In some embodiments, a non-transitory processor-readable medium storing code representing instructions to be executed by a processor comprises code to cause the processor to determine, during a calibration of a coherent optical transmitter, a set of parameters associated with each tributary channel by sending a first signal to a digital signal processor (DSP) to adjust a scale factor of that tributary channel. The scale factor is associated with a tap characteristic of a finite impulse response (FIR) filter of the DSP. The code further causes the processor to determine a power imbalance between two tributary channels based on the set of parameters associated with each tributary channel. The code further causes the processor to send a second signal to the coherent optical transmitter to adjust a set of operational settings of the coherent optical transmitter based on the power imbalance and the set of parameters associated with each tributary channel.