Solved Help me

  • Thread starter Thread starter danny.guitar
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danny.guitar

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My amp sucks. My electric guitar sucks. I mean it really sounds like shit. So recording it isn't an option.

So now I'm having to record direct. Guitar -> Direct In on DMP3 -> 24/96.

I can't seem to get a good sound for the life of me. It sounds like ass dry, but I managed to make it a LITTLE better with some FX. I want your opinions on what it sounds like now (both dry and with the FX) and what I can do (maybe EQ?) to make it sound better.

I usually say a miked amp sounds better than any direct recording but not in this case. Believe it or not the amp sounds worse than this.

So, please give me some opinions/suggestions. (They're small files, about 1MB):

Dry :( · With FX

PS I was just messing around on the guitar so you don't have to tell me how much I suck ;)
 
sorry i can't check out your tune right now since i'm at work, but i'll offer up a couple suggestion.

have you tried using the AmpSim plugin in reaper (i think it's a JS)? or some of the cab sims that you can use with SIR? or how about the SimulAnalog guitar suite plugins?

i was sorta surprised by the amp sim plugin that came with reaper, it's actually not all that bad. it doesn't have a huge variety of models, but enough to just mess around with. try using an amp sim plugin, and then route SIR right after it to do a speaker sim.
 
zed32 said:
sorry i can't check out your tune right now since i'm at work, but i'll offer up a couple suggestion.

have you tried using the AmpSim plugin in reaper (i think it's a JS)? or some of the cab sims that you can use with SIR? or how about the SimulAnalog guitar suite plugins?

i was sorta surprised by the amp sim plugin that came with reaper, it's actually not all that bad. it doesn't have a huge variety of models, but enough to just mess around with. try using an amp sim plugin, and then route SIR right after it to do a speaker sim.
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I haven't tried the one with Reaper. I've tried the SimulAnalog one though.

I'll have to give the Reaper one a shot.

It's a crappy electric guitar though, and the pickup sucks. I'd be interested to know what a good guitar with good pickups sounds like recorded direct, and how much of a difference there would be.
 
Dude, that doesn't sound that bad. I think you're being too hard on yourself/your equipment. I've heard way worse from guys with really good stuff.
 
Greg_L said:
Dude, that doesn't sound that bad. I think you're being too hard on yourself/your equipment. I've heard way worse from guys with really good stuff.
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Thanks Greg, guess I'm just picky.

It's a $100 Epiphone LP Junior with one pickup. My first guitar that I've had for about 6 years.

The amp that I have is a Fender G-Dec. Thought it was good when I was first starting but I realized along time ago it's not that great sound-wise.

The recording still has this "fuzzy" sound that I can't seem to get rid of. If I could, I'd be happy. I managed to get rid of some with EQ but I don't know what else to do.
 
Well recording direct usually equals some 'fuzz'. I don't think your little piece here sounds bad at all though.
 
scrubs said:
Probably not much better, but I messed around with it for a couple of minutes: http://www.lightningmp3.com/live/file.php?fid=7032

You might want to get your guitar set up. There are some minor intonation problems.
Click to expand...

Cool, sounds much more realistic. What'd you do?

As far as intonation, my guitar needs a lot more than that. :p

Not too long ago I had to go get the truss rod adjusted, almost all frets were buzzing and a lot of dead notes. I'm saving for a strat/amp cause I really want a good clean tone.

Anyway thanks for taking the time to listen/mess with it.

I'd like to know what you did
 
Danny, I spent about 15 minutes dialing this in. It's in the neighborhood of that sound (it's still plugin ass). Signal chain is Mymag x 2, Rednef Twin, Reaeq, Glaceverb (all free plugins except Reaeq which comes with Reaper). My guitar was a bit out of tune and the strings are pretty old so use your imagination there.

If you use Reaper I can send you the fxchain preset.

http://www.lightningmp3.com/live/file.php?fid=7033
 
danny.guitar said:
Cool, sounds much more realistic. What'd you do?

As far as intonation, my guitar needs a lot more than that. :p

Not too long ago I had to go get the truss rod adjusted, almost all frets were buzzing and a lot of dead notes. I'm saving for a strat/amp cause I really want a good clean tone.

Anyway thanks for taking the time to listen/mess with it.

I'd like to know what you did
Click to expand...

I kind of threw the kitchen sink at it, but I think combining a few things usually works well. All these are free plugins.

As inserts: First, I hit it with a little digital fishphones Dominion "warm tube stage" preset. Then the Simulanalog JCM900 on the "A" channel, gain slightly above halfway. Next was Voxengo Boogex (one of the preset cabinet sims, supposedly miked with a 4050 off axis). Then was the SIR reverb, using another cabinet simulator (4x12, miked with an i5 and a MD421). Finally, I added some Beta Bugs Simple Squeeze Compression. As a send, I had a touch of GlaceVerb on the "Waves Reverb STD" preset.
 
That Glaceverb plug-in has some pretty nice reverb pre-sets. I like it a lot.
 
Wow Travis. :eek:

My chain was: ReaEQ -> RednefTwin -> GlaceVerb :p

Yours sounds amazing, that's exactly the kind of tone I wish I could get. :(

scrubs said:
As inserts: First, I hit it with a little digital fishphones Dominion "warm tube stage" preset. Then the Simulanalog JCM900 on the "A" channel, gain slightly above halfway. Next was Voxengo Boogex (one of the preset cabinet sims, supposedly miked with a 4050 off axis). Then was the SIR reverb, using another cabinet simulator (4x12, miked with an i5 and a MD421). Finally, I added some Beta Bugs Simple Squeeze Compression. As a send, I had a touch of GlaceVerb on the "Waves Reverb STD" preset.
Click to expand...

Awesome, thanks. :cool:
 
the Rednef Twin is a kick-ass plugin, thats for sure. and GlaceVerb is nice too, and i (generally) hate reverbs!
 
crap, i closed reaper before saving it as a preset. give me a bit and i'll dial it in again (i'm eating dinner). get mymag from here: http://www.samplerchan.com/

i'll post the preset in a bit.
 
zed32 said:
the Rednef Twin is a kick-ass plugin, thats for sure. and GlaceVerb is nice too, and i (generally) hate reverbs!
Click to expand...

Yup. FordVan is the one (I think) that mentioned the SimulAnalog plugins and so I tried them out.

I've always loved GlaceVerb. I still use it over my Waves in some songs.
 
TravisinFlorida said:
crap, i closed reaper before saving it as a preset. give me a bit and i'll dial it in again (i'm eating dinner). get mymag from here: http://www.samplerchan.com/

i'll post the preset in a bit.
Click to expand...

Alright, cool. :)

Btw what kind of strat is that? I've been saving up for one for awhile now.
 
Lotus, paid $70 for it. :D Don't get hung up on name brands and headstocks. Just play a bunch and buy one that you like.
 
This is pretty close to before. Enjoy.

Adjust that high shelf to taste. I didn't work on the reverb much this time. You may want to adjust the room size down a bit.
 

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