CARVIN Quad X-Amp User Manual Download Page 1

Quad X-Amp

T

UBE

G

UITAR

P

REAMP

User's Guide

Quad X-Amp

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

CH 1

CH 2 / 3

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

CH 4

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

75

150

1K

3K

12

8

4

0

4

8

12

6K

T

UBE

 G

UITAR

 A

MP

CHANNEL

SELECT

INPUT

BOOST BRIGHT

-30 -20 -10 0dB PEAK

VOLUME 1

(CLEAN)

LO

MID

HI

INPUT LEVEL

VOLUME 2

(CLEAN)

VOLUME 3

(CRUNCH)

LO

HI

OVERDRIVE 

LO

MID

HI

VOLUME 4

(SUSTAIN)

OVERDRIVE 

CHANNEL 2/3 CLOAKING

NOISE GATE

REVERB

ON/OFF

MSTR EFF

LOOP

HOLD

PASS

STEREO OUT

MONO OUT

GRAPHIC

EQ

GRAPHIC EQUALIZER

POWER

CABINET

VOICING

Manual No. 76-00101D

Summary of Contents for Quad X-Amp

Page 1: ... 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 CH 4 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 75 150 1K 3K 12 8 4 0 4 8 12 6K TUBE GUITAR AMP CHANNEL SELECT INPUT B O O S T B R I G H T 3 0 2 0 1 0 0 d B P E A K VOLUME 1 CLEAN LO MID HI INPUT LEVEL VOLUME 2 CLEAN VOLUME 3 CRUNCH LO HI OVERDRIVE LO MID HI VOLUME 4 SUSTAIN OVERDRIVE CHANNEL 2 3 ...

Page 2: ... 7 8 9 1 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 CH 4 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 75 150 1K 3K 12 8 4 0 4 8 12 6K TUBE GUITAR AMP CHANNEL SELECT INPUT B O O S T B R I G H T 3 0 2 0 1 0 0 d B P E A K VOLUME 1 CLEAN LO MID HI INPUT LEVEL VOLUME 2 CLEAN VOLUME 3 CRUNCH LO HI OVERDRIVE LO MID HI VOLUME 4 SUSTAIN OVERDRIVE CH...

Page 3: ...ide 1993 by Carvin Corp All Rights Reserved No part of this manual may be reproduced without explicit written permission from Carvin Carvin Quad X Amp QuikGate Cabinet Voicing and Tube Cascade are trademarks of Carvin Corp ii ...

Page 4: ...he Control Layout 2 1 2 1 The Input Control Group 2 1 2 2 The Channel 1 Control Group 2 2 2 3 The Channel 2 and Channel 3 Control Group 2 2 2 4 The Channel 4 Control Group 2 3 2 5 The Noise Gate 2 4 2 6 Reverb Cabinet Voicing and Master Effects Loop 2 5 2 7 Master Level Controls 2 6 2 8 The Graphic Equalizer 2 6 3 Rear Panel Connections 3 0 The Connector Layout 3 1 3 1 Power Switch Line Selector a...

Page 5: ...ut the FS 77 Footswitch 5 1 5 1 Connecting the FS 77 Footswitch 5 1 5 2 Using the FS 77 Footswitch 5 2 6 About Tubes 6 0 A Brief History of Tubes 6 1 6 1 Tubes Amps and Overdrive 6 1 6 2 The Tube Cascade 6 2 6 3 Tube Maintenance and Troubleshooting 6 3 7 Using the MIDI Interface 7 0 About the Quad X Amp MIDI Interface 7 1 7 1 Setting MIDI Channels 7 1 7 2 MIDI Patch Configuration 7 2 7 3 Making MI...

Page 6: ...and REVERB controls at 0 to start Set the STEREO OUT and MONO OUT controls at 0 You ll set the volume here Set the BOOST BRIGHT and CABINET VOICING switches to OFF At the bottom row of controls Set VOLUME 1 VOLUME 2 VOLUME 3 and VOLUME 4 at 3 Set all tone controls at 5 LO MID HI LO HI LO MID HI Set the two OVERDRIVE controls at 5 Set all GRAPHIC EQUALIZER sliders at 0 or center position 5 Connect ...

Page 7: ...ing shipment CARVIN and the shipping company are not liable for any damage caused by improper packing SAVE YOUR INVOICE It will be required for warranty servicing of your unit Always check your invoice against the items you have received SHIPMENT SHORTAGE If you find items missing it may be that they were shipped separately Please allow several days for the rest of your order to arrive before inqu...

Page 8: ...tely and in plain English But if you have any questions that are not answered here please call us at our toll free number Our sales staff is well versed in the technical aspects of our products and is waiting to assist you with any questions you may have We sincerely wish to ensure your complete satisfaction with your new preamp If you would like to comment on features or performance of your new p...

Page 9: ...sounds There are no weird mystery commands to remember just straightforward vintage controls that you already know how to use Well aaa there is the cloaking device Features of the Quad X Amp 1 1 CHANNEL 1 CHANNEL 2 CHANNEL 3 CHANNEL 4 Crystal Clean Sound Tube Crunch Tube Cascade Sustain Active Tone Controls Cloaking Filter Reverb w Select Memory Channel Effects Loop Master Effects Loop w Select Me...

Page 10: ...ably won t be so cool tomorrow time to dust off your wah wah pedal again Trendy effects just don t belong in your amp they belong outboard where you can swap them out as the trend or your own style changes The Quad X Amp gives you access to all the effects in the world without committing you to any of them That s as it should be for an amp designed to take charge To make this happen the Quad X Amp...

Page 11: ... the overdrive QuikGate needs no further adjustment QuikGate takes it s direction from the very front end of the preamp but mutes the back end to eliminate all the noise especially the noise that comes with super high gain overdrive A pair of LED s let you know what s going on Simplified Block Diagram 1 7 Cloak Your Bottom No it doesn t make the preamp disappear but it does make the bottom range o...

Page 12: ...EQ 1 10 There s Even More When players asked us to make the best possible guitar amp they forgot to say stop so we kept on going with all the finishing touches We added an input level display to let you know if you need to use the input boost control Strat players have always needed a boost switch for full overdrive and now they ve got it Since most guitars either need a bright boost or they don t...

Page 13: ...he BOOST Switch If you are using a guitar with a low output level push the boost switch for 10dB of additional input gain If the red LED flashes then make sure the boost switch is out The BRIGHT Switch Use the bright switch when you need a treble boost Most guitars either need it or they don t The bright switch will emphasize the pick sound and attack of overdrive because it s pre distortion For a...

Page 14: ...l of channel 2 relative to the other channels The normal setting is 3 Adjust your overall volume using the STEREO OUT control at the far right of the top row of controls Channel 3 LED and Volume Control for OVERDRIVE The LED to the left of the VOLUME 3 control lights whenever channel 3 is the active channel Use VOLUME 3 to set the level of channel 3 relative to the other channels The normal settin...

Page 15: ...Channel 4 LED and Volume Control The LED next to the VOLUME 4 control lights whenever Ch 4 is selected Use the VOLUME 4 control to set the level of channel 4 relative to the other channels The normal setting is 3 Adjust your overall volume using the STEREO OUT control at the far right of the top row of controls Channel 4 Overdrive Control for Sustain The Channel 4 Overdrive control sets the drive ...

Page 16: ...ntrol until the LED just changes from PASS to HOLD This lets you know that the circuit has just muted the output of the preamp As soon as you play a note the display will change from HOLD back to PASS to allow the signal through the preamp When you stop playing the display changes back to HOLD and any noise will be muted by about 30dB The setting of the noise gate threshold control does not depend...

Page 17: ... panel controls just like the internal mono reverb Just patch your external reverb in at the send and return jacks at the rear panel and the internal reverb will be defeated and replaced by your stereo unit For the best results set your external reverb for 100 reverb no direct sound and control the reverb level from the front panel using the REVERB control We recommend that you follow through by u...

Page 18: ...between maximum and half to make sure that the power amp gets to maximum power well before the preamp does Set the actual playing volume using the master level controls while using the individual channel volume controls only to balance the volume between the channels 2 8 The Graphic Equalizer The Graphic Equalizer Bypass Switch and LED Indicator The five band graphic EQ employs a bypass switch wit...

Page 19: ... 5A 240V 25A 120 240 VAC 50 60 Hz POWER CH 1 CH 2 CH 3 CH 4 SND RTN SND RTN LEFT RIGHT EXT REVERB MASTER PHONES Quad X Amp LIFT GND MONO INPUT PRE AMP OUT MASTER EFFECTS LOOPS CHANNEL EFFECTS LOOPS MIDI CAUTION TO PREVENT ELECTRICAL SHOCK DO NOT DEFEAT THE SAFETY GROUND ON THE POWER CORD DO NOT REMOVE COVER NO USER SERVICEABLE PARTS INSIDE WARNING TO PREVENT FIRE OR SHOCK HAZARD DO NOT EXPOSE TO R...

Page 20: ...o effects use the left input only 3 6 The Master Effects Loop Use this loop for effects devices that you want to use on more than one channel This loop uses a mono send and a stereo receive so you can fully exploit your stereo effects units The loop can be switched on and off from the front panel or from the footswitch Each channel remembers it s own setting For mono effects use the left input onl...

Page 21: ... or whenever you wish to use phones The level at the stereo phone jack is controlled by the stereo out control on the front panel 3 11 The Rear Panel Input Jack Use the rear panel input jack when you need to connect to the input of the Quad X Amp from another piece of gear in your rack The rear input feeds the normal connection at the front input jack When a plug is inserted in the front jack it o...

Page 22: ...2 system for each of the left and right channels Double 4x12 stacks on each side would provide even higher sound levels Quad X Amp Using the Quad X Amp Section 4 4 1 Speaker Power vs Amp Power Don t feel like you have to match the rating of the power amp to the rating of the speaker That s not the case at all The speaker s power rating is the maximum power that the speaker can take before it is da...

Page 23: ...ntrol for the volume you want If you want a low volume level for practicing then you might back the power amp input level controls down to half Setting the power amp input level controls less than half is not advised as you risk overdriving the output of the preamp before reaching full power Quad X Amp Using the Quad X Amp Section 4 4 2 ON FUSE 1155 Industrial Ave Escondido CA 92029 MADEINTHE USA ...

Page 24: ...se that amp s power amplifier and speaker In these situations we recommend that you connect the preamp output from the Quad X Amp to either the power amp input or the effects return input of the other guitar amp in order to bypass that amps fixed equalization circuits The instrument input of the other guitar amp should only be used as a last resort because this would result in the other amps fixed...

Page 25: ...S 77 1 2 3 4 REV EFF EQ Clean Clean Crunch Sustain Quad X Amp Channel Effects FS 77 FS77 FOOTSWITCH QUAD X AMP 1 2 3 4 REV EFF EQ Clean Clean Crunch Sustain Quad X Amp Channel Effects FS 77 ON FUSE 1155 Industrial Ave Escondido CA 92029 MADEINTHE USA 120V 0 5A 240V 25A 120 240 VAC 50 60 Hz POWER CH 1 CH 2 CH 3 CH 4 SND RTN SND RTN LEFT RIGHT EXT REVERB MASTER PHONES Quad X Amp LIFT GND MONO INPUT ...

Page 26: ...y want to also use the FS 77 to have instant access to channels and effects without making a patch change at their other gear Quad X Amp Using the FS 77 Footswitch Section 5 5 2 Using the Effects Memory Feature When you first power up the amp the effects are switched ON for all four channels this can vary depending on how long the unit was off To demonstrate the effects memory feature of the amp t...

Page 27: ... valve This new electrode consisted of a fine wire mesh De Forest found that a small voltage applied to the new grid electrode could control the flow of a relatively large current between the filament and the plate The device had the effect of amplifying the signal applied to the grid and made possible the first radio broadcasts of speech and music Lee De Forest called his invention an audion toda...

Page 28: ...f the wave Using the method of Fourier analysis it can be shown that tubes can be used to produce either odd or even harmonics or combinations of the two just as solid state circuits can There is more to the tube overdrive phenomenon than that often repeated claim of odds versus evens The Dance of the Harmonics Besides the ear our primary tool for studying overdrive effects was a computer based sp...

Page 29: ...y used tubes for guitar amps so you should have no trouble finding a new replacement tube If you can t find a local source check the music dealers then you can purchase replacement tubes directly from Carvin Equivalent tubes to the 12AX7A are 12AX7 7025 and ECC83 alternate names for the same tube In a pinch you could use a 12AY7 12AU7A aka 6189 ECC82 or 12AT7 aka ECC81 or 6201 Quad X Amp About Tub...

Page 30: ...IDI Channels In order to use the MIDI features of your Quad X Amp you first must set the MIDI Channel 1 16 on which to receive MIDI program change information To select a MIDI channel set the dip switches on the rear panel to the desired setting This is done by configuring the four switches to either 0 or1 left or right to match the channel as indicated by the MIDI CHANNEL chart The easiest way to...

Page 31: ...DI Patch call refer to the table below Quad X Amp MIDI Channel Selection Chart 1 1 33 3 65 4 97 3 2 2 34 4 66 1 98 3 3 3 35 4 67 1 99 3 4 4 36 1 68 1 100 3 5 4 37 2 69 1 101 4 6 1 38 3 70 1 102 4 7 2 39 4 71 2 103 4 8 3 40 4 72 2 104 4 9 4 41 1 73 2 105 4 10 4 42 2 74 2 106 1 11 1 43 3 75 2 107 1 12 2 44 4 76 3 108 1 13 3 45 4 77 3 109 1 14 4 46 1 78 3 110 1 15 4 47 2 79 3 111 2 16 1 48 3 80 3 112...

Page 32: ... 60 Hz 120V 240V 0 5A 25A FUSE PHONES PRE AMP OUT MONO POWER BAL ON OFF FRONT INPUT DEFEATS REAR INPUT CH 2 CH 4 CH 1 CH 3 CHANNEL EFFECTS LOOPS SND RTN MASTER EFFECTS LOOPS LEFT RIGHT EXT REVERB MONO LEFT RIGHT MASTER MONO FS 77 FOOT SWITCH MIDI IN THRU MIDI CHANNEL 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 2 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 3 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 ...

Page 33: ...ted Total Harmonic Distortion less than 05 Sound Quality Totally Outrageous EQ Centers Three Band Ch 1 4 80 500 3kHz Two Band Ch 2 3 80 3kHz Graphic EQ 75 150 1K 3k 6kHz Nominal Line Output 0 dBV 775 Vrms Maximum Line Output 22 dBV Power Requirements 120 240 VAC 50 60 Hz Warranty One year parts and labor Dimensions and Weight 19 W x 10 D x 3 5 H 15lbs ...

Page 34: ...e art audio design methods and modern packaging and production techniques Thus Carvin reserves the right to make changes in its products and specifications without notice or obligation Call Us Toll Free at 800 854 2235 or write CARVIN 12340 World Trade Drive San Diego CA 92128 Our business hours are Mon Fri 8 00AM to 4 30PM Pacific Time Quad X Amp Warranty and Service Appendix B B 1 LIMITED WARRAN...

Page 35: ...sheet 1 3 The inside cover is to be printed on both sides unnumbered page i and page ii master sheets 2 and 3 4 Even numbered pages are left side pages odd numbered pages are right side pages 5 Page viii is unnumbered and is to be blank 6 The last master page unnumbered is labeled Carvin Quad X Amp Block Diagram and is to be printed on the inside of the rear cover with the title block to the right...

Reviews: