Effects Pedals Into Four Track

JoeyNukes said:
Would the result be decent if I just plugged my distortion pedal into a Tascam 4 track?
Click to expand...

Assuming it's a guitar you are wanting to record, if all you have is a pedal and a four track, it'll do the job.


You're not going to get spectacular results, but you might surprise yourself. It will sound like a guitar through a pedal direct to a four track.
 
It'll sound a lot better if you mic up an amp - even a cheap one. The guitars you hear on records are the sound of the amp pushing the air in the room.

You could also try a modeler, like a Line 6 POD, which attempts to simulate the sound of a mic'd up amp.

Get yourself a cheap amp and an SM57 mic and you'll be off to the races! :)
 
I'm asking for more convenience/ease purposes. I have a Line6 TonePort, but it requires a computer which I won't always have, and my amp doesn't have a line out input, so I'm wondering how the results would be.

So if I understand right, it will be decent and not sound like complete garbage?
 
Let's just say that there's no accounting for taste.

What do you think it sounds like? Your ears are the client here.
 
I'm talking, will the sound be exactly the same as the amp (minus whatever effects the amp itself is putting on the sound) or will it clip and sound real crappy and lo-fi?
 
it will only clip if you have the input on the four track set to high, or the output on the pedal too high.

it will deffinetely not sound exactly the same as if it were playing through the amp.

funny i read this thread, i just recorded some stuff real quick, to show someone what his pedal sounds like without an amp, with just a pedal plugged right inot my mixer then to computer, and it did not sound at all like an amp. it actually didnt sound bad per say, but not up too par if you will.

id say instead of asking us whta it sounds like, why dont you just try it? it takes a couple minutes to plug the stuff in and try it out. maybe a few more to dail it all in, but the time you spent typing and waiting for replies could have been sent trying it out.

just experiment and see what it sounds like. like someone else said you are the judge.

and doesnt the pod pedal have anolog outputs?? if so, you could try that too.
 
I don't own a four track yet. I'm considering purchasing one.

And I'm wondering because a TonePort requires a computer, which I won't always have, so I'd like to have some sort of portability.
 
dirtythermos said:
I'm not going to lie to you. It's going to sound real crappy.
Click to expand...

AGREED.
Ive gotten "ok" results running a Digitech GNX4 into the line in of my M610 (then into a firepod). Its actually somewhat surprising what a decent pre will do for direct signals like that. However that was only for getting down some song ideas. I would never use some POS digital effects/amp modeling thing over an actual amp. Ive tried regular pedals into my fire pod, even the line out from my head, and they sounded like shit.
Moral of the story, the results wont be decent, assuming your idea of decent is anywhere near anyone elses
 
I'm not looking for studio quality, I'm just looking for something I can use anywhere that won't end up sounding like somebody vomited into a mic. Just to record some demos or something away from home.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top