Diamond Amplification Spec Op - Manual (Page 12)

Spec op owner’s manual
(rev 2)
Page 9 of 18
start with your gain at 5 and work from there. On your clean, start with your gain at around 2
and work up.
Bass. This is the most incorrectly used control on an amp. Do we all want fat low end? You
bet. Do we get that by diming the bass control? Not on this amp.
The simple truth of a good tube amp is that the amp will do its job and produce low end. The
higher the volume, the more low end the amp will produce. So when the amp is producing
your nice low tones, introducing extra low frequencies from the bass knob has a tendency to
“muddy” the tone or make the amp sound “looser.” Lesson here? Keep your bass knob
under 5 (and probably under 4) if you’re putting any real volume through the amp (at low
volume, you may want to add a little bass back in to try to mimic the tones you’ve dialed in on
higher settings).
Middle. The mid-range of an amp is by far the most critical tone range. Remember, guitar is
a predominately mid-range instrument. Suck out the mids and try hearing yourself in the mix.
DA spent truckloads of time on the mid-range. As a result, one thing is for sure. It will take a
concerted effort on your part to dial yourself out of the mix. That being said, your mid-range
control will wildly change your tone. After you’ve set your other controls, work on this one.
Set your mids at 5 and see what you think. Then, to hear the variance, sweep the mid-range
from 3 or 4 on the low range to 9 or 10 on the high.
NOTE TO US METAL GUYS: Don’t be afraid of your mids. All the crunch in the world is fine,
so long as the audience can hear us. Take out too many mids and you’ll get lost in the mix.
Keep your mids lower for that great metal “edge”, but lower on this amp is still north of 3. Try
the settings between 3 and 5. Of course, if your metal sound of choice bears more
resemblance to the metal tones of the 80’s (yes, I grew up on these!), you’ll be happiest with
mid settings well north of 5 (say 6-8 or even higher in some cases).
Treble/Presence. The interplay between treble and presence is always unique. Depending
on how your old amp was designed, sometimes they work backwards, sometimes one
doesn’t work, sometimes they work like you’d expect. So, forget what amp(s) you’ve used
before. Here is how they work on this amp.
Your treble knob really will decrease and increase high end frequencies. So, start with this
knob around 5. As you roll it up, you’ll think the amp is getting harsher. It is. Increase treble,
increase harshness. DO NOT use your Treble knob for “brightness.” That is the function of
the Presence knob.
Presence on this amp could be labeled “brightness.” Due to what the Presence control is and
where it is in the circuit, you may not see much of a difference in your Presence control from
0-4 on the dial. When the presence knob is dialed up north of around 4, you’ll really start to
hear the change. If you want your tone more aggressive, roll the presence up. If you want to
smooth it out a bit, bring it down. Pretty simple, huh?