Question:
I have a simple Marshall amp, 30 watts..
when I use the overdrive channel (with controls: gain, bass, contour, treble, volume) I cannot really control the volume with my distortion pedals anymore. I mean, when I turn the 'level' of the distortion pedal up to, for example, as high as possible, the volume doesn't even rise a bit...
and when I turn on the distortion pedal while playing, there is not much difference in sound or volume either..
the gain level seems to dominate everything. So when I play guitar at church and want to boost the volume to play a solo or something, I have to turn the volume of the amp up, which is not very handy..
does anyone here know how to deal with this? thanks!
Answer:
There's always a volume pedal...I have the Ernie Ball VP Jr...works great, most of the time I keep it at about 90% volume and then, when I need a little boost I just go to 100%. The thing is simple as can be and doesn't even require a power source.
Answer:
This may largely be the result of the fact that you're using the OD channel. According to how your gain settings are setup, you might just be augmenting the gain but unable to increase the volume. On many amps, after a certain point, turning up the amp is the only way to increase the volume because everything else is being heavily compressed
Answer:
Originally Posted by DDDirk does anyone here know how to deal with this? thanks!
Ah, this is very simple. A physics thing.
This is what distortion is: The soundwave you put into the distortion device (whether it be amp or pedal) is amplified by the distortion device until the peaks of the soundwave are clipped off because the preamp cannot handle the soundwave being pushed into it.
Now, when you use your clean channel, you're not clipping the wave form, and the preamp amplifies anything you put into it cleanly, meaning the level knobs on your distortion pedals will change the volume. Now, on the OD channel, all turning up the level knob does is push a even more amplified waveform into the amp, and the amp just simply clips it and everything comes out the same volume.
Solution? Plug the distortion pedal into the effects loop, if you have one.
Answer:
Originally Posted by Rainer.
Solution? Plug the distortion pedal into the effects loop, if you have one.
What do you mean exactly? Or is it just using the clean channel instead of the OD channel.. that works indeed, but the tone becomes very sharp when doing that..
I will try using the volume pedal, by the way..
thanks for the reactions!
Answer:
Originally Posted by DDDirk What do you mean exactly? Or is it just using the clean channel instead of the OD channel.. that works indeed, but the tone becomes very sharp when doing that..
I will try using the volume pedal, by the way..
thanks for the reactions! if you have an effects loop, putting the distortion pedal in the effects loop may allow some volume boost.
Answer:
Originally Posted by DDDirk What do you mean exactly? Or is it just using the clean channel instead of the OD channel.. that works indeed, but the tone becomes very sharp when doing that..
I will try using the volume pedal, by the way..
thanks for the reactions!
Volume pedal will only work in the FX loop if you want it to be a master volume. An effects loop is two jacks that are on higher end amps and some lower end ones. It consists of an out and an in. Plug something into the out, and back into the in, and that effect will come after the amp's distortion.