Hi,
I have an active cuircuit I would be happy if some one could help me with. Its an active cuircuit from guitar manufacturer Fender that says the cuircuit gives 25 DB boost. I have tested the guitar against other guitar like a Gibson Les Paul with Burst Bucker PRO Humbuckers, and At the exact same settings on the amp this cuircuit which belongs to the Clapton signature Stratocaster its 50 decibels louder than the Gibson Les Paul. Given its and active guitar with active electronics and as Fender claimes 25 DB boost which I think is completely wrong off course it should be louder than the passive Gibson Les Paul but 50 decibel seems to much. Can you please have a look at the cuircuit and see if there is something that gives it more output than Fender says it does ? This cuircuit is called The Clspton cuircuit.

 

This is the Fender official cuircuit thats very badly written I have heard from others that know electronics and I believe there is some cover up not to show it has much more than 25 DB boost. The other cuircuits were taken from the original and people tried to ad things to make it clearer and in one case only the mid boost part is there. It should have a 3 part boost with 3 2N6429 transistors and one 2N5087 transistor. It can work with other transistors as well why its written in some examples. As its so big I send the whole cuircuit first then in 2 smaller pics showing better the interesting parts of the cuircuit.

 

Are you possibly confusing voltage gain and power gain? 25db of voltage gain is 50db of power gain.

 

At what frequency is the gain specified?

 

Are you possibly confusing voltage gain and power gain? 25db of voltage gain is 50db of power gain.

Thank you sir, that I might do, I am not so very good in electronics, I am an account but like very much playing the guitar and the 50 decibel difference made me confused.

 

Thank you sir, that I might do, I am not so very good in electronics, I am an account but like very much playing the guitar and the 50 decibel difference made me confused.

How did you measure the 50db?

 

Thank you sir, that I might do, I am not so very good in electronics, I am an account but like very much playing the guitar and the 50 decibel difference made me confused.

At what frequency is the gain specified?

frequenzy should be 500 hertz but thats somewhat unclear

 

Clapton circuit, named after legendary guitar player Eric Clapton.
If I recall correctly, it provides positive feedback to enhance the “sustain” of the electric guitar sound.
Jimmy Hendrix would achieve a similar result by getting the guitar very close to the loudspeakers, where the powerful magnetic field from the voice coil would be picked up by the guitar’s magnetic pickups, creating positive feedback.

 

Clapton circuit, named after legendary guitar player Eric Clapton.
If I recall correctly, it provides positive feedback to enhance the “sustain” of the electric guitar sound.
Jimmy Hendrix would achieve a similar result by getting the guitar very close to the loudspeakers, where the powerful magnetic field from the voice coil would be picked up by the guitar’s magnetic pickups, creating positive feedback.

Sustain you bet. Its like a regular have 2or 3 seconds sustain. This one has like 45-50 seconds sustain. Never seen anything like it.

 

Sustain you bet. Its like a regular have 2or 3 seconds sustain. This one has like 45-50 seconds sustain. Never seen anything like it.

What Jimi hade to do by himself can now easily be made by guitar players way below his nivell with the Clapton Signature Stratocaster.

 

How did you measure the 50db?

Hi,
I measured it through a decibel meter. It was up to 60 decibel louder at times and 45 decibels at times but through the testing it was around 50 decibel difference. The biggest difference I had was when the normal Strat was not heard at 33 decibels it sounded like I did not use the amp which I did the setting on the amp was about 0,3 out of 10. Then The Clapton signature Stratocaster is at 99,1 decibel extremely loud and I immidiately think ” Jesus all neighbours Will knock on the door complainkng about the noice ”. I live in an apartment.

 

How did you measure the 50db?
Anyway I think I used a pretty good decibel meter and I have a friend thats good on these things, and we got to the huge 50 decibel difference most of the times ( Sometimes 45 decibel and sometime 60 decibel but that could have been due to how you played the guitar)

 

I was kind of interested in how those cuircuits work. And from what I heard from a friend the first 1 thats first a big cuircuit then I split it up into 2 is really badly made. And thats Fenders own cuircuit. The others are people trying to figure out the cuircuit and was what I understood much better made. I cant believe Fender would put out such bad curcuit that does not make sence unless they have something to hide. Many things had different Numbers on them from the original to those who had measured it.

 

I looked at the posted circuit and I see two variable resistors. I also see NO CONDITIONS SPECIFIED FOR THAT CLAIMED 25 dB INCREASE.
Measurements and claims in general, without any statement of the conditions, are of very limited value. Or even totally useless.

A useful claim would be that the circuit can provide "a minimum of 25 dB gain " over the frequency range of 45Hz to 3500Hz."
A useless claim would be "My car can go 70 miles per hour", while a useful claim would be: "My FUNNY CAR goes 70 MPH in the first ten feet off the line, in first gear, at 5200RPM." (That sort of car may also reach 300 MPH in a thousand feet)

 

I looked at the posted circuit and I see two variable resistors. I also see NO CONDITIONS SPECIFIED FOR THAT CLAIMED 25 dB INCREASE.
Measurements and claims in general, without any statement of the conditions, are of very limited value. Or even totally useless.

A useful claim would be that the circuit can provide "a minimum of 25 dB gain " over the frequency range of 45Hz to 3500Hz."
A useless claim would be "My car can go 70 miles per hour", while a useful claim would be: "My FUNNY CAR goes 70 MPH in the first ten feet off the line, in first gear, at 5200RPM." (That sort of car may also reach 300 MPH in a thousand feet)

Well here is Fenders official 25 DB boost description of the guitar. Active mid boost 25 DB. Its strange because there was someone seeing a preamp before the 25 DB boost, and people says it starts at 12 DB volume boost, and has another 13 to 16 DB mid boost. However this one saw a preamp of about 12 DB then a mid boost of 25 DB making it 37 DB boost. I attach Fenders Claim it uses 25 DB active boost in their commercials. Then their cuircuit which someone Said Was extremely poor written the 2 persons trying to figure out the cuircuit which seen more precise. Then common comments about the guitar. If it should not have 25 DB boost Fender has fooled the whole world because thats what its known for. I see However in the commercial their is an error. They talk about single coils while the guitar has stacked Humbuckers ( 2 coils stacked to take away the 60 cycle hum I have myself opened the pick ups and found 2 stacked coils). So there is something very fish about this guitar. Pic 8 and 9 is Fenders claim of 25 DB boost and thats what the guitar is known to the world for having.

 

I looked at the posted circuit and I see two variable resistors. I also see NO CONDITIONS SPECIFIED FOR THAT CLAIMED 25 dB INCREASE.
Measurements and claims in general, without any statement of the conditions, are of very limited value. Or even totally useless.

A useful claim would be that the circuit can provide "a minimum of 25 dB gain " over the frequency range of 45Hz to 3500Hz."
A useless claim would be "My car can go 70 miles per hour", while a useful claim would be: "My FUNNY CAR goes 70 MPH in the first ten feet off the line, in first gear, at 5200RPM." (That sort of car may also reach 300 MPH in a thousand feet)

Here is Fenders own specifikation of 25 DB active boost and another guitar deal er specificing it at 25 DB boost and 500 hertz. However this is so well known noone questions that. However I am no expert I only reactioned because it was so incredibly much louder than my normal Stratocasters. I measured 99,1 decibels for the Clapton Strat and 33 decibels for a normal Strat. Usually However it was 50 decibel louder. Even if my measurements are wrong you have one guitar that does not sound at all and the other was so loud I was sure every neighbour would knock on my door.

 

I read the text: first the signal goes thru a preamp, THEN a 25 dB midboost. !!! So the 25 dB is claimed for the second portion of the device, independent of the preamp, which has some gain that is not mentioned.
Aside from that, the switching arrangement in the one circuit does not at all match the arrangement in my old "STRATOCASTER", which has more positions that provide two pickup coils in series. Single coil positions being about 3.5K and dusl coil being about 7K ohms. (Measured with my "260" multi-meter.)

 

I read the text: first the signal goes thru a preamp, THEN a 25 dB midboost. !!! So the 25 dB is claimed for the second portion of the device, independent of the preamp, which has some gain that is not mentioned.
Aside from that, the switching arrangement in the one circuit does not at all match the arrangement in my old "STRATOCASTER", which has more positions that provide two pickup coils in series. Single coil positions being about 3.5K and dusl coil being about 7K ohms. (Measured with my "260" multi-meter.)

The Clapton Strat has stacked Humbuckers at 9,8 khoms someone at guitar nutz measured them to 13,7 Khom and Said they had Alnico 5 instead of Alnico 2 which Fender claims. Fender Claims its 9,8 Khom on all 3 stacked Humbuckers and 3 Henries. However its hardly the Humbuckers that makes the power its the active cuircuit with 25 DB boost or more that makes them so loud. They are so brutaly much louder than passive guitars as I understood it it does not matter whether you compare them to Passive single coils or passive Humbuckers. The difference in passive single coils and passive Humbuckers in this case is so small that the active guitar was many many many x times louder so it did not matter whether the passive Humbucker was a bit louder than a passive single coil. The difference between the active guitar with 25 DB boost and the passive pick ups was so great they were measured at the same level. But this guitar surely has some mysteries. Noone seem to know how powerful it is. Its a very nice guitar. Does not in any way sound like a Stratocaster though.

 

It may be that my Strat predates that option kit. I am the fourth owner and so no hint of the actual age. But definitely a five position lever switch, and it does not seem like I could be reading 3500 ohms on an 8K pickup.

 

I would guess yours is passive. The Clapton active Strat is a 5 Switch, but you dont need 5 switches with this guitar. Its mostly just a real power guitar. Maybe thats why Clapton himself has just a 3 Switch on his guitar otherwise they are the same as those that are sold in the store. I see some coments to the fact that The Clapton Strat has a preamp of 12 DB boost and then his 25 DB mid boost, but this guitar is very strangely handled by Fender. Its like they are afraid of the power in the guitar and that it would scare away customers. I like it but well it does not have any Stratocaster sound at all.