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New to electric guitar & amps


pkafkarkou
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Hey

I got my 1st electric guitar, a Yamaha Pacifica 112v and a Line 6 Spider V 30 amplifier

I see there are a lot of presets there, for example rock clean, rock solo, etc. So, i assume i can choose any of these depending to what i want to play.

 

Although, i often watch youtube video lessons and they refer to a much more simplified amplifier set of controls/knobs. 

 

DRIVE - is this distortion?

Bass, Mid, Treble, Volume, ok i got these!

then pressing the AMP button, it loads a whole new set of options

Same with FX

 

Maybe this is a complicated amp for a beginner like me?

Is there a way to use it as a more plain and simple amp, until i know what i am doing?

 

thanks

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Don't panic; you've picked a perfect amp to learn from. It can be as simple or complicated as you want. Here are some basic terms (adjust ALL to your taste. There is no right or wrong).:

 

"Amp" -press this button to control the sound of the amp models. Here are the controls.
 

"Drive"- preamp distortion. The more you turn it up, the more distortion of the amp you will get. Many "real" amps have a stage where you can turn up the "gain" or "drive" to push the preamp into distortion without the amp having to get louder.

 

"Bass. Mid, Treble"- your basic tone controls, just like your stereo system.

 

"Volume"- since the amp has individual places to store sounds (presets), this is where you can adjust the preset to have the volume level similar to other presets. If one preset is too loud or too soft compared to others, the volume control is where you adjust it. 

 

"Master"- the overall volume level of the amp. Set this control for a comfortable volume for your situation, and then adjust the "Volume" control on each preset to be about the same as others you are hearing.

 

"FX"- press this button to change the controls to affect the digital effects. There are 5 basic effects, but many more that you can discover through the menus. There are default colors to identify the different effects- Yellow- distortion, Blue-modulation, Green- delay. Just turn the knobs up and down to increase or decrease the desired effect. For a beginner, this is a good place to start. For more information. the manual is your friend.

 

"Comp"- an effect that smoothes out the sound so the notes don't stick out as much. This control is always a Compressor.

"FX 1" - Distortion effects like a stompbox distortion- Tube Screamer, etc.

"FX 2"- Modulation effects like chorus, flanging, phasing etc. 

"FX 3"- Delay effects- like slapback delay, tape delay etc.

Reverb- always a reverb effect- room, concert hall, plate reverb etc. 

 

Each preset will have it's own amp model and effects. You don't have to change anything if you don't want to, but the fun is hearing the different sounds you can get with a modeling. amp. Audition the presets to find a sound you're looking for and you can save them to a location that's convenient for you. There are many deep controls of this amp that you don't need to use until you get familiar with the basics.

 

Once you create a preset you like, save it to one of the 32 preset locations. Press and hold the rotary knob to get to the Save screen, then turn the knob to the preset number where you want to save. it.

 

I hope this helps. Good luck.

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its as complicated as you want it to be.  try this, set up your guitar with the selector switch in the middle, volume just under max, tone knob in the middle.  now on the Spider, using the knob just under the display window, dial through all of the presets on the amp, and take note of the names of the sounds you like.  You should be getting some great sounds without having to tweak all of the Line 6 tone settings.

But if tweaking is your thing.. you have a good amp for that too!

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I agree with mkaprelian - Use the knob below the LCD display and note the presets you like. You might want to try different pickup selector positions because some presets sound better with certain pickup combinations.  Once you've done that, read the manual, read the forum threads, watch the video tutorials. You can learn a few things from all of that. And when you get comfortable with the amp, venture into playing with the customization options with one of the presets. Don't be afraid to press a button or turn a knob.  You can't hurt the amp.  Just don't turn up the amp volume too loud so that you hurt your ears and get kicked out of your apt/house ! Learn from the manual how to save a preset so if you like the changes you make, you don't lose them.

 

Thorne

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