What am I doing wrong?

A

Aaron6393

Member
I've got my axe running into a Carvin DCM1540L into a 2x12. For some reason, my power amp keeps clipping at relatively low volumes. The axe is tickling the red. The power amp is wide open and I can turn up the output level on my axe to about 10 'o clock before the Carvin starts to clip.

Any ideas?
 
Check your amp level in the patch or any other block that may be causing the clipping. Typical level for my patches for the amp block is -12db for high gain.
 
Aaron6393 said:
I've got my axe running into a Carvin DCM1540L into a 2x12. For some reason, my power amp keeps clipping at relatively low volumes. The axe is tickling the red. The power amp is wide open and I can turn up the output level on my axe to about 10 'o clock before the Carvin starts to clip.

Any ideas?
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The Axe FX II has the highest/strongest output signal of any device I have ever used. Try turning down the GLOBAL 1 output EQ's output volume. It looks like a graphic EQ with a bunch of frequencies, but the last slider on the far right is an overall volume. Try lowering that slider to -6db to give yourself some better control on the rotary knob on the front panel for output 1.

You can also look at the output on a meter by pressing the utility button on the front panel and then page right 1 or 2 times. You'll see the input level and output level. If your output level is slamming the highest peak of the meter, that is where you're hearing digital clipping. My suggestion of turning down the output 1 at the Global location should help elevate the problem.

Depending on how you shunt between effects and even empty blocks that are running in parallel to your main audio path in your preset, you can have tremendous boosts in gain. The sky's the limit in routing. That's why it is awesome that the amp block output has such a wide operating range. You can cut the amp output back and check your progress on the utility gain meter screen, to make sure your output is very close to matching the input of your guitar.
 
rodzimguitar68 said:
The Axe FX II has the highest/strongest output signal of any device I have ever used. Try turning down the GLOBAL 1 output EQ's output volume. It looks like a graphic EQ with a bunch of frequencies, but the last slider on the far right is an overall volume. Try lowering that slider to -6db to give yourself some better control on the rotary knob on the front panel for output 1.

You can also look at the output on a meter by pressing the utility button on the front panel and then page right 1 or 2 times. You'll see the input level and output level. If your output level is slamming the highest peak of the meter, that is where you're hearing digital clipping. My suggestion of turning down the output 1 at the Global location should help elevate the problem.

Depending on how you shunt between effects and even empty blocks that are running in parallel to your main audio path in your preset, you can have tremendous boosts in gain. The sky's the limit in routing. That's why it is awesome that the amp block output has such a wide operating range. You can cut the amp output back and check your progress on the utility gain meter screen, to make sure your output is very close to matching the input of your guitar.
Click to expand...

I lowered the the gain slider on the GLOBAL 1 EQ by 6db, which worked. I was able to crank the axe Output to 3 'o clock before the Carvin started to clip. I wasn't able to plug into my cab, (apartment's are horrible), but hopefully this will give me enough volume for the next rehearsal. Thank you!
 
Aaron6393 said:
I lowered the the gain slider on the GLOBAL 1 EQ by 6db, which worked. I was able to crank the axe Output to 3 'o clock before the Carvin started to clip. I wasn't able to plug into my cab, (apartment's are horrible), but hopefully this will give me enough volume for the next rehearsal. Thank you!
Click to expand...
That still makes no sense, I run my Carvin DCM1540L with the front panel knobs set at 12:00 o'clock(straight up) and the input knob on the Axe-Fx at 11:00 and I can't set the output of the Axe-Fx much higher then 10:00 for fear of blowing the speakers (or my ears) to smithereens without ever approaching the point of clipping. With all the power the Carvin has there's NO WAY you should be anywhere near clipping the poweramp, the problem has to be further back in the Axe-Fx chain. Somewhere in your Axe-Fx something is turned up WAY to loud.
 
Do you have any lowcut going on? If not try doing a low cut in the cab block about 100 to 120hz and see if that helps. I get this on bass heavy patches with my 1540l and I have the axe at 12 to 1 o'clock with the 1540l at about 7 on the carvin dial. I have been thinking about moving up to the 3000l just to see if it will give me a little headroom there. I also use 2 Xitone wedges in stereo. I bet your clipping is in the low end. Also don't run your Carvin full blast, you want head room, turn the global back to 0 and set Carvin about 7 on the dial and use Axe output knob to set gain structure/ volume, but do the low cut and you can go over 120 if needed. What amp sim are you using and speakers for monitoring?
 
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t0aj15 said:
That still makes no sense, I run my Carvin DCM1540L with the front panel knobs set at 12:00 o'clock(straight up) and the input knob on the Axe-Fx at 11:00 and I can't set the output of the Axe-Fx much higher then 10:00 for fear of blowing the speakers (or my ears) to smithereens without ever approaching the point of clipping. With all the power the Carvin has there's NO WAY you should be anywhere near clipping the poweramp, the problem has to be further back in the Axe-Fx chain. Somewhere in your Axe-Fx something is turned up WAY to loud.
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I don't know what it could be. I'm comparing the out levels of my patches with some of the stock patches that use the same amp/cab setup and they're pretty close to being identical in the Utility Status page.
 
krash73 said:
Do you have any lowcut going on? If not try doing a low cut in the cab block about 100 to 120hz and see if that helps. I get this on bass heavy patches with my 1540l and I have the axe at 12 to 1 o'clock with the 1540l at about 7 on the carvin dial. I have been thinking about moving up to the 3000l just to see if it will give me a little headroom there. I also use 2 Xitone wedges in stereo. I bet your clipping is in the low end. Also don't run your Carvin full blast, you want head room, turn the global back to 0 and set Carvin about 7 on the dial and use Axe output knob to set gain structure/ volume, but do the low cut and you can go over 120 if needed. What amp sim are you using and speakers for monitoring?
Click to expand...

Yes I do. Most of my CAB Blocks have the LOWCUT FREQ at 100Hz or so. I mainly use the Recto2 Red Modern for my high gain patches and the Vibrato Verb for my clean patches. Right now I've got XLR cables going out of Output 1 into a pair of Yamaha HS50m's. Live it's the axe > Carvin > 2x12.
 
Hmm my input knob is around 1 o'clock. And my high gain amp blocks level are on 000 or higher. No negative numbers. Mine sounds good and loud but know I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong according to some of you guys settings.
 
It might be a long shot but if you clipping the power amp you might have a speaker cab issue or wiring issue. Can you detail the cab and how it is connected to the amp out put?
 
Sixstring said:
It might be a long shot but if you clipping the power amp you might have a speaker cab issue or wiring issue. Can you detail the cab and how it is connected to the amp out put?
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I doubt it's the cab. I haven't had a chance to play through it since I started this thread but hopefully will be able to do so this weekend. When I do, I run a 1/4 out of the left side of output 1 of the Axe into Input 1 of the Carvin and then Output 1 of the Carvin into the input on the cab.
 
Ok... that sounds right. Is it a 16 Ohm cab?

Also verify the cable that is connecting the power amp to the cab to make sure there aren't any issues there.
 
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Yep, it's the Recto your using, try cutting bass in cab block a little more and/or the bass cut in amp block. just running out of headroom on the 1540L. I have that on some bass heavy amps, I never hear it, I just see it hit the red clip on the 1540l every now and then. If you want to find out if it's headroom do a big bass cut and see if you still get clipping, if not you know it's headroom. Also if the cab is 16ohm your only pushing about 235 to 240 watts to that cab solid state, maybe a hair more since you are only running one side. I bet it's headroom on the 1540L and not AxeFX. Also if you want send me your patch and I will check it on my AXEFX and 1540L and tell you if it's headroom.
 
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