Master Volume

[Pink_Floyd]

OK simple question really,

EDIT I am being an idiot........

[hipofutura]

I don't mean to be obtuse, but what's the question?

[Torren61]

I don't mean to be obtuse either, but what's obtuse?

[Torren61]

I've been told that I was acute s.o.b. Or was I just called a s.o.b.? Dang, I can't remember.

[chasenblues]

Originally Posted by Torren61

I don't mean to be obtuse either, but what's obtuse?

ob⋅tuse  /əbˈtus, -ˈtyus/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [uhb-toos, -tyoos] Show IPA
–adjective 1. not quick or alert in perception, feeling, or intellect; not sensitive or observant; dull.
2. not sharp, acute, or pointed; blunt in form.
3. (of a leaf, petal, etc.) rounded at the extremity.
4. indistinctly felt or perceived, as pain or sound.

[Torren61]

Aaah. TY.

[hipofutura]

Originally Posted by Torren61

I don't mean to be obtuse either, but what's obtuse?

Thousands of comedians out of work and you're trying to be funny!

[Pink_Floyd]

I am in a kinda of information gathering sort of mood and was wondering exactly how the master volume works and how you can use it? There seems to be so many different amps with different nobs, gain, overdrive, etc etc and some seem to have the same uses.

I tell you what would be really good, if some amp guru wrote a guide about amps, controls and how the settings impact on each other. That would be awesome.

[Jason]

Let me google that for you

[Jason]

Originally Posted by Torren61

I don't mean to be obtuse either, but what's obtuse?

Let me google that for you

[hipofutura]

Basically your tube amp has two section - the preamp and the power amp. The preamp is the section that contours the signal from the guitar. It's the volume and tone controls. The preamp has its own set of tubes. The power amp is the section that takes the signal from the preamp and amplifies it. The power amp has it's own tubes. When you look in a tube amp you'll see small tubes which are for the preamp and you'll see large tubes which are for the power amp.

The master gain is an audio taper pot (volume control) that sits between the preamp and the power amp. With it you can crank up the regular volume knob (preamp) and then use the master gain to crank down the signal as it leaves the preamp and goes into the power amp for amplification. By turning the volume up to "10" you saturate the preamp tubes which creates the distortion. When the master gain is turned down the distorted preamp signal is not loud. This makes the amp sound like its running wide open, but it's at a bedroom level. Because the signal going into the power amp is reduced by the master gain you don't get the distortion that comes from the power amp being over driven (power tube saturation).

[Pink_Floyd]

Originally Posted by hipofutura

Basically your tube amp has two section - the preamp and the power amp. The preamp is the section that contours the signal from the guitar. It's the volume and tone controls. The preamp has its own set of tubes. The power amp is the section that takes the signal from the preamp and amplifies it. The power amp has it's own tubes. When you look in a tube amp you'll see small tubes which are for the preamp and you'll see large tubes which are for the power amp.

The master gain is an audio taper pot (volume control) that sits between the preamp and the power amp. With it you can crank up the regular volume knob (preamp) and then use the master gain to crank down the signal as it leaves the preamp and goes into the power amp for amplification. By turning the volume up to "10" you saturate the preamp tubes which creates the distortion. When the master gain is turned down the distorted preamp signal is not loud. This makes the amp sound like its running wide open, but it's at a bedroom level. Because the signal going into the power amp is reduced by the master gain you don't get the distortion that comes from the power amp being over driven (power tube saturation).

Thank You

[Jason]

Originally Posted by hipofutura

Basically your tube amp has two section - the preamp and the power amp. The preamp is the section that contours the signal from the guitar. It's the volume and tone controls. The preamp has its own set of tubes. The power amp is the section that takes the signal from the preamp and amplifies it. The power amp has it's own tubes. When you look in a tube amp you'll see small tubes which are for the preamp and you'll see large tubes which are for the power amp.

The master gain is an audio taper pot (volume control) that sits between the preamp and the power amp. With it you can crank up the regular volume knob (preamp) and then use the master gain to crank down the signal as it leaves the preamp and goes into the power amp for amplification. By turning the volume up to "10" you saturate the preamp tubes which creates the distortion. When the master gain is turned down the distorted preamp signal is not loud. This makes the amp sound like its running wide open, but it's at a bedroom level. Because the signal going into the power amp is reduced by the master gain you don't get the distortion that comes from the power amp being over driven (power tube saturation).

I'm no expert, but I'll also add this: On my Peavey Classic 30, there are 3 preamp tubes. On the CLEAN channel, it's only running through 1 preamp tube. On the DIRTY channel it's running through all 3 tubes, hence the extra distortion. Just another part of the equation for you.

[Splattle101]

Well, not quite.

The first valve is the preamp valve. The clean 'channel' uses only the first half of it (remeber, these 12A?7 valves are all TWO valves in a single bottle). Then one half of the second valve drives the tone stack and adds a little more gain.

The dirty channel uses both sides of the first valve, thus adding a lot more gain.

The third valve is the phase inverter, which is really not part of the preamp at all. It splits the signal into two out of phase halves, and sends one half to each side of the push-pull power section. It may also add a tiny amount of gain, depending on the design.

[hipofutura]

You're right Splattle. I was just trying to keep it simple so the OP could visualize what I was explaining. Since we weren't discussing a specific amp I didn't want to confuse things with multi-channels and things as technical as phase inversion. Neither of which are relevant to a discussion of the master gain functionality. My intent was to help him visualize how the master gain fit into the amp.

[Splattle101]

Originally Posted by hipofutura

You're right Splattle. I was just trying to keep it simple so the OP could visualize what I was explaining. Since we weren't discussing a specific amp I didn't want to confuse things with multi-channels and things as technical as phase inversion. Neither of which are relevant to a discussion of the master gain functionality. My intent was to help him visualize how the master gain fit into the amp.

I was directing my comments to Jason. I have no problem with your explanation . No problem with Jason's either: I'm just trying to clarify a little confused information out there.

[hipofutura]

Splattle, my apologies if my post seemed defensive. Upon re-reading, it does sound like there's an edge to it. Not my intentions at all. This is an example of how written words don't properly convey the authors meaning as well as spoken words. I find your posts interesting and you are clearly far more knowledgeable than I when it comes to the inner workings of an amp.