Hivolt 103 Custom by Nembrini Audio - Released

espiegel123

@MadGav said:

@espiegel123 said:

@MadGav said:

@bangzero said:
huh. is this a gain staging issue? i run -18db peaks into Hivolt & am getting nice clean tones with input at 10-11 o'clock. & i see pretty much the same behavior from the BgExtasy. Hivolt a bit smoother perhaps, & good with pedals. still loving BgExtasy, but quite happy with Hivolt as a complement.

Good point which I’ve seen made about level into AUv3 in general - what is the level expected by the plug-in? I record circa -14 dBFS which is much closer to your -18 than 0 … Metering with 0 dBVU marked at nominal level could be quite useful as an indication on any non-linear processor.

It is not the case that AUv3 need a maximum input level of -18dB for correct operation. The input gain knob can adjust the incoming gain. Even with it set low, the crunch starts early on Nembrini amps. It doesn’t have to be like that. It was a developer choice not a > @espiegel123 said:

@MadGav said:

@bangzero said:
huh. is this a gain staging issue? i run -18db peaks into Hivolt & am getting nice clean tones with input at 10-11 o'clock. & i see pretty much the same behavior from the BgExtasy. Hivolt a bit smoother perhaps, & good with pedals. still loving BgExtasy, but quite happy with Hivolt as a complement.

Good point which I’ve seen made about level into AUv3 in general - what is the level expected by the plug-in? I record circa -14 dBFS which is much closer to your -18 than 0 … Metering with 0 dBVU marked at nominal level could be quite useful as an indication on any non-linear processor.

It is not the case that AUv3 need a maximum input level of -18dB for correct operation. The input gain knob can adjust the incoming gain. Even with it set low, the crunch starts early on Nembrini amps. It doesn’t have to be like that. It was a developer choice not > @espiegel123 said:

@MadGav said:

@bangzero said:
huh. is this a gain staging issue? i run -18db peaks into Hivolt & am getting nice clean tones with input at 10-11 o'clock. & i see pretty much the same behavior from the BgExtasy. Hivolt a bit smoother perhaps, & good with pedals. still loving BgExtasy, but quite happy with Hivolt as a complement.

Good point which I’ve seen made about level into AUv3 in general - what is the level expected by the plug-in? I record circa -14 dBFS which is much closer to your -18 than 0 … Metering with 0 dBVU marked at nominal level could be quite useful as an indication on any non-linear processor.

It is not the case that AUv3 need a maximum input level of -18dB for correct operation. The input gain knob can adjust the incoming gain. Even with it set low, the crunch starts early on Nembrini amps. It doesn’t have to be like that. It was a developer choice not a technical limitation.

Of course the nominal input level is a developer choice, it is arbitrary but useful for a user to know! As you say an input trim can be used to match the input level to the plug-in. Again, really helpful to know where you should be aiming! This is typically easier with compressors as a gain reduction meter provides the necessary guidance.

Even with the gain reduction, imo, this amp is calibrated strangely ...given the amp it is intended to reproduce.

JoyceRoadStudios

I guess I’m confused by what people define as clean and crunch. I finally got to play the release and compared it to the beta, the cranked settings may have a tiny bit more fizz than in the beta, but the cleans sound pretty identical. I was running it standalone with a hot strat pickup into an apogee jam+ which already comes in hot, and to me the cleans sound rich and phenomenal. I don’t hear any crunch on the default preset, when playing with normal pick attack. When I strum really hard, all I hear is a slight fizz over the note decay, but not on the attack and not through the chord. So I think people have different interpretations of what clean is. I would call it a loud and rich Fendery clean, perhaps not “pristine”, but I don’t hear any crunch.

That being said, I think the amp does go into crunch a bit too soon, and some of the presets like “extreme himbucker” can sound unpleasant. But it’s definitely not going into high gain. Not even close. I get a large palate of clean that can go into crunch. I will ask Igor about the note decay fizz as I don’t like that in any amp or pedal. Tube Screamers and most LM386 based pedals do that and I hate it. But to me this amp is the “clean” offering from them, or at least it has a rich beautiful clean that is really useful to me.

SNystrom

Has anyone compared the Highvolt to similar Hiwatt modelers like those from Overloud, VStomp, and others?

It would be interesting to see if there are other options that more faithfully recreate the sonic vision of the DR103.