GM36 Crunch volume low compared to clean, lead and ultra?

Hello HK users. Just purchased a GM36. I have noticed that the crunch is much lower in volume than the other 3. With the tone controls all centered, gain and level maxed, the master set anyplace, including max, 36w, presence and res are global, no effects, loop off, gate off, boost off, the crunch channel sounds like it is on 18w mode, but it isn't. To make all the channels match, level on clean, lead and ultra must all be set to around 3:00, with chunch set to max. This same behavior happens when I build and store and recall midi presets. I am using an old school midi pedal, only pc# transmitted, nothing else.
Has anybody else experienced this?

Can anybody just check to see if the crunch channel on their GM36 is lower with volume at maximum, compared to the other 3
channels?

All things equal, mine are the same volume.

I know it`s obvious, but have you put eyes on the wattage buttons as opposed to assuming it`s set the same? Or checked the gain/channel volume knob? Midi is a great thing but it can be a tricky pain in the ass if you forget to either save something you should have or not save before switching to something new. Aggravates me to no end when I forget to switch back to 1 watt mode after band rehearsal and blow the front door off when I get back to the house to record.

Thanks VoodooJeff. I really appreciate it.
I was pretty sure already that should be the case, but wanted to get a second opinion. I live a ways from a store that carries them (4 hr round trip) so doing it myself is not practical.
I am really sure all things were equal. I made sure to turn every knob to reset them. I eliminated everything except guitar, cords and cab. I guess i just need to be sure it was not an intentional as I have not found any docs that cover gain staging.
Thanks
Si

Just checked out mine too simoorehead (Simon? Si? ). With every control balanced at 12-o-clock they all sound slightly louder than the previous one, Crunch included. That said, Jeff's absolutely right. You have to go over all of the controls carefully to make sure they are not holding on to previous settings in preference to the ones you think you have set them to.

This does highlight a fundamental question I still cannot properly clear in my mind. What do you have to do to change the registered setting of any control? Is it just enough to change it from it's current position? That does not seem to work at all times.

Thinking in terms of 0-10. If I set the Mid control to 2 say, then go to effects and set up the delay feedback to 9, then go back from effects, I now have the mid control set to 2 in the voicing but physically sitting at 9. If I alter it to 8 and on down it seems to do nothing. It's almost like I have to go back to 2, see the Source LED blink, then choose my new setting before it will alter the tone. Can any of you guys shed light on this?

It is Si, not short for anything. It is a family name, my son is the 5th.
It is broken unfortunately.
Only guitar, cable, amp, cab, so midi involved.
I start at clean, move every knob so it is what you see is what you get. Max gain and Max level. Play, switch to crunch, same process,move every encoder so it is WYSIWYG. No gate, no effects,noloop, 36W mode (the tube heath indicators are all off too). The crunch is way lower in volume than all the other modes.
This behavior is consistent at any master volume level.
I did a factory reset to make sure there was not something stored causing this.
It happens with the factory presets too. Call up any factory preset, crank the gain and level so I know the values have been refreshed. Crunch is much lower.
I love the amp so want to keep it so it looks like I am heading for a road trip to exchange it at Guitar Center.

Not that it`ll fix it, but you might try getting in it and just wiggling the preamp tubes. The guys at Eurotubes will tell you how finicky a tube socket can be. Worth a try before the 4 hour trip anyway...

Do you have spare tubes laying around? It might have a marginal tube installed. You would probably ending up experimenting with tube rolls anyway...

Can you see it being a duff tube guys?  I could easily be wrong but I would have thought that with only 2 preamp valves available, (one is the power amp Phase Splitter), which effectively offers only 4 x amplifying elements, they would all be needed for every channel.  You couldn't really work with two channels created from a single valve each, the tone controls remove one element maybe even a full valve.  To set up each channel they would surely have all been used on all channels so a problem with one would show itself with the others?

simoorehead wrote:Hello HK users. Just purchased a GM36. I have noticed that the crunch is much lower in volume than the other 3. With the tone controls all centered, gain and level maxed, the master set anyplace, including max, 36w, presence and res are global, no effects, loop off, gate off, boost off, the crunch channel sounds like it is on 18w mode, but it isn't. To make all the channels match, level on clean, lead and ultra must all be set to around 3:00, with chunch set to max. This same behavior happens when I build and store and recall midi presets. I am using an old school midi pedal, only pc# transmitted, nothing else.
Has anybody else experienced this?

I just got mine today and put the power soak to 1 watt. On the crunch channel the volume is where I felt it should be, but when I turn the switch to any other channel, the volume goes way up. Wasn't sure if I'm doing something wrong or what, but I would of thought the powersoak would work on all channels with out having to do anything else...