more effective. First and foremost, it is designed to suppress ambient noise such as
hissing and humming during breaks when the Preamp is in High Gain mode. For this
reason, I tuned its threshold (that's the level at which the gate triggers) range to suit
this amp mode, and then adjusted it for Low Gain (
deactivated)
configurations. To get acquainted with how the
works, I suggest you start
by setting the Threshold knob to the far left (
opens at low signal levels) and
slowly twist it clockwise to gradually raise the gate's trigger threshold. When the knob
arrives at the far right position, the
will not trigger until the signal reaches a
very high level. This means that the preamp must amplify the guitar signal considerably
to open up (or deactivate) the
. In practice, your best bet for suppressing
loud noise when running channels 2, 3, and 4 at high Gain levels is to set the Threshold
knob higher than 12 o'clock. If you're doing the low-gain thing in Low Gain mode, dial
in a lower Threshold setting (below 12 o'clock) to prevent the gate from throttling
notes (that is, the musically useful sounds) as they decay, particularly if you like to work
the guitar's volume knob.
An interesting configuration option is to run the INVADER's internal preamp with or
without an effects device. In this variant,
serves as a nifty, MIDI-controlled
hardware bypass. Another possibility is to connect two effect devices one each to
and
- and assign them freely to the preamp channels.
We endowed the amp with MIDI functionality and programmable settings, which
mandate a microprocessor. This afforded me the opportunity to put that processor to
even better use and employ it to power a couple of reassuring protection systems. One
is
, which checks every power tube individually; the other is a
speaker output surveillance system designed to prevent the potentially destructive
operation of the power amp without a load. For reasons of operating safely, tube
amps require a load such as a speaker cabinet connected to the output. Be aware,
though, that as sophisticated as these features may be, they can't relieve you of all
responsibility. For example, the system can't detect if a cabinet is connected to the
other end of the cord. Please make a habit of checking this before powering the amp
up. As a rule, always exercise due caution when operating this baby.
For reasons of convenience and handling ease, we made programming sounds to MIDI
presets a piece of cake. Because this amp offers many programmable switching
functions,
is indeed a handy tool. It lets you copy the settings of one MIDI preset
to another. You'll come to appreciate its utility when you begin programming your
own presets. Dumping a stored setup from one MIDI preset to another, and editing
and storing changes in the target preset, is so must faster and more convenient than
programming from scratch every time. MIDI preset 1 is called up automatically when
you switch the amp on. This ensures that when you power up, the settings for
programmable sound-shaping functions are immediately enabled in the configuration
stored in the most recent programming session - without having to first connect a MIDI
foot board.
High Gain
Noise Gate
Noise Gate
Noise Gate
Noise Gate
FX Loop I
FX
Loop I
FX Loop II
Power Tube Monitoring
Copy
On the subject of effect loops:
Electronic safety systems:
Programming sounds (settings, actually) to MIDI presets:
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