Carvin VL3212B VL300 Product Manual - Page 2

LEGACY 3 - VL300 21 7 6 FRONT PANEL FEATURES 5 8 4 3 12 11 10 13 14 16 9 1 20 17 18 19 2 15 13 14 16 9 GETTING STARTED QUICKLY If you are like most players, you probably want to plug in your new amp and get started playing it right away. You can read the rest of the manual later to learn the finer points of operating your amp. In order to get started you will need your Legacy 3 amp, a 120 or 230 AC grounded power outlet, your instrument, a standard guitar cord, a speaker cabinet and speaker cable. First, make sure the rear 120VAC/240VAC switch is set for the voltage in your area. With the amp turned off, plug it into the proper AC voltage. Then, set the rear panel Speaker Ohms switch to match the speaker cabinet(s) you are using. (If two of the same cabinets are used, set the switch for 1/2 value.) Turn all the volume and drive controls off and set tone controls to their center position. If you have purchased the FS44M footswitch, plug it into the rear foot switch jack for switching the channels 1, 2, 3 and Boost. Now, turn ON the Power switch, wait 5-10 seconds, then turn ON the Standby switch. Allow 30 seconds for the tubes to warm up. Turn up the Master slightly, and gradually raise the Channel Volumes and Drives. Adjust the tone controls and you're ready to go. If you experience problems with the amp, first check all connections and settings. If you still feel your amp is malfunctioning, contact Carvin. Occasionally tubes are damaged in shipping. FRONT PANEL 1. GUITAR INPUT A standard 1/4" input jack feeds all channels through using the SELECT switch. Use a professional quality guitar cord no longer than 25 feet. Typical cable capacitance should be under 50pf-the longer the cord, the greater the capacitance (you can measure this with a capacitance meter). A long cable with high capacitance will reduce the overall treble response from your guitar pickups. 2. CHANNEL SELECT SWITCHES Choose the desired channel with switch 1, 2, or 3. The LED's next to the vol- ume controls will let you see which channel is functioning, and will also be displayed on the external FS44M footswitch LED's. Use channel 1 for pristine clean playing without breakup. Use channels 2 & 3 for thicker rhythm or overdriven lead sounds and use the GAIN switch on channel 3 for super high gain lead sounds. Channel changes can also be made with the FS44M footswitch or by MIDI control. Pressed in combination, these switches allow access to various MIDI settings. CLEAN CHANNEL 1 Channel 1 gives you crisp, clean playing with high headroom and no breakup. Thanks to special mud-cutting circuits that work between the frequencies of 500 and 700 Hz, your guitar tones will be full and vibrant. 3. CLEAN CHANNEL INDICATOR The green LED will indicate the CLEAN channel is selected. 4. CLEAN VOLUME This control sets the CLEAN channel 1 volume. The MASTER control also affects output. 5. 6. 7. CLEAN-BASS, MID & TREBLE CONTROLS You can start at 5 on the dial for each of the tone controls. However, these settings do not represent a normalized (flat) sound. You need to set them where they sound best! Most musicians like to reduce the MID'S between 1 and 4 for deeper bass and crisper highs. If your sound is too bright with single coil pickups, you may want to keep the PRESENCE switch off. 8. CLEAN PRESENCE For added clarity, the PRESENCE switch increases only the highest guitar harmonics in the 8-10k Hz range which is ideal for brightening up dual coil neck pickups. LEAD CHANNELS 2 & 3 9. LEAD CHANNEL INDICATORS for CH.2 & CH.3 The red LED will indicate LEAD channel 2 is selected. The yellow LED(s) will indicate LEAD channel 3 is selected. 10. 11. 12. LEAD BASS, MID & TREBLE To start off with, set the BASS, MID & TREBLE controls at their center (5) position. These controls are set according to the sound you are looking for. Once you have the sound you like, you can set the seperate CH2 and CH3 PRESENCE and DRIVE controls for CH2 and CH3 to get different sounds between channels. Even though you may have found "your sound", you may want to change the settings for different guitars or playing conditions. It's normal to decrease the BASS at higher playing levels, or adjust the TREBLE or PRESENCE for different rooms. 13. LEAD PRESENCE - CH.2 & CH.3 Channels 2 & 3 feature seperate PRESENCE controls. The wide range of these controls, in the higher range of the tonal spectrum, can be set for very different sounds from each channel. Turning the PRESENCE "up" can allow one channel to stand out in the mix, or sound more agressive. Turning PRESENCE "down" can produce a smoother, thicker sound. Adjust each DRIVE, VOLUME, and the Channel 3 GAIN switch for even more variety. 14. DRIVE - CH.2 & CH.3 *** For mild tube saturation, set the DRIVE control between 1 & 2. For some of the best rhythm sounds, set the drive control set between 3 & 6. For full blown overdrive, set the control between 7 and 10. With high-output pickups, Drive settings above 8 can be subject to over saturation causing sluggish distortion. If so, play your guitar with it's volume at 10 and decrease the DRIVE until the crisp highs come back. For very high gain playing, try Channel 3 with the GAIN switch. *** USING THE VAI "HIDDEN FEATURE" One of the "hidden" features of the Legacy series amplifiers is using a technique that Steve Vai requested be part of the amp for his own use. While playing on the lead channel with a generous amount of DRIVE (around 6), back off the volume on your guitar. You will find the channel actually "cleaned up" with your guitar at a lower volume. This is a great feature for playing both rhythm and lead without switching channels. You will also find that the amp will be very responsive to your "attack". An advanced player knows how to vary their attack when picking or strumming, and the Legacy 3 is designed to respond to this. 15. CHANNEL 3 GAIN SWITCH and LED Channel 3 has a GAIN switch for adding even more drive to the classic Legacy sound, while still retaining 12AX7A tube dynamics. Super-hi-gain sounds are available without the need for external pedals that can limit dynamics. The yellow LED near the GAIN switch will indicate the GAIN is ON for CH.3. 16. LEAD VOLUMES Set the volumes of the LEAD channel 2 or 3 with these controls. The MASTER control also affects output. MASTER SECTION 17. MASTER Set the MASTER control for overall volume of the amp. The MASTER affects the MASTER OUT jack level to allow control of multiple amps from a single knob. The MASTER will not affect the Effect Loop Send level. 18. BOOST / LED The BOOST control allows you to add an overall volume increase to the amp by up to +6dB, whenever you may need it. The BOOST can be activated through the remote FS44M footswitch, or by MIDI control. The BOOST does not affect the SEND jack, only the MASTER OUT jack.