To tone control or not to tone control


I recently stepped up to a Conrad Johnson PFR preamp to mate with my CJ MF-2200 amp (200 wpc). Was previously running an Adcom GTP-450 pre/tuner which had bass/treble controls which help to compensate for those recordings which are recorded poorly. Though the CJ PFR sounds really good on most of my cd's there are some of my favorite artists whose recordings are really pitiful. Is there a good tone control which I can use on the PFR to use for these poor recordings? Is there a way to connect both preamps to one system. I do have an older cdp that I could connect to the Adcom preamp for the poor cd's and use the main system for the good stuff. I have also thought of trying a subwoofer to help with filling in the bottom end since most of the poor recordings are R&B and Rock N'Roll and that is where they seem to be lacking the most. The rest of my system consists of a Sherwood Newcastle 980 cdp and Infinity RS 5000 speakers (12 yrs old) and next to be replaced. As always your help is appreciated
128x128artemus_5
Hey, Doc... I do like indoor plumbing. Taking a crap in the back yard is not my cup of tea. Modern autos are fine in a utilitarian way. But, a horsedrawn carriage is better in a qualatative way. Just like new cars might be better in a quantatative sense, they suck big time in terms of involvement. I take a ride in a carraige through Central Park for the emotional value -- not the modern efficiency -- otherwise, I would take a sterile (and quite sinky) cab. Same with audio gear. That is why tubes float my boat. My choice of gear isn`t based on the newness -- or up-to-dateness -- of the technology, but rather how if effects me emotionally. Qualatative, versus quantatative. Cars are a good analogy -- the stuff being made now may be quantifiably "better", but far less satisfying in an emotional sense than vehicles from the past. I, for one, love a horse drawn carriage in New York or Chicago. Do you have that in Mayberry?
Hey Bruce, I tried playing with the vol control on the Adcom but had no luck. Still a lot of distortion. Could be a bad ic cable but I doubt it since they are fairly new. The sound reminds me of a real dirty connection.
Art I had a similar problem trying to perform Eq. using a real old Lux SS pre connected to tape loop as described above. But there's nothing wrong with this pre if I use it to drive a PA it sounds fine. Could be an impedance issue? Didn't spend alot of time trying to debug the setup, but yes I did matchup my levels very closely. Some kind of weirdness playing tricks on us? Guess that's our 'lesson' for trying to Eq. in the first place? Yeah they took away our tone controls, & now they want to make #$%! sure that we can't ever get them back again...
Can someone explain to me why a simple question has rated -4 -4? I thought these forums were places where you can gain info and share ideas. If you don't like the ideas then you should make your opinion known. Maybe you have something that can shed light on my dilemna. However throwing negatives at me while you are hiding behind annonymity only makes me suspect your lack of ability to make your case.
Artemus, Bob, referring to Bruce's suggestion & your results. I have an old Cambridge pre with tone controls. I'll try it out and get back to you if anything musically worthwile... emerges...
Yours, (in further negative votes)!