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A much better way to use your pedalboard power amp (using the Victory Powervalve 200)

Welcome to the show. Dan and I are addicted to using a particular type of wet-dry guitar rig. That’s to say, ‘TPS Wet-Dry’ which is two amplifiers, both of which receive all the overdrive and gain pedals, but only one that receives wet effects such as reverb, delay and certain modulation pedals. Why? Because it sounds awesome.

However, that approach can be problematic for those of you who use multiple amp channels for different gain levels, and also when incorporating the amp’s FX loop. So especially for you (cue Kylie & Jason), we’re adding a pedalboard-sized power amp and a speaker cab to take you headlong into awesome wet-dry territory… AND keep your amp overdrive and FX loop exactly as they are.

And a bit of stereo if you want it too…

Want one of those Victory power amps?
✅ Andertons UK & Europe: https://www.andertons.co.uk/victory-powervalve-200-compact-power-amp/?im_ref=WvoT95w-SxyZRgr03cwQkXRvUkuUKgyW5RimQ00&sharedid=&irpid=2225605&irgwc=1&afsrc=1
✅ Sweetwater for USA: https://sweetwater.sjv.io/n4nKEV
✅ Thomann for Europe: https://www.thomann.co.uk/victory_amplifiers_powervalve_200_power_amp.htm?offid=1&affid=5104

What caused the audio clipping?

Short answer, I don’t know. Mick here. However, having thought about it, I reckon we overloaded the ribbon mics, especially the one on the Boogie’s EV speaker. A 100 watt amp, and an insanely powerful and efficient 200-watt speaker…

The mic pres and interface meters indicated way under, because we always record that way, so it’s not simply a matter of too much gain clipping a mic pre. Having done some reading, we may have exceeded the ribbon’s max SPL, but possibly and/or the max SPL of the impedance converter’s headroom rails in the mic… because, yes, these are capacitor ribbon mics (not passive ribbons).

Or it could be something entirely different. The good news is that we’re about to pull the studio to bits and move the all production gear to another room anyway. We’ll start from the ground up and thoroughly test everything.

As you can imagine, this has annoyed me intensely because we’re usually so careful with the audio. We live and we learn, and sometimes that learning is done in public. The info in the video still stands, even if the audio demonstration isn’t fantastic at times!

It is a good excuse to buy some new mics though, eh. Every cloud…

Pedals & stuff in today’s show
• Wampler Ego76 Compressor
• Mooer Elec Lady Flanger
• MXR Duke of Tone
• Mad Professor Simble MkII
• Diamond Vibrato
• Source Audio Collider Delay & Reverb
• Boss FS-6 Dual Footswitch (for amp channels)

Guitars in today’s show
• Fender Custom Shop ’63 Telecaster
• Epiphone Inspired By Gibson ’58 Flying V
• Gibson Custom True Historic ’57 Les Paul Goldtop, Murphy Aged

Amps in today’s show
• 1980s Mesa Boogie MkIII 60/100 (Purple Stripe) with EVM 12L speaker
• Victory Powervalve 200
• Sovtek/EHX 1x12, not sure about the speaker
• Zilla Custom 4x12 with 2 x Celestion V30 and 2 x Fane Raptor 100

Interesting bits and go to sections…
0:00 Intro and preview
1:22 Amp channels, gain & FX loop
1:41 Why do we love wet-dry?
2:25 The four-cable method?
4:15 The Victory Powervalve 200 - why?
7:00 Cab requirements?
7:40 Today’s simple pedalboard & signal path
10:00 The basic amp sound
10:24 Is that clipping?
10:53 Adding reverb in the FX loop
12:30 Adding some amp gain
13:47 Let’s hear those pedals
15:24 Now let’s make it wet-dry
18:04 The three things we added, with a diagram
20:00 Amps in and out of phase (opposing polarity)
22:05 REAL chorus using vibrato
23:25 Why not just split from the pedalboard?
24:55 Some sounds with a Les Paul
30:00 And now stereo sounds!
32:44 Explaining the stereo setup, like Andy T
33:31 Dan has a stereo play
37:00 Thoughts & discussion
40:12 Tube on and off in the Powervalve 200
43:05 Final thoughts?

If you use these links to buy stuff - any stuff – we receive a small cut. Thank you!
🇬🇧 UK & Europe: Andertons Music - https://andertonsmusiccompany.pxf.io/9L4gVy
🇺🇲 USA: Sweetwater - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/QjZyY3
🇦🇺 Australia: Pedal Empire - http://bit.ly/2mWmJQf
🇪🇺 Europe: Thomann https://clickfi.re/OG0N7ONe


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