Having all sorts of trouble with gain staging and clipping. Input and output levels are not clipping, have checked all my blocks, amps, cabs, etc and the multi out is way in the red clipping AND I have the multi out dB turned to -40. Wtf is happening? Also, why in gods name can you not push the amps for gain staging? I understand this is digital, and I’m just now switching to this world after playing tube amps all my life, but I don’t get why you can’t turn the volume and gain up on these amp sims for gain staging etc.
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Is this for a particular preset, or all of them? Factory, or creating yourself?
Are you lowering the ‘output’ level setting on the amps when you push up the gain/vol/master? That’s usually where you adjust for gain staging without affecting tone when dialing in the amp blocks.
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Thanks—it’s been happening for the presets I am creating myself.
Heard that on the lowering output level on amps as I adjust gain etc—I’ll make sure I am doing that.
Overall, certainly a learning curve after playing tube amps and pedalboards forever—but happy with general tones and production of the quad so far
@xush probably already mentioned the most important factor, that output level on the amp blocks.
There is a learning curve for sure coming directly from traditional amps/pedals to the digital world. Sounds like you are on the right track though. As you mentioned you were already doing, treat gain staging to some extent the way you would with your old pedalboard. When you set up a signal chain, go through and bypass each block one-by-one and play something. If the volume level changes dramatically, or the block causes the red clipping to either show up, or go away, you have located a level problem in your signal chain (there may be more than one).
You will soon locate the most likely culprits for gain stage issues and be able to set them properly in your future preset design.
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NDSP has done a great job in designing the QC to be simple and quick to get the hang of, but there are always going to be some issues that can be cleared up quickly with outside help. There are also a few subjects the manual doesn’t really explain, but these forums here can be a great resource.
One thing that can be really helpful in discovering the optimal (or alternative) way to do things is by dissecting the factory presets. EQ, gain-staging, level-balancing and the splitters can reveal a lot of info if you look closely at how the factory presets utilize them
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Great suggestion there! Thanks
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Appreciate the feedback!
Btw, another handy way to dial your presets in is to play something with the looper while you are tweaking. That way your hands are free while you change parameter settings.
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My favorite trick. That’s all I use the Looper for!
What do you guys find is normal practice with the volume knob in the Quad? Keep it dialed to 100? I’m sure that’s effecting how I gain stage my blocks
Essentially, what I am wondering is if master volume knob dialed to 100=unity??
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the volume knob acts as an attenuator, so yes…100=unity
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