Audio interface for reamping

R

ririya

New member
Hey all i've always used a line6 toneport gx to do my home recordings, and always used vst plugins, but now im thinking off doing some reamping. However this interface doesnt have an output, so i need to find some other way to do it.

Which affordable solution do you guys recommend? should i get another audio interface? Which one would be a good and affordable one? Is there another way of doing it?

Thanks!
 
Get a decent interface. You not only need an output, but also a microphone input. The PodStudio UX1 is decent and cheap. Presonus AudioBox is also.
 
Thx for the replies. Yeah I know i need a reamp box too. I'm just trying to figure out whether i need a new interface. A friend of mine has an alesis IO2. Would that be good enough?
 
ririya said:
Thx for the replies. Yeah I know i need a reamp box too. I'm just trying to figure out whether i need a new interface. A friend of mine has an alesis IO2. Would that be good enough?
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Yup, basically an M-Audio M track Mk 1 and they seem to get a good rep.

Dave.
 
Hey all, i got a great deal on an used Mbox mini 3 and i bought it. But now i realize its only got monitor outputs, not real line outputs and they are completely different things. As a result, the signal going through the reamp is very low power and I'm not being able to use it properly. Does anyone have another good recommendation for an audio interface with a real line ouput? Im going to return the mbox and get a better one.
 
ririya said:
Hey all, i got a great deal on an used Mbox mini 3 and i bought it. But now i realize its only got monitor outputs, not real line outputs and they are completely different things. As a result, the signal going through the reamp is very low power and I'm not being able to use it properly. Does anyone have another good recommendation for an audio interface with a real line ouput? Im going to return the mbox and get a better one.
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Are you sure we are all on the same hymn sheet here Rirlya? Sending a re-amp signal to a guitar amp requires very little voltage. -30dBV, about 30mV should easily be enough to produce full output from any guitar amp worthy of the name.

Then, a re-amp box can be as simple as a pot in a tin most usually with some means of breaking the earth path. A very modest, 1:1 audio transformer is the usual method.

Can you post a diagram of what you are trying to do?

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
Are you sure we are all on the same hymn sheet here Rirlya? Sending a re-amp signal to a guitar amp requires very little voltage. -30dBV, about 30mV should easily be enough to produce full output from any guitar amp worthy of the name.

Then, a re-amp box can be as simple as a pot in a tin most usually with some means of breaking the earth path. A very modest, 1:1 audio transformer is the usual method.

Can you post a diagram of what you are trying to do?

Dave.
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Hey dave. So, i have already pre recorded a dry clean guitar on sonar 8.5 and now i need to reamp the signal through a half stack and re record it with a mic. The connection i made so far is just: mbox left monitor output -> reamp input -> reamp output -> amplifier input. But the problem is i get a constant high pitch hum and the signal seems much lower than when i just plug the guitar right into the amp. The tone is completely different, with no bottom end and much less distortion. It seems like something is wrong. One thing i dunno if im doing right is im not using an xlr cable for the reamp input, im using an instrument cable and a xlr adapter. But ive seen some other people with the same problem in other forums and people said the problem was the interface's output.
 
ririya said:
Hey dave. So, i have already pre recorded a dry clean guitar on sonar 8.5 and now i need to reamp the signal through a half stack and re record it with a mic. The connection i made so far is just: mbox left monitor output -> reamp input -> reamp output -> amplifier input. But the problem is i get a constant high pitch hum and the signal seems much lower than when i just plug the guitar right into the amp. The tone is completely different, with no bottom end and much less distortion. It seems like something is wrong. One thing i dunno if im doing right is im not using an xlr cable for the reamp input, im using an instrument cable and a xlr adapter. But ive seen some other people with the same problem in other forums and people said the problem was the interface's output.
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Aha! The thot plikens!

"Monitor Outputs
These outputs support balanced TRS or unbalanced
TS 1/4-inch connections. To monitor
your mix, these outputs can be connected to a
mixing board, directly to a monitoring system
such as a powered speakers or a power amp, or
another destination."

It would seem that these outputs are in fact balanced and therefore there could be a problem feeding then to an unbalance input.

There is another clue "hum". This is almost certainly a hum (aka "earth, ground") loop caused by the interface and amp sharing two earth paths.

Try feeding the amp from ONE channel of the headphone output (the tip for preff") and if you still get hum disconnect the signal earth on the headphone feed cable.

An even better solution; look for "Earth loop suppressor" on Google.

Got to go out now. Have a good read around.
Ground Loop Isolator: Sound & Vision | eBay
Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
Aha! The thot plikens!

"Monitor Outputs
These outputs support balanced TRS or unbalanced
TS 1/4-inch connections. To monitor
your mix, these outputs can be connected to a
mixing board, directly to a monitoring system
such as a powered speakers or a power amp, or
another destination."

It would seem that these outputs are in fact balanced and therefore there could be a problem feeding then to an unbalance input.

There is another clue "hum". This is almost certainly a hum (aka "earth, ground") loop caused by the interface and amp sharing two earth paths.

Try feeding the amp from ONE channel of the headphone output (the tip for preff") and if you still get hum disconnect the signal earth on the headphone feed cable.

An even better solution; look for "Earth loop suppressor" on Google.

Got to go out now. Have a good read around.
Ground Loop Isolator: Sound & Vision | eBay
Dave.
Click to expand...


thx dave! just to be sure, i need an unbalanced input into the reamp? what i also got is that the unbalanced output and the hum are uncorrelated issues, but both could be causing my problem is that right?

i did another test here, instead of plugging the reamp output into the amp, i plugged back into the mbox input. The idea is too replicate the recorded clean signal. what i found is that the reamped signal is about 6 db lower, more noisy, and the bass is greatly reduced. Does reamping usually suck the tone? Cause if thats the case, all im doing is pointless. Otherwise, there must be something wrong.
 
ririya said:
thx dave! just to be sure, i need an unbalanced input into the reamp? what i also got is that the unbalanced output and the hum are uncorrelated issues, but both could be causing my problem is that right?

i did another test here, instead of plugging the reamp output into the amp, i plugged back into the mbox input. The idea is too replicate the recorded clean signal. what i found is that the reamped signal is about 6 db lower, more noisy, and the bass is greatly reduced. Does reamping usually suck the tone? Cause if thats the case, all im doing is pointless. Otherwise, there must be something wrong.
Click to expand...

Yes, there is something wrong. What doe the re-amp signal sound like on headphones? If that is clean and fairly well balanced frequency wise* then it is the connection regime to the amp that is causing the issue. I am sorry to have to say this (yet again!) but home noob recordists go along fine so long as they can use of the shelf setups but once they get into anything the least bit "experimental" their lack of basic electronic nonce bites them on their collective bums......Frigging and jigging with audio kit is second nature to me, been soldering and making cables, "specials" for 50 years but I know to you it is a Strange Land! It is however one you will have to learn the geography of if you are to proceed.

*The balance of the raw, re amp signal might be a bit lacking? This is after all one the reasons for the technique!

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
Yes, there is something wrong. What doe the re-amp signal sound like on headphones? If that is clean and fairly well balanced frequency wise* then it is the connection regime to the amp that is causing the issue. I am sorry to have to say this (yet again!) but home noob recordists go along fine so long as they can use of the shelf setups but once they get into anything the least bit "experimental" their lack of basic electronic nonce bites them on their collective bums......Frigging and jigging with audio kit is second nature to me, been soldering and making cables, "specials" for 50 years but I know to you it is a Strange Land! It is however one you will have to learn the geography of if you are to proceed.

*The balance of the raw, re amp signal might be a bit lacking? This is after all one the reasons for the technique!

Dave.
Click to expand...

Yeah thats what i said, theres already some tone loss in the raw reamped signal. I wonder if this is due the famous impedance mismatch problem. Could my precorded signal not be good enough? But i dont see how, it sounds perfect to me, and sounds good with plugins.
 
ririya said:
Yeah thats what i said, theres already some tone loss in the raw reamped signal. I wonder if this is due the famous impedance mismatch problem. Could my precorded signal not be good enough? But i dont see how, it sounds perfect to me, and sounds good with plugins.
Click to expand...
No! You do not have an impedance mismatch. The only impedance matched kit we ever see in audio is S/PDIF, 75 source to 75R sink (and even that is not critical!)

Try re amping from the headphone socket and lose the screen if it hums.

Do you a drawing tomm'

Dave.
 
Hey i think i got it a lot better now! two things helped a lot, reamping from the headphone output and changing the output cable to a patch cable. I think i get the best tone from the headphone output direct into the amp, but then i get an insane high pitch hum. I think there's some tone loss just by using the reamp box, but maybe thats the best trade off.
 
Now that i think about it, i think much of the tone loss is due to cable loss. Pre recording + interface to reamp box + reamp box to amp = 3x the cable length. Comparing this to just a cable going into the amp is simply not fair.
 
Are you using a re-amp box with some sort of transformer in it??? I tried all kinds of shit before just buying a Radial RMP, & it solved all my noise/hum problems....I really like my Radial box, but you can buy a DIY kit to save a few bucks if you're into that sort of thing...I just spent the $100 & forgot about it myself...

On an interface recommendation, I have a Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6, which has extra line outputs (not including my main monitor outs), & I use one of these connected to my re-amp box...My signal from my re-amp box is a little lower than plugging straight into the amp, so I bump the level in my daw up just a little (I use Reaper, & use an extra hardware output for this, so I have total control)...Another forum member here has the same re-amper, & his output is a little hotter, so he lowers the signal (the same way I'm assuming)...

If/when you decide on another interface, try to find one that has more than 2 outputs...

Hope this helps...
 
Thx for the tip. Im also using the radial rmp. Do you also notice any tone loss compared to pluging into the amp or just the gain drop? I think im doing fine with the mbox mini after all i got a decent tone, although its no the same i expected from di into the amp.
Another question do you use the max level for the rmp output ? Thats what im doing yo get a decent signal
 
I don't have any tone loss, the signal is just a little low compared to plugging straight into the amp...I keep the volume on the RMP all the way up, all the time...You might try to flip the ground switch on the RMP to see if any noise/hum goes away....

I keep my track fader the di is on at "0", & the pan centered...If you lower the fader, your signal will lower also...Same thing with the pan, instead of the signal hitting "up the middle", it'll be lop-sided, & the result will be a lower signal going into the RMP....

I don't know anything about Sonar, I use Reaper, but there should be a way to get your signal level to the same as if you were plugging straight into the amp...I've done a lot of test/trial runs, & with my setup, I have to bump the hardware output (routing in Reaper, which sends the di signal to the RMP) about +3 db...YMMV, as another member here using the same daw, re-amp box, but different interface (I think), has to lower his signal a bit...

Not sure, but you may need to get another interface that has more outputs than the 2 mains, my interface has 1/2 or 3/4, I use 1/2 for my monitors, & use 3/4 (actually just 4, using a TRS to XLR cable) with mine...The reason I mention the extra outputs, on my interface, the main volume knob controls the output to 1/2, if I had to use these, I'd have to find "the spot" on the dial to match what the interface is putting out, to what a guitar would....

Here's a pic of the back of my interface (which at the time I bought, I didn't even use real amps, & had never thought about re-amping...I lucked out on this...):



I've also read that a shorter cable going from the RMP to the amp helps, but I've never had any problems using a 10' cable myself....

Hope this helps...
 
I actually just re-read your OP, & yeah dude, you need another interface...You'll need one with mic inputs to use real mics dude....
 
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