RhPf Electronics*

Super Fine Guitar Effects, from 🇨🇭

Tone Maps

Welcome to RhPf Electronics Guitar Pedal Tone Maps

Explore interactive guitar pedal tone maps. These measured frequency response graphs let you see how stompboxes shape sound. If you are a builder, a gear nerd, or simply curious about your favorite pedal, this library is here to guide you.

What Are Tone Maps

Tone maps show the EQ DNA of guitar pedals. They highlight how designs like the ProCo Rat or Klon Centaur, as well as our own RhPf creations, shape the frequency response at different settings. Instead of vague words like “transparent,” you get a clear picture. You see where lows roll off, where mids are boosted, and where highs sparkle.

Why We Built This Library

When we design our own pedals, we always measure how circuits behave. We soon realized that most players never get to see this side of things. Therefore we built Tone Maps. The goal is to make frequency response visual, to connect what you hear with what you see, and to reveal the tonal fingerprints behind overdrives, distortions, fuzzes, and boosts.

Tips for Using the Tone Maps

Select a pedal and press Load.
Adjust knobs by dragging, scrolling, or using the sliders.
Click Freeze to keep a dotted snapshot.
Load up to five pedals and compare them side by side.
Hover the graph to read exact dB and Hz values.
Click Share / Embed to copy a link or iframe of your view.

Partners and References

When available you will see pedal specific links and tools below the Tone Map. These links connect you directly to trusted resources. You can play the pedal in Loopy Demos at different settings and watch the curve move. You can dive into Electrosmash for deep circuit analysis. You can also grab a verified DIY board from PedalPCB.

Loopy Demos: Created by Silvio, a close friend and developer. His interactive audio widgets let you hear pedals while seeing their tone maps. It brings sound and science together.
Electrosmash: A meticulous resource for circuit analysis. If you want to understand how a pedal really works, start here.
PedalPCB: The most user friendly DIY PCB maker with a strong community. They offer verified layouts, reliable support, and a forum that helps builders learn and troubleshoot.

How the Tone Maps Work

Tone Maps are AC sweep simulations, not audio demos. A one volt sine wave is swept from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. The output gain is then plotted. This shows EQ response only. It does not capture clipping, harmonics, or what distortion sounds like.

Dig deeper: common questions

“Do you take guitar pickup impedance into account?”
- We use a consistent source impedance so results can be compared. Real pickups and amps do load circuits. Still, the focus here is on the pedal itself.
“Marshall or Fender amp?”
- We do not simulate every possible amp input. Some pedals change with loading. Even so, the goal of this library is simple: What does this pedal do on its own?
“Why does the gain knob not add distortion?”
- Distortion happens in the time domain. AC sweep only measures EQ changes. If you want to see harmonics, you would need a transient sim or FFT.
“Why is this different from the Tone Stack Calculator?”
- Tone Stack Calculator tools only simulate the tone stack in isolation. Here you see the entire circuit. Every resistor, capacitor, and active component shapes the frequency response. That is why the results look different and closer to reality.
Each schematic is drawn in NI Multisim 14.3 and exported as an LTSpice 24.1.6 netlist. We simulate all 11 knob positions. Real SPICE models of the op amps and transistors are used, not ideal blocks. The data is converted into JSON and displayed here using a php plugin. We use Plotly.js for graphing and SVG overlays for the pedal controls.

Tone Maps is free and will always be.

If you like what we’re doing, you can buy us a pizza to help us keep the lights on and ad-free.

What’s Next

This library is growing. More pedals, more circuits, and more visual tools are coming. If your favorite pedal is not here yet, visit the Tone Map Wishlist. Once a pedal reaches the vote threshold, we will simulate it and add it to the library.

The previous version with individual Tone Maps will not be maintained but is still available here →.