Master Volume Warning - VB101

[wizard_23]

Since I downloaded the latest update for my VB-101 (which I think came out in November, but I just downloaded a few weeks ago) I've been getting a warning regularly that my amp's master volume is too high.

It's not so bad with my Marshall style Ceriatone Yeti 100w because I can crank the amp at reasonable settings, Master on 4 before I trigger the warning, but on my HiWatt 103 clone I'm hitting the warning with the channels on 4 and master on 2!!!



I used to run my HiWatt settings a lot higher than that into the Torpedo and it seemingly never heated up too much and most certainly never went into an emergency shutdown or anything. I never used to get this warning.

A few questions on this.

1. Is the warning triggering because I'm hitting the Torpedo with greater than 150w? (May well be possible as I'm sure the HiWatt clone probably puts out well in excess of that, but to see it with the master so low is surprising.)

2. In doing so am I causing potential damage to the Torpedo, the amp, or both?

3. If any of the above, what type of damage? If it's reduced lifespan of tubes I'm okay with that. If it's OT's and the Torpedo is danger, I'm going to have to think of another solution for getting my HiWatt to overdrive.

To anyone thinking, just turn it down and suck it up, that may well be the way I have to go, but just wanting to confirm. If the warning is just a disclaimer against tube burn out, I'm not so concerned.

Thanks, Nick.

 

[Basstyra]

Here are some explanations about this :

This warning, introduced in the last versions of the firmware, indicates the saturation of the analogue parts before the ADC. Most people, like you, never noticed it, because it's usually very light, but we wanted to be thorough. To be clear : this behavior was here all along, we just added the warning.

1. Well, no, and that's the problem in a nutshell : the power is not directly related to the maximum voltage. You can have a very weak signal, with very little power, and still have relatively high peak voltages, that saturate these analogue parts.

2. So no, if the VB-101 does not heat up, you shouldn't worry : it's harmless.

If you don't even notice the saturation (again, it may be very light), well, you could continue to play like this, but the constant display of the warning will probably get annoying very fast.

I have 2 answers :
- The obvious one is, indeed, to lower the master volume of the amp.
- There is also this : the first VB-101s were just too sensible, and we adjusted this in the latest productions. If your VB-101 is old enough, it could benefit from this modification, where we reduce the input sensitivity. Please send a message to our Help Desk indicating your VB-101's serial number, and we'll see if this could be needed : http://support.two-notes.com/index.php?a=add

 

[wizard_23]

Here are some explanations about this :

This warning, introduced in the last versions of the firmware, indicates the saturation of the analogue parts before the ADC. Most people, like you, never noticed it, because it's usually very light, but we wanted to be thorough. To be clear : this behavior was here all along, we just added the warning.

1. Well, no, and that's the problem in a nutshell : the power is not directly related to the maximum voltage. You can have a very weak signal, with very little power, and still have relatively high peak voltages, that saturate these analogue parts.

2. So no, if the VB-101 does not heat up, you shouldn't worry : it's harmless.

If you don't even notice the saturation (again, it may be very light), well, you could continue to play like this, but the constant display of the warning will probably get annoying very fast.

I have 2 answers :
- The obvious one is, indeed, to lower the master volume of the amp.
- There is also this : the first VB-101s were just too sensible, and we adjusted this in the latest productions. If your VB-101 is old enough, it could benefit from this modification, where we reduce the input sensitivity. Please send a message to our Help Desk indicating your VB-101's serial number, and we'll see if this could be needed : http://support.two-notes.com/index.php?a=add

Thank you so much for the quick and awesomely detailed response, I'll send a message through today! Cheers, Nick