My first post here, greetings from Finland. I own a PS-2 which I am very happy with it in general. My only problem with the unit is that when I have my amp connected to it, even with the PS-2 volume at the lowest possible setting it is just too loud for comfortable home use if I really push my amps. I played for a minute with my 50w plexi dimed through the PS-2 and the average volume (measured by my phone 1 meter away from the cab, not the most accurate way, but gives an idea at least) was 86db. I am using a 2x12 cab loaded with V30s wired to 8 ohms. It is still of course very much quieter than an unattenuated plexi, but far too much for late evening playing with the rest of the family around. With my Sig X I am forced to use the 40w mode as the 100w mode through the PS-2 is simply too much.
I tried to add a passive volume box to the PS-2 fx loop to control the volume but that had no impact.
Is this behaviour normal or is there something wrong with the unit or am I doing something wrong? I was under the impression that the PS-2 would be able to tame 100w beasts to whisper quiet playing levels.
PS-2 fx send → Volume box input
Volume box output → PS-2 fx return
I’ve also tried to use just a delay pedal in the loop of the PS-2. When the PS-2 volume is at minimum, whatever I have in its fx loop does not have any impact on the sound. I need to turn the volume of the PS-2 up to at least 8 o’clock before I hear the delay effect from the pedal connected to the loop. Having the PS-2 fx level set at “high” or “low” makes no difference.
It seems like some amount of the signal is passing through to the speaker without going through the fx loop to explain this bleed. I have further started to suspect this as even if i plug just one end of an instrument cable to the PS-2 fx loop send but leave the other end unplugged, there is still sound coming from the speaker connected to the PS-2. While doing this and trying to turn the volume of the PS-2 up, the sound gets slightly louder, but not much even at full volume setting. If all signal was going through the loop, having only the send cable connected should result in nothing coming from the speaker, right?
The input level selection at the front of the PS-2 has no effect on volume when the volume pot is at minimum.
I’ve made a video reply here (it is uploading… as I write this, it will appear)
But in a nutshell:
You idea should work when you turn up the PS-2
Take a look at the video, I basically cut the volume to zero with a boost pedal.
For this to work you will need the PS-2 volume to be above zero.
There is tiny bit of signal bleed when the volumes are completely off. If this is the level you are playing at you will get the impression your idea does not work.
Thanks for your response. I tried that and here’s my video response to that where I’m trying to replicate that situation in my use scenario (sorry for my thick accent!):
Youtube seems to compress the audio so much that you really cannot hear the differences in volume in the video when I’m saying there’s a significant difference.
After shooting the video I tried the same thing with boost pedals in the loop, like you did (both Digitech Bad Monkey and BOSS SD-1) and the results were exactly the same than with the passive volume box shown in the video.
Still wondering if the behavior of my unit is normal or not as clearly it’s different than in your video.
And what happens if you repeat this with the Power Station volume at 9 o’clock?
Unplug the pot in a box and measure the resistance across the output tip and sleeve, what numbers do you get?
If you unplug the FX, and change the PS-2 volume does it go from off to painfully loud? I guess this is YouTube compression but I could not get a sense of volume level at all from the video. I take you word for it that it is loud.
