Pickup, Tone Control, Volume

Control, and Microphone Circuit

Shiang-Hwua Yu, NSYSU

1
First mass-produced solid-body electric guitar: the iconic Fender Telecaster.

When he was 14, Fender visited his uncle's automotive-electric shop in Santa Maria,
and was fascinated by a radio his uncle had built from spare parts. Soon thereafter, Fender
began repairing radios in a small shop in his parents' home.

After college, Fender worked as an ice delivery man and later bookkeeper. During the
Great Depression, he lost the job. In 1938, he borrowed $600, returned to his hometown
Fullerton, and started his own radio repair shop. There, he repaired a Rickenbacker electric
guitar and became interested in this new electric instrument. In 1944, he and Clayton
Kauffman, an engineer of the Rickenbacker company, started a company to design electric
guitars. In 1946, Kauffman pulled out of the company and Fender started his own company
and later named it “Fender Electric Instrument Company”.

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Leo Fender’s Stratocaster is One of the Most Popular Electric Guitar

1954
Patent

vibrato arm

3
Different Pickups Produce Different Tone Colors

• The bridge pickup (B) gets a tone with more

high-order harmonics, which make the tone
clear and crisp.

• The neck pickup (N) gets more low-order

harmonics and sounds warmer and fatter.
fundamental
• The bridge pickup is tilted to get more
higher-frequency harmonics from the high-
4th harmonic pitch E string.

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Wire Connection Inside the Fender Stratocaster
5-Way Lever Switch

B M N

Tone Volume
control control
5-way switch position
& selected pickups
5
Audio Jack and Plug

Electric guitars use ¼ inch (6.35mm) audio plug with two conductors called tip and sleeve (TS connector)
Earphones use 3.5mm audio plug with three conductors called tip, ring and sleeve (TRS connector).

3.5mm TRS plug

audio TS jack 6.35mm audio TS plug

TRS Jack and Plug

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Sound Pressure Level (SPL)
Sound pressure level (SPLis the pressure level of a sound, measured in decibel

(dB), P0= 20 μPa

1) Standard atmosphere is 1 atm = 101325 Pa;

2) Sound is how we perceive compression waves of air:
the lowest sound pressure that can be heard = 20 μPa;
the sound pressure that begins to cause pain in ear = 20 Pa (less than 0.02% change in
standard atmosphere).
3) Human perception of the intensity of sound is logarithmic.

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Human Perception of the Sound Intensity Is Logarithmic.

When we increase the driving power of a loudspeaker by two times, we only get
a 3 dB increase in sound pressure level (SPL) and experience a slight increase
in sound intensity. To double the volume, we need to increase the driving power
by ten times.

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There Are Two Common Types of Potentiometers (Pot)

Type A is a logarithmic pot. Type B is a linear pot.

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 Using Type-A (Log) Potentiometers for Volume Control

Perceived Volume
Type-A pots are designed to match our logarithmic
perceptio
hearing, making them ideal for controlling our n
perceived volume. When rotating to the middle position
(150o), the pot dividing resistance is 1/n of total
resistance, and n is about 5~10. Voltage

The range of rotation of the knob

lo

Knob angle
is intended to match the g
maximum angle of rotation of linear
our wrists.

Resistance
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Connection of a Potentiometer for Volume Control

Follow the habits of most people: Rotating the knob clockwise will increase the volume,
while rotating it counterclockwise will decrease the volume.

• Type A (Log) Pot

• About 220kΩ
• Pin 1 to GND

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Using a dual-gang potentiometer to control the volume of two
channels simultaneously

Two Drawbacks
• Signal attenuation
• A logarithmic potentiometer
may not have as good
quality as a linear
potentiometer.

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How to Use a Linear Potentiometer in Feedback for Volume Control?

vin v1 vout
α + -R2/R1

1 -α

*
amplification

attenuation
*
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 High efficiency
Four Common Types of Microphones High sensitivity
Wide bandwidth
Cost-effective
Compact, lightweight, small size

Dynamic Condenser Electret Condenser

microphone microphone microphone

Four Types of Microphones

MEMS = micro electrical-mechanical system

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Microphone sensitivity
Microphone sensitivity is the measure of a microphone's output voltage in response to a given
sound pressure level. It is typically measured by

1) generating a 1kHz tone with a sound pressure level of 94 dB (1 Pa);

2) measuring the root-mean-square voltage output of the microphone in dBV.

The sensitivity of the microphone can then be calculated by dividing the RMS voltage by the SPL,
resulting in a value expressed in dBV/Pa.

【Example】 Estimate the RMS voltage output of an electret condenser microphone with sensitivity
of -37dBV/Pa when given a 1kHz 94dB sound
/
Vs 10 0.014 V 14 mV

Four Types of Microphones

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Microphone Amplifier
1) Electret condenser microphones are most popular because of its high sensitivity, wide
bandwidth and small size.
2) A standard voltage for the audio signal output of a consumer electronic equipment is
-10 dBV = 0.316V

Vs 10 / 0.014 V 14 mV
Vout 𝑉𝑠 ∗ 25 0.353 V

Connection with the

case for EMI shielding 16