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Pod Hd 500 Low / High Gain Inputs?


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Hi,

 

am I confused right now, or isn't it possible to change the low / high gain input on e.g. the JCM 800 Amp Model?

 

Cause I think, even if I turn down the gain as far as possible, there is still a very gainy sound coming to me.

 

Thanks,

Stephan

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The JCM800 is a single channel amp. It has two inputs labeled high and low. The only difference between the two inputs is that the low input will attenuate the signal from the guitar going into the amp. This is the same thing that pad switch does on the HD500.

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Ok I totally got it now. Thanks for your answears.

 

For those who ask themselves some questions like that:

 

Low / High Input just attentuates the input.

If you go with high-input guitar into some high-input jack, your gain control may react a bit more "nervous" if you turn the pre-gain knob.

 

If your Guitar starts clipping on the Pod HD 500, try to change the Guitar In Setting knob to 'PAD' and you are on the low-input.

 

I found that on a forum, I think its very useful understanding this topic:

 

The "Hi" input attenuates the input signal, usually by between 10-15dB (about half to a third the original volume). The "Low" input will not do this.

Different guitars and basses produce widely varying signal levels.

 

This isn't just a passive vs active thing; plug a vintage-voiced Strat into the amp, then a PAF-voiced Les Paul; you'll have to turn the gain down. By contrast, the preamp of your amplifier works best with a signal in a particular range of strength; too hot, and you'll clip the preamp (which is generally not the best sound especially if you want a clean tone). Too low, and subtleties of tone become lost in the amp circuitry's "noise floor".

 

The different inputs, or the attenutation switch on a single input, allows you to "turn down" a hot guitar with a simple switch instead of involving other elements of the preamp. This has two benefits, both tied to being able to turn the other "downstream" controls to higher levels. First, taming a hot signal without an attenuator usually requires turning down the "Pre Gain" level. This knob, especially on a tube amp, will become very sensitive; small moves will produce huge volume changes. By attenuating the signal before this point in the circuit, the knob becomes less sensitive to small moves. Second, by allowing controls like the pre-gain to be turned higher, more of the original "native tones" of the instrument get into the preamp stage, and the tone and equalization controls have more to work with. Overall, this results in a "less muddy" sound, as subtle harmonics and overtones aren't lost in the noise floor of the amp.

Thanks to KeithS from http://music.stackexchange.com/questions/3473/difference-between-hi-and-low-on-amps

 

and thanks to Phil_m!

 

best regards

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