Best Way For Me to Record Guitar Without a Mic?

F

Fault

New member
Hey guys.

I have a Fast Track Pro, a Line 6 Spider Amp and an M-Audio Nova. I have two roommates in a small apartment and getting peace and quiet to record guitar with my mic. What is the best way for me to get a good sound without micing my amp. I am willing to invest money into whatever you guys suggest, to a point obviously. What will I need? An Active DI box? A better Audio Interface?

Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks for any help!
 
Sounds like you need to record silently?
If so with your present gear you could either:
1) Take your Spider direct out and plug that into the Fast Track.
2) Plug your guitar directly into the Fast Track and apply amp/cab plugins and effects from within your DAW.
 
Dave Matthews said:
Sounds like you need to record silently?
If so with your present gear you could either:
1) Take your Spider direct out and plug that into the Fast Track.
2) Plug your guitar directly into the Fast Track and apply amp/cab plugins and effects from within your DAW.
Click to expand...

Which method would you recommend? Also, would you recommend investing in a DI box if I decide to plug directly in to my audio interface? If I wanted to record silently in the best way possible, what type of gear would you recommend?
 
Depends on what you want as a finished product/recording I suppose.
If you really like/love the Spider sounds/effects then try the direct out first. It may just give you what you want as a trial.
Interesting about the DI box idea as I am currently considering this option as well. These devices are usually connected between the amp output and the speaker. The big thing about silent recording using this method is that many DI boxes just pass through to the speaker which means you are still making noise in the room but recording off of the speaker emulator in the DI box.
If you want silent recording with something like a JDX then you need to add a loadbox to take the place of a speaker. Running a tube amp with no load will kill your amp in a heartbeat.
Some DI boxes come with a loadbox for just this purpose (as well as letting you crank your amp to soak the tubes but give lower volume), these would include:
Koch Loadbox
Weber MASS
Palmer PDI-03/PDA-04
Rivera Rockcrusher
Radial Headload
Torpedo Live
etc...

Many people have used the Palmer in studio and on tour (Rush, Joe Bonamassa etc) in order to have consistency at every gig.
It is/was the standard for a long time.
That being said it's a speaker "emulator". You get what you get, and it's probably not what you are used to hearing.
Lots of people are are now either combining a mic'd amp with these DI signals, or just using the DI output with Impulse Response plugins in their DAW.
So... try the output of the Spider first. If that doesn't fill your boots then post what makes you crazy and maybe try a DI/loadbox.
What software are you using to record?
 
I think that this is exactly what amp sims are designed for. I'd say buy a copy of Amplitube and crank out some pretty convincing guitar tones without making any more noise than your pick hitting the strings.

Your Fast Track Pro has instrument-level inputs, so just set the front-panel switch to the correct position and you're set. It'll set the proper impedance and input level range. No direct box needed.
 
Ummm...DI boxes are connected between the guitar and the amp, not the amp and speaker.

If your guitar has passive pickups (the guitar does not have a battery), then I would recommend an active DI box.

If you have active pickups, like EMG's, then a passive DI will work just fine.
 
Farview said:
Ummm...DI boxes are connected between the guitar and the amp, not the amp and speaker.

If your guitar has passive pickups (the guitar does not have a battery), then I would recommend an active DI box.

If you have active pickups, like EMG's, then a passive DI will work just fine.
Click to expand...
The ones I was referring to go between the amp and speaker, like these...

Radial Headload Prodigy? - Combination load box and DI

RockCrusher | Rivera Amplification

PDI03L16 Palmer MI PDI 03 - Speaker Simulator with Loadbox 16 Ohms

For OP's desire to record silently.
 
Using attenuators to totally kill a speaker is just going to result in some nasty sounding very compressed guitar tones. Attenuators are great for knocking a few db off of a raging loud amp. But to take the powered output of an amp, attenuate it to nothing, and use that to feed a line output sounds like a recipe for really uninspiring tone. Or using one for a dummy load just so you can feed a simulated speaker output from the amp...same thing. I can't imagine that would generate a satisfactory tone at all.

A power attenuator for a solid-state amp would be pretty pointless anyways. And with the OP's Line6 Spider (*shudder*), a dummy load would be pointless as well. It already has a simulated speaker output.

I still think he'd be best off plugging direct into his audio interface and using an amp sim like Amplitube, POD Farm, or Guitar Rig, or one of the myriad others. They're not perfect, but they'd make for a much better guitar tone than a line out from an amp.
 
Those are load boxes with a DI feature. It isn't generally what people are talking about when they are talking about DI's.
 
i use a palmer pdi-09 on my amp....
works great.

maybe another solution:
Radial JDX

really designed for tube amp outputs....
but i can run my pedal board directly into the palmer,
so why not?
 
GONZO-X said:
i use a palmer pdi-09 on my amp....
works great.

maybe another solution:
Radial JDX

really designed for tube amp outputs....
but i can run my pedal board directly into the palmer,
so why not?
Click to expand...

I'm considering the Radial Headload or Rivera Rockcrusher myself, or maybe a Palmer PDI-03. That way I can use the loadbox to silently record/play my part, then either trash the DI recording or keep it along with me doing my part again on my mic'd PRS amp for double tracking.
 
I wouldn't even use an amp. DI your guitar straight through the interface and into an amp sim/ir loader.
 
The Fast Track Pro already IS a "DI" box!

What is more it has inserts on the back and so you can pick off the guitar signal if you want and feed that to the Line 6. You can even power the FTP from a wall rat (9V) as a "standalone" pre amp/S/PDIF converter. The FTP was quite advanced for its time and included features not seen on many budget AIs now like MIDI and digital I/O. Mine worked fine on Win 7, not sure w'appen past that. Son still uses it in France.

So, the FTP (with some modelling software) will work fine. If it needed anything, an outboard headphone amp would be a wise investment. The Berry HA400 is great for the money and has 4 outs so mates can listen or even jam along!

Dave.
 
What kind of music are you playing? There are a ton of great free amp sims out there. Check out LePou plug-ins, the high gain sims from Ignite, and the stuff from Nick Crow (like the 8505). Make sure you get a cab sim as well and some good quality cabinet IR impulses and a loader (LePou makes a good one but I like the one from Ignite better, it's called NadIR). A lot of these sims have a clean/crunch and high gain setting. LePou has quite a few different sims modeled after real-world amps. The best part is none of them cost a dime.
 
Great thread!
Spent last night playing with Boogex by Voxengo as a plugin for my DAW. This might change my mind about the loadbox/DI.
Thanks to all the suggestions!
 
Dave Matthews said:
Great thread!
Spent last night playing with Boogex by Voxengo as a plugin for my DAW. This might change my mind about the loadbox/DI.
Thanks to all the suggestions!
Click to expand...

That's a good one. Like XC said, Lepou makes some great, free amps too. Don't forget to get a cab as well. I am downloading some Ignite stuff at the moment, based on the above post. I recently bought Amplitube 4 with a Mesa Booige bundle and am very happy with it. But go the free route for awhile until you know what sounds you want or to see if there's a sound you aren't getting with what you have.
 
I'm going to vote not using the amp as well.

I'm also going to vote for buying an amp sim. The free stuff is ok but TBH if you are new at this the purchased stuff is easier to use.

So my recommendations for paid software in order of what I think sounds the best:

1. Positive Grid's BIAS amp sim
2. Amplitube 4
3. Guitar Rig 5 pro

If you are feeling a little more adventurous and ambitous

1. Thermionic 5 + Recabinet 5. You need to have both though, Thermionic is just an amp sim and recabinet is just a guitar cab sim so they go together.

The nice thing about Kazrog though is the ability to customize the package, Shane McFee is a stand up dude as well.
 
This is going to sound ridiculous especially on a recording message board, but set your amp up at a lout talking volume, sit your cell phone down with the mic area uncovered and raisd off of whatever it is sitting on, and use the voice recorder. Then just dump the file onto your computer and dump it into your DAW you might need to change the file type. ITunes can do this easily.
 
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