Maintaining the same volume between presets

[ibalashov]

I recently bought the Pod Go, and while exploring presets I noticed a silly, but rather annoying problem. The volume of the presets varies a lot, especially when you switch from clean to dirty.

 

For the past week I developed a "fear of switching a preset", when if not paying attention, it may SCREAM at you, which is especially painful in headphones.

 

I'm not sure if there is any solution to this. Ideally, the headphones should limit the max volume, but in practice they obviously don't support this. I own the popular Audio-Technica M50x and they can easily damage the hearing.

 

I wonder if we could limit the max possible volume in Pod Go which would work equally to all presets? But probably not.

 

Another, rather hacky (but can also be universal), solution I'm thinking of, is to add some sort of limiting device before the headphones. Something like a "max volume" pedal (not sure if such a thing exists).

 

Does anyone have same concerns? Any tips on saving the hearing?

 

 

[silverhead]

This is a real world phenomenon. The physical amps being modeled have a wide range of ‘normal’ volumes. Imagine you were using real amps and switched instantaneously from an early Fender clean tone amp to a modern hi-gain tone amp. You would expect to have to adjust a knob or two on them to balance the volumes. Same thing in the modeling world.

 

The best way to deal with this is to manually adjust every preset so that your personal tastes in tone and volume levels are balanced. It might sound like a daunting task but you’ll soon find that you settle on a fairly small number of presets that you use. Right now you are experimenting with the factory presets and you will find you like some and hate others. The best thing to do to protect you hearing right now is to turn down the device Master volume before changing presets. When you find a preset you think you would like to copy and edit, do so - and then deal with balancing it against others you have chosen to work with.
 

The best way to balance preset levels is to use the Channel Volume parameter on the amps in the presets. This parameter affects only the volume of the signal. Other amp parameters like Drive or Master also affect the tone. You can also use the Level parameter on the preset’s Output block without affecting tone. Also consider using the volume levels on your monitors, speakers, or headphones. Yes, it’s time consuming but you only need to do it once. Then you have a reference point for all future preset development, and you can proceed from there adjusting only the device Master volume if you move to a different venue or set of speakers.

[pianoguyy]

On 6/4/2022 at 8:39 AM, ibalashov said:

especially when you switch from clean to dirty.

everything said above, but also: 

 

Is there an actual volume difference, or is it just in your head. 

 

 

 

 

[ibalashov]

On 6/4/2022 at 6:36 PM, pianoguyy said:

Is there an actual volume difference, or is it just in your head. 

 

Haha, sometimes maybe yes. But I noticed a slight, but noticeable discomfort in my ears after I got pod go, that's for sure. I'm taking a break from using headphones.

 

What I did lately is to turn down either pod go volume or at least guitar volume before switching. Maybe it's a good thing to do anyway.

[pianoguyy]

Listening to the dirty channel of a guitar amp is much like watching the dirty channel on your tv. 

You always turn down the tv because it seems so loud. 

 

When in reality, it is the same volume as the everything else. 

 

 

 

It's an actual thing. It isn't just distortion but is the most obvious example.

If you used a wah, or an EQ connected to an EXP.... the volume isn't changing, but toe-down could seem louder. 

[grdGo33]

On 6/4/2022 at 8:39 AM, ibalashov said:

Any tips on saving the hearing?

 

While you're working out the issues with your Go, or switching to an unknown preset, setting your guitar volume to 0, switching patch and then slowly increasing the volume of your guitar would be the #1 solution IMHO.  It's something you get used to.  Then you can fix as mentioned individual patches via amp channel settings, or the volume of your cab if some patches are not loud enough. 

 

At one point, you'll have decent volume patches, but when jumping from patch 6 to patch 49, there likely will be some discrepancy.  Volume & Go are a real challenge, worsened with the # of patches you're dealing with.

 

[DavidField]

I set my Strat guitar volume to the normal 7, The Pod Go output volume knob to around 5, and my Princeton amp to some pleasing volume.

 

As the volume level of just about all the presets is much louder than the bypass (use the tuner function on bypass mode to compare). I then adjust each presets Output Block level to match the bypassed volume. This varys from around -3db to up to -24 db and brings the signal level closer to what it would be if the Pod was bypassed.

 

Then, as written previously, I adjust the amp and individual blocks levels to what sounds balanced to me. After my adjustments I export my playlists, one for factory and one for user adding something like "vol adjusted" in the export file name.

 

These levels are for going into a guitar amp. If you are going into a line level amp or board you would need to reduce less and maybe even boost.

[cain29671]

DavidField,

I'm new to Pod Go and a little confused on "bypass"  Looking at manual, it discusses Bypass Control dealing with the expression pedal.  Not sure if this is what you mean.  I assume you are bypassing all the effects to check the volume?  Can you give us more detail on how you use the tuner function in bypass mode?  Also, where/how do you observe the db change?