Custom Guitar Electronics
Tone Controls for Guitar and Bass
Welcome to Stellartone USA!
Stellartone is a designer and manufacturer of custom tone controls for guitar and bass. Our unique products are proudly hand-made in the USA. Our flagship product is the ToneStyler... the world's best drop-in upgrade of the tone control in electric guitars and basses featuring hi-Z passive magnetic pickups!
BASS TEN Long GUITAR TEN Long SPECIAL TEN Long X Long
The ToneStyler BASS TEN LONG (B-10-L), GUITAR TEN LONG (G-10-L), SPECIAL TEN LONG (S-10-L) and the
How Tone Controls REALLY WORK...!
Since 2005, many people have asked questions about Stellartone's charts, which compare the EQ curves of a standard tone control vs an array of fixed capacitors. "Why do ToneStylers sound different than tone pots?" The internet is full of such questions... but usually the wrong answers! Here's the "true story"...
BASS TEN Short GUITAR TEN Short SPECIAL TEN Short X Short
The ToneStyler BASS TEN SHORT (B-10-S), GUITAR TEN SHORT (G-10-S), SPECIAL TEN SHORT (S-10-S) and the
ToneStyler Model EQ Ranges
ToneStylers are available in four contrasting EQ ranges. All models start with the "True Bypass" circuit at maximum clockwise position #10 - this offers the hottest and brightest output from your pickups. The adjacent circuit #9 is "Virtual Tone Pot on 10", which duplicates a tone pot's subtle reduction in high treble when set to maximum brightness.
The eight green lines in each bar above represent the ToneStyler's circuits #1 through #8. Sequenced in audio taper, each detent connects a discrete capacitance value, shifting the roll-off frequency and the maximum resonant peak of the pickup's output. Note that the EQ changes per step are greater on the BASS TEN, and smaller on the SPECIAL TEN.
Any model of ToneStyler may be paired with any hi-Z passive pickups, in any basses or guitars. For optimal performance, choose deeper models for neck pickups, and warmer models for bridge pickups.
Where space for a second tone knob is available, connect the ToneStyler to a standard pot to replace the fixed tone cap. This creates a "mega tone pot" with eight different roll-off and resonant frequencies.
VolumeStyler
Stellartone's new VolumeStyler Precision Volume Controls are now available in 250kΩ, 500kΩ and 1MΩ values, and with short solid-shafts or long split-shafts. The unique switched design produces significant tonal and operational benefits which are impossible using any potentiometer. Using a gold contact mil-spec rotary switch instead of a potentiometer, players may select between eight discrete ±3dB linear-taper loudness and blending steps, plus two flexible muting circuits: in an instrument featuring one volume knob per pickup, each pickup may be switched off independently, or all selected pickups may be switched off at once.
Your pickup's DC resistance and impedance never varies, from full volume to -21dB attenuation; this means your tone remains solid and unchanged, at all volumes. Importantly, this unique design eliminates variable pickup loading in basses without a selector switch... there's no more dull tone when turning down and mixing your J-bass, SG and Thunderbird pickups!
