Chapter 3: Dark Fire Chameleon Tone Technology
About Chameleon Tone Technology
Dark Fire uses pickup coil switching techniques (and onboard EQ) to create eight iconic guitar sounds
from the onboard magnetic pickups. Because Dark Fire doesn't use digital modeling, the signal path
is all-analog. Furthermore, the piezo pickup output can supplement the magnetic pickups for an
acoustic type of sound.
Note: The classic Chameleon sounds require that the pickup toggle switch be in the middle
(both pickups) position, with no Piezo sound blended in, and the tone controls full up.
Of
course, one of Dark Fire's advantages is that you can make variations on these classic sounds.
After choosing a Chameleon sound, you then exit Chameleon mode. Two things happen upon exiting:
Dark Fire links the sound you chose with the current tuning, then stores the combination as the
default so it's available next time you turn on Dark Fire.
The guitar electronics enter a power-saving state to extend the battery's charge.
You can activate Chameleon Tone technology and select sounds while in any tuning Bank (
blue
,
green
, or
red
). The default Chameleon Tone setup is
Gibson Classic
with standard EADGBe tuning,
but Dark Fire will always retain the the most recently-stored Chameleon magnetic pickup coil
configuration, even with no power. This is because Dark Fire's Chameleon Tone technology uses
special latching relays that “remember” their most recent state.
Choosing Chameleon Tones
1. Pull the MCK out, choose a tuning Preset, and tune the guitar as described in Chapter 2. The
Chameleon Tone will be applied to whichever tuning you’ve selected. To indicate the default
Chameleon mode, the MCK’s Display Matrix alternates between the letters
S
(
S
tandard
Tuning) and
G
(
G
ibson Classic).
2. After tuning Dark Fire, rotate the MCK to the letter
C
and press down momentarily on the
MCK's Display Matrix to enter Chameleon Tone selection mode. Three things happen:
The
C
shines white. As long as the
C
LED is shining white, Dark Fire is in Chameleon
Tone selection mode.
The Display Matrix spells the current Chameleon Tone setting as a scrolling marquee,
with one letter following another.
The MCK displays the current magnetic pickup coil configuration.
3. To choose a different Chameleon Tone setting, rotate the MCK to a different String LED, the
Rotating Arrow
, or the
b#
symbol. Keep the MCK in that position for several seconds so that
the sound goes into Dark Fire's temporary memory (you'll store the sound when you exit
Chameleon Tone mode, as described later). Each LED represents a different tone with
different coil switching:
Gibson Dark Fire 4.0 manual, page 13
