Skip navigation
Up to Discussions in Discuss your favorite tones
25 Views 1 Reply Latest reply: Feb 27, 2013 6:09 PM by zorman32 RSS
zorman32 Just Startin'
zorman32
11 posts since
Jan 3, 2013
Currently Being Moderated

Jan 19, 2013 10:25 AM

Volume leveling

Hi, so I'm sort of new to the Line 6 experience and I have a few questions.  First a little background, I have a line 6 spider 4 with the Mk11 shortboard controller, I've downloaded the latest updates for both and have created a ton of pre-sets for gigging out.  Largely it's been a fantastic experience so far, but I'm not finding specifics on a few things I'm looking to do.

 

a)  I need to level the preset volumes across the amp, so that when I'm in a show, I can click the next pre-set and have the same relative db output from the main volume.  I can adjust the volumes individually with the pedal, but it's so cumbersome and sensitive for me at this point that I'd rather find a way to do it with the software, if one exists.

 

b)  Tube sustain in the clean amps, how is this done?  I've been playing through a peavey delta blues amp for years, and while I was never fond of the depth of tone offered by the amp, or the versatility of the amp in general, I loved to be able to wring sustain out of the tubes.  I have heard that there is a way to dial in feedback, but I am not sure if that's just noise, or if it's controllable, or if it's even possible in the 'clean' amplifier models

 

c)  In the pre-sets, it appears that if I dial in a specific device for one pre-set, and adjust the parameters of that device (for example the blue compression) then whatever mods I do in that pre-set affect where ever else I use that device.  Is this true, or are my ears and feeble mind playing tricks on me?  (I'm new to using twelve different pre-sets for playing fifteen songs...so I may be mistaken on this point)  It just appears that the settings change once I go back to a previous pre-set I had dialed in.

 

d)  This one is real, every once in a while the amp will lose it's mind, and take a minute (or a kick in the *ss) to get straight again.  It will cut the db output to nada at the touch of one of the tone dials (bass, mid, treble, etc) or one of the other effects, or it will go to a very loud output.  It happened last night as I was dialing back the db with the foot pedal on the shortboard...gradually fading to nothing, and then all of a sudden FULL volume.  That's not nice at all.  Any ideas?

 

Thanks anyone for any help at all, all in all, it's great to own this little gem.

Tags: sound, settings, spider, iv
  • zorman32 Just Startin'
    zorman32
    11 posts since
    Jan 3, 2013
    Currently Being Moderated
    Feb 27, 2013 6:09 PM (in response to zorman32)
    Re: Volume leveling

    Nothing?  Really?

     

    a)  volume levelling is best done with Spider Edit and it takes time, and maybe a good db meter.  That's all there seems to be to it.  There's no shortcuts about it, as the effects take on different personalities depending pre/post amp positions.  There is one fine tuning trick that can be done with the boost button, by raising and lowering boost db settings, you can increase volume without drastically affecting tone, as long as the rest of your pre-set levels are fairly close.

     

    b)  Tube screamer is a fairly decent sustain effect built in, but dialing in sustain is another trial and error deals.  There are a few effects that will bring sustain, but a lot of them just bring distortion and/or compression.

     

    c) Pre-sets aren't set across the board each time they are adjusted.  the same effect will have two different settings depending on the channel/file that it's saved to.  Each time the pre-set channel is selected, the pre-sets will come up the way they were last saved, whether on or off, however they were set, they were saved.

     

    d)  I haven't figured this one out yet, but I'm thinking it has to do with heat and computer circuitry.  There is a huge heat sink on the back of the amp head, and I'm guessing it's probably insufficient to the task of dissipating heat, especially if the drummer drops his jacket behind my amp.  The simple fix is to throw his jacket into the toilet and see how that works...but for now, since it's winter, I'm going to look around the forums to see if there's other heat related issues called out, and I've bought a small, cheap fan to set on the floor behind the amp to supplement air flow around the heat sink...we'll see.  If the drummer puts his jacket on my fan, he'll get a really stern whaddafuq and then I'll make that trip to the bathroom.  That sounds fair to me.

     

    It's been a month, and not a bad one really.  I've still got the peavy sitting in the corner crying, and it looks as though I have one more issue to solve before it goes on e-bay or off to the music store.

More Like This

  • Retrieving data ...

Bookmarked By (0)