The same sound every night
GEAR runs the same code on every device, so a preset that sounds right one night and wrong the next has not changed. What has changed is almost always on the way in or the way out: how hard the guitar hits the interface, how much hiss the interface adds, how loud its outputs are, or what sits between the guitar and the input.
These notes come from the development rig. Its main interface is an Arturia MiniFuse 4, and its spare is a Zoom AMS-24, both listed on the hardware page as gigged with GEAR. In October 2026 the AMS-24 stood in for a gig after a cable failed, and it did not sound quite right. The session logs, and a side-by-side the next day, showed why.
Set the input by the meter, not the knob
The input level is part of your tone. An amp capture responds to how hard it is hit, the way the real amp does: more level means more breakup and more compression, less level means cleaner and smaller. If you build a preset at one input level and play it at another, it will not sound like the preset you built.
Read the Input block's meter. Click the Input block. The meter in its properties shows the raw level arriving from the interface, before anything in GEAR touches it, with a dB figure that holds the loudest peak for a moment.
- Never let it reach 0 dB. That is the interface's converter clipping. The signal is flattened before GEAR ever sees it, and no amp model can put it back: it sounds fizzy, flat and lifeless.
- Pick a level and keep it. There is no single right number, but your hardest playing peaking somewhere around −12 to −18 dB leaves plenty of room. The development rig's presets were all set up with the guitar peaking at about −15 dB.
- The knob means nothing between interfaces. The MiniFuse 4 at its minimum gain already puts the guitar at about −15 dB, and it clips if the gain goes past 3 or 4. The AMS-24's gain runs down to silence and needed to be at about 4 to get within a couple of dB of the same level. "Gain at zero" on one is a usable setting; on the other it is no sound.
- Set a spare at home, and mark the knob. Matching by meter takes a minute in the kitchen and is very hard to do by ear on stage.
Check the noise floor
Every input adds a little hiss, and a high-gain amp turns it up a long way. A noise gate silences it when you stop playing, but a light touch on the strings opens the gate and the hiss comes through with the note. On its own you can hear it; with a full band it disappears.
To check an interface: plug in, set the input level as above, then mute the strings and read the Input block's meter. That reading is the interface's hiss, at the level you actually play.
| Same guitar, same wireless, same preset, levels matched | Playing peaks | Not playing |
|---|---|---|
| Arturia MiniFuse 4 (gain at minimum) | about −16 dB | −87 to −90 dB |
| Zoom AMS-24 (gain at about 4) | about −15 dB | −74 to −77 dB |
That is roughly 12 dB more hiss from the AMS-24 at the same playing level: obvious on a high-gain sound at home, buried at a gig. For clean and crunch sounds it barely matters. For high gain, a quiet input is worth more than extra features.
Do not run the input low and make up the level in GEAR. The hiss comes up with it. Set the level at the interface.
Match levels before you judge the tone
A quieter sound seems thinner. The ear loses the low end first as the level drops, so of two otherwise identical sounds the quieter one loses the "feel" of a big cabinet first.
Interfaces differ in how loud their outputs are for the same signal. The figure to look for on the spec sheet is the maximum output level, in dBu. The MiniFuse 4's line outputs reach +12 dBu at full scale and the AMS-24's +10, so through the same desk channel the AMS-24 plays 2 dB quieter. When comparing two interfaces, or a new one against the old, set them to the same loudness first, at the desk or with the Output block's level. Otherwise the quieter one always sounds worse.
Pickups, cables and wireless
- Passive pickups straight into the interface are loaded by the input. A lower input impedance takes some presence off. The MiniFuse 4's instrument input is 684 kΩ and the AMS-24's 330 kΩ; a simple model of typical pickups puts that difference at 1–2 dB less around 3–4 kHz on the AMS-24. Look for the instrument (Hi-Z) input impedance on the spec sheet.
- A wireless receiver or a buffered pedal in front of the interface drives the input itself, so the input's impedance stops mattering. The development rig uses a wireless, so this difference played no part in what is described here. With it, the loudest peak in each ten minutes stayed within about a dB for a whole set.
- A wireless at a different level from a cable may need a different gain setting. The AMS-24 needed about one more step of gain with the wireless than with a cable. Set the level with whatever you gig with.
The two side by side
| From each maker's manual | Arturia MiniFuse 4 | Zoom AMS-24 |
|---|---|---|
| Instrument input impedance | 684 kΩ | 330 kΩ |
| Instrument input, maximum level | +11 dBu | +8.5 dBu |
| Line outputs, maximum level | +12 dBu | +10 dBu |
| Frequency response, 20 Hz–20 kHz | ±0.09 dB (outputs) | ±1 dB |
| Outputs | 4 line, 2 headphone | 2 line, 2 headphone (the second is Outputs 3 and 4 in GEAR) |
Played side by side, with the input levels matched, the MiniFuse 4 has a low end the AMS-24 lacks. It is not sub-bass, but it is the part that makes a preset feel like it is coming from a 4x12 rather than just sounding right. The AMS-24 is also noticeably hissier on high-gain sounds, as measured above. Part of the low-end difference may simply be the 2 dB lower output level, so match the outputs before deciding for yourself.
The AMS-24 is still a good spare. It is very small and reliable, it gives GEAR four outputs, and the gig it stood in for went well. Set its gain by the meter and it is a much closer match. The MiniFuse 4 stays the main interface: quieter and fuller, even though this particular unit puts out about 2 dB more on one output than the other.
Plugging in after GEAR is already open
iPadOS and iOS will not let an app start listening to an input while it is in the background. If you plug an interface in while GEAR is behind another app, its outputs come up but its input cannot open yet. GEAR opens it the moment you bring GEAR back to the front, or straight away if Performance Mode's floating window is open. Plugging in before opening GEAR avoids the wait entirely.
Outputs that do not quite match
Some interfaces put out a little more on one output than its partner, so a stereo feed arrives at the desk, and in your in-ears, slightly off-centre. The development rig's MiniFuse 4 is about 2 dB hotter on one side with everything at its defaults. The Audio tab's Output Trim evens it out: up to ±6 dB per output, stored against that interface, so another interface plugged in keeps its own. It can also bring the AMS-24's outputs up 2 dB to match the MiniFuse's. Trims are applied before each Output block's limiter, so with that limiter on, a boost cannot clip. The metronome is not trimmed.
If the difference changes as you turn the interface's volume knob, the knob's stereo pot is the cause, not the outputs. Set the trim with the knob where you gig it.
A room that needs EQ
A boomy hall or a bright, bare room wants the same correction on every preset. The Global EQ on the System tab (full version) is one Parametric EQ over every preset, on the outputs you choose: take 3 dB out at 200 Hz for the front-of-house pair, leave the in-ear feed alone, and switch it off again tomorrow without having touched a preset. The Grid shows GLOBAL EQ while it is on.
Choosing an interface in the first place: see Audio interfaces and MIDI controllers. Everything else is in the manual.