Hughes & Kettner Grand Meister 36 Manual page 7

MIDI
In Out/Thru
Heads Up: Cutting down the power from 36 to 18 watts is done by TSC™
shutting down one pair of tubes (see section 7.1), which is why two TSC™
LEDs always light up when the amp is in 18 W, 5 W, 1 W and Speaker Off
modes. In this case, TSC™ is simply indicating that two tubes are off, and
not that it has detected a fault.
3 Tube Safety Control (TSC™): We devoted an entire chapter to the Tube
Safety Control. See section 7 to learn more about it.
4 Red Box Out: Invented by Hughes & Kettner, the Red Box has for years
set the industry standard for analog guitar DI boxes with built-in speaker
emulation. Built into the GrandMeister's output section, it converts the
amp's speaker out signal, which is tapped post power amp and pre Power
Soak, into a balanced, frequency-compensated signal that you can patch
directly to a mixing console. This signal sounds very authentic when piped
through a PA or studio monitors. It always sounds like the cab itself, not like
a mic'ed cab! Feel free to add some ambience or room effects.
Note: Use a microphone cord to patch this signal to a mixing console.
Make sure the mixing console's XLR input is set to line level. If the mixing
console lacks XLR inputs or if these cannot be set to line level, you will
need an XLR to 6.3 mm (1/4") jack adapter readily available in music
stores.
Heads Up: The amp's Master knob settings and the selected Power Soak
mode directly affect the signal level: Stepping up to 36 watts from 18
watts changes the Red Box Out level as it does the Speaker Out level.
Stepping down from 18 watts to 5 watts, 1 watt and Speaker Off (for silent
recording) does not change the level! So you can step up from 18 watts to
36 watts on the fly (via preset change), for example, to boost the volume
for leads when playing live. The level of the signal sent to the Red Box Out
(and to the mixing console) will be bumped up accordingly. The signal
level of the 18 W, 5 W, 1 W and Speaker Off modes remains the same
for a very good reason: That way you can choose the right Speaker Out
level for the rehearsal room, home practicing and silent recording without
having to adjust Master knob settings.
48 volts phantom power: If you want to switch on your mixing desk's 48
volts phantom power, you can do so without any problems. The Red Box
Out automatically filters DC phantom power of mixing desks' microphone
inputs.
4.1 Speaker Cabinet Type: This button lets you select a classic or modern
type of cabinet. Please note that this feature is rather a subtle pre-filter than
a radical sound shaping tool.
5 Noise Gate Hard/Soft: This knob controls the noise gate's sensitivity.
The noise gate's IDB™ technology automatically adapts the standard
attack and threshold parameters. Its far left position is labeled Hard; its far
right position is labeled Soft. The further you twist the Noise Gate Hard/
Soft knob to the right, the more sensitive the noise gate's response. Set it to
12 o'clock if you want it to open up at very soft signal levels. The further
you twist the knob to the left, the harder the noise gate kicks in and cuts
off signals.
NOISE GATE
FX LOOP LINE OUT
Send Return to Power amp Hard Soft
™
TSC
RED BOX OUT
Speaker
Cabinet Type
DI Out
Outboard noise gates sandwiched between the guitar and amp or plugged
into the FX loop can only measure the signal at one point. The Intelligent
Dual Breakpoint (IDB™) technology gauges the signal at two points,
directly at the Input jack and post preamp, but pre effects. The noise gate
uses these two values to calculate the optimum response. What's more, it
does not cut off Reverb and Delay signals.
Heads Up: The Sensitivity knob's setting applies to all presets that
incorporate the noise gate. This is convenient and intentional: If conditions
on stage are different in the rehearsal room, you can adjust the noise
gate's response for all presets with one simple tweak.
Tip: 12 o'clock is the universal setting. It you wish to use the noise gate as a
stylistic device when playing fast staccato riffs at high gain levels, then dial
in a setting towards the Hard end of the control range
6 Line Out, FX Send, FX Return
6.1 Line Out: The Line Out offers the preamp signal to patch it to another
power amp or to a tuner.
6.2 FX Send: Connect the FX Send to your external effects processor's
input.
6.3 FX Return: Connect the FX Return to your external effects processor's
output.
Tip: If you're a stomp-box user, you may want to try the four-cord method:
For devices that work best plugged into the front end of the amp, simply
connect the guitar to the input of the first pedal in the chain, and the last
pedal's output to the amp's Input. Now do the same for devices that work
best in the FX loop: Connect the pedal's output to the amp's FX Return
and the amp's FX Send to the pedal's input. This lets you route chorused,
phased and other modulated signals into the GrandMeister´s preamp and
time-based effects such as reverb and delay after the preamp.
If your multi effector features amp models, you can patch these straight
to the GrandMeister´s power amp via the FX Return. In combination with
the Power Soak and the Red Box Recording Out, this gives you a powerful
recording front end that offers very interesting re-amping and sound-
shaping options for just about every conceivable signal.
Heads Up: You can bypass the GrandMeister's preamp by routing amp
models into the FX Return. However, when you switch channels its power
amp is re-voiced to deliver the best tone for that channel. This means
every channel sounds different, even if you decide to use only the power
amp! You probably want the amp model's sound and volume to remain
consistent with your original programming. If so, you'll have to remember
which channel you used for programming and select it when you activate
the amp model. However, the better option is to program a preset to do
this for you.
POWER SOAK SPEAKER
8 - 16 Ohms
18 W 5 W 1 W
36 W
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