Hughes & Kettner Black Spirit 200 Manual page 4

Black Spirit 200 – Manual 1.1
you switch from one preset to another, the knob's actual position may
not reflect the setting programmed in the preset, and you may well hear
something other than what you're seeing would suggest. The knob will
respond like any other conventional pot as soon as you move it. The Store
LED in the Master section tells you the knob's setting stored in the preset. It
lights up when the physical position of the knob corresponds to the preset
setting. You can learn more on this in section 2.4.
Heads Up: You may hear a soft background noise when twisting knobs.
This sound is made by the Programmable Resistor Network (PRN™), as
it switches its 256 resistors: each of these smart rotary controls consists of
256 individual resistors in serial array, 256 switches, and a memory with the
ability to save and recall every switch's position.
2.2 Selecting presets
Presets can only be changed via MIDI or via the free App for iPad. You can
use any MIDI footswitch, MIDI controller, or MIDI equipped pedal board
to switch presets. Both MIDI devices, amp (receiver) and the controller
(sender), should use the same channel. Otherwise, MIDI commands will
be ignored or get lost. The factory default is MIDI channel 1 and "Omni
On" (which means the amp receives on all 16 MIDI channels) to guarantee
instant operation. If Black Spirit 200 does not react to program changes
properly, see chapter 8.1, which explains how you can change the MIDI
channel, or refer to the manual of your favourite MIDI controller.
2.3 Remote Control via the Hughes & Kettner
FSM-432 MK III MIDI Board
Let's have a look at the Hughes & Kettner FSM-432 first. It serves to select
the 128 memory slots arranged in 32 banks of four presets each. You can
easily configure setups any way you wish, say by assigning the four presets
of a bank to a song. Black Spirit 200 works with all versions of the FSM-
432.
1 Preset A, B, C, D: Presets within a bank activate directly, that is, you can
switch straight from A to B within the same bank. The LEDs above the A,
B, C, and D buttons indicate the selected preset.
2 Bank Up/Down: To access a preset in another bank, select the target
bank using the Up and Down buttons. You can continue playing with the
current preset while you're navigating. The display of the FSM-432 shows
the bank's number; it flashes until you select a preset in the target bank by
pressing A, B, C, or D. The FSM-432 will not switch over to the new preset
until you do this.
3 Tap: Tap offers you a quick, convenient way of adjusting delay time. It's
particularly handy on stage: simply tap your foot on the Tap button in time
with the beat to match the delay time to the tempo. See section 4.12 for
more info.
4
4 Mode switch – Preset/Stompbox: The sliding switch above the MIDI
connections on the rear side of the footswitch determines if the FSM-432
MK III is operating in Preset Mode or Stompbox Mode.
If you move the sliding switch to "Stompbox Mode", the display shows
"Sb". In this mode, the FSM-432's buttons do not serve to select presets,
but to switch channels directly. In addition, modulation FX, delay and
boost can be independently activated and deactivated at the push of a
button.
Heads up: Stompbox mode is designed specifically for situations where
you just don't have the right preset available or when you want to create
presets and wish to compare sounds with or without effects at the touch
of a button. The Tap function is unavailable in Stompbox mode, and
effects settings apply to all four channels. This is why Preset mode is
highly recommended for live situations.
5 Control 1 and Control 2: You can connect either expression pedals
(recommended: Yamaha FC 7) or single footswitches (recommended:
Hughes & Kettner FS-1) to these two 6.3 mm (1/4") jack inputs, both of
which you can assign additional control functions for the Black Spirit 200
to, so all of the amp's programmable functions can be remote controlled
(chapter 8.3).
For instance, you can control the reverb of the amp's FX module using an
expression pedal. You can also switch the noise gate on and off with an
external footswitch or change the amount of gain while playing without
having to take your hands off your guitar. The most useful functions are
the remote control of the Boost (without changing presets) using a foot
switch as well as controlling volume with an expression pedal. As you
can see in the chart (chapter 8.3), assigning controller number 07 to one
of the Control inputs and connecting an expression pedal to it will let you
remote control the volume. The switching function of the Boost can be
remote controlled by assigning controller number 64 to the other Control
input and connecting a footswitch to it.
As a rule, a MIDI value of 0 corresponds to a knob's far left
(counterclockwise) position and a button's "off" position. A MIDI value of
127 corresponds to a knob's far right (clockwise) position and a button's
"on" position. These values have the same effect as if you were to adjust
the knob or press a button on the amp. There is one exception to this rule:
The Volume knob's upper limit is always determined by the value stored
in the preset. Let's say you saved a sound with the Volume knob set to
the 12 0'clock position. Then the maximum value of 127 achieved when
you floor an expression pedal only goes up to the level determined by
the knob's midway position. This ensures that you can adjust the volume
of a preset in a live situation exactly as you would with a conventional
volume pedal.
A word to the wise: The expression pedal's position is ignored when you
change presets! Say you give the expression pedal a little heel to bring
the volume down. Then when you switch presets, the volume will change
to reflect the Volume knob setting that you previously stored with this
preset. If you wish to control Black Spirit 200's overall volume remotely
– that is, adjust the Master knob from afar – we recommend inserting an
analog, low-impedance volume pedal into the FX loop.
To learn more about this, see the FSM-432 MK III's manual.