Duncan TARA Owner's Manual - Page 4

Browse online or download pdf Owner's Manual for Musical Instrument Amplifier Duncan TARA. Duncan TARA 8 pages. True acoustic response amplifier

Print Page
Controls & Features
The Seymour Duncan T.A.R.A. Acoustic Amplifier has a wide range of very useful
features for getting the best sound out of your acoustic guitar and making the amplifier
extremely versatile in all types of performing and recording applications.
Instrument & Microphone Inputs and Volume Controls - Each channel has an
instrument input and a microphone input. Each input has its own volume control, so
that they can be perfectly balanced in the mix. The microphone input is balanced &
low-impedance, and the instrument input is ultra high-impedance (10Meg). The very
high impedance of the instrument input allows for better impedance matching with
piezo-crystal and piezo-vinyl acoustic pickups, which characteristically have very high
output impedances. When the input impedance of an amplifier is much lower than the
output impedance of the pickup, the pickup may sound very tinny and brittle.
Notch Filter - The notch filter is very useful in combating regenerative feedback (see
section on feedback). It reduces the signal at a particular frequency where the
feedback is occurring (such as your acoustic guitar's sound board resonant frequency).
The notch filter has two controls: notch frequency and depth. The notch frequency
control varies the notch from 50Hz to 500Hz in the left channel (primarily for an acoustic
guitar) and 100Hz to 1kHz in the right channel (primarily for microphones). The depth
knob controls how deep the notch is, up to -25 dB! Turning the knob counter-clockwise
deepens the notch. You should use the depth control to notch out "just enough" of the
feedback frequency to stop the feedback, while preserving the natural timbre and
characteristics of the acoustic guitar. Although most amplifiers do not offer it, the depth
control is essential in maintaining a transparent, flat response.
Phase Reverse Switch - This switch reverses the phase of the amplified guitar signal
coming out of the speaker, relative to the guitar. This can be an extremely helpful
one-shot cure for feedback. Keep in mind that the air-cavity resonance feedback
depends on the distance and direction of the guitar in reference to the amplifier. For
example, if the air-cavity resonance is 100Hz, there will be a feedback-canceling "node"
every 11.2 feet. Halfway between those nodes are the feedback nodes, where it'll be
the worst. Flipping the phase switch changes the feedback nodes into
feedback-canceling nodes and vice versa. Direction of the acoustic guitar in relation to
the speaker will also affect air-cavity resonance feedback, so the best way to keep this
kind of feedback under control is to stay in relatively the same area and facing the same
direction.
Graphic Equalizer - The five -band graphic equalizer has frequency centers placed for
detailed and thorough control of your tone. All the bands are even in bandwidth except
for the lowest band (80Hz), which has been customized with a narrower bandwidth, to