, or just curious what Davey does. Thank You.

Member for

10 years 9 months

davey Tue, 06/16/2015 - 15:05

I'm going to go out on a limb here and ask maybe it might be your guitar cable? There was a time I was having trouble with getting any good sounding mids. Even thought about closing my two speaker cabinets that I run with my 130HD. Then at a gig my guitar cable went out, so I grabbed my backup cable, plugged it in and presto.. I had mids again.
Don't have a clue if this might help you but sometimes it can be something simple. That my 2 cents, good luck. Dave.

Full Name
Thomas Hanser
Music Man Equipment
112 RP

Member for

10 years 6 months

thanser Tue, 06/16/2015 - 15:21

I'm not suggesting there's anything wrong with the amp or even the cables. :)

I love this amp, believe me. It's just that I have to run it with the bright switch ON. With it off, pushing the treble tone pot just doesn't do it.

And it doesn't matter what cables or pedals I use, either.

Not complaining - just an observation!

Full Name
Darren Miles
Music Man Equipment
Just bought an RD 110!
Also own a few Fenders: Dual Showman, Excelsior, Hot rod Deluxe and a Champ XD.
Guitars are a MIM Jazzmaster with a few mods, and a Rickenbacker 330 owned since new in 1989.
I play surf mostly, with my band: www.thewaterboarders.net

Member for

9 years 11 months

ronsurf Tue, 12/15/2015 - 01:59

I'm going even further out on a limb and wondering if you've got a second opinion? I had my ears waxed recently and it made everything much less muffled - conversations and music was much clear and brighter.

If not, maybe some components have gone out of spec...In your amp, I mean.

Music Man Equipment
2/12/65 combo & HD130 Reverb Head running two Carvin 2x12 cabinets 4ohm.

Guitar: G&L Legacy Special. We have a few home made tunes posted at..

https://soundcloud.com/partly-banded Please drop in and have a listen (It's all free!!) if you're bored, a little fuzzy, or just curious what Davey does. Thank You.

Member for

10 years 9 months

davey Sat, 01/02/2016 - 15:30

Sometimes I wish my brain had a bright switch. That would be the bees knees ..

Full Name
Lars Verholt
Music Man Equipment
HD-130 head, 210X cab, 210RH cab, RD-50 110 combo, Sixty-Five 112 combo, RP65-112

Member for

10 years 9 months

lmv Thu, 01/07/2016 - 19:25

Davey, thank you for this. A comment worthy of a hearty handshake!

Music Man Equipment
2/12/65 combo & HD130 Reverb Head running two Carvin 2x12 cabinets 4ohm.

Guitar: G&L Legacy Special. We have a few home made tunes posted at..

https://soundcloud.com/partly-banded Please drop in and have a listen (It's all free!!) if you're bored, a little fuzzy, or just curious what Davey does. Thank You.

Member for

10 years 9 months

davey Fri, 01/08/2016 - 04:49

Lars, thank you m'friend. Always good to see you here.