Overload question

[F_cksia]

Hey

Doing my guitarparts works best if I'm alone in my room, I've discovered. The problem is, I can't bring also a guitar amp there too. I only want to record clean & distortion guitars, so I decided to do the following:

Clean: Just go direct (Tascam 244 Portastudio), Input level at Line (low).
Dist: same, but a input level at Mic (full open)

Now because of the overload, I HAVE got a (F_cked up) Distortion sound, but it sounds just good enough.

But my question is: does this harm my equipment? I know that you're doing almost the same with a quitar amp, but aren't there some protection-things in too?
Normally if I see a red overload-indicator I think that's not good for the sound, but also not good for the equipment. Is that true?

Thanks,
Maarten.

[vox]

If you mean that you are getting your distortion by plugging the guitar straight in to the PortaStudio and then turning the input level of the mic pre all the way up until it distorts - this is probably not a good idea, I dont think the Tascam was designed to handle those input levels for an extended period.

If you have a distortion pedal you can plug that in directly and use that for the distortion, with a little EQ adjustment it should sound ok and probably better that the overdriven PortaStudio pre.

The best ways to record direct are with a SansAmp, or a Pod.

[crosstudio]

why can't you bring the amp in the same room?

if the amp needs to be in a different room, what i'd been doing is putting the mic'd amp (fender hotrod deville) in an adjacent room. it's loud enough that i can hear it even though it's muffled. if for some reason i need to here it in the mix i monitor it along with any prerecorded tracks.

[F_cksia]

The problem is the size of the amp. It doesn't fit in my door-opening....

But anyway thanks for all the reply's.

I decided to spend some money for a dist. pedal.

Thanx

Maarten.

[sjoko2]

It won't cause damage if you only use it for a little while, but consistantly .. not a good idea, and it won't sound all that great either. Options:
-Save up for that paddle
-Perhaps consider saving up for a Line6 AmpFarm, so you can get loads of sounds all at the perfect level.
-Consider buying a THD Hotplate, which allows you to use your amphead without the speakers, so your amp functions as a preamp, the HotPlate providing the load for the speakers.