Customized GT-1000 Gain Staging

The goal is to have a consistent level of output before main amplification.

Adjusting Instrument Input Gain

Creating a "dry" Patch

Create a totally blank patch. Use a User preset that you don't care about over-writing. Press WRITE → INITIALIZE → WRITE. Turn all blocks OFF in resulting patch. The blank patch will look something like this:


flowchart TB

    IN --> FX[\FX/] --> CMP --> EQ3 --> FX1 --> FX2 --> div1 

    div1 -- A --> DS1 --> SR1[[SEND/RETURN 1]] --> AMP1 --> NS1 --> EQ1 --> mix1

    div1 -- B --> DS2 --> SR2[[SEND/RETURN 2]]--> AMP2 --> NS2 --> EQ2 --> mix1

    div1(("DIV1"))
    mix1(("MIX1"))

    div2(("DIV2"))
    mix2(("MIX2"))

    div3(("DIV3"))
    mix3(("MIX3"))

    mix1 --> EQ4 --> FV[\FV/] --> DLY1 --> DLY2 --> DLY3 --> DLY4 --> MDLY --> FX3 --> CHO --> LOOP([LOOP]) --> REV --> div2 --> mix2 --> div3 --> mix3

    subgraph Main Out
        MSIM --> MOUT
    end

    subgraph Sub Out
        SSIM --> SOUT
    end

    mix3 --> MSIM 
    mix3 --> SSIM

Adjusting Input Gain for your Instrument

  1. Go to Input Settings.
  2. Plug in your instrument.
  3. Pick a number and name for your instrument. Save.
  4. Play as hard as you might expect to during normal playing
  5. Turn the input level up until you hear slight clipping
  6. Back it off just below that level so the input is no longer clipping
  7. Save changes.

For instruments that have active pickups or some other onboard amplification, you may want to make multiple entries for the instrument. For example, I made entries for my bass: one for passive, one for active.

Results for My Instruments

Input Num Instrument dB Gain Done?
1 PRS S2 Standard 24 +12dB ✅
2 Ibanez EHB1506MS (passive) +12dB ✅
3 Ibanez EHB1506MS (active) -1dB ✅
4 Schecter C-8 Silver Mountain +5dB ✅
5 Agile Renaissance 827 Classical ❎
6 Ibanez GSR206B (passive) +18dB ✅
7 Ibanez GSR206B (active) +6dB ✅
8 PRS Wood Library Modern Eagle V +10dB ✅

Adjusting Patch Outputs to Unity Gain

  1. Measure wet output against dry output for the patch
    i. Logic Pro can show you dry and wet at the same time, see How To Reamp via GT-1000/Logic Pro
    ii. if there are variations within the patch (e.g., turning distortion on/off), find the softest one to be the wet one you measure.
  2. In the patch's MST block, adjust patch level until dry output level is close to equal to wet output level.
  3. Save the patch settings
  4. Document the settings changes
  5. Repeat for each patch

Results for my Patches

Patch Number Patch Name Master Patch Level Done?
U01-2 deep shimmer rev 28 ✅
U02-1 Lonelyisthenight 73 ✅
U04-3 dreamy tappy ❎
U09-4 FUNKY RHYTHM ❎
U10-1 wah solo/talkbox 122 ✅
U19-5 vh on steroids 68 ✅
U28-5 STEP FUZZ ❎