User Manual

8
Sound-shaping Features: Buttons
The sound-shaping buttons' statuses may be programmed to MIDI presets 1
through 128, bank A and bank B. An LED located above every sound-shaping
button indicates its current status.
11 PREAMP DEFEAT
This is a bypass that cuts the preamp out of the signal chain when you press the
button. In this case, the input signal is routed directly to the Send jack.
The LED located above the button illuminates to indicate the preamp is bypassed.
A tip from the designer:
This option comes in handy when you want to insert another preamp or an effect
processor into a serial loop along with the MIDI Preamp E580. If the other
preamp can also be bypassed, you can switch between the two preamps on the
fly or even run them both at the same time. If you want to connect a second
preamp, insert it into the stereo effects loop and set the Effect knob to step 21
when you want activate the second preamp. You could even daisy chain several
preamps or effect processors.
12 CLEAN LEAD
This button switches back and forth between Clean and Lead preamp operating
modes. The LED lights up to indicate Lead mode is active.
13 GAIN LO HI
Use this Gain control to set and activate different preamp saturation levels for the
two operating modes Clean and Lead. In Clean mode, your options are Clean or
Crunch, in Lead mode they are Soft or Heavy Lead. The LED lights up to indicate
Gain Hi is active.
A tip from the designer:
The gain ranges of the different operating modes overlap a tad, meaning that
you can dial in some dirt in Clean Gain Lo mode with high Gain settings similar to
what you get when you dial in low Gain settings in Clean Gain Hi mode. However,
the frequency response and dynamics of the two operating modes are different,
which adds even more interesting hues and textures to your tonal palette.
14 BOTTOM
This sound-shaping feature changes the preamp's bottom end frequency response
in all operating modes. You'll perceive a considerable boost in bass frequencies
when you activate it. The LED lights up to indicate the Bottom bass boost circuit is
active.
A tip from the designer:
When you're using a guitar equipped with bass-heavy pickups, you are
well-advised to switch this feature off to prevent it from muddying your tone,
particularly at higher Gain settings.
In fact, you should make a habit of deactivating this feature at higher Gain
settings (take that to mean anything over step 15), otherwise your distorted tone
will become far too sludgy.