I am patiently awaiting my ZMACS, and I have two questions, that I do not seem covered in the manual - or I missed them.
With the two attenuator loops, one switched, one not, what happens if you have an attenuator in each loop? When you activate the switched one, does the other one turn off? I assume so, but I wanted to check.
If I use the ZMACS with a PS-2A, is there any cabling methodology that really make sense for using Cyclops? I am planning on using my AXE-FXIII as a FX only unit at times with my amps with 4 CM. Instead of using the amp’s FX loop, I will use the the PS-2A FX loop, but of course any drive/wah. etc I will put in front of the ZMACS and the time based stuff in the PS-2A loop. I was trying to think of way to use the Cyclops to bypass the FX3 in front of the ZMACS, but I don’t think that would work.
Any info on these two subjects is greatly appreciated! Thank you!
Well, after watching the Joe ZMACS video on Youtube again, I am pretty sure that activating the switched attenuator loop bypasses the other attenuator loop. I hope for confirmation and any input on item #2. Thank you!
The attenuator loops are in series. The signal first passes through the normal attenuator loop and then through the switched attenuator loop. This means the switched attenuator loop will not turn off the normal attenuator loop.
In general, you could hook up the Cyclops like shown on page 6 in the Cyclops manual. You would connect the AMP INPUT of the Cyclops to the INPUT of the ZMACS. And instead of hooking up the Power Station to an amp, it would connect to one of the attenuator loops.
However, what you are describing sounds like you would just like to use the AXE-FX III as an effects unit and not necessarily as an added preamp. In that case you would hook up the AXE-FX III to the Power Station FX loop. With a PS-100, you could even hook up the FOOTSWITCH jack to the ZMACS to bypass or engage the FX loop of the Power Station remotely. With the PS-2A you would have to program a bypass patch in the AXE-FX III and control it via MIDI, for example.
Thank you very much for answering my questions, I appreciate it! So I will need to use the bypass function of the attenuator in order to ensure that the attenuation of the first device is not applied to the attenuator in the second loop.
Hi,
could you please clarify the new functionalities regarding attenuator loops that come with V2? The manual is not clear…
I would like to use a passive attenuator in the attenuator loop switched and a PS2 in the normal loop but only one at a time. My understanding is that it is now possible to put the PS2 in standby by activating the switched loop. Am I right?
Moreover, we can read in the manual:
« If your attenuator does not have a remote bypass function you will need a control device… »
What does it mean? I am completely lost…
Best regards
Guillaume
Originally, the idea was that the switched loop would be used for passive attenuators that do not have a bypass function, Unfortunately, another company has been granted a US patent on such a function even though it has been in the public domain for over a decade.
In the V2 version, now the switched loop is used to control the internal bypass operation of the PS-2 and PS-100. And we are working on an accessory that will do the same for passive attenuators.