A few questions (Amp and Multieffect)

Hi everyone,

I hope that someone has similar gear as I do and can help me with a few questions.

1. I've got an Marshall MG15CFX, which can be operated in a "manual mode". In that mode all the settings are supposed to be controlled by the knobs/buttons, while in "preset mode" the settings are... well, preset. If gain, treble etc. are controlled by the knobs, what difference does the channel(clean, crunch,OD1, OD2) make? The difference is quite obvious when you listen to it, but shouldn't the distortion only be controlled by the gain vs volume ratio? What does the gain-setting change if the overdrive is controlled by the channel?

Sorry for the confusion, I haven't really figured this out yet.

2. I also have a Zoom G7.1ut multieffect console. If I want to control my tone just with the Zoom, how do I set up my amp? Basically I just want the sound from the effect console to come out of the speaker without any further modification by the amp. And even the "clean" channel will modify the tone, right?

I think I'll figure it out eventually by just trying, but any kind of help is appreciated :-)

Regards,

Chris

P.S.

I also have an older Peavey Studio Pro 112, but it usually is too loud for playing at home. Does this amp behave differently in regards to my questions? It has two channels with two different settings each (e.g. vintage, modern), so I guess it's similar.

Hi Sluggy, this is a good question. Let's take a look.

If gain, treble etc. are controlled by the knobs, what difference does the channel(clean, crunch,OD1, OD2) make? The difference is quite obvious when you listen to it, but shouldn't the distortion only be controlled by the gain vs volume ratio? What does the gain-setting change if the overdrive is controlled by the channel?

Sorry for the confusion, I haven't really figured this out yet.

So guitar amps are generally made to give the player a lot of very specific control. Yes, it looks like on this amp you can switch to a Clean channel, which will take out all of the distortion, but, knobs like "gain" can be cranked up so much that it can bring the natural distortion out of your guitar signal.

Gain literally increases the direct signal your guitar is sending to the amp, which, if cranked high enough, can begin to sound distorted. Cranking up "gain" will also increase the volume naturally, since it's increasing the signal.

Unlike Gain which increases the signal from Guitar to Amp, Volume only increases the volume of the amplifier. So whatever guitar tone you're getting, will just sound louder, because the amp is getting louder, but not necessarily the actual guitar's signal. I hope that makes sense.

So with that in mind, if you switch to Overdrive 1 or Overdrive 2, and then crank up the "gain," that will only add a bit more distortion and fuzziness to your guitar's already overdriven tone.

For example if you're satisifed with the amount of crunch you're getting from OD1, and you just want the amp to be louder, increase volume. But if you want to adjust the level of crunchiness from your OD1 channel, then you can play with the gain knob.

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I unfortunately don't know a lot about the G7! Perhaps another user will jump on here.

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Best,

Billy

I have no experience with the G7 , but after taking a very quick look , it seems similar to the Digitech RO 250 , that I had for a couple of years . I always used to set the clean tone first , sometimes you have to compromise a bit , depending on which pickup you select . i set the guitar volume at abou six so it is nice and clean and have a bit of gain on the amp , Probably OD1 on your amp , when you dime the guitar volume it should get a bit dirty and louder . Don't forget you have a tone on the axe for when getting a bit mellow , From ther the world is your oyster , you can mix and match your settings to get what you want . I used to have a song list in front of me with the patch numbers for certain songs on it for example main part of song patch 2 , solo patch 5 , Just noodle with it , the amp pre-sets may not be exactly what you want , but with the G7 , you should be able to fine tune time based effects , reverb and distortion. GOOD LUCK