Ceriatone 2204 and Decimator Pro Rack G

[barcode]

Just bought a used Ceriatone 2204 with f/x loop from FuelGTRX here on the classifieds. Arrived today via UPS. I plug straight into the amp from my guitar and noticed it was a bit noisy so I quickly hooked up my Decimator Pro Rack G to the Ceriatone f/x loop and was shocked by the massive volume drop. I would say I am only getting about 20% of the amps potential volume when the fx loop is engaged and the master volume is on 10.

Any ideas?

 

[cyndicate]

Just bought a used Ceriatone 2204 with f/x loop from FuelGTRX here on the classifieds. Arrived today via UPS. I plug straight into the amp from my guitar and noticed it was a bit noisy so I quickly hooked up my Decimator Pro Rack G to the Ceriatone f/x loop and was shocked by the massive volume drop. I would say I am only getting about 20% of the amps potential volume when the fx loop is engaged and the master volume is on 10.

Any ideas?

Is it a tube-buferred loop or a simple interrupt loop? If it's a simple interrupt loop that is kind of what happens when you don't have a buffer.

 

[barcode]

Just bought a used Ceriatone 2204 with f/x loop from FuelGTRX here on the classifieds. Arrived today via UPS. I plug straight into the amp from my guitar and noticed it was a bit noisy so I quickly hooked up my Decimator Pro Rack G to the Ceriatone f/x loop and was shocked by the massive volume drop. I would say I am only getting about 20% of the amps potential volume when the fx loop is engaged and the master volume is on 10.

Any ideas?

Is it a tube-buferred loop or a simple interrupt loop? If it's a simple interrupt loop that is kind of what happens when you don't have a buffer.

Oh man, I have no idea. I believe the amp, including the fx loop, was installed/manufactured by Nik at Ceriatone.

How can I find out if it tube-buffered or an interrupt?

 

[cyndicate]

Just bought a used Ceriatone 2204 with f/x loop from FuelGTRX here on the classifieds. Arrived today via UPS. I plug straight into the amp from my guitar and noticed it was a bit noisy so I quickly hooked up my Decimator Pro Rack G to the Ceriatone f/x loop and was shocked by the massive volume drop. I would say I am only getting about 20% of the amps potential volume when the fx loop is engaged and the master volume is on 10.

Any ideas?

Is it a tube-buferred loop or a simple interrupt loop? If it's a simple interrupt loop that is kind of what happens when you don't have a buffer.

Oh man, I have no idea. I believe the amp, including the fx loop, was installed/manufactured by Nik at Ceriatone.

How can I find out if it tube-buffered or an interrupt?

Do you have 3 or 4 preamp tubes? If 3 its most likely a interrupt loop. If 4 its probably tube-buferred. I think Nik usually just does Interrupt loops. You will need something like a dumbleator to correct the loss of signal going through the interrupt loop.

I built this to fix that issue with my Ceriatone DC30 & Dumble Clone

http://ceriatone.com/productSubPages/C- ... -lator.htm

From my experience, interrupt loops suck unless you have a buffer in there.

Here is Nik's solid state version.
http://ceriatone.com/productSubPages/Kl ... ulator.htm

 

[barcode]

Just bought a used Ceriatone 2204 with f/x loop from FuelGTRX here on the classifieds. Arrived today via UPS. I plug straight into the amp from my guitar and noticed it was a bit noisy so I quickly hooked up my Decimator Pro Rack G to the Ceriatone f/x loop and was shocked by the massive volume drop. I would say I am only getting about 20% of the amps potential volume when the fx loop is engaged and the master volume is on 10.

Any ideas?

Is it a tube-buferred loop or a simple interrupt loop? If it's a simple interrupt loop that is kind of what happens when you don't have a buffer.

Oh man, I have no idea. I believe the amp, including the fx loop, was installed/manufactured by Nik at Ceriatone.

How can I find out if it tube-buffered or an interrupt?

Do you have 3 or 4 preamp tubes? If 3 its most likely a interrupt loop. If 4 its probably tube-buferred. I think Nik usually just does Interrupt loops. You will need something like a dumbleator to correct the loss of signal going through the interrupt loop.

I built this to fix that issue with my Ceriatone DC30 & Dumble Clone

http://ceriatone.com/productSubPages/C- ... -lator.htm

From my experience, interrupt loops suck unless you have a buffer in there.

Here is Nik's solid state version.
http://ceriatone.com/productSubPages/Kl ... ulator.htm

Just checked, it has 3 pre amp tubes. So I guess it's an interrupt loop. Does this mean I am going to have to spend hundreds of dollars to correct the fx loop volume drop? Should I just have a different FX loop installed by a professional? I am not knowledgable enough with a soldering iron to perform these mods myself.

Thanks for your help, btw.

 

[cyndicate]

Just bought a used Ceriatone 2204 with f/x loop from FuelGTRX here on the classifieds. Arrived today via UPS. I plug straight into the amp from my guitar and noticed it was a bit noisy so I quickly hooked up my Decimator Pro Rack G to the Ceriatone f/x loop and was shocked by the massive volume drop. I would say I am only getting about 20% of the amps potential volume when the fx loop is engaged and the master volume is on 10.

Any ideas?

Is it a tube-buferred loop or a simple interrupt loop? If it's a simple interrupt loop that is kind of what happens when you don't have a buffer.

Oh man, I have no idea. I believe the amp, including the fx loop, was installed/manufactured by Nik at Ceriatone.

How can I find out if it tube-buffered or an interrupt?

Do you have 3 or 4 preamp tubes? If 3 its most likely a interrupt loop. If 4 its probably tube-buferred. I think Nik usually just does Interrupt loops. You will need something like a dumbleator to correct the loss of signal going through the interrupt loop.

I built this to fix that issue with my Ceriatone DC30 & Dumble Clone

http://ceriatone.com/productSubPages/C- ... -lator.htm

From my experience, interrupt loops suck unless you have a buffer in there.

Here is Nik's solid state version.
http://ceriatone.com/productSubPages/Kl ... ulator.htm

Just checked, it has 3 pre amp tubes. So I guess it's an interrupt loop. Does this mean I am going to have to spend hundreds of dollars to correct the fx loop volume drop? Should I just have a different FX loop installed by a professional? I am not knowledgable enough with a soldering iron to perform these mods myself.

Thanks for your help, btw.

The problem with interrupt loops is it depends on the device you plug. Some will sound decent in the loop like a G-major or G-system or something that you can kind of compensate for with adjusting levels. Other units will just sound like shit like pedals unless you have a good buffer. In my Marshall type amps I like using this loop

http://metroamp.com/store/index.php?mai ... cts_id=499

Its the SDM zero fx loss loop, fairly easy to install if you have a little experience with doing amp mods. Any tech should be able to do this fairly easily.

Also is there a reason you are using the decimator in the loop? What happens if you use the decimator in the front of the amp, does that help? Unplug your guitar turn it up a bit, is it noisy still? Most of Nik's builds I thought would be pretty quiet. My metro I hacked up is pretty ugly inside and no where as detailed as Nik's and I barely get any noise.

 

[cyndicate]

You don't really "need" a buffer to fix it. But it is better to have one to run the FX loop correctly without any loss of signal. Here's a similar thread I read awhile back regarding the ODS which also has a interrupt loop.

http://ceriatoneforum.com/index.php?topic=640.0

Just depends what unit you want in the loop.

 

[barcode]

I use the loop because the decimator pro rack G uses two channels for noise suppression. The first goes into the front input of the amp and the 2nd channel uses the effects loop send and return.

 

[PlinytheWelder]

Where do you have the Decimator set, at -10 or +4?

 

[cyndicate]

I use the loop because the decimator pro rack G uses two channels for noise suppression. The first goes into the front input of the amp and the 2nd channel uses the effects loop send and return.

What I meant was do you really need it in there? Most of the noise happens before the amp I guess, like from your guitar to amp. Try just using it in the front only and don't bother with using the loop.