Roadking 2 question

[Shaun]

Hello, I have a RKII and love it. I'm doing a little recording and trying to get the best tone I can right now.
I have a question.
Currently, I have the channel volumes set quite low so I can crank the master up and get it nice and roaring. Is there any difference between that and cranking the channel volumes and keeping the overall master lower? Just wondering as I'm fiddling with settings and I just didn't know if that makes a difference or if one technique is better than the other.
Thanks

 

[LesPaul70]

There is a difference... the main Master volume is in a different place in the amp circuit, and will function a little differently, as I've been discovering the past couple of weeks.

This becomes especially obvious with the full band. If you are running the channel specific volumes too low (9 o'clock or lower, at least in my case) and crank the Master knob for your total volume, what you hear in your band mix is a very bright, thin and fizzy sound. Do it the other way around - crank the channel masters and lower the main Master knob (and FX loop send volume) as required, and the quality of your tone in the band mix improves drastically. The fizz goes away, and your sound becomes much fuller and richer.

At least that's been my experience in the last two jams with the RK II.

 

[microwerx]

I get good results with my RKII by placing all my channel volumes at 12 o clock and then equalizing them with each other (really only necessary with the Modern mode as it increases the negative feedback). Then I adjust the whole amps volume with the output volume.

One way of thinking of a volume control is as an attenuator. Volume (and gain) controls typically don't adjust how much gain gets through each amplification stage. They adjust the level of the signal before or after the stage. So, if you turn down the channel volume and turn up the master volume, here is what is happening. You reduced your signal and then amplified it, so noise is going to go up. It's like turning your volume control on your guitar down and turning the amp up to get the same signal, right? So if you turn your guitar volume up and turn your amp down, it's going to have a lesser amplitude of noise getting into your signal. But if you play with the balance there, you can tune how hard the next gain stage is going to get hit before it gets amplified. I would recommend you play and learn the relationship between the master volume, channel volume, and gain controls on your amp to help appreciate this. Just set the EQ to something reasonable (maybe bass on 10-12 o clock, mids on 9 o clock and treble around 1-2 o clock).

That being said, you should definitely try turning your master volume down and then cranking the channel volumes to their max (especially in channels 1 and 2) and try that out for size. I love that sound in channel 2 brit mode. What that does is completely overdrive all the gain stages before the output.

And if you don't already know this, use the Bass control to adjust how "tight" the amp tracks your guitar playing especially with the saturated settings. The Recto sound is already pretty loose to begin with, so reducing that helps keep your sound from slowing down. It's super apparent when compared to a fast amplifier like the Mark V IIC+ mode. A good way to check for the right setting is to palm mute your guitar until you hear the flubbiness disappear.

 

[discordance_axis]

I also find that running the channel volume higher is better for sustaining notes on lead tones. If you experiment with both volume controls you'll find that running the channel volume low, single notes will die out fairly quickly. Now, decrease the master volume and increase your channel volume to make up for it and notes will sustain a lot longer. It's especially noticeable when you experiment this whilst playing higher notes around the 12th fret on the B and high E strings.