Hi,
I’ve got some questions about the gain settings for OD1 and OD2. Does anyone know about the “real” amp? Does gain1 feed into gain2? (in series)
I’m assuming this is how it’s set up - but not sure. So hi gain1 into a low gain2 will overdrive it more than the other way around? (low gain1 into a higher gain2)
Also the Thump and Hair descriptions are a little cryptic - I’m just basically flicking the switches to see what sounds best rather than knowing which settings will get me what I’m looking for. It would be a little easier if both Thump and Hair had the same H M and L positions too 
I guess the plugin is set like the real amp though?
Anyway - does anyone have any ideas about these things?
John B
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Hi, I agree with you, some more descriptions in the manual would help, especially for the Thump and Hair switch.
This is what I’ve found out so far:
- channel OD2 is great for crunch or mid gain, if you want high gain sound go for channel OD1
- for what concerns the thump and hair switch I’d suggest starting out with the medium settings, that means right switch for the thump and left for the hair, then experiment with the other switch to see what it happens
- for what concerns gain 1 and gain 2, please note that putting one of these two at zero you’ll get no sound. It seems to me that gain 2 involves more the lower frequencies while the gain 1 involves more the higher frequencies. I tried to look for other infos, even on the real amp manual but I didn’t get much honestly. I guess we all need to go through a lot of “trial and error” stuff. Please take note that the bright switch will affect also the sound quite a lot.
Hope it helps!
The Manual definitely needs some update.
You can find further info on the website regarding to the Thump and Hair switches, but it is not in the manual which is not good.
From the website:
Thump switch
3-way switch for negative feedback control of low-frequency interaction between amplifier and speakers.
Left: Low; Center:High; Right: Medium.
With less feedback there is less power amp saturation and a more scooped sound. Control at a lower master volume position for more defined differences.
Hair Switch
3-way switch for negative feedback control of high-frequency interaction between amplifier and speakers.
Left: Medium; Center: Low; Right: High.
With less feedback there is less power amp saturation and a more scooped sound. Control at a lower master volume position for more defined differences.
Blockquotechannel OD2 is great for crunch or mid gain, if you want high gain sound go for channel OD1
Yeah - OD1 seems to be brighter. this is mentioned in the “real” cali manual.
Blockquotefor what concerns the thump and hair switch I’d suggest starting out with the medium settings, that means right switch for the thump and left for the hair, then experiment with the other switch to see what it happens
Well, that’s what I’ve been doing - I was just looking for something different than just “clicking and see what happens” 
GsR-Theta - yeah, I saw that - but it’s still a little cryptic
I am not qualified, nor expert, to give you a precise and scientific explanation, however i would like to try to explain it a bit further:
a ‘feedback control’ does what it says. Your signal running through the power amp section. Tubes doing their job, amplifying etc. You than take the “processed” signal and feeding it back to the original signal, which will run through the process again.
it is called ‘negative’ as the feedback process is happening on the negative side of the circuit/signal.
Now, the above is just a rough idea how to think about this, but it is more complicated.
The ‘Thump’ and ‘Hair’ switches basically controls how much of the Low or High frequencies you would like to feed back. And these two are working in relation, so it is not that simple to switch only one or the other. Most importantly, these controls are affecting the tone between the power amp and speakers.
I would recommend to check the below video about amp controls in general. especially about the bright switch and the presence control part. He is talking about these, which are related to the ‘Thump’ and ‘Hair’ switches.
GsR-Theta - thanks for the link. Thats a good video!
Now I see that there’s no easy way to work out what the negative feedback settings sound like. I wanted to think - if I use high NFB on the high freqs, it will be like turning down the “presence” - but it seems like it’s more complicated than this.
Also, l now see that gain1 and gain2 may not just be a couple of gain controls in series - I’ll need to play more and learn exactly what each is doing.
I also learned something about the bright caps. I thought the bright control just simply made the signal brighter - for when things are getting too muddy. It seems like there’s more to it than that.
Oh well, I’ve got enough to play around with this week. I like to get my head around how the amp works, so I can set up some good preset “starting points” - then tweak them as needed.
I’d rather do the geek stuff now, than when I’m in the middle of recording guitar parts
I’ll revisit Granophyre too - but it’s a bit simpler (mind you, it looks like the depth and detail controls must be NFB too…)
Now here’s another thought. I like Mercuriall amp sims too, and they always tell you to dial down the input for single coils (I play strats and tele). I’m trying this for the Cali, and I think I like it a little better this way - dial input down a bit and make up with master vol or output.
I’ll play more with it this week.
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