Fender TGA-3 Stereo Amplifier User Manual
Contents
1. and the output to return Start with your effect s input level down and when you ielai adjust the level of your effect to stay out of the red Turning up the stereo FX loop returns left and right will affect the overall amp volume more on these controls later in this manual Note The Demeter has a lot of attack tran sient response and responds dynamically to picking strength and piekn volume The input level meters lor VU s on some effects are too slow to read your guitar s transient attack which can be twice as loud as the sustain If you experience unmusical distortion or break up of the signal and the input level is in the green try back ing off t infu level a notch or two or turn down the FX send submaster a bit to make sure you really have sufficient headroom Slave Amp Output To the right of the stereo return jack is one marked output to slave amp This is for true stereo operation with another power amplifier The T A 3 100 will work well in stereo with another high gaty guitar power ampli fier However to achieve true matched stereo sound we recommend the Demeter STGA 1 for most balanced tone and output without redundant controls The T A 3 100 becomes the master control for both amplifiers in stereo mode with the blue stereo FX loop return right channel controlling the volume of the slaved amplifier The slave amp output also can double as a line out to a miking board or sound system Rear Extra Input To2. in a single box amplification 15730 Stagg Street Van Nuys CA 91406 318 994 7653 http Avwwdemeteramps com TGA 3 100 Watt Guitar Amplifier User s Guide Front Panel Yellow Channel Tones The front panel is color coordinated with the FS 1 The clean channel 1 yellow is on the bottom row witha channel gain and master volume and treble middle and bass controls Channel 1 has the sound of a Fender amp but with more gain control Using this channel with the gain set to the left of 12 o clock produces clean tones with little or no distortion As 12 o clock it is crossed a vintage type pite is added increasing to a rich blues tone like the old Deluxe use of 6950 tubes will give the amp more headroom for an even cleaner sound This channel has it s own FX send submaster note that the red channel is also configured this way Bright Switch To the left of the gain control knob is the bright switch which functions in a manner similar to most Fenders but wit less added noise The front input is to the left of the bright and to the far left is the channel select switch Green Channel Above the yellow channel 1 are the green and red channels 2 and 3 These two overdrive channels share the same tone controls treble middle and bass Channels two and three green amp red are variations of the same basic overdrive architecture it s like having a high performance engine with two superchargers As you beco
3. to the presence knob on Fender and Marshall amps It gives overall brightness to all amp settings Note This control will make a small amount of noise when rotated This is normal for this type of control as in original tweed Fenders and plexi Marshalls Power Standby Furthest right are the standby and power switches The arrangement is similar to a Fender with a pilot LED for the power switch Standby provides for instant power up without warmup time and keeps tube filaments hot for longer tube life There you have it Thank you for being patient and reading this manual All that remains is for you to connect our speakers make the necessary connections and throw the switches Start with the master volumes on ow then put everything else at 12 o clock to preset your volumes Then add tone and gain to taste We encour age you to experiment If you have any further questions feel free to call us Written by Michael Gabriel Thanks to James Demeter Mike Amundson and Bill Lay for editorial assistance
4. amplification 19730 Stagg Street Van Nuys CA 91406 318 994 7658 http www demeteramps com TCA 3 100 Watt Guitar Amplifier User s Guide INTRODUCTION Congratulations You ve just pigenased one of the finest best sounding and most versatile amps on this planet Please be patient and read this manual before you power up and you will be richly rewarded OVERVIEW The Demeter TGA 3 was designed by James Demeter as literally three amps in one Therefore a basic explanation of the front panel controls and rear panel jacks is necessary to enable you to unlock the great potential of this professional tool Looking at the front control panel there are four colors of knobs yellow green red and blue The blue knobs are controls which are common to all channels stereo effect returns and the presence control We ll talk more about these later on The yellow knobs control the clean channel reminiscent of a vintage Fender Deluxe or Bassman This channel is capable of delivering plenty of squeaky clean volume for country or traditional Jazz styles It also has a great blues bite to it when you turn up the gain similar to a Tweed Fender Deluxe with everything on 10 The green and red overdrive channels give you every possible combination of distortion feedback and sustain From smooth to hard from Vintage British Crunch to modded super distortion this amp has it all and more Rear Panel Before you turn on the amp le
5. fered This means that it will probably match the impedances of your effects Looking to the right of the 1 2 power switch we come to the stereo effects loop jacks This loop is designed for a mono send and a stereo or mono return If you are using effects the following will apply Note since there is little standardization of minimum and maximum signal levels between manufacturers of semipro and professional effect units this amp has a very wide range of effect loop gain Make sure you don t have your effect s input level set too high lin the red Also if you are using guitar stompboxes which Nee do not have level controls it is usually necessary to run the effects send control at a very low level If you have boxes which are still overloading try putting a 1 OdB pad on the effects send or the input of your effect amplification 19730 Stagg Street Van Nuys CA 91406 318 994 7658 http www demeteramps com TCA 3 100 Watt Guitar Amplifier User s Guide Effects Loop Controls The front panel controls for the effects loop are FX send submaster yellow for channel 1 and red for chan nels 2 and 3 the stereo FX loop returns blue The input and output level controls and switches of your effects unit s must also be set properly If your effect has a gain or level switch it is best to set it to high line level or 4dB Next set the FX send submaster controls for channel 1 and channel 2 3 to 12 oclock Connect the input to send
6. ired for 4 ohms equals about 8 ohms Wire cabs together and plug into 8 ohms or plug one into 16 ohm and one into 4 ohm Two twin l 2 or twin 19 Fender cabs usually 8 ohms each equal 4 ohms Plug one cab into the 8 ohm jack and one into 4 ohm or chain together and go into 4 ohm Loading Note this amp should always be connected to a load even if you are using it as a preamp You can come out of the slave amp output jack on the rear panel but only if this amp is connected to a speaker or what is known as a dummy load This is a large resistor 8 or 16 ohms mounted in an insulated box with a heat sink which has a wattage rating of 100 watts or better A power soak speaker emulator or power attenuator is not always a dummy load Although not recommended this scheme will work Remember power attenuators which work with the amp fully cranked will shorten the life of your tubes amplification 15730 Stagg Street Van Nuys CA 91406 3818 994 7658 http wwwdemeteramps com TCA 3 100 Watt Guitar Amplifier User s Guide Tube Type Switch Autobiasing Returning to the rear panel to the left of the speaker jacks you will notice a switch labeled tube type This switch has two positions for three different kinds of output tubes The Demeter has a state of the art feature known as auto biasing which allows you to get even more variation of sound by changing the output tubes the big ones There are three popula
7. me accustomed to the amp you will set the gain and master controls of each channel for smooth or radical channel transitions Edge Boost Switch To the left of the green channel s gain is the edge lead switch When set to edge this control changes the gain structure of the amp to behave like a vintage premaster volume Marshall With the gain control or your guitar volume it s possible to govern the amount of edge distortion The lead mode incorporates a more modified Mar shall type of distortion with an added volume boost for more dynamic change from rhythm to lead Careful ad justment of the gain master and tone controls will produce the full gamut of British sounds including Hiwatt and AC 30 like tones Again try different output tubes for still more variation Red Channel The red channel three with it s extreme feedback and sustain goes beyond channel 2 s distortion for more mod ern sounds Heavy Metal Jazz Fusion The Seattle Sound This channel has a dark switch which emphasizes the lowend thump like the bass boost Marshall mod Like the clean channel 1 there are red treble mid and bass knobs which also control the tone on the green channel two Note the dark switch also affects channel 2 though not as much amplification 19730 Stagg Street Van Nuys CA 91406 318 994 7658 http www demeteramps com TGA 3 100 Watt Guitar Amplifier User s Guide Gain Switch The red chan
8. nel also has an FX send submaster To the right of this control and the dark switch is the gain switch marked hot and hotter On the hot setting this cuts the gain and feedback down 1 2dB for a more tightly controlled sound If it s out of control you want set it to hotter for more feedback and harmonic sustain At extreme volume settings hotter will cause harmonics to feed back an octave higher Remember the pain switch the dark switch red tone controls and FX send submaster are common to channels 2 green and 3 red The edge lead switch is for channel 2 only FX Send Submasters A word about the FX send submasters with or without effects these controls act as two Second master volumes and can be useful in lower volume situations to get a more cranked up tone The interplay of the qain master and FX send submaster also makes subtle changes in the quality of the overdrive and can help in the achievement of a loud sound when recording or miking cabs on stage FX Loop Returns To the e of the yellow FX send submaster are the blue stereo FX loop return controls left and right As previously mentioned the right return also controls the volume of a slave amplifier whether When effects or an amp is connected to this circuit the returns become another submaster control with still more subtle changes in the Sound possible Presence Control Further right is the blue presence control similar
9. r tubes presently in use for this amp The 6L6 988 1 of the large Fenders with it warm harmonic richness the 6CA7 EL34 of the vintage Marshall with its smooth sustained distortion and the 6550 of the American Marshall and SVT with extra power and Heavy Metal Crunch When the tube type switch is in 9881 position the Demeter will automatically select the proper bias of 9881 or 6990 tubes The other position is for 6CA7 s EL3 4 Incidentally this amp does not require matched sets of specially graded tubes for best performance just make sure the tube type switch is properly set when you change your tubes usually once every six months to once a year depending on use 1 2 Power Switch To the right of the speaker jacks there is a switch marked 1 2 power full power This cuts off two output tubes to obtain full output and distortion at a lower level turn off amp before switching this Output Balance To the left of the speaker jacks is a small adjustment screw labeled output balance To adjust turn the amp on with nothing plugged in but the speaker and listen to the amp idle With a screwdriver rotate the control clockwise and counter clockwise until you find the spot where the hum disappears This fine tuning will insure the best signal to noise ratio and should usually be performed when changing or installing new output tubes or after several months usage Effects Loop The effects loop of the T A 3 100 is tube buf
10. re are 3 speaker outputs on the rear panel labeled 4 8 and 16 ohms When connecting one speaker cabinet to the amp you can choose one of the three jacks for proper impedance matching When connecting a full stack or multiple cabs you should first determine the impedance of each cab then calculate the total impedance of the stack This is very simple to do when using two identical cabs with the same impedances Simply divide the cabs ohms by 2 and use the next smaller valued jack for the second cab or plug one cab into another if you can and go into the 4 ohm pao only Example If you have 2 Marshall type 4X1 2 s at 16 ohms each plug one into the 16 ohm jack and one into the 8 ohm jack If you re running two Fender type 2X19 or 2X12 cabs or equivalent at 8 ohms each use the 8 ohm and 4 ohm jacks or plug one into the other and use 4 ohm Impedance Formula With differing impedances or more than two cabs not recommended it is a bit more complex The formula for calculating parallel resistances works in this situation and is as follows RT 1 e a a ane ee Tee oe m oe mn Rl R RS or an aa a l ee a RT 1 R2 R3 Or you can take my word for it this means if you combine more than two speakers with low impedance the figure becomes too low to use with this amp Examples 4 8 ohm speakers when chained together have a total impedance of 2 ohms and 2 ohms is too low Conversely a 16 ohm Marshall cab combined with one w
11. t s take a look at the rear panel where you will make the proper connections to your system Speakers No tube amp should be powered up without making sure that the speakers are connected If you have a T A 3 100 combo amp the speaker will come connected but it is always a good idea to check anyway A tube amp can burn up its output transformer an expensive repair if operated without being connected to a speaker Impedance Always observe proper impedance matching The Demeter TGA 3 100 has 3 speaker output jacks for 4 8 and 16 ohm cabinets If you dont know what the impedance of your speaker cabinet is you should find out If your cabinet or speaker is not marked most are you can try the following Connect an ohmmeter between the terminals or to the input jack of the cabinet and set the meter s range for at least 20 ohms full scale The reading will usually be a bit less than the actual impedance 6 or 7 ohms for an 8 ohm speaker 3 or 3 5 ohms for a 4 ohm speaker 13 to 19 ohms for a 16 ohm speaker Impedance matching is necessary to get optimum volume and tone and to avoid undue stress on your amp Note most Marshall type cabinets will have an impedance of 16 ohms but some may be wired for 4 ohms amplification 15730 Stagg Street Van Nuys CA 91406 3818 994 7658 http Awwwdemeteramps com TGA 3 100 Watt Guitar Amplifier User s Guide Speaker Combining A word about speaker combining as mentioned earlier the
12. the right of the slave out is an accessory extra input for convenience when rack mounting the T A3 100 a rack mounting kit is available Both inputs can be used simultaneously and both share the same input channel Footswitch Operation Further right are the footswitch jacks Provisions are made for both conventional footswitches latched grounding type and the optional FS 1 footswitch with tricolor L E D indicators The FS 1 connects to the 9 pin XLR jack on the far right of the rear panel The switching method is compatible with most MIDI switching boxes such as the Rockman MIDI Octopus ete Channel Mahinga also be done from the front panel by using k 3 piti rocker switch on the far left Note this switch should be in the center position when using any ootswitches The footswitches work as follows two latched grounding type foot switches are connected to the two channel switching jacks one labeled clean the other dirty edge When the clean switch is on the amp is in channel 1 and the other switch has no effect The dirty edge switch toggles between channels 2 and 3 so switching the clean channel off gives you what ever setting you have preset with the other switch This way you have three preset sounds and volume levels from two switches This makes very wide dynamic changes possible in a single move The FS 1 footswitch works identically but has a yellow and a red green L E D to indicate status It combines both the footswitches
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