wendallsan Posted November 23, 2013 Share Posted November 23, 2013 Hi all, First a whoops-- I was calling my Pod Studio a TonePort! I used to own a TonePort a long time ago, so sorry for the confusion. I can't change the title of the thread otherwise I would just fix this. I have a Pod Studio UX2 and am getting REALLY low input levels from my guitar into the Podfarm 2 software. The 'in' meter on the top left corner of the Pod Farm interface never goes above about 10% of the meter and the output volume on clean amps is so low it is not usable. I have to use distortion stomboxes or high gain amps to get anything usable out. Also, the input level is so low that the tuner does not register the higher strings at all so the tuner cannot be used on my A and high E strings. Is this normal, or is there something wrong with my guitar/cable/toneport hardware? I only have one guitar and no 'real' amp so can't swap out hardware to see if something is wrong, so I am relying on your input to help me to identify if I have a problem or if this is just normal behavior. Thanks for any help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendallsan Posted November 23, 2013 Author Share Posted November 23, 2013 Haha, I just remembered that I also own a bass guitar, so I plugged that in to see what kind of audio level that showed in Pod Farm. It's definately higher, about 20% the max of the meter, probably almost twice what my guitar puts out, but still I am not seeing anything more than 20% on that input meter for both my instruments. Both instruments are 'rock / metal' oriented, the guitar is an ibanez iceman IC-400 with 2 humbuckers, and the bass is a Schecter Diamond series with 2 humbuckers as well. I would expect both of these to be fairly high gain instruments. Again, if anyone else could weigh in on what they see input-level-wise on their Pod Farm setup, I would really appreciate it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triryche Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 The signal from your guitar is instrument level, so it will be low. If you have active pups it of course will be high. But if it is so low that you can not tune you A and high E strings, not , that is not normal. Do you have green ticks for everything if you run the Monkey? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendallsan Posted December 9, 2013 Author Share Posted December 9, 2013 Hi and thanks for the response. I just bought a new guitar with EMG active pickups and that has boosted the input a bit, but it is still less than 25% in the input meter. The only way I can get a good input level (50% of the input meter) is to put my EHX White Finger compresser inline between my guitar and the POD Studio and then pushing the gain up with the pedal. I have 3 separate high quality guitar cables and all have consistent input levels, so I don't think it is a cable problem. Line 6 Monkey shows all green checks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigChas52 Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 Are you plugging into the NORM or PAD jack? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendallsan Posted December 9, 2013 Author Share Posted December 9, 2013 Hi and thanks for the response. I am using the 'NORM' input, as I understand that the 'PAD' input should be used for line-level signals. This is my 1st active pickup guitar so I'm not that knowledgeable on them, but I'm assuming an active pickup doesn't actually bring the signal level up to line level. Thanks again for your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigChas52 Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 OK. I've never really paid much attention to the meters, but I also find that the Input section isn't getting over -30dB with my guitars (about 15% visually). Sounds fine coming out the other end though. Make sure you have the OUTPUT know on the UX2 set high enough. Tuner is working OK too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triryche Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 Did you try a new battery? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigChas52 Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 Active pickups actually should be plugged into the PAD input. Are the batteries in your guitar fresh? Are you getting OK output from the guitar with other amps? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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