Gibson Dark Fire Owner's Manual

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Gibson Dark Fire Manual Information:

This manual for Gibson Dark Fire, given in the PDF format, is available for free online viewing and download without logging on. The guide contains 39 pages, and the size of the file at download is 2.53 Mb. The document type is Owner's Manual.

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Summary of Contents:

[Page 1] Gibson Dark Fire

Gibson Dark Fire Gibson Dark Fire Owner's Manual Owner's Manual Gibson Dark Fire 4.0 manual, page 1 ...

[Page 2] Gibson Dark Fire

Important Safety Instructions We value you as a customer—and want our products to give you an inspiring, and gratifying, experience. So, to insure your safety and protect your investment in the Gibson Dark Fire guitar, please read and follow all ...

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Warranty Protection It is extremely important to us that you are satisfied with Dark Fire. Register it and activate your warranty protection by mailing the warranty card included with Dark Fire to Gibson USA, Department W, P.O. Box 100087, Nashvill...

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warranty. Note, however, that some states and/or countries do not allow the exclusion or limitation of implied warranties, so this paragraph may not apply to you. In particular, if you purchased your product outside of the United States, contact y...

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Introduction: Welcome to Dark Fire Dark Fire is the world's most technologically-advanced guitar. Its features include:  Second-generation Robot Tuning Technology TM for automatic, accurate tuning  Instantly selectable choice of tunings ...

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Chapter 1: Dark Fire Essentials Dark Fire's Power Source Dark Fire contains an internal, user-replaceable, rechargeable battery that must be charged to use the Piezo pickup, Chameleon Tone Technology, or Robot Tuning Technology. Using only the...

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 Position/String LEDs. These 10 LEDs surround the MCK's edge. After pulling the MCK out, rotating the knob to a particular LED chooses a specific sound or function.  b# symbol. Rotate the MCK fully counter-clockwise to access this positio...

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Split Magnetic and Piezo Outputs This requires the Robot Guitar II Breakout Box (included). 1. Do not connect the AC adapter to the Breakout Box—that's required only when charging Dark Fire's internal battery. 2. Using the supplied stere...

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Chapter 2: Dark Fire Robot II Tuning Functions To start playing, pull the MCK out. Dark Fire defaults to being ready to tune to standard tuning. The selected Chameleon Tone is Gibson Classic; to indicate this, the MCK Display Matrix alternates bet...

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Manual Powerhead Tuning You can tune Dark Fire’s Powerheads by hand as well as use Robot tuning technology. Caution: Never use a manual or mechanical string winding tool, as this can damage the Powerheads. Also, never attempt to tune the Powerhead...

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2. Momentarily press the center of the MCK's Display Matrix. 3. Dark Fire is now in the standard Robot tuning mode. Proceed as normal—strum the strings, and observe the LEDs to know when Dark Fire is tuned. Selecting a Preset from the Blue Ba...

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1. Pull the MCK out and turn it fully counter-clockwise. The Display Matrix and the b# symbol will shine blue, because Dark Fire’s default Bank is the Blue Bank. 2. Press the center of the MCK's Display Matrix momentarily (don't press ha...

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Chapter 3: Dark Fire Chameleon Tone Technology About Chameleon Tone Technology Dark Fire uses pickup coil switching techniques (and onboard EQ) to create eight iconic guitar sounds from the onboard magnetic pickups. Because Dark Fire doesn't u...

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String LED Tone Burstbucker P90H Phase with both on E Gibson Classic both coils north coil in phase A Blues both coils north coil in phase D Funky both coils* north coil in phase G Twang both coils** north coil in phase B Acou...

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2. To change magnetic pickup options, rotate the MCK to the Peg LED. Press momentarily on the MCK's Display Matrix to toggle between two states:  Magnetic pickup parametric EQ active. The Pickup symbol is blue, Peg flashes blue.  Magneti...

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 All LEDs (except for the Pickup and Guitar symbols) switch off, and all unneeded hardware powers down to save energy.  The MCK reverts to being a standard tone control.  The RIP (if used) will communicate with Dark Fire, if Dark Fire is n...

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switched on and its EQ is switched off. If you’re using the Breakout Box, the Acoustic jack carries this signal. 5. Rotate the MCK to the G position to select the “Twang” tone. The Display Matrix alternates between showing a white T (for “...

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 The position of the transducer (pickup) between the nut and bridge  The pickup characteristics (coil windings, wire, magnets, etc.)  Guitar construction details, including wood type  Post-processing of the guitar (e.g., the amp you use, ...

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Chapter 4: Battery and Power Management Dark Fire’s power source is an on-board, rechargeable, Lithium Ion (Li-Ion) 7.4V battery. Dark Fire can tune itself up to 500 times on a single charge, and recharges in about 70 minutes. Caution: Because t...

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Charge Strength Display Disconnect power from the charger. To check the battery charge while in any Bank: 1. If the MCK isn’t already pulled out, pull it out and turn it to the C LED. 2. Press on the MCK’s Display Matrix for more than 2 seconds. ...

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Optimizing Battery Life Proper care extends the battery’s life, keeps it operating at optimum efficiency, and preserves the highest possible storage capacity. Please observe the following.  Charge the battery fully before using Dark Fire. Even ...

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Chapter 5: String Changing with Robot II Technology Because each key turns extremely slowly when tuned by hand, Dark Fire includes three modes to speed up, and automate, the string-changing process. Reminder: Do not use manual or mechanically-power...

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In this mode, Dark Fire automatically repeats the tuning process because new strings are being tuned. Note: A string LED may shine solid white in this mode due to signal anomalies. This is not a problem; proceed normally. Single String Up Mode This...

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Chapter 6: Advanced Tuning Options You can create your own custom alternate tuning presets, and store them in one of the three preset tuning banks. Although this overwrites the factory preset in that location, you can always revert to the factory d...

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4. Turn the MCK counter-clockwise until the b# symbol shines blue. The Display Matrix dots will also shine blue, because Dark Fire is in the Blue Bank. 5. Press the MCK's Display Matrix momentarily and the Display Matrix dot's will shine g...

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Alternate Tuning Tricks You may fret single strings while tuning, and here are some examples of how to use this technique. Note: It's important to fret the strings very accurately, and strum gently and precisely—especially when frequencies a...

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Chapter 7: Setup Mode Dark Fire defaults to settings that are well-suited to the vast majority of players. However, it is possible to change many of these defaults via Setup Mode. The general procedure is to enter Setup Mode, choose a function, th...

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10.To exit Setup Mode, push the MCK back in. The new value you selected for the function will remain as set until you change it again by selecting it individually in Setup Mode, or restore the Factory Defaults in Setup Mode. The following set of t...

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Function 4 Parametric EQ status: Sets up PEQ status Default = 1 Value Result Clickstream 0 PEQ never switches on automatically and must be switched on manually 4 § 0 § 1 On startup, switches on PEQ automatically 4 § 1 § Note: When set to 0, you h...

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Function 14 Default tuning: Select default tuning on startup Default = 0 Value Result Clickstream 0 Standard EADGBe 14 § 0 § 18 Red Bank e 14 § 18 § Note: If Function 2 is set to 1, load your favorite tuning into Red Bank e and use function 14 to...

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Function 101 Reset tuning config data: Resets to standard tuning, default precision, etc. Result Clickstream Step 1 Do the clickstream on the right, then rotate the MCK fully counter-clockwise 101 § Step 2 Press the Display Matrix momentarily, then ...

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Function 107 Reset PEQ settings: Resets all PEQ data Result Clickstream Step 1 Do the clickstream on the right, then rotate the MCK fully counter-clockwise 107 § Step 2 Press the Display Matrix momentarily, then wait for the red “?” to appear St...

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Appendix A: Setup Mode Service Procedures There are additional setup mode functions for servicing that follow the same procedure as the setup functions described in Chapter 7. Caution: The following setup functions are servicing procedures, and are...

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Function 24 Piezo PU (right channel) PEQ settings: Configure EQ gain Default depends on sound Result Clickstream Configure gain for the magnetic pickups' 4-band PEQ 24 § coil configuration number § band number § gain data Example: To conf...

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Appendix B: Dark Fire Electronics Block Diagram This diagram indicates signal flow within Dark Fire's electronics. Note that the magnetic pickups and Piezo pickup have their own equalizers, and that the Piezo blend circuit is post-equalizer. I...

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Appendix C: Troubleshooting If you encounter problems with Dark Fire, Gibson recommends that you take it to an authorized service center. Although there are some procedures you can try yourself, be careful—if you have any doubt about your ability...

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1. On the back of the guitar, take off the back plate nearest the output jack. The battery is on the left in this picture. 2. Locate the battery and disconnect the red wire. 3. Wait one minute and reconnect the wire. 4. Make sure the battery is in i...

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The string LEDs are flashing white, and tuning doesn't work at all. A white flashing string LED indicates a short circuit. The strings carry power and data to the neck, so even if only one string is touching a hardware part (bridge, tailpiece, ...

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Appendix D: Dark Fire Cheat Sheet Chameleon Tone Options String LED Tone String LED Tone E Gibson B Acoustic A Texas Blues E L5 D Funky arrow Hard Rock G Twang b# Metal MCK Primary Functions Different functions are available from the MCK, depending ...