Making a sound, correctly
Plug in, hear something, and get the one setting right that decides whether the whole thing sounds broken or fine.
02 · 6 min
Cab block ON into anything full-range. Cab block OFF into anything that ends in a real guitar speaker. Nearly every “this sounds terrible” post is this rule.
Start with headphones
Before you wire anything into an amp or a PA, plug headphones in and load a factory preset. You want to know the box works and what it sounds like when it is set up correctly, so that you have something to compare against later.
The cab block rule
A cab block is a simulation of a speaker cabinet with a microphone in front of it. That means it belongs in the chain whenever the thing you are listening on has no guitar speaker of its own — headphones, a full-range powered speaker, the desk, your computer.
It does not belong when the signal ends up in a real guitar cabinet, because then you have two speakers stacked on top of each other. That combination sounds muffled and small, and no amount of EQ rescues it.
Now plug it into your actual rig
Once you know what right sounds like, work out what your setup needs. The setup tool covers each case with the cabling and the settings.
Turn it off
There's a real guitar speaker at the end of this chain, so it must not supply a second one.
No amp models — your amp stays the amp, and all eight blocks are effects.
- GuitarINPUT L/MONO
- OUTPUT L/MONOAmp input
- Cab block
- Off
- Amp block
- None
- Start from
- A preset named FX