Help Needed For Amp/Digital Modeler

[Tim]

I am completely confused on what is going on with my amps and Digitech digital modeler.

As some of you may remember I was asking questions earlier about the proper set up of the Digitech RP 100A. When then guitar is played through my Peavey Envoy 40 watt solid state amp, the sound it produces is excellent.

When I plug the Digitech RP 100A into a PA system there is a slight problem. I normally share the PA system with a keyboard player. The PA has 5 in puts (keyboard, my Digitech, 2 microphones and one left empty. Each input has its own low and high impedance input. The PA system feeds two speakers that each have one 14 inch woofer and one 6 inch tweeter.

I plug my humbucker guitar/Digitech into the low impendence input. I have tried the high impedance but then the guitar clips. Now the problem is I lose all my low end bass whenever the keyboard player is playing.

Last night I feed the Digitech into the Peavey amp. I then plugged the line to the PA system into the Peavey pre amp out jack on the back of the amp. My tone was right on.

Does anybody know why the Digitech RP 100 A does not work as well going straight into the PA system? This has been one confusing ordeal for me. Can I use a normal guitar cable from the Digitech to the PA system? Thanks for any enlightenment on this problem.

[333maxwell]

I am completely confused on what is going on with my amps and Digitech digital modeler.

As some of you may remember I was asking questions earlier about the proper set up of the Digitech RP 100A. When then guitar is played through my Peavey Envoy 40 watt solid state amp, the sound it produces is excellent.

When I plug the Digitech RP 100A into a PA system there is a slight problem. I normally share the PA system with a keyboard player. The PA has 5 in puts (keyboard, my Digitech, 2 microphones and one left empty. Each input has its own low and high impedance input. The PA system feeds two speakers that each have one 14 inch woofer and one 6 inch tweeter.

I plug my humbucker guitar/Digitech into the low impendence input. I have tried the high impedance but then the guitar clips. Now the problem is I lose all my low end bass whenever the keyboard player is playing.

Last night I feed the Digitech into the Peavey amp. I then plugged the line to the PA system into the Peavey pre amp out jack on the back of the amp. My tone was right on.

Does anybody know why the Digitech RP 100 A does not work as well going straight into the PA system? This has been one confusing ordeal for me. Can I use a normal guitar cable from the Digitech to the PA system? Thanks for any enlightenment on this problem.

I've never used the Digitech

But MOST modelers have an ouput section, where you select if you want it into a PA, a Stereo, or a Mono amp source.

Sounds like yours may be set in the default 'amp' section...

[Tim]

I've never used the Digitech

But MOST modelers have an ouput section, where you select if you want it into a PA, a Stereo, or a Mono amp source.

Sounds like yours may be set in the default 'amp' section...

Thanks for your reply Max. Upon checking the manual, the Digitech RP 100A does not have an output selection as you mentioned. This really has me confused. The only thing I can think of why the Digitech RP 100A sounds better through the Peavey amp and then into the PA system must be due to the Peavey pre-amp. I was hoping some other Fretters may know the answer. One would think that the Digitech RP 100A could be directly plugged into a PA system and sound good. I'll keep monitoring the replies as they get posted.

[Spudman***]

Wasn't that the same problem that you had with the Vamp2? Something strange going on for sure.

My guess is that you are getting a hotter signal to the mixer finally.

When your keyboard player starts playing he (or she) will be using a lot of power because keys cover a lot of frequencies and the PA amps will have to work hard to deliver wattage, so much so that your low output guitar device has to take a backseat to the power hogging keyboards.

Now that you have the output from the guitar amph preamp you are on more equal turf. Have the keyboardist turn down the bass and see if the problem persists. Bass frequencies require lots of power to reproduce.

Without being there...this is my best guess.

[Tim]

Thanks Steve - I believe your theory on the keyboard sucking up the power is correct. The keyboard player’s bass on the PA system is turned down as low as it can be. I also added extra treble to the keyboard from the PA system control panel. My thought is that the Peavey pre-amp kicked me up to the power level required to compete with the keyboard player, as you mentioned

I never tried the V-Amp in this situation. The problem was always the Digitech RP 100A. I am now contemplating the use of my DOD VFX40B 7-Band Graphic EQ foot pedal after the Digitech RP 100A. It has a level control to boost the signal. I will try this next time.

Maybe it is time to buy a new modeling unit. I don’t want anything to big or bulky. I don’t need 40 presets either. I normally only use 4 or so patches (clean, crunch, chorus, delay tremolo).
Does anyone have suggestions?

Thanks for the reply.

[Spudman***]

These are pretty cool and can be found for under $50.
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AX3G/

Here is the Korg page with demo's.
http://www.korg.com/gear/info.asp?A_PROD_NO=AX3G

[Robert****]

What about a Floor POD?

http://www.zzounds.com/item--LINFLOORPOD

Official Product page: http://line6.com/floorpod/

[Tim]

Thanks guys! The Korg AX3G looks interesting. Something small and simple. I will check out the Pod also Robert.

[WackyT]

That Korg AX3G does look interesting for the price. Does anyone here have one? If so, what's your impression(s) of it?

[arch23]

Thanks guys! The Korg AX3G looks interesting.

I would invest few more bucks and go for a ZOOM G series unit (G1 - 59$, G2 - 99$) In my opinion, it's definitely better than the Korg.

[abraxas]

Just an idea here: have you tried using a clean booster or compressor in front of the digital pedalboard?

It seems that most PB need such a measure to use with a "clean" power section such as the PA.

Also, check for overlapping frequencies with the keyboard. A rule of thumb we use with my band, is to set a "U" type eq for the keyboards (no mid freq) and an inverted U for the guitar. In this way, nobody "steals" frequencies from the other (in other words, no cancellation takes place).

[Duff]

I don't know if you figured your problem out, but I don't think it is the RP100A that is the problem.

I have a RP350 and it works super great thru my PA, but, my PA has a separate "guitar" input that, according to the documentation, conditions the guitar signal from an acoustic or electric non active pickup guitar to make it sound better through the PA.

Obviously a guitar amp has circuits designed to make a guitar sound best. That is probably why the input to the PA from the amp sounds so much better, because the amp conditions the signal to be optimized to sound best through speakers.

It is just an idea, but why would a PA have a special input circuit for a guitar if there wasn't a reason for it?

Does your PA have an input for a guitar or instrument separate from the other inputs? Is the keyboardist plugging into the instrument input?

I doubt that your guitar processor is the problem, other than that it is designed to be plugged into a guitar input such as on a guitar amp.

I play my acoustic thru my PA but use a Dean Markley acoustic preamp before I plug it into the guitar input and it sounds better than just plugged in. In fact it sounds great. I use a DM soundhole humbucker.

The RP350 sounds great plugged straight into the guitar input on the PA. My PA is designed mainly for amplifying music, vocals and instruments.

[tot_Ou_tard]

Disclaimer: I know nothing.

I think the high impedance input is probably the same as the guitar input. A guitar expects to see an impedence of about 1 MOhm at the input of an amp. Low impedence inputs are for line level signals such as keyboards, mics, etc.

A DI box (a buffer that converts a high impedence signal to a low impedence one) might help.

Something like:

http://www.radialeng.com/di-jdi.htm

It is supposed to be hard to overload the Radial DI to cause them to clip.

But first try lowering the levels on your pedals while going into the high impedence input of the PA.

[LowEndWonder]

Check out Zoom products. I have found their products to have an overall better sound than Digitech and Korg.