Graphic Equalizer; Dynamics Control - VHT Valvulator GP3 Preliminary Owners Manual

truly independent circuitry provides much more tonal range and flexibility as well as cleaner
signal paths, no signal bleed between channels and lower noise.

GRAPHIC EQUALIZER

This is probably one of the most unusual GRAPHIC EQ designs ever created. Not just some
randomly selected frequency bands; the frequency, resonance and slope of each band have been
carefully chosen and tuned to enhance specific properties of guitar body, neck and hardware
resonance points and harmonics. The frequency selections of 100Hz, 250Hz, 630Hz, 1.2 KHz, 2.3
KHz and 5KHz are designed to zero in on your guitars personality and bring out, or suppress the
specific overtones you are trying to manipulate while maintain ing a transparent and natural tonal
character. Each band is capable of 12dB cut and boost, much more than conventional designs.
Therefore, to prevent overload and excessive noise, it is important to USE SPARINGLY. You
will observe dramatic changes in sound settings by moving each band only one or two
demarcation points above or below the centerline. Because of the careful design and
implementation of this feature, it is recommended that you avoid the impulse to use a full "V"
graphic control pattern. With a little experimentation you will become very adept at using the
GRAPHIC EQUALIZER to maximum effect with very conservative movement of the slide
controls.

DYNAMICS CONTROL

Ever wonder why a rack system never sounds like a real guitar amplifier? Most likel y this is the
very first thing you discovered and, in many cases, this may have been the reason you scrapped
the whole rack idea altogether. A guitar amplifier responds to your playing style in varying
degrees depending on your guitar, pick-ups, playing style, pick attack, volume, amount of gain or
overdrive used, audience size, relationship with the bartender and a host of other variables. In the
process the amplifier produces varying degrees of distortion, harmonics, overload, and power
amp compression, which enhances or complicates your playing experience. As has been
repeatedly demonstrated, none of these amplifier/player-feedback relationships are obtainable, let
alone controllable from a conventional preamp. Even the most sophisticated modeling products
cannot reproduce these analog specific tonal artifacts. With the Valvulator™ GP3, not only can
you duplicate this behavior, you can control it in real time!
The DYNAMICS control allows you to adjust the amount of output dynamics and output
overload behavior FOR ANY VOLUME LEVEL OR AMOUNT OF GAIN! An LED indicator
tracks this dynamic behavior and intensity, letting you know how quickly or slowly the GP3 is
responding to your playing attack. To set the optimum Dynamics level for your style, start with
this control set fully counterclockwise. Set each channels gain, tone, volume and boost level to
your desired settings. Then adjust the Dynamics control SLOWLY clockwise until you reach
your desired level of amplifier response.
Keep in mind that the amount o f DYNAMIC response you set will depend entirely on your
playing environment. Playing at home with a low volume setting is a much different playing
environment than a live performance situation where much greater volumes and emotional levels
become signific ant to your playing style and attack. Remember, the harder you play, the more the
GP3 will respond, and like any true blue tube guitar amplifier, the GP3 will get sweeter and fatter
as it gets warmed up. All of these factors will affect your DYNAMIC setting. After a while you
may find yourself forgetting all about the tone and gain controls as you become tuned in to the
emotional depth of your playing and your ability to "dial in" the amount of feel you will get back
from your GP3.