Question from Amp Head Newbie

[SlimT]

I just got an SWR Bass 350 head (woohoo!) and I don't understand something.

 

Reading the manual, it says to set the tone controls and the aural enhancer and then crank up the gain until the preamp clip barely lights on the loudest note.

 

Then, the master volume can be turned up to the desired level.

 

Fine, I understand that. However, after I adjust the gain, sometimes I can only get the master volume up halfway before the limiter light becomes active.

 

Based on what I read in the manual, I got the idea that if you adjusted the gain properly, then the signal being sent to the power amp would be just fine (i.e., the limiter wouldn't be kicking in at moderate volumes).

 

As it is, in order to make sure the preamp clip and the limiter aren't lighting up all the time, I've got the gain at about 60% and the master at about 60%. But I wanna turn it up to eleven! http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

 

What am I doing wrong?

 

Oh, this example was using a passive carvin with J pickups going into the passive input, no effects.

[Jason Poff]

I believe you can defeat the limiter. If so, just trust your ears and listen for speaker distortion.

[Ben]

Hey, Slim, did you turn the volume control on the bass up as far as you will ever turn it up before you set the preamp level so the limiter just comes on? I'm not an SWR guy, but that's the usual drill. Then you turn the bass volume back down to the range you normally used and adjust the master accordingly. That way when your ears get numb during a set and you get excited and keep cranking the volume you will only hit the limiter when you max out the bass volume. The intent is to get you maximum headroom at the preamp.

[SlimT]

Jason:

 

Yeah, the limiter can be defeated. Is that the purpose of it, to indicate that the signal could lead to speaker distortion? So, I won't blow my speakers if I defeat the limiter? (Assuming, of course, I have properly matched the cabs with the head.)

 

Ben:

 

Ya know, when I did it, the volume was all the way up and then I backed off a bit. I should try backing off some more, maybe. Those pickups are pretty hot. I should do some more experimenting with volume levels on the bass.

 

Thanks for the tips!