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Use Master Volume Or Channel Volume?


Palico
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I just got my DT25 combo yesterday. I love the clarity and feel of this amp. The one thing I noticed was it seemed not to have as much gain as I expected. I could add a pedal in front of it as it responsed wonderfully. I was using a Epi LP that doesn't have great pickups thought. I set my channel volume up pretty high and the master turned down a lot. If i kicked it into low volume mode I had all the gain I wanted. 

 

So my question is for gain is better to turn up the master a ways and then use the channel volume to acceptable levels or the opposite? I want to kick the tubes into a bit of drive for some blues grit sounds and to drive the IV (Boogie) setting into a heavy gain.

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i'd put the master at about 50% and use the channel volume to level things and work your tone...

this gives you the ability to raise and lower the whole rig to fit the venue...

having said that, i think you do get better overall tones running the master higher and controlling via the channel volume....

just more tube interplay... but as a starting point i use roughly the above formula.

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Since the last update of the POD HD500X I put Master between 1 and 2 o' clock.

I then use the maser on the POD to Get the overall volume I need.

For leveling the patches out I use different approaches: Channel Volume, Mixer, Effects Loop

I tend to use the mixer when on stage or in the rehearsal room because you can use the small knobs.

With these you can simply take the volume down or up a bit without having to worry about where the knob is set.

With the channel volume you can get a nasty surprise when you want to adjust the volume of a patch with say a JCM800 after adjusting the volume of a patch with a Super O. As soon as you touch the knob the CJM800 patch volume will jump to full volume and believe me that's no fun :D

Actually I wish all the knobs worked like this. oh well.

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Makes no difference, they do basically the same thing.

 

If you are using a pod hd500, then it is useful to set the channel volume per patch, to level out the differences between patches, and use the master for overall volume depending on how loud you want it in the room. If you are just using the dt25, then you can balance the relative volumes between the A and B channels, and again use the master to set the overall room volume. If you are just using one channel only, then the controls are, as far as I can tell, totally identical.

 

There are a couple of people who claim otherwise, but they are neither putting up an explanation nor are they posting sound samples for analysis. From what I can gather, the channel volume attenuates the signal, and then the master attenuates the signal. The result of this is optionally passed through the fx loop and then sent to the power amp, which is always operating at full strength. If you get power amp distortion, it is by putting a higher signal into the power amp, and it doesn't matter which of the volumes you are using to achieve this, it is a simple factor of how LOUD the amp is running. (Class A operation may differ, I don't know, I never use it).

 

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I agree with innovine here.  I USED to think the Master volume affected the power tubes but no, they run full strength at all times and the Master just attenuates the signal feeding them.  I would think of them as chained though, more than identical.  The Channel volume feeds the Master volume which feeds the power tubes. 

 

Channel volume is basically for leveling between amp models and the Master is for overall volume level. 

 

General rule of thumb, max out your quietest amp model channel volume and adjust your louder amp models down to match.

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I got the DT25 hooked up my PC today and Flashed it to lastest version. It sounds much better now as far the gain structure is concerned. Of couse today I had the chance to turn it up a bit more. 

 

Thanks for the info. That helps me understand how it works and the best ways to utilize it.

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  • 4 months later...

Hi TiagoRamos,

 

Mine was just an understand of what the knobs did.  The improvement around the firmware didn't really change it much but the firmware I thought gave a bit better sound with in. My understanding is on the low volume mode you are not using the tubes but are using emulated power amp with is designed to sound like a power amp more towards wide open so you will tend to get more gain.  Using normal mode you are use only the emulated pre-amp and the real tube power amp. So you can still get the same gain/power amp distrotion with it but you will have to turn up the amp to what is likely more ear spliting levels to obtain it. Since I use my rig in live situation I don't ever do that. I just adjust gain before the power amp as I love the tube sound.

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in LVM the DT will use the full amp model even if your patch in the POD calls for a pre model in order to add the power section detail that you would have had if the DT were turned up louder.  That is why you will see differences between LVM and normal DT operation.  Unless you are in Standby, the tubes are always being utilized however, since there is no other actual amplification in the DT.

 

We did epic threads on this whole issue last year trying to figure out how it all works together but unfortunately Line 6 does not provide any details on signal flow or integration.  You can check out the thread link below to read what we went through.  Maybe it helps to understand...

 

http://line6.com/support/topic/4231-channel-volume-vs-master-volume/

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