Anyone else have the default input gain on their FM9 be way too high?

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billyofcourse

New Member
I have a few presets that have never really had issues that i use for 99 percent of things but always wondered why a lot of the stock presets just did not sound good and today I realized using a stock clean preset that my jazzmaster was clipping really badly. Not really sure why its never really effected the main presets I use, but after turning it way down I realized that everything started to sound WAY better.

When I say the input gain was way too high, i mean WAY too high. Like I had to turn it down almost as low as it would go to get rid of the clipping all together. Weird stuff, but also I'm happy to have a lot more sounds I can use in front of me.
 
billyofcourse said:
just volume clipping. The input led's smacking the top red LED constantly.
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That guitar is louder then, so reduce the Input 1 level for your loudest guitar, and leave it there. Other guitars should sound just fine too.

It’s set to 50% by default, right in the middle, so it shouldn’t be “too high” for everyone. Some need it set at 100% and others need it around 10% or so.
 
Deadpool_25 said:
A couple firmware updates ago they added a clip warning to the screen. Many people had to turn the global input level/gain waaaay down to get that to stop clipping. Nothing wrong with that.
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To be clear, you adjust Instrument Level not Input Gain for this.

Instrument Level is for optimizing signal to noise of the A/D converters and it's an "compensated" adjustment that doesn't result in any change in the actual level of the instrument into the (digital) signal path.

Global Input Gain does affect that and it's more intended to allow you to accommodate guitars with hotter (or weaker) pickups.
 
"Instrument Level" for input 1 lives around 15% or slightly less for me.

It's very strange that whether using a PRS with Duncan 59s or my JPX with Crunch Lab, I'm ticking the red. I would assume the 59 bridge would be way quieter. And then my P90 guitar hits it pretty hard too. Is a value that low really common? I live with "INPUT 1 CLIP" warning multiple times in a song but I have a heavy picking hand and it sounds great so...

The global input gain was a really handy addition for adding a bit of extra juice on single coil guitars to match the push of humbuckers, I go from 1 to 1.2 when I plug in my Godin tele, and it's perfect in the same preset!
 
DrGreencock said:
It's very strange that whether using a PRS with Duncan 59s or my JPX with Crunch Lab, I'm ticking the red. I would assume the 59 bridge would be way quieter. And then my P90 guitar hits it pretty hard too. Is a value that low really common? I live with "INPUT 1 CLIP" warning multiple times in a song but I have a heavy picking hand and it sounds great so...
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I have the same experience here. Whether I use a tele with single coils or a hot humbucker, I don't get a noticeable difference with Input Level.
 
unix-guy said:
To be clear, you adjust Instrument Level not Input Gain for this.

Instrument Level is for optimizing signal to noise of the A/D converters and it's an "compensated" adjustment that doesn't result in any change in the actual level of the instrument into the (digital) signal path.

Global Input Gain does affect that and it's more intended to allow you to accommodate guitars with hotter (or weaker) pickups.
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There you go. I couldn't remember the exact control lol. Thanks!
 
Mine is at 8%. I have been curious why I would need such a low number for low output single coils. How does anyone with 21K humbuckers manage this? It seems off. Maybe this will be handled differently in the next hardware generation? It works fine for me, so no complaints yet. I do tend to prefer lower output pickups in general.
 
jimmynorrisjr said:
Mine is at 8%. I have been curious why I would need such a low number for low output single coils. How does anyone with 21K humbuckers manage this? It seems off. Maybe this will be handled differently in the next hardware generation? It works fine for me, so no complaints yet. I do tend to prefer lower output pickups in general.
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4.2% here with Seymour Duncan Alpha/Omega and Scarlet/Scourge sets in a couple guitars. Works fine. I don't see why it's a problem to have to use a low setting. Doesn't clip, sounds great. What's the problem?
 
jimmynorrisjr said:
Mine is at 8%. I have been curious why I would need such a low number for low output single coils. How does anyone with 21K humbuckers manage this? It seems off. Maybe this will be handled differently in the next hardware generation? It works fine for me, so no complaints yet. I do tend to prefer lower output pickups in general.
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Based on my experiences, it's more about the transients than how hot the pickups are.

That can be affected by pickups, pick material, picking technique, string gauge, string types, action, pickup height, etc
 
I run mine at 5% now. I was using 50% previously. When they added the clip warning light I realized I needed to turn it way down.
 
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