Grateful Dead Music Forum

I have struggled with this for some time and even with an axe-fx it is a struggle. How do you manage all of the oppotunities for adjusting volume and levels throughout your rig? From the volume on your axe to the level of the speaker in the cab, the level in your distortion, your head etc...you know where I'm going.

How do you set up and manage the levels in your rig?

It's not specific to guitar, but it is a very good read:

http://www.rane.com/note135.html
and
http://www.prosoundweb.com/article/gain ... re_basics/

On the AxeFX, I set the inputs for the guitar so the red level light just barely illuminates when I play as hard as I can with the bridge humbucker on, I mean windmill chords, you know?

The AxeFX outputs I generally have about noon. The board is happy with that output.

I set my overall stage volume with the QSC wedge master volume, usually about 75 percent up on the knob.

Onstage, if I have a guitar with a working volume control, I like to set my lead volumes with the guitar volume knob on about 6-7, so I have a little extra on tap.

For the individual patches on the AxeFX, it doesn't really matter where you pull the output level down, so I tend to adjust it in the amp block right before the speaker block; I adjust it just below where the output would clip (by the little overload light). Then I check that all the individual patches I use at the gigs are at approximately the same level, adjusting as necessary.

I always set the effects so the effected volume is identical to the non-affected volume.

I also have a 6-db boost programmed into the AxeFX (with a filter block at the very end of the patch), which is controlled by the Ground Control Pro, so I can get a nice fat volume boost when it's time to take a lead. That's especially handy since the volume control on my Strat has no taper.

My conventional setup was much the same way; I never touched the preamp controls, the preamp master output was about noon, and I used the master volume on the power amp to set the stage volumes; effects volumes were equal to the non-effects volumes.

YMMV

YMMV??

Thanks again man.

YMMV = your mileage may vary