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  • January 5, 2010 at 7:03 pm #79639
    daver
    Participant

    I have recently purchased a qtron+ to use with saxophone.

    I have a bell-mount mic that requires phantom power, so I am going into the qtron from the effects output of a rack-mount mixer. I also have a Lexicon verb unit, so the qtron is just effecting the “effects loop” signal. Using a delay setting on the Lexicon in conjunction with the qtron produces a pretty cool effect with the sax.

    My problem is primarily controlling the volume of the effect. To get a satisfying amount of effect, I have to turn up the gain knob quite a bit, and this had a tendancy to cause the overload light to flash. If I turn things down too much (either the gain knob, or my input/output controls for my effects loop) to combat this, I can’t hear the effect very well in a “live band” situation. Conversely, when I get the effect up enough, it is WAY too “punchy” and certain notes about blow my head off in my in-ear monitors and I don’t want to go deaf. I have tried putting a limiter in line after the qtron and this has helped quite a bit. However, controlling output volume, balancing against a correct input volume that doesn’t trip the overload light is driving me crazy. AND if I turn off the qtron, it is very difficult to get a good volume on the “un-qtroned” delay.

    I have tried all sorts of setting combinations (boost on/off, different modes: BP, Mix, etc. So far my best combination is Mode: BP, Response: Fast, Range: Lo, Peak: 3/4 to all the way up, Gain: 1/3 to 1/2, Boost: on.

    Anyway, if anyone has some experience using the qtron with sax and has suggestions for mic input configurations, settings, etc, I would very much appreciate it. (Sorry for the long post entry).

    Thanks.

    January 6, 2010 at 2:03 am #106111
    Mr.Grim
    Member

    i cant say i am in your situation, i play guitar and bass. but i would have to try to suggest a compressor in your setup somewhere. it should definitely level out your situation.

    i use envelope filters and similar effects on my guitar and bass and they definitely effect the line level, i all ways use a compressor after those effects to level everything out. (tube black finger, in my case)

    January 6, 2010 at 2:19 am #106112
    Mr.Grim
    Member

    im sorry i failed to see that you all ready tried to use sum thing of the sort all ready. but i as well was getting to loud of a punchy sound in sum cases, it turned out my compressor input or output gain was set to high, try adjusting that, and if you cant get a even level of effect on and off, try using a channel or A/B switching box (like the switch blade) and the use of a line booster (like the LPB-1) and switch between q-tron with compressor, and the other channel being strait signal with the booster, to bring it up to the same level as the effected signal.

    q-tron–compressor
    /
    instrument–switchblade amp/ect…
    /
    booster (LPB-1)—

    (damn word wrap keeps messing up my diagram but hopefully you get what im trying to say)

    January 8, 2010 at 12:00 am #106187
    daver
    Participant

    Thanks for the good suggestions!!

    January 23, 2010 at 10:28 pm #106751
    Sc0ttyD0
    Member

    I’m trying to accomplish the same thing you are more or less… however as a Sax player I’m completely unfamiliar with the proper methods of rigging up a chain of effects for an instrument. I’ve tried to do some research on the subject but adding effects for live saxophone performances seems to be a closely guarded secret. Would anyone be able to explain to me what I’ve got to do to get a proper signal from my SM57 into this pedal? I know from some failed experiments that it’s not as simple as a 1/4 inch to XLR jack. If my wikipedia reading is serving me right one of the main problems is that microphones send out a Lo-Z signal while most effects pedals are meant to play with Hi-Z signal. There are a few pedals out there that I’ve been looking at made specifically with XLR inputs in mind, most notably the Digitech Vocal300. However I’ve avoided buying it because I’ve read that even with the XLR input you have to tweak your signal with a pre-amp/linemixer and THEN run a DI.

    If all of that seems like a bunch of rambling… it is, because I’ve got no idea about any of this, and some help figuring it all out would be appreciated.

    January 24, 2010 at 11:23 pm #106778
    daver
    Participant

    A mic pre-amp is really the way to go. Sonus puts out a product called “blue tube” that is excellent, but spendy. ART also has an inexpensive mic-pre/direct box that also contains a tube that is much cheaper (less than $50.00, I think). The super-cheap way to go is simply to get a 1/4″ to xlr line-transformer (it MUST be a transformer) adapter from Radio Shack (or somewhere similar, (probably about $10 to $15). However, a line-transformer offers you no volume control to control your input signal into the effect. Different pedals may require some tweaking (either up or down, depending on the pedal and how sensitive it is).

    I have pretty much solved my problem with the Q-tron pedal described in my original post by two things: 1) I stopped trying to use an effects loop to run the Q-tron through. I am going directly from the mic into the pedal (I am currently using a line-transformer adapter, but I am probably going to go for a mic-pre, because it is better). 2) I worked with my limiter following the q-tron a little more and found settings that control the “punchiness” better.

    Hope this helps…..

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