5
OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS
MECHANICAL AND THERMAL
ISSUES
– Your amplifier should always be
placed for operation away from sources of
moisture or heat. Care should be taken not
to obstruct the ventilation holes on the
bottom and sides of the unit. In the event of
thermal shutdown, you should eliminate the
cause of the thermal problem (poor
ventilation, speaker loads lower than 2
ohms) immediately. The supplied rack ears
can be used to install your amplifier in a
conventional equipment rack for protection
during transportation.
ELECTRICAL CONNECTION
– The
Time Traveler requires at least 10 Amps of
correctly wired alternating current for proper
operations.
CONNECTIONS
– All line connections
(everything but the speakers) should be
made with high-quality shielded cables. The
use of speaker cables for line connections
will result in excess noise. Speaker
connections should be made with high-
quality 16 gauge or larger unshielded
speaker cables. We recommend 10 or 12
gauge cables. The use of shielded line or
instrument cables for speaker connections
can damage your amplifier. The speaker
cable should be as short as possible.
TURN ON
– We recommend turning your
system on with the master volume control
set to its minimum position. This will prevent
any unexpected signal from being sent to
your speakers.
SETTING YOUR LEVEL
– Effective use
of the gain control will ensure the best
signal-to-noise ratio. The Compressor, and
EQ Clip indicators are all provided to assist
you in setting your level correctly. You
should begin the process with your master
control set to a low, or off position, and your
tone controls set flat. While playing your
instrument normally, bring the gain control
up to about 11:00 . Set the compressor light
so that it winks on the peaks that result from
your strongest normal attack. This will
generally show up most on your lower
strings. If more compression is desired,
increase the control so the compressor light
comes on more readily. Having set your
initial level, you are now ready to proceed
with setting up your tone controls. Since
tone adjustments have an impact on the
overall preamp gain level, you may well
need to return to the gain control and repeat
this process once you have completed your
EQ adjustments.
SETTING UP YOUR EQ
Begin with all tone controls set flat and with
the Enhance Control set to its minimum
position. After setting your Gain level, bring
the Master control up to a moderate level.
Slowly bring the Enhance control up, playing
as you make each adjustment. Many
players find that there is a small amount of
boost on the Enhance control that will get
them very close to the sound they are after.
If it doesn’t, return it to its minimum or 0
position.
Overall bass and treble adjustments can be
made with the Bass and Treble controls.
These controls cover a fairly broad range of
the frequency spectrum. Many players use
these controls to compensate for acoustic
situations, relying on the Enhance and
Parametric controls to achieve their basic
sound. Adjusting the mid range control will
bring you either more up front in the mix or
more in the background
The frequencies that you will need to boost
or cut are dependent upon your instrument,
playing style, speaker cabinets, and venue.
Extreme settings of boost or cut are unlikely
to be necessary or helpful.
We are frequently asked to provide
suggested settings for various styles of play.
We have discovered though, that most of
our endorsers tend to set their EQ generally
flat, using varying amounts of the Enhance
Control. We encourage you to experiment
with different settings to obtain the sound
you desire. We have included some EQ
panel diagrams at the back of this manual to
help you record your settings.
Clip Light
– This indicator will flash if
clipping occurs in the EQ section of the
preamp. This can be remedied by
decreasing the amount of boost in the EQ
