Guitar Tone Help Critique

Hi,

Can you elaborate on what you are going for as far as tone? Also, do you mind if I ask what your using?
The tone in the clip is.. i dunno.. kind of lifeless. It doens't sound to me like its obviously missing anything.. just the fundamental harmonic content is just.. mehh..
 
The reason is probably because I direct cable from the amp with half distortion to the computer to record... Then I use Reaper to add VST and EQ...

I know that's not the right way to do it, but, at this point at home I can't microphone the amp to record...

Also, I tried clean signal to computer distortion VST, but, the amp distortion sounds better than the VST distortion...
 
What vst were you trying?
Your right a direct signal usually sounds poor although usually sizzly, this doesn't really.

Going direct is probably not gonna work reasonably. My suggestion is to try some different vst amp Sims. There are a lot of free ones. Do you have an interface that you go into your computer with? Or just straight into a sound card or something?
 
Thank you for taking the time to help cakewalkgg... :)

I'd love to mic an amp, but, my neighbors would not appreciate that... :facepalm:

To answer your question - here's my detailed setup of guitar tone:

Jackson Rhodes JS30RR 2 CVR2 Humbuckers - set with Treble pickup only

Rocktron R50C Rampage Amp - set with distortion gain = 10 o clock, Bass/Mid/Teble = Max, Presence = 10 o clock, reverb and chorus = off

Line out to Behringer U Control UCA202 to computer with Reaper DAW

VST used:

High Gain Amplifier (BTE Audio) Juicy 77 - set with everything max and Vintage British 4x12 and Thump 487 Hz

Kuassa Amplification Lite v 1.0 - set clean and everything max and cab interior

3 ReaFir EQs - 1 filters out a squealing whine in the guitar tone around 1400 - 2200 Hz. The other 2 boost various Mids and Bass according to my ears...

And that's it... :)
 
It sounds very thin, there is too much distortion which is what is making it sound thin, brittle and harsh. The problem area is at 3-5k
 
ok.. IMHO i think your main options are as follows

1. Get something like

Amazon.com: Hosa Cable GPR101 RCA To 1/4 Inch TS Adaptor - 2 Pack: Musical Instruments

so you can plug your guitar right into the Behringer and use amp sims. Google LePou and acmebargig and you'll find good stuff. There is a lot out there.. Im hearing great stuff about S-Gear for less than extreme high gain stuff. 15 day demo

S-Gear

2. You can try to get a clean signal (clean as possible no dist or eq) from the amp to your DAW and see how these amp sims sound. I think the signal will have some pre-amp color to it and it may not really work well with the amp sims. Generally the amp sims just need the sound from the guitar.. some folks put pedals in front so it might work out.

3. you can record the distorted sound from your amp but you need a cabinet simulator to put on your audio track. You can demo recabinet (google it) and see how well that idea works.. for free you can google cabinet impulse files and get some good impulses. I believe there are some you can search the REAPER forums for and load the impulse files into reaverb (in reaper) and that will act as the cabinet simulation..

4. you can spend a bit of cash and get something from the line6 pod or similar setup... where an external box does the amp/cab/room/mic modeling.

5. you could build some kind of guitar fort that encloses you amp so you can mic it


In order to use the amp sims in my opinion, you have to have a pretty speedy PC. I have an old core 2 duo box and no matter how much i tweak settings, I cant play/record it in real time without some noticable latency with pretty much any amp sim.

There is kind of 2 camps here.. those who want to record a DI signal so they can fiddle with the amps and tones during mixing and those who want to record the tone during tracking. There is some tricky ways to do both at the same time usually.

For me... I generally prefer to commit to the basic tone (amp) before tracking.. you have to commit to it sometime. The only thing I generally don't record is time based effects (delay reverb, modulators) because you can't smoothly punch in record if your printing the fx.

So at least for now, I'm using a Pod HD unit to do guitar tones.
 
You Guys are awesome! Thanks! :thumbs up:

I removed the boost between 3000-5000...

I also added a Guitar Hack JJ FRED45-HALF impulse exterior to the Kuassa amp sim VST...

And this is what happened ---> View attachment TestTone2.mp3

I know I'll never get professional, studio quality like this, but, I'm just trying to get the best tone I can within current limitation I have... :guitar:
 
I didn't notice a ton of difference in the two tones. And I don't know exactly what you're going for, so take this with a grain of salt. But the tone is a little thin - it could use some more low end. And I'm not sure you dialed in enough gain. It's just barely distorting.

This could be exactly what you want. Without knowing what the target is, it's hard to tell if you hit it.
 
As a guitarist this is my advice: use a direct box (Radial ProDI) to record directly from your guitar to your computer. Clean, without any plugins. Then,when your neighbors are out, use a re-amp tool (Radial ProRMP) to pass the clean signal to a real amp and record that. There's nothing like a real distortion coming from an amplifier, even if this is a small one.
 
killthepixelnow said:
As a guitarist this is my advice: use a direct box (Radial ProDI) to record directly from your guitar to your computer. Clean, without any plugins. Then,when your neighbors are out, use a re-amp tool (Radial ProRMP) to pass the clean signal to a real amp and record that. There's nothing like a real distortion coming from an amplifier, even if this is a small one.
Click to expand...


Frpm the OP

"at this point at home I can't microphone the amp to record..."

I don't think this is the direction hes looking to go.

What guitar tone do you monitor when you are tracking like this?

Also, I have heard plenty of unpleasant guitar tones from mic'd amps.. big and small, and particularily in bedroom/inexperienced scenerios that I would trade in a heartbeat for a decent amp model. Micing an amp doens't in any way mean that you will suddenly get a great tone.

I'm not saying to not mic your amp... if you can then go for it. I got the impression from your posts that that isn't really an option unless you do something to isolate the sound.

good luck
 
Yes, sorry I forgot to mention the guitar tone I kinda like: a cross anywhere from KISS live in concert to a combination of Nightwish/Trans Siberian Orchestra... If I had to use words: clear, strong, not too fuzzy/fizzy, growl distortion, cool sounding palm mute, powerful yet smooth... Maybe with a touch of Avenged Sevenfold...

I tried the UM300 recently due to hearing it on YouTube, but, it didn't sound as good when I got it home. Perhaps it's partly the guitar itself. Or me... :)
 
cakewalk: yes, like you I notice the delay when trying to play through computer vst... So, the beringer umc thing I use has a switch that allows Me to bypass and listen live... That's what I do while recording guitar playing to a drum track for timing accurate... :)
 
JediMasterCK said:
Yes, sorry I forgot to mention the guitar tone I kinda like: a cross anywhere from KISS live in concert to a combination of Nightwish/Trans Siberian Orchestra... If I had to use words: clear, strong, not too fuzzy/fizzy, growl distortion, cool sounding palm mute, powerful yet smooth... Maybe with a touch of Avenged Sevenfold...
Click to expand...

Then I think you need more low end to the sound. And while you're doing that, you'll need to watch out that you don't simultaneously dial in too much low mid-range. It's probably not going to be as easy as it sounds. But keep at it anyway. :)
 
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