Advertisement
Chapter 1: The Master Control Knob
The Master Control Knob (MCK), a highly sophisticated "push-pull" knob with an illuminated
interactive display, has two main modes:
When pushed in (closest to the guitar body), the MCK works like a regular tone knob.
Pulling the MCK out (furthest from the guitar body) activates it. You can rotate the MCK to
make various selections, and "enter" your choices in two ways: Some functions require short,
momentary presses on the MCK's Display Matrix, while others require a longer, sustained
press (but don't press too hard, as this will move the MCK all the way in to the off position).
The MCK has five distinct elements:
Position/String LEDs. These 10 LEDs surround the MCK's edge. After pulling the MCK out,
rotating the knob to select a particular LED chooses a specific sound or function. In tuning
mode, six of these LEDs indicate string activity, indicated as (low to high) E A D G B e.
b# symbol. Select to access the tuning preset banks. Rotate the MCK full counter-clockwise
to acccess this position.
Guitar symbol. Shows the status of the piezo pickup, e.g., whether it's available to be blended
in with the magnetic pickup.
Green: Piezo signal is enabled.
○
Blue: Piezo signal and Equalizer are enabled
○
Off: Piezo signal and any equalization are switched off
○
Pickup symbol. This indicates the status of Dark Fire's magnetic pickups—whether they're in
series, parallel, tapped, etc.
Green: Coil Switching is active (pickups are switched differently compared to a standard
○
Les Paul)
Blue: The onboard equalization for the magnetic pickups is active
○
Off: Equalizer is disabled and pickups operate in Gibson Classic mode
○
Variable color Display Matrix. This provides feedback on several aspects of Dark Fire: For
example, it changes color to indicate which bank of alternate tunings is selected.
Advertisement
