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Topic: Amplifier Question |
Joe Rouse
From:
San Antonio, Texas
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Posted 5 Jun 2007 8:43 am |
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I hate to show my ignorance repeatedly, however I have a need to know.
I have a small Fender amp I bought on e-bay some time back. I am wanting to know what each dial is for.
Starting from the left I have an instrument input, then a Gain dial a drive select button, and a volume dial. Next is a Treble dial, a Mid dial, Bass dial, Reverb dail and then 2 inputs one says ext. speaker and the other is for headphones. The Gain, Drive Select, and Vulume have a overhead bracket showing the 3 are for the Drive Select.What is the Drive Select,Treble,and Mid. Bass is self explanatory, Reverb is also self explanatory. The input for an Ext. Speaker I would think is for another speaker to be plugged in to route your music in the direction desired.
As you can see I'm not completely igornut about all, but still have a great deal to learn. Thank You Joe Rouse |
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Mark Vinbury
From:
N. Kingstown, Rhode Island, USA
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Joe Rouse
From:
San Antonio, Texas
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Posted 5 Jun 2007 2:21 pm
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| Thanks Mark, I get into Harmony Central now...Joe Rouse |
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Larry Jamieson
From:
Walton, NY USA
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Posted 5 Jun 2007 5:53 pm
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Joe,
What you have is a modern guitar amplifier, designed with a built in distortion channel. The channel select switch (or drive select) will switch the amp between a clean channel, and one with "drive" or distortion. When you are using the "drive" channel, the more you turn up the "Gain," the more distortion you get. Volume controls volume, gain controls distortion level.
"Mid" contols midrange frequency in the music spectrum, tones which are not too high, or too low. Start by dialing them down to zero, then dial them up just enough to find a pleasing tone. The low control adjusts the amount of bass or low frequency tone in your sound. Too much, and it gets muddy, not enough and your tone is too thin.
If you have a headphone jack, you can use headphones to practice, and your speaker will not make any noise. This allows you to practice while others are sleeping or watching TV..
Hope this helps...
Larry J. |
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Jim Sliff
From:
Lawndale California, USA
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Posted 5 Jun 2007 6:30 pm
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| Quote: |
| Start by dialing them down to zero, then dial them up just enough to find a pleasing tone. |
Note that tonal advice like this is very subjective. Some players prefer a boost in the mids - it all depends on what sound YOU want to hear, whether or not you're playing with a band, the type of guitar, amp, speakers, etc. FWIW in many band situations dialing out the mids and bringing them up to a "pleasing tone" will sound good to you by yourself, but you'll be flat buried by the band - often you need to boost the mids to "cut" through the mix. It's a sound that does not seem very pleasing alone, but works with a band. Working boards over the years I had to convince many players that the "scooped mid" sound would make them disappear unless they were playing at an ungodly volume level.
"Good guitar tone" and "good guitar-in-a-band tone" are sometimes two very different things.
Larry's description of the amp is right on - it's a modern-type amp. IF you post the specific name I might be able to give you a lot more detail - and you can likely download the entire manual from Fender's website, although if you're not familiar with terms like "gain" or "treble" you probably need to learn some very basic amplifier nomenclature and use. Also, be aware that modern amps with boosted-gain stages like that are not often prototypical steel amps. Those are usually designed with modern rock guitar in mind, not full, round clean tones.
Harmony Central reviews and descriptions are written by anyone with a computer and an opinion, and are chock full of technical errors, wrong descriptions, and "reviews" by people who have no clue what they are talking about. Unless you already know the terminology, HC's reviews will probably be horribly confusing. You would probably be better served by going to the Fender site and seeing if a manual can be downloaded.
_________________
No chops, but great tone
1930's/40's Rickenbacher/Rickenbacker 6&8 string lap steels
1921 Weissenborn Style 2; Hilo&Schireson hollownecks
Appalachian, Regal & Dobro squarenecks
1959 Fender 400 9+2 B6;1960's Fender 800 3+3+2; 1948 Fender Dual-8 Professional |
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Joe Rouse
From:
San Antonio, Texas
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Posted 6 Jun 2007 1:26 am Thank you
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Many Thanks to all 3 of you. Confusion is not what I need. The good tonal sound is what I do want. I still get a noticeable hum on this Fender when I turn it up. I would think with a bit of using the info you all have given I can minimize that too.
Thanks again for your help...Joe Rouse |
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