Tone Controls - VHT Valvulator GP3 Preliminary Owners Manual

pedal due to the low signal level capacity (headroom) and often, high impedance input of most
pedals, which are designed to be inserted between the guitar and amp.
In a GP3 rack system, high-level devices will be inserted between the GP3 and your power
amplifier or rack mixer. Pedals will be inserted in the low level Effects Loop, providing a
sonically transparent input stage that isolates the high impedance guitar pickup signal from the
stomp box's input circuitry. To accomplish this the cable from the guitar is plugged directly into
the GP3 input jack. The Valvulator signal comes out on the GP3 front panel via the AUX SEND
jack, or at the rear panel via the AUX SEND and F/X LOOP SEND jacks. This clean, dynamic
signal is now a low impedance signal source, which is impervious to the loading effect of
multiple stomp boxes, multiple amplifiers, or poorly designed "buffer mods" on pedals. The
resulting improved signal quality gives wah pedals more wah range, over-drive pedals more
sensitivity and punch, and phasers more intensity. This feature is ideal for configuring a "pedal
drawer" in your rack for remote operation of stomp boxes.
Now, imagine you are in a recording session and you decide you need an acoustic track to fatten
up your mix. How would you like to run through a professional quality tube direct box without a
lot of studio down time? Simply plug your acoustic pick-up output into the front input of the
GP3, then run the front panel AUX SEND direct to the console. Enter the MUTE MODE on the
GP3 to kill the signal to the rest of your system and you're ready to fly. It's that easy.
CHANNELS
The 3-channel configuration of the GP3 is based on the VHT Pittbull™ Ultra-Lead and Pittbull™
Hundred/CLX 3 -channel preamp designs. Each of the 3 channels, CLEAN, RHYTHM, and
LEAD, feature Gain, Treble, Middle, Bass, and Volume controls. The LEAD and RHYTHM
channels also feature a variable BOOST control to adjust the amount of gain boost available. A
fixed amount of boost is provided for the CLEAN channel to kick in a bit of crunch for a
"dirty/clean" rhythm or solo style. Gain Stacking
RHYTHM and LEAD channels. Gain Stacking
determine the number of actual tube gain stages used in the selected channel. Most high-gain tube
preamp designs can produce lots of overdrive, but sound noisy, thin and brittle at medium or low
gain settings. This is because there are too many tube gain stages "in circuit" at all times. Gain
TM
Stacking solves this problem by letting the user decide how many stages of gain are needed to
produce the desired result. Medium-clean to crunch and classic solo gain levels only require 3
stages of tube gain. Hot solos, heavy crunch and full shred sounds require 4 stages. With Gain
TM,
Stacking the user selects the "Normal" setting for 3 stages of gain, or "Hi Gain" setting for 4
stages of gain. Exactly what you need when you need it.
The DEEP switches on the RHYTHM and LEAD channels provide a user selected balance of low
mids and highs for a fuller fatter tone especially at low gain settings. Great for medium crunch
rhythm tracks and low gain solo parts where you require a m ore pronounced power amplifier
distortion sound with less front-end gain.

TONE CONTROLS

VHT amplifiers are well known for their "tone controls that really work" and this legacy is
carried on here. The passive tone control circuitry in the GP3 is interactive in nature and separate
tone circuits and controls are provided for each channel. This is important to note as many "multi-
channel" tube amp designs often share tone controls. Even some that appear to have separate tone
controls in reality have only one tone circuit that switches between 2 or 3 sets of tone knobs. Our
TM
and DEEP switches are provided for the
TM
is a unique feature that allows you to pre-