People sometimes inquire about the lack of an effects send. There is one. When the loop is engaged, each Volume control becomes that Volume/Gain’s effects send. So, when on the clean channel with the loop engaged, the Volume control on the clean channel becomes the effects send. When on Channel 2, Volume/Gain A, that Volume control becomes 2A’s effects send, and so on. So if you’re clipping your effects, that is the control to reach for.
What about that E. Return knob on the front panel? When the loop is on, the E. Return knob replaces each channel’s volume control and becomes the overall master volume control. This turns each Volume control into a balancing control to level out channel volumes (and that channel’s effects send as noted in the preceding paragraph). What is the advantage to this? When you have the loop engaged, you can heat up the preamp to drive the channel hotter while controlling the overall volume.
Let’s do a test.
1.Set your amp on Channel 2A.
2.Set the Gain at 6 and the Volume at 4. It should be pretty loud.
3.Now, make sure the E. Return control is set to 0 and plug a short patch cable into the loop (provided), jumping the Send to the Return. When you play now, you should hear nothing.
4.Gently bring the E. Return knob up. When you get to about 2 or 3, you should be at a normal, listenable level for home practice, and tonally the amp should be about the same.
5.Leave the E. Return knob on 2 or 3 (wherever you ended up) and bring the volume level of 2A up to about 6 or 7. You’ll hear the amp getting a lot hotter but the volume will remain listenable (although a little louder).
6.Unity gain is about 5. So, if you bring the E. Return up to 5, you should be able to unplug the loop without any volume difference.
7.Now switch back and forth between the channels setting the Volume controls to a nice, balanced level or vary them from one to the other as desired.
It is perfectly normal to run the amp with a short (1’ or 2’) patch cable in the loop at all times. If you like having the master, jump the loop. If you don’t want it, take it out.
PHANTOM OWNER’S MANUAL (rev.2) | PAGE 7 OF 17 |