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Trouble with my envelope filter

P

Pvt.Parts

Aug 21, 2009
78
0
Maple Ridge, BC
#1
I recently got a Q-Tron+ and I'm very happy with it and can dial in all the sounds I was hoping for from it... but only at a normal solo practicing volume. Turning it up to how loud I need to be to match my guitarist and drummer it just sounds awful.
Can anyone recommend settings I can use for this pedal for higher volumes? Or is this a known problem with the Q-Tron?

Right now have it set like this for my normal practice volume

Mode- LP
Response- Slow
Range- Lo
Peak- Nearly full
Gain- About a quarter on.... 7 or 8 o'clock?
 
#2
Is it really the pedal that sounds awful at high volume, or is it your amp? The pedal itself does not change sound when you turn up your amp. Also if you crank up the output of the QTron into your amp, you will overdrive the amp, and many bass amps don't overdrive well.

What amp are you using?
 
#3
I'm using a Gallien Krueger Goldline 500 head and a GK 410 cab, and I haven't had problems with having it at a high volume, but when turning on the qtron at that volume it just makes terrible noise. Also when I say high volume I don't really mean I have it cranked up to unreasonable levels, my volume knob rarely goes past 9 oclock.
So does the Q tron just have insane output? I'm loving it at lower volumes...

I've taken a good look at your compressor faq and I'm assuming that that's probably the only real solution besides fiddling with volume, settings and everything every time I want to turn it on, lol
Any particular ones you recommend for taming a qtron? I have a 250-300$ I can put towards it.
Would I be able to use it after the qtron or would it need to go in the effects loop because if I was going to spend the money on a compression pedal I'd want to use it more than just with the qtron...
Thanks for your help.
 
#4
Can you describe the terrible noise? Are we talking about distortion, hiss, farting, squeaking, or what?

And does the terrible noise only happen on the peaks of the notes? Like it sounds fine except for the main hump of each note?

There's a list of peak limiters to check out on my "top picks" page. :)
 
#5
It's a little late at night for me to crank it and find an appropriate onomatopoeic word for it but I'll go with squeaking right now.
But also, even before it goes to the squeaking, slightly lower volume, the pedal just overloads completely and I pretty much lose all the quack and effect the pedal is giving me.
It does only seem to happen on the hump of each note. If I just let it ring it evens itself out.
 
#12
My guess is that it's woofing pretty bad. I have found that there are a few settings where mine will woof pretty significantly, especially at higher volumes. I was able to tame it on those settings by cutting some low mids. Around the 300hz area. The effect is still pretty wet, but it doesn't woof nearly so bad. You could either eq at your amp or put some kind of an eq pedal in the effects loop of your pedal.

I hope this is what you are hearing.

Edit:::You could also try dialing back the gain on the head. Make up for it with volume.

Double Edit::: Try any old thing that will attenuate volume in the effects loop of the pedal. Might just do the trick.
 
#13
When you're changing between "normal practicing volumes" and rehearsal volume, are you changing the volume on the bass or just on the head? If you're fiddling with the bass volume, you have to drop the gain on the pedal to compensate. (I'm sure you're aware of that, just making sure). :)

When I was using my Q-Tron a lot, I always had my bass dimed and dialed in the gain on the pedal accordingly. That way, I didn't have to remember what level the volume on the bass was...it was always max. It made it a lot easier to get consistent results.

Also, are you using an active bass? Those things can be finnicky w/ active basses, and IIRC it was a bigger problem for me at higher volumes.
 

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