The 'tone stack' as it is commonly known is only suitable for guitar or other musical instrument amps. It's very difficult to know where it came from, but tone stacks are used by most guitar amp manufacturers almost exclusively. The arrangement is quite different from a traditional passive control network, and the control pots are wired in series to form a 'stack' (hence the name). They are very economical, and use the minimum possible number of parts, but the controls are usually highly interactive and there is almost always a significant midrange 'scoop' (essentially a broad notch).