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input level calibration?


godfather_77
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6 minutes ago, godfather_77 said:

 On the GT 100 there was an option to calibrate the input level for guitars so you could customize  the level depending on the guitar being used. Is there such an option on the Stomp?

 

No, but for the life of me I don't know why you'd want that anyway. There are hot pickups, low output pickups, and everything in between... and that's part of what distinguishes one axe from another. If you eliminate that from the equation, and every guitar you pick up hits the amp exactly the same way, it sterilizes things.

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39 minutes ago, cruisinon2 said:

 

No, but for the life of me I don't know why you'd want that anyway. There are hot pickups, low output pickups, and everything in between... and that's part of what distinguishes one axe from another. If you eliminate that from the equation, and every guitar you pick up hits the amp exactly the same way, it sterilizes things.

My understanding, which may be limited, is that each guitar will have a different level of output so you can customize the volume level depending on the guitar being used. So you have a specific level set for your Strat  or Les Paul etc. Whether that a good thing or not  is up for debate. Having said that it's a moot point given that  the stomp doesn't have that "feature"

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77 u are not the 1st one that has asked for meters. Bottom line is that you don't want to clip the inputs or outputs, and since we tend to create with our eyes rather than ears, this lack of visual kinda suxs. You could always run Helix L&R outs into the mixer (or other DAW Interface) and use its meters (as long as you know where 0dB is on the scale). 

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out of interest, how many amplifiers have you seen with this feature...same question for most stomp boxes.  A few rackmount devices have a input level but the vast majority of Guitar amps and FX do not.  That being the case why would we want this on Helix?


I have not heard any credible reports of anyove actually clipping the input  with a guitar.

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C'mon guys, this is not a ridiculous question. It's not about "clipping" the HX, it's about "input leveling" guitars... something I've done for 40 years. Maybe you don't think it's valuable, but it has served me well over the decades... and I still do it on my HELIX... with a workaround! 

 

13 hours ago, cruisinon2 said:

There are hot pickups, low output pickups, and everything in between... and that's part of what distinguishes one axe from another. If you eliminate that from the equation, and every guitar you pick up hits the amp exactly the same way, it sterilizes things.

 

IMO...  "input balancing" the guitar does not "sterilize" things. I view the volume difference of guitars as a by product of the pickups.... something you HAVE to live with, not a feature. It's the TONE of the guitar that I am after when I grab something different... not looking for more or less gain! "Input balancing" does not make my Les Paul sound like my Tele just because I turned the input level down a little :) 

 

You may feel differently about it... I have no problem with that. I'm not looking to debate this, I just want to point out that there are other ways to approach things. 

 

9 hours ago, lawrence_Arps said:

out of interest, how many amplifiers have you seen with this feature...

 

Many amps have a "hi/lo" input... I would often use the HI input for my single coils and the Lo input for my humbuckers. On the Helix we have an input pad we can work with, but I don't believe the Stomp has that feature and "instrument/line" is too dramatic for this use. 

 

13 hours ago, godfather_77 said:

 On the GT 100 there was an option to calibrate the input level for guitars so you could customize  the level depending on the guitar being used. Is there such an option on the Stomp?

 

As you've gathered.... no, the Stomp (and Helix) do not have this feature. On the Helix I've got 32 blocks to work with... so I burn the first block with a simple "gain". That's precious real estate on a Stomp so you may not want to do that... but I'll lay out my usage just in case you want to try it. 

 

Since I use one "primary" layout (preset)... I just need to adjust them (mildly) to accommodate different guitars. I prep everything on my Tele... which is my #1. Once completed I copy that preset to other locations and name them accordingly for my other gutars (strat, les paul, etc... etc..). NOW - to get that patch into a similar "gain structure" and "level" immediately, I simply adjust the gain block at the beginning of the patch... then I might tweak a few of the overdrives and amp settings to optimize them for the new guitar.

 

Another quick option on a couple of my presets is to simply set that first GAIN and a few OD or EQ parameters on snapshot control. This is particularly useful with my strat... as the Quack Position (bridge/middle) is naturally a few db quieter than other positions. I hit my "quack" snapshot and that position becomes much more useful (and balanced) in a live situation.

 

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4 minutes ago, codamedia said:

 

Many amps have a "hi/lo" input... I would often use the HI input for my single coils and the Lo input for my humbuckers. On the Helix we have an input pad we can work with, but I don't believe the Stomp has that feature and "instrument/line" is too dramatic for this use.


Setting the input to Line in the Stomp does the exact same thing as turning the input pad on in the Helix. The amount of attenuation is identical according to DI (Eric Klein).

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6 minutes ago, phil_m said:

Setting the input to Line in the Stomp does the exact same thing as turning the input pad on in the Helix. The amount of attenuation is identical according to DI (Eric Klein).

 

Good to know.... thanks.

I know on the Helix the "instrument/line" choice on the returns is FAR more dramatic than the input pad.... I assumed it would have been the same on the Stomp. 

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8 minutes ago, codamedia said:

 

Good to know.... thanks.

I know on the Helix the "instrument/line" choice on the returns is FAR more dramatic than the input pad.... I assumed it would have been the same on the Stomp. 


Setting the returns to line level on the Helix  sets their impedance to 10kOhm. On the Stomp, I’m pretty the input impedance isn’t affected by the instrument/line setting because you can still change that with the Input Z parameter. The input circuitry on the Guitar In is different than the returns. There’s like 123dB of dynamic range on the guitar ins compared to 114db on the returns.

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