HELP/Advice Needed: Darkglass Vintage Microtubes Unity Gain Query

[mondo2501]

I just received my Darkglass Vintage Microtubes yesterday from Sweetwater brand new and I'm so excited because it's my first Darkglass pedal. While testing it I noticed that the pedal's overall signal increases while I add more Drive, even if the Level knob stays in the same position. It's a bit annoying because it's throwing me off unity gain and I have to re-adjust my level every time. I don't remember noticing this on the demos on YouTube that's why I'd like to ask other VMT users out there if this is normal behavior or did I get a defective unit?

If normal, how do you compensate during live gigs? Thanks in advance.

 

[Stellvia]

Yes, this is normal for this pedal and most drive pedals. As the gain is increased the volume increases and Level needs to be decreased to compensate.

You just need to play around with it for a while to work out what Level you need for different amounts of gain.

Again, this is typical for most drive pedals.

 

[Goatrope]

Well, whenever I used to use a drive pedal, I’d set the drive first, then adjust the level to where I wanted it. Every time I stepped on the button, the level was right where I set it, so there was no need to go back and tweak it, unless I wanted to change the gain.

During the time I was using drive pedals I had multiple, so different pedals were set at different levels of drive, and all gains adjusted for unity.

Edit to add: at the time I was using drive pedals I had the DG VMT, B3K, AO, and Duality, so I was jumping around a lot between different DG pedals.

 

[mondo2501]

Yes, this is normal for this pedal and most drive pedals. As the gain is increased the volume increases and Level needs to be decreased to compensate.

You just need to play around with it for a while to work out what Level you need for different amounts of gain.

Again, this is typical for most drive pedals.

Thanks, I'm inexperienced because the for the past 3 years I've only used the distortion on my MXR M80 and it was pretty easy to set the levels there because it was just one box. This is the first time using a dedicated dirt pedal.

 

[mondo2501]

Well, whenever I used to use a drive pedal, I’d set the drive first, then adjust the level to where I wanted it. Every time I stepped on the button, the level was right where I set it, so there was no need to go back and tweak it, unless I wanted to change the gain.

During the time I was using drive pedals I had multiple, so different pedals were set at different levels of drive, and all gains adjusted for unity.

Edit to add: at the time I was using drive pedals I had the DG VMT, B3K, AO, and Duality, so I was jumping around a lot between different DG pedals.

So Drive first and then set the Level, got it. Thanks, that's a useful tip.

 

[Stellvia]

Drive sets the amount of saturation applied to the signal, generally as the saturation increases so does the volume level, having the separate volume control allows you to maintain the overall volume output from the pedal where you want it.