A/DA APP-1 User Manual - page 4
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Setting up your Combo, Head or
Power Amp
3 ways to connect your APP‐1 to your Combo, Head or Power Amp
1.
To the power amp input or insert
2.
Through the effects loop return jack
3.
Through the clean (normal) channel input
Do not use the high‐gain channel input, it will ruin the dynamics of
the APP‐1.
The APP‐1 brings more tone and versatility to your amp, so if you plug
it into your combo input channel, first set the combo channel to as
clean and flat in frequency response as possible. This will allow you
to get your tone from the APP‐1. It is not recommended that you dial
in your APP‐1 distortion and send it to the head or combo when they
are already dialed‐in for distortion. You can try that later, if you
want, but for now let’s get a good set of tones from the APP‐1.
If you plug the APP‐1 into a combo amp or head, you may have a
choice of which jack you use on the amp. The best jack is the one
that bypasses the combo’s preamps and goes straight to the power
amp section of the combo amp. This is usually located on at the rear
of the amp. If that jack is not available to the power amp, the combo
or head may have an effects loop with a return jack that will work
also as an insert point for the APP‐1. Finally, you can connect the
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APP‐1 to the input of your combo’s normal or non‐high gain channel’s
input jack. Be sure to set the tone controls as flat as possible and,
most importantly for master gain combos, set the drive level low and
the master level up so your combo will not distort and compete with
the APP‐1’s distortion. In the Advanced Section of this Manual, we
will show you how to us the APP‐1’s BOOST to get combo amp
distortion independent of the APP‐1’s distortion to add a “third
channel” of amplification.
Many combo amps and heads use a tone stacks that can be set fairly
flat, but with seemingly strange settings. We have provided a chart
of EQ and tone stack settings of some popular amps in a chart at the
back of this Manual to help you find the “flat” EQ settings.
When using the APP‐1 for the first time with any new rig, start with all
the knobs set to 9 o’clock and all the switches set to the left position,
except the switch on the top right, the 3‐position BYPASS switch,
which is set to the middle position. This will establish your BYPASS
playing volume, which should be matched with the APP‐1 when it is
engaged.