Rig Tutorial — Stage Setup
Real tube amp, modern switching. The four-cable method puts your drives, wahs and compressors in front of the DVL-1's preamp and your delays, reverbs and modulation after it — inside the amp's effects loop, where they stay clean instead of getting smeared by 100 watts of EL34 gain. Here's exactly how the whole rig goes together on a stage.
Four cables, one round trip. The guitar signal leaves the Tone Master Pro twice and comes back once.
The Tone Master Pro runs one serial chain: Input → blocks → Output. When you place a Loop block
in that chain, the signal physically leaves at SEND and returns at RETURN. So to put the
DVL-1's preamp inside your effects chain, the amp has to sit inside the loop block:
Loop 1 Send → amp input, amp FX Send → Loop 1 Return. Whatever is left at the end of the
chain then exits an Output jack and lands on the amp's FX Return, driving the power section.
Wire it the other way around and you've built a feedback loop, not a rig.
Every cable terminates on the exact jack you'll be reaching for in a dark backline. Numbers match the connection table below.
Print this, tape it inside your case lid. Cables 2, 3 and 4 are the ones that live inside the Pedal Python.
| From | To | Cable | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guitar output | → | TMP INSTRUMENT | Instrument | Keep it short. This is the only cable that isn't part of the backline run. |
| 2 | TMP LOOP 1 SEND | → | DVL-1 INPUT (front panel) | Instrument | Longest run of the four — it has to reach around to the front of the head. Size it accordingly. |
| 3 | DVL-1 FX LOOP SEND | → | TMP LOOP 1 RETURN | Instrument | Brings the DVL-1's preamp back into the Tone Master Pro. |
| 4 | TMP OUTPUT 2 · LEFT | → | DVL-1 FX LOOP RETURN | Instrument | Output 2 is independent of Output 1, so it can sit at instrument level while the XLRs stay free for FOH. |
| 5 | DVL-1 SPEAKER | → | 2×12 INPUT (rear) | Speaker | Unshielded speaker cable only. Match the rotary impedance selector to the cab. |
| 6 | TMP OUTPUT 1 · XLR | → | FOH / stage box | XLR | Optional. Only useful if the preset carries a cab IR on that path — see the note below. |
| 7 | Mic on the 2×12 | → | FOH / stage box | XLR | This is your primary front-of-house sound. The DVL-1 through the Metropoulos cab is the whole point. |
Do it in this sequence and you'll never plug a live amp into an open speaker jack.
Amp off, standby down. Run cable 5 from a DVL-1 SPEAKER jack to the 2×12, then set the rotary selector to match the cab's impedance. A tube amp run into no load is a repair bill.
Flip LOOP LEVEL to PEDAL −20dB. The Tone Master Pro's loops and outputs run at instrument level for 4CM, and this switch is what makes the two agree. RACK +4dB is for line-level rack gear.
In Global Settings, set Loop 1 and Output 2 to instrument level. Leave Output 1 at line level so the XLRs remain usable for a house feed.
Feed all three Mogami cables through the sleeve before you plug anything in — it's a two-minute job on a table and a twenty-minute job on a dark stage. Label both ends. The sleeve becomes a single 25-foot umbilical from board to backline.
Cable 2 to the DVL-1's INPUT on the front panel. Cable 3 from the amp's FX SEND. Cable 4 into the amp's FX RETURN. Send and return sit right next to each other — check the silkscreen twice.
Cable 2 from LOOP 1 SEND. Cable 3 into LOOP 1 RETURN. Cable 4 from OUTPUT 2 LEFT. Then cable 1: guitar into INSTRUMENT.
Start from an empty preset with no amp and no cab blocks — the DVL-1 is the amp. Place a Loop 1 block in the middle of the chain. Everything before it is your front-end; everything after it lands in the amp's loop.
Tone Master Pro first, then the DVL-1: power on, wait, then standby up. Set your channel with the PULL CH switch on the Channel 2 Gain knob (or the footswitch), pick your mode with the '65/'66 and '68/MOD toggles, and dial the amp exactly as you would without the pedalboard in the picture.
Nine times out of ten, a 4CM rig that sounds thin, noisy or fizzy is a level mismatch — not a bad cable.
The DVL-1's footswitch jack is a 6-pin XLR carrying five functions — channel, '65/'66, '68/Mod,
mid boost and boost. The Tone Master Pro's AMP CTRL jack is a single 1/4" TRS, which is two switch
closures at best and the wrong connector besides.
Use the Metropoulos footswitch for the amp and let the Tone Master Pro handle effects switching. If you want one board controlling both, that's a job for a custom TRS-to-XLR harness or a relay-based switcher — talk to Metropoulos before you build anything that touches those pins.
Because the 4CM preset has no amp or cab block, the raw signal at the Tone Master Pro's outputs is effects only — it will sound thin and buzzy on its own. Your house sound is the microphone on the Metropoulos 2×12.
The XLR feed is worth running anyway as a parallel path with its own cab IR: a silent backup if the amp goes down mid-set, and a useful blend for in-ears. Build it as a separate output path in the preset rather than assuming Output 1 will magically sound like the amp.
Pull cables 3 and 4 and jumper the amp's FX SEND straight to its FX RETURN. If the amp plays, the fault is in the Tone Master Pro's loop block or its placement. If it doesn't, the amp's loop is out of the picture — check cable 2 and the amp input.
Almost always an amp or cab block left in the preset, stacking a model on top of a real amp. Delete them. Second suspect: Output 2 set to line level.
Level mismatch. Confirm LOOP LEVEL is on PEDAL −20dB and that Loop 1 is at instrument level, then trim the loop block's send/return gains to unity by bypass-toggling while you play.
Run the amp and the pedalboard from the same circuit. Try the GND/LIFT switch on the XLR feed. Keep the Pedal Python run away from power cables and lighting rigs — sleeve the audio, route the power separately.
Cables 2 and 4 are swapped, which loops the amp back into itself. Power down and re-check: Loop 1 Send goes to the front panel input; Output 2 goes to the rear FX Return.
Blocks before the Loop 1 block hit the preamp's front end. Blocks after it sit in the amp's loop. If your delay is getting crushed, it's on the wrong side of the loop block.
