Previously, I introduced the Tone Block, a passive second-order (two-pole) resonant RLC filter with variable frequency and Q (resonance). It’s a simple and economical alternative to our Resonant Filter — that thing thingamajig that gives the original XR Series Pickups color.
The Tone Block is passive, no power consumption. That is good! However, the two 16-position rotary switches are 1) Not as versatile as continuous potentiometers and 2) are not meant to be aggressively adjusted compared to the rugged Bourns pots we are using in the original Resonant Filter. Typically these small rotary switches are designed for infrequent adjustments. At the very least, you do not have to change pickups if you want to change tone as you do now with traditional pickups.
Bottom line: If you want to ride the knobs as I do, use the Resonant Filter. But, the good thing is that you can have both! Ideally, you can have one Tone Block for each pickup in your guitar. Then, you can have one Resonant Filter for tweaking the tone as you perform. Now wouldn’t it be nice if we can shrink the size of the Resonant Filter to that of the Tone Block? Cool? Tell us what you think!