Alesis WILDFIRE Wildfire 30 manual

User Manual[...]

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Table Of Contents 1 Chapter 1: Introduction .............................................. 3 About the Wildfire .................................................................... 4 Wildfire Basics ......................................................................... 5 How to Use This Manual ....................................................[...]

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1 Introduction 3 Welcome! Thank you for making th e Alesis Wildfire a part of your setup. Since 1984, we've been designing and building creative tools for the audio community. We believe in our products, bec ause we've heard the re sults that creative people like you h ave achieved with them. One of Alesis' go als is to make high-qua[...]

1 Introduction 4 About the Wildfire Our Wildfire guitar amplifiers are comp act and light, but extremely powerful. Per fect for both practicing and performing onstage, all three Wildfire models are endowed with the same professional-qu ality amplification system and featur es that make this line of amplifiers unique. Just take a loo k: Wildfire Key[...]

Introduction 1 5 Wildfire Basics Benefit s of an On-Board Effect Processor If you use guitar effe cts, you probably do so by linking pedals together i nto a chain or by using a multi-effec t processor. A ll this extra equipment can cost a fortune and crowd your playing space. The Wildfir e, however, simplifies thin gs because it includes all th e e[...]

1 Introduction 6 Parameters A parameter is a control that changes the characteristics of an effect. When we use the wo rd “parameter,” we are referring to the “direct cont rol” parameter available to the DIST, FX1, FX2 and FX3 modules. DIST’s parameter is called DRIVE, an d the parameters for FX1, FX2 and FX3 are labeled PA RAM. The chara[...]

Introduction 1 7 How to Use This Manual This manual is divided into the following sectio ns describing the va rious functions and a pplications for the Wildfire. While it's a good idea to read through the entire manual once carefu lly, if you already have general knowledge about guitar amplifiers and effects, yo u should use the table o f cont[...]

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2 Hookup Diagram 9 The first thing we’ll show you is ho w to get your Wildfire up and r unning. The following di agram shows you the most co mmon method of hooking up you r Wildfire, but you certainly aren’t limited to the devices you see here. For example, yo u may want to connect a tape player to the AUX inputs inst ead of a CD playe r. And y[...]

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3 A Tour of the Wildfire 11 The diagrams in this section illustrate the features y ou’ll find on the Wi ldfire’s front and rear panels. The te xt that follows the diagrams e xplains those features. Front Panel Some of the fr ont-panel feature s described here are not available on all Wildfire mo dels. Refer to the diagram below to determine exa[...]

3 A Tour of the Wildfire 12 Input Plug in your guitar here using a guitar patch co rd. You can also plug in another ampli fier’s line outpu t in order to create a stereo link with that amplifier (refer to chapter 9 fo r details). You should use a 1/4” tip-sleev e (TS) cable. Program Up/Down While in PLAY mode, the Program Up bu tton increments [...]

A Tour of the Wildfire 3 13 EFFECT Knob The EFFECT knob is us ed for selecting effect modules , parameters and o ther settings to edit. Ar ound the knob, you’ll see the names of sixteen different s ettings, including nin e effect modules, four effe ct parameters (DRIVE and the three PARAMs) and two program- level settings (LEVEL and ROUTE). The P[...]

3 A Tour of the Wildfire 14 BASS Knob (Wildfire 60 only) This knob gives you the ability to equalize (EQ) the low frequencies present in yo ur guitar’s audio signal. This setting is not related to the EQ module found on t he EFFECT knob. Rathe r, it provides an addi tional means of controllin g the bass frequencies. When you turn the BASS knob , [...]

A Tour of the Wildfire 3 15 Fuse P ower Cord FOOTSWITCH UP/DO WN INPUTS EXPRESSION PED AL INPUT A UX INPUT STEREO LINK OUTPUT SPEAKER OUTPUT Rear Panel All three Wildfire models offer the rear-p anel features described here: Fuse The fuse protects th e Wildfire from damage caused by a defective AC outlet. If this fuse b lows, you must replace it. P[...]

3 A Tour of the Wildfire 16 accepts a 1/4 ” plug. Expression p edals may be purchased at your local Alesis dealer. AUX (Auxiliary) INPUT The AUX INPUT allows you to play along with your favorite songs! Just connect this RCA inp ut to the output from y our CD player, tape player or some o ther external audio device. The AUX INPUT level is fixed, b[...]

4 Selecting Programs 17 After you’ve plugged everyth ing in, you’ll probab ly want to check out the factory presets we programmed into the Wildfire. This chapter shows you how to do that. To Select Programs 1. Make sure the Wildfire is hooked up properly an d turned on, as outlined in chapter 2. 2. Make sure you’re in PLAY mode (turn the EFFE[...]

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5 Editing Programs 19 To Edit a Selected Program 1. Select a program to edit using the Program Up and Down buttons, t he VALUE knob or the optional footswitches. 2. Turn the EFFECT kno b to the effect module o r parameter you wish to modify. 3. Turn the VALUE knob to select an effect type or value for the module. As soon as you change the value, th[...]

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6 Storing & Copying Programs 21 To Store a Program 1. In PLAY or EDIT mode, press the VALUE knob. The display will flash the current program number. 2. Use the Program Up and Down buttons, VALUE knob or the optional footswitc hes to selec t the program number where th e current program will be stored. If y ou want to save it i n the same progra[...]

6 Storing & Copying Programs 22 Arranging Programs for Performance You can use the copy functi on to arrange programs logically for easy recall during a p erformance. Take a typical song structure for examp le (intro, verse, refrain, etc.). For each part of the song, you ma y want to use a different effect program . To ensure uninterrupted perf[...]

7 Using the Tuner 23 To Tune Your Guitar 1. In Play mode, enter BYPASS or MUTE mode by pressing the Program Up and D own buttons at the same time once (for BYPASS) or by holding them bot h down for more than half a second (for MUTE). The display will now sho w tuning informati on. 2. Make sure your guitar is conn ected to the Wildfire, and play the[...]

7 Using the Tuner 24 Low High In tune Visual Guide to T uning Here are the 12 possible pitches (a decimal point indicates a sharp): = no pitch detected. The bottom four segments rotate counterclockwise if pitch is low . The top four rotate clockwise if the pitch is high. An 8 means the string you hav e played is in tune with the displayed pitch. Ch[...]

8 Deferred Program Change 25 When you switch p rograms, the Wildfire n ormally changes immediatel y to the program show n on the display. However, in some situations—especially when playing live—you may want th e ability to scroll through program numbers while remain ing in the current program setting. F or example, let’s say you ’re soloin[...]

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9 Stereo-Linking Two Amplifiers 27 To take full advantage o f the Wildfire’s stereo capability, you can link it to another amp lifier to create a true stereo setup. Th is section explains how to do that. To Stereo-Link Two Amplifiers 1. Place the Wildfire and the auxiliary amp lifier far enough apart to allow for a decen t stereo spectrum. A few [...]

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10 EFFECT Knob Settings 29 Following are descriptio ns of each of the effect modules (and ot her settings of the EFFECT knob), along with their effect types and parameters. PLAY In this setting the display sho ws you the current program n umber. This is the mode in whic h you should be performing , as it allows you to easily switch programs via the[...]

10 EFFECT Knob Settings 30 DIST (Distor tion) This setting adds that universal ef fect that was first used in rock music decad es ago and now has become a staple for gui tarists in many genres. Acoustic Emulates the sound of an acoustic guitar. Tube Clean Simulates the clean so und of a classic tube amplifier. Rhythm A slightly distor ted sound; gr[...]

EFFECT Knob Settings 10 31 DRIVE This is a parameter of the DIST module. Increasing levels of drive/gain for the DIST module. Pedal control of the drive/gain . EQ (Equalizer) This setting gives yo u a 4-band equalizer that you can us e to shape the soun d of your audio signal by cutting and boosti ng certain freque ncies. Varying levels of cut and [...]

10 EFFECT Knob Settings 32 Noise Reduction (Right digit of display) Increasing le vels of gate threshold. Turns off noise redu ction. CAB (Cabinet Simulator) This module allows your Wildfire to em ulate cabi net setups of variou s sizes. A single 12” dri ver cabinet. A 2 x 12” driver cabinet. A 4 x 10” driver cabinet. Off Turns off CAB. FX1 ([...]

EFFECT Knob Settings 10 33 Pedal-Controlled Phaser A phaser effect with its feedba ck controlled by the exp ression pedal. Tremolo Varies the volume of the signal, creating a risin g and falling effect. Higher values resu lt in greater depth of vari ation. Pedal-Controlled Tremolo A tremolo eff ect with its depth co ntrolled by the expre ssion peda[...]

10 EFFECT Knob Settings 34 Flanger Shifts the pitch of the signal up and down, creatin g a swirling effect. Higher values result in lo nger delay. Pedal-Controlled Flanger A flanger with it s delay controlled by the expression pe dal. Rotary Speaker Emulates the sound of the classic ro tary, creating a Doppler effect similar to that ac hieved by an[...]

EFFECT Knob Settings 10 35 P ARAM (Dir ect-Control Parameter for FX1) This parameter mo difies the operation of the effe ct selected for the FX1 module. Changing between effect types with dissimilar value ranges will scale this value accordingly. For exam ple, if you set Phaser to PARAM=63 and then switch to the Auto Wah effect, its PARAM value wil[...]

10 EFFECT Knob Settings 36 P ARAM (Dir ect-Control Parameter for FX2) These parameters work exactly the sa me way as the direct-control parameter for FX1, with the foll owing addition. For Auto Phaser, indicates th e rate of the effect. FX3 (Multi-Effect Module 3, Delay-Based Ef fects) This module gives you a choice of delay-based ef fects. A delay[...]

EFFECT Knob Settings 10 37 Pedal Stereo Delay A Stereo Delay effect for wh ich the feedback level i s controlled by the expression pedal. Echo An echo for which higher values indicate a wetter signal and lower values indicate a drier signal. Pedal Echo An echo for which the wet/dry mix is controlled b y the expression pedal. Hall Reverb Simulates t[...]

10 EFFECT Knob Settings 38 Chorus – same a s in FX1. Pedal Chorus – same as in FX1. Flanger – same as in F X1. Pedal-Controlled Flanger – same as in F X1. Rotary Speaker – same as i n FX1. Pedal-Controlled Rotary Speaker – sa me as in FX1. Pitch Transpose – same as in FX1. Variable Pitch Transpose Up – same as in FX1. Variable Pitch[...]

EFFECT Knob Settings 10 39 Indicates that the expression pedal controls the para meter. Indicates FX3 is off. DIGFX (Digital Sampling Effects) This effect module emulat es the effect that differ ent variations of digital sampling can have on an audio signal. Sample Rate Decimation Lower values indicate lower decim ation frequency (mo re decimation,[...]

10 EFFECT Knob Settings 40 ROU TE In this position, the display indica tes the current signal-routi ng order of the FX modules. This ordering can have a big effect o n your sound, as each effe ct in the configurati on feeds into the ne xt. Whatever the c onfiguration, the LEVEL setting always comes last in line. This is the default order. This one [...]

11 Troubleshooting 41 Sympt oms Cause Solution Wildfire does not functio n (no displa y or audio). Unit not plug ged in. Mak e sure the pow er cord is plug g ed into a proper AC o u t l e t . Fuse is blown. Replace fuse with one that matc hes the criteria listed on the rear panel. Audi o distorted, even in BYP ASS . Input lev el too hi gh. Reduce i[...]

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12 Specifications 43 Output Power Rating Wildfire 15: 15W RMS Mono in 8 Ω Wildfire 30: 30W RMS Mono in 8 Ω Wildfire 60: 60W RMS Mono in 8 Ω Internal Speaker Size/Power Wildfire 15: 8” Driver / 18W RMS Wildfire 30: 10” Driver / 34W RMS Wildfire 60: 12” Driver / 70W RMS Internal Speaker Sensitivity Wildfire 15: 95dB/W/m Wildfire 30: 98dB/[...]

12 Specifications 44 Stereo Link Output Output Connector: 1/4” TS (Unbalance d) Output Impedance: 2.2 Ω Max Output Level: 2.4Vp (100K Ω load) Destination Impedance: >1K Ω Expression Pedal Input Intput Connector: 1/4” TRS (Balanced Mono) Tip Output Level: 3.3VDC Tip Output Impedance : 50K Ω -150K Ω Ring Input Level: 1.6VDC-2.5VDC Ri[...]

13 Contact Information 45 Alesis Distribution, LLC Los Angeles, USA E-mail: support@ale sis.com Website: http://www.alesis.com Wildfire User Manual Version 1.0 by Edwin Erdmann. Re vision C by Fre d Morgenstern. Copyright 2004, Alesis Distribution, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited. Specifications subject to c[...]

7-51-0148-C[...]