Community: Message List - Amazing results when manipulating Mixer Level HD 500 (unity Gain questions)

Re: Amazing results when manipulating Mixer Level HD 500 (unity Gain questions)

support@line6.com — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 16:30:19 GMT

My pleasure. Thank you for chiming in because it confirms to me that it's not just my imagination.

Re: Amazing results when manipulating Mixer Level HD 500 (unity Gain questions)

support@line6.com — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 14:59:49 GMT

Hey Dean, thanks for sharing the information. I experimented yesterday with an existing preset that i created, turned the amp volume up to max and played with the mixing sliders. It works great.. only i had to turn amp volume a little back and set the mix sliders according to see what sounded best to my ears, but it works.

The result is amazing, i played with the preset and got a big smile on my face. Thank's once again!!

Re: Amazing results when manipulating Mixer Level HD 500 (unity Gain questions)

support@line6.com — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 18:41:39 GMT

The mixer setting (including level independent of the pan) seems to have a huge efffect on the sound and there's just simply no right or wrong setting, but I'm not sure what the mixer was modeled based on. Is it based on anolog mixer or what ? What pan law did they use? -3db or what because it's certainely not equal power You can certainely tell a difference in tone and frequency response at idencal volume levels that were achieved using the amp volume interchangably with the mixer level (even if there's no effects after the mixer as some suggest that you could clip the effects if you place after the mixer while maxing out the mixer). From my experience boosting the mixer boosts some of the highs that I find desirable for clean but for high gain lowering seems to take some of the offending highs which I find very desirable.

Re: Amazing results when manipulating Mixer Level HD 500 (unity Gain questions)

support@line6.com — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 18:20:00 GMT

This runs contrary to the manual and my experience with the ch volume control. I'll have to experiment. I will say that placing the amp behind the mixer vs in front gave me different levels and possibly different tone so there's definitely some kind of funny business going on

Re: Amazing results when manipulating Mixer Level HD 500 (unity Gain questions)

support@line6.com — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 19:40:33 GMT

I have to agree with you on the Mixer level not compressing anything, but the amp volume Knob definitely has an effect on the sound whether it's intended or not, and if this is a bug , I really would hate it if it ever got fixed. Let me know when you try it. Thanks.

Re: Amazing results when manipulating Mixer Level HD 500 (unity Gain questions)

support@line6.com — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 17:08:48 GMT

That is an interesting find. I will have to try it to see if I hear any difference. It seems unlikely to me that the mixer would be compressing the signal. Since this is all digital inside i would go under the assumption that the mixer was just a gain. I also understood that the volume knob on the amp models were also just a final gain stage and should not color the sound as well. Maybe you could record a before and after clip to show what you are hearing.

Amazing results when manipulating Mixer Level HD 500 (unity Gain questions)

support@line6.com — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 03:02:10 GMT

Recently I've been using studio monitors to make patches for Direct Recording. Briefly, I noticed that I like the sound of my patches much better with the amp volume virtual knob set at full. This creates a conflict for some of the amps that are really loud when you blast that volume knob, so I started compensating by lowering the mixer from 0DB which according to the manual is unity gain. The question is: for those amps that have very loud volume, is there compression happening when I lower the Mixer level from 0db (unity gain) so I don't blow my speakers and eardrums? I would appreciate anyone chiming in with what they know.

My ears are telling me that there is some compression happening, but it's really a desirable effect where the sound completly fills and becomes less harsh without being muddied. Now I almost went back to all my patches and blasted the virtual volume knob and everytime I did that, the sound and the feel of the amp came to life and it goes without saying that I'm comparing at identical volume levels. All the sudden the sound is fuller, less harsh and feels closer to a real amp than before. Quite honestly, I'm thrilled at this discovery because not only the feel is improved, but it's something that the listener can also hear. Using my studio monitors, the difference is shocking even though at first it might seem not as dramatic but somehow the patches that I used to enjoy and love sound three dimentional. By that I mean the sound all the sudden seems to jump out of the speaker as if it has been inflated to occupy more air. for the clean sounds I've always done the opposite which is to boost the mixer up to 4db above unity gain and that seemed to also have a similar effect. I know in the older PODs channel volume at full was supposed to give the best signal to noise ratio, but I didn't find any thing in the manual to address that. At any rate my conclusion is that setting the mixer at 0db unity gain (which is the default) is ok in general but messing around with mixer seems to drastically improve the sound if you spend time and see what it will do to your patches. for me the High gain patches, I prefer boosting the amp volume while for the crystal cleans I like to boost the Mixer. I''m sure this can be the opposite for some, but I'd like to have an answer to two main quesions:

1-Is the mixer set at below 0db compressing the sound of a an amp wih fully boosted volume knob?

2-Does the virtual amp volume at full give a better signal to noise ratio like the old pods? (I think the actual physical unit volume at full gives better signal to noise ratio)