Disable Master Volume when using FX Loop

[JGMesa09]

Anybody have any info on how to Mod a 3ch Dual Rect. to bypass/disable the Master Volume when using the effects loop?

i don't need it, its a stupid feature, and it kills my ability to utilize the boarderline detestable clean channel.
Or perhaps this has been addressed in another topic?

Thanks

 

[elvis]

I think I remember reading about that here, and there was a detailed circuit posted. Try a search.

 

[domct203]

Anybody have any info on how to Mod a 3ch Dual Rect. to bypass/disable the Master Volume when using the effects loop?

i don't need it, its a stupid feature, and it kills my ability to utilize the boarderline detestable clean channel.
Or perhaps this has been addressed in another topic?

Thanks

Welcome to The Board.

Have you tried just leaving the MV wide open (or at a level that equals the same volume as when the MV & FX Loop are hard bypassed)?

i don't need it

I can totally understand that.

its a stupid feature

The mesa Recto's are designed around cascading gain preamp distortion, which makes the MV very useful IMHO. The MV is also your FX Loop return level control. Now, if we were talking about vintage Marshalls this would be a different story for me.

and it kills my ability to utilize the boarderline detestable clean channel

Are you sure you have the right amp for your needs/styles? The standard 3-Ch Recto is not known for it's cleans. The new Multi-Watt Recto, Roadster & Roadking have much better cleans, as well as the MKV.

Anyway, I tried searching the forum on this but could not really find anything. Mesa is really good about answers to questions like this, you could always give them a call as well.

Good Luck,
Dom

 

[cyber104]

Sorry to sound stupid - but what is the problem here?

 

[JGMesa09]

Sorry to sound stupid - but what is the problem here?

Problem is when the FX loop is on (i run a Digitech GSP 1101/TC Elec. G Major thru loop) i can adjust ch.3 and ch. 2 in conjunction with MV to be at decent levels/decent preamp tones based on volume level of ch. 3/2, BUT this conflicts with clean channel in the respect that to get a high enough volume level out of clean, it starts to distort.

Basically, when the effects loop is bypassed, there's no MV active, so the volume on each channel can be set, IMO, at there respective level without effecting each other. I actually think this amp has a decent clean channel when it's not being strangled by the MV.

 

[JGMesa09]

oh, and i'm not exactly familiar with the term "cascading Gain". Perhaps this can be elaborated on a bit.

 

[JGMesa09]

Have you tried just leaving the MV wide open (or at a level that equals the same volume as when the MV & FX Loop are hard bypassed)?

THe reason this does not work, is because when you do that you can only barely turn up the ch.3/2 volume, which sounds weak and fizzy.

 

[cyber104]

I must be missing something here?

My son and I both play DR's with a Holy Grail Nano Reverb unit run thru the effects loop.

We don't have the problems that you describe. We both run the gain on the clean channel at about 9:00 and the volume on that channel at about 3:00. It's loud and clean. Then we match channels 2 and 3 accordingly using their respective volumes.

Typically - at a small bar we don't need to run the master volume any higher than 12:00 - we end up with 3 distinct channels, clean, gritty and high-gain all at the same relative volume and all nice and loud.

 

[JGMesa09]

i messed around with it last night, and i think i have it in a relatively workable place. I'd still like to disable the MV and switch the amp over to a series fx loop instead of the parallel.

 

[domct203]

Have you tried just leaving the MV wide open (or at a level that equals the same volume as when the MV & FX Loop are hard bypassed)?

THe reason this does not work, is because when you do that you can only barely turn up the ch.3/2 volume, which sounds weak and fizzy.

Defeating (or bypassing) the MV would give the same result as leaving it wide open.

oh, and i'm not exactly familiar with the term "cascading Gain". Perhaps this can be elaborated on a bit.

To put it simply, there are multiple gain stages in the amp, and running (or cascading) them into each other adds to the amount of distortion. It's very similar to running multiple OD pedals into each other to get "high-gain" distortion.

i messed around with it last night, and i think i have it in a relatively workable place. I'd still like to disable the MV and switch the amp over to a series fx loop instead of the parallel.

The series Loop Mod will make a huge difference for the better IMO.

The biggest issue I had when setting up my Roadster/G-Major was digital clipping (distortion) in the G-Major when using the clean channels (1&2). It took a long time for me to balance everthing out, but now that the channel levels are balanced I could not imagine being without the MV as it allows me to adjust the overall volume of the amp without messing with the channel masters (which are the 'sends' to the FX Loop overall send level control) and screwing up the FX levels.

Dom