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Andy:
Congrats on the lizard purchase!
I had a '93 "original" Chameleon until about 1999 and absolutely loved it -- that thing is absolutely devastating in the studio!
I'm trying to recall some tips and tricks for you ... I suppose the first thing would be to calibrate the HUSH noise reduction to your guitar and the particular patch you're working with. Once you get the hang of the HUSH threshold you should be able to easily dial it in once and forget it for each patch.
I'd suggest really getting to know the preamp section -- the gain structure and EQ of the Chameleon is pretty radical. Play with the gain, Variac, and EQ 'til you're blue in the face. The EQ is parametric, so you can even experiment with different frequency and width/Q settings for each part of the EQ. Find the frequencies that resonate with your instrument (or ones that create interesting clashes) and goose 'em.
After you've gotten a feel for the preamp and some of the basic effects, try playing with some of the more interesting effect parameters, such as the reverb's "delay/dry" balance. You can vary where the reverb goes to have either a wet original signal/dry echoes on one extreme, or dry signal and reverberated echoes in the other. Very cool! Ditto for the pitch-shift ... you can have a dry signal with pitch-shifted reverb, or a pitch-shifted signal with dry reverb.
If you're using the unit as a recording device, you simply _must_ play with the cab emulation parameters, especially "reactance." The secret to amazing recorded tone is hidden away within those parameters.
Above all, I'd just suggest that you never stop tweaking. In five years, I never tired of programming my Chameleon ... there always seemed to be something new in that box! You can cop almost _any_ recorded guitar tone with that unit if you spend enough time with it.
I wish I could remember some more specifics for you. If you have any questions, feel free to drop a line!
Best of luck!
--jr
PS -- one last thing -- don't forget to hook a microphone into it and use it to record some bad-ass Ministry type vocals!
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