Twin Question

[Tennessee Jedi]

I got my 1st Twin recently
a 78 Silverface
Amp sounds great - the only problem is my Q-Tron ( micro version ) is distorted
Sounds almost passable when I set volume with the master vol and have the channel vol set low ....
Have OBEL and buffer
Anyone have advice ?

[JonnyBoy]

What kind of speakers? With my stock fender speakers the Qtron's excessive peaks cause distortion for sure. It could be a mixture of the preamp and speaker distortion too. Try the guitar and set the pedal for middle split coil too.

[JustinJohn]

Hmm... My 71 twin with JBL e120s has no issue like your describing, though it is heavily modded.

My Qtron tends to cause some cool natural distortion that works to compres the sound, giving it a more Garcia-like feel (circa 81), but it does 'quack' really loud, sometimes painfully so.

[hippieguy1954]

Concerning the master volume, if you turn the master volume all the wat up, you are effectivly eliminating it. Just use the channel volume for your volume control. That is the best way to use it (or take it out of the circuit). As mentioned above, the stock fender speakers will distort with an envelope. Put some E120's in there and it's another world!

[waldo041]

Sounds almost passable when I set volume with the master vol and have the channel vol set low ....

this is close to what i believe you need to do. set the master volume all the way up, then put the channel volume to around 4.5 - 5, since it is not a mac output section maybe less maybe more depending on the overall output. the most important part, then play with your guitar at around 40 to 50%. use the guitars volume control to manipulate the overall volume both clean and effected.

a nice set of Jbl E or the lighter K's is always a good idea as some have stated.

peace,
waldo

[Tennessee Jedi]

Thanks for the input Dudes

What kind of speakers? With my stock fender speakers the Qtron's excessive peaks cause distortion for sure. It could be a mixture of the preamp and speaker distortion too. Try the guitar and set the pedal for middle split coil too.

Weber Neo Mags in a 2 x 12 cab ... Yeah man middle coil all the way

My Qtron tends to cause some cool natural distortion that works to compres the sound, giving it a more Garcia-like feel (circa 81), but it does 'quack' really loud, sometimes painfully so.

When I use the Q tron with my solid state rig it gets that Keene ( Kean ? ) College '80 sound all smooth and nice - with the Twin it has a ugly sounding distorted break up too much sound.

this is close to what i believe you need to do. set the master volume all the way up, then put the channel volume to around 4.5 - 5, since it is not a mac output section maybe less maybe more depending on the overall output. the most important part, then play with your guitar at around 40 to 50%. use the guitars volume control to manipulate the overall volume both clean and effected.

a nice set of Jbl E or the lighter K's is always a good idea as some have stated.

peace,
waldo

Mike it seems like even when the channel volume is really low like 2 it does it .... Yeah cutting the volume knob is good
Another issue has popped up too
After about 20 minutes of playing a strange " ghost note " appears - kinda like there are two notes ...
I gotta say though I love it it for the most part -the reverb is awesome ;its bo loud ; and I love its sound
Just gotta tweak it a bit send it in to the shop maybe

[cmc64]

Bumping an old thread - as I seem to need some help.


I recently picked up a Qtron+ and have been having the same issue. I never play out and my budget is limited - I got a great deal on a Fender Superchamp X2 15 watt tube amp which is all I really need for noodling around at home - so that is my amp. I do not have an OBEL or UGB set-up, just guitar -> effect pedals -> amp. The guitar is a Fender Lite Ash Strat with EMG DG-20 Active Pickups. Good clean tone that I am overall pretty happy with. I have had no issues with clipping the input to the amp with any of the effects I use - even my Voodoo Labs Sparkledrive with the gain and volume maxed doesn't overdrive it. But the Qtron does. I use the overdrive as an "always on" pedal (and not maxed out) and that just makes the clipping worse. Even with the gain on the Qtron set so the overload light does not come on at all (and no other pedals on), the clipping remains - most notably in the higher registers.

The speaker in the amp is a single 10 inch Fender Special Design (for combo amp). Will a simple speaker swap out solve the problem as indicated in this thread? Any help here would be greatly appreciated - I really like the Qtron but I am going a bit crazy with this problem.

[claytushaywood]

definitely wanna run your master at 10 for jerry tones, maybe 8-9 would be cool too. really i've found that envelope filters can be so finicky- and i've found the qtron (ESPECIALLY the newer XO diecast enclosure versions) to be super spiky and have unnatural volume peaks compared to the real deal. a lot of people that use qtrons like to use compressors before hand or even limiters in the rack to handle those transient peaks.

i'd bet your twin has been modded to get more preamp gain or something. probably has higher value plate resistors or slope resistor value changes... those ultra linear twins are also imo, very dynamic amps. from my experience, it seems like an evelope filter wouldnt sit on that amps good side without doing some work on it.

[cmc64]

definitely wanna run your master at 10 for jerry tones, maybe 8-9 would be cool too. really i've found that envelope filters can be so finicky- and i've found the qtron (ESPECIALLY the newer XO diecast enclosure versions) to be super spiky and have unnatural volume peaks compared to the real deal. a lot of people that use qtrons like to use compressors before hand or even limiters in the rack to handle those transient peaks.

i'd bet your twin has been modded to get more preamp gain or something. probably has higher value plate resistors or slope resistor value changes... those ultra linear twins are also imo, very dynamic amps. from my experience, it seems like an evelope filter wouldnt sit on that amps good side without doing some work on it.

Thanks for the response. I actually am not using a Twin, I have a Superchamp X2 tube combo amp. I bumped this thread because it was the only one I could find with that summed up the problem I am having. The superchamp has one input but two channels. The first is a clean, blackface tone with a single volume knob. Hit a little grey button and it switches to channel two which has a gain knob and volume knob, and DSP modeling for different types of amps. There are DSP based effects as well but the only one I use is the 65 Spring Reverb. I didn't really want (or need) an amp with DSP - I really just wanted a clean tube amp with some reverb and my budget did not allow for much wiggle room and as I was able to get the amp brand new for $260 I grabbed it. And all in all I have been pretty happy with it. Until this qtron issue showed up. The qtron is one of the older versions - came in the wood box, silver case and switches instead of knobs for the boost and drive. I'll get a pic of it up in a moment. I dig the sound but this clipping is making me bonkers.

[cmc64]

Ass an add on to my previous post - would a Proton solve this problem? It has all the tone I need and if won;t cause this clipping issue I will pick one up. Keep he Qtron+ of course - it's just too cool for school, but that Proton sounds quite nice and if It won't clip my amp I am ordering one.