Hi,
if i'm conecting a guitar/bass with its pedals into an amp and then using the line output of the amp to conect to the recorder (say a tascam dp 008 or whatever) do i have to conect it to "line" no matter how much noise am i doing?
thank you.
You need to know...
1) What input signal level (in millivolts or dB) the recording device requires for a given track levels. You should aim for around -18dBFS as an average but of course the recorder can have a variety of ways to display this.
2) The output level (in mV or dB, again) of the amplifier's line output and at what output level that is given. For instance, the amp specc' might give "+4dBu" that's about a volt. But at what amp volume?
You might assume for a "50W" amp that output is for 50W but then amp makers tell porkies about power outputs!
There are in any case two basic ways to get a "line out" from an amp.
One is to take it from somewhere pre master volume. This will then only be under the influence of gain and tone controls (might even be pre TCs or "emulated") .
Other, mainly older designs, took an attenuated feed from the speaker output where of course the level and tone is totally under all amp control.
Phew? Well, the good news is you can almost certainly just suck it and see! If the amp HAS a line out (or an FX or/and EM' out) just connect, get a decent level/tone going and try recording.
Dave.
