who wants tone controls on your next preamp?

Would really like to see tone controls make a come back.....but the cable manufacturers won't let it happen...

I want recording engineers to make recordings that don't require tone controls.

This can be done well if you have a competant amp designer.I have a George Wright AU-1000 preamp with tone controls as well as a balance control. The tone controls can also be toggle switched to a neutral position that negates them if preferred. This thing sings, with no perceived added distortion what so ever, just good clean accurate control. I believe they are needed with all the faulty recordings and badly remastered projects that we are seeing of late. To my ears they are a blessing! Oh yeh, if I dont need them I dont use them.

FWIW, I was never able to detect distortion as a result of having tone controls switched in on any system I've ever owned or sold that had them.

Perhaps as a result of upping bass levels too high resulting in clipping that would not occur otherwise, but it was not the tone controls fault that the bass was turned up too high.

I have owned systems for over 30 years and only within the last two years with my latest pre-amp upgrade did I loose the tone controls. Losing them was just a part of moving to the new pre-amp. It was not by design. If the ARC sp16 I use now had the same sound but with switchable tone controls also, that would be icing on the cake.

I never used tone controls heavily however even when I had them. They were switched out 95% of the time. On occasion, they came in handy and added value without any distortion that I could detect. I used to listen quite carefully for differences with tone controls in and out, even with no level adjustments set when switched in, and heard no real difference.

There are lots of circuits regardless in most any pre-amp. Heck, our systems sre nothing but a bunch of interconnected circuits. One more, if done well, does not hurt if needed in practice based on my experience.

Plenty of preamp choices with Tape In/Out. With a tape loop and any outboard devise you can alter the original signal to your hearts content. I can't remember visiting folks who's receivers didn't have their Loudness buttons activated. I love bass too, which is why having a sophisticated subwoofer or two can help with system, room, and some recording deficiencies. Personally, I have two and they add a bit of life to some digital sources. Put on an LP and I have to shut them off.

Balance? IMO, if you need to adjust the output balance you have more serious issues and are clearly missing the staging potential of your system.