I need help troubleshooting line in from my guitar amp to protools

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ffud

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I am trying to recording direct from my guitar amp (Fender '94 twin) into ProTools (mbox 2) and am having a crackling sound issue. I don't want to mic for this particular project because A: it's just a demo and I don't care that much and B: I can't crank up and want to work late at night.

I have tried two ways, first, using the line out from my THD Hot Plate power attenuator into the mbox, and also I've tried using the balanced xlr output on the amp itself (The hot plate is set to load to make the speakers shut up). The problem is a crackling sound when I strum hard or use a loud volume from the amp. The sound is similar to that a EHX Germanium OD pedal makes when on the super low voltage setting (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbdzwuKd4bM)

What baffles me is that I use the same set up at my church (Line out from Hot Plate into mixing board with hot plate set to load) and the sound is crystal clear, which makes me think instinctively that the problem is on the ProTools side. However, to check that, I plugged a pair of headphones straight into the line out from the hot plate and the crackle is there as well.

The only difference I can think of in the way it's set up here and at my church is at church the 1/4in line out is run through a DI box, however doesn't the Mbox act as a DI? (I've tried it in the DI jack and the Mic jack)

Any insights would be greatly appreciated as this is kinda a time sensitive project.

Thanks
 
another piece of information I just discovered is that using the preamp output from my amp fixes the crackle problem, however it is a much brighter more "sterile" tone than after the power tubes so I'd still like to use the output from the hot plate. just posting that in case someone can figure out what the difference is between the two.
 
It sounds like the line out from the Hotplate is too hot and is overdriving the the Mbox's input.
 
Is "overdriving the input" different from clipping? Because I'm not getting the clipping indicator lights.

thanks
 
ffud said:
Is "overdriving the input" different from clipping? Because I'm not getting the clipping indicator lights.

thanks
Click to expand...

Yes it is different. Overdriving can cause distortion but you won't necessarily get clipping indicators.
 
cool. is there an easy sort of an adapter to get from guitar center or something to lower the signal level. also I don't know if you saw this part of my original post:

"I plugged a pair of headphones straight into the line out from the hot plate and the crackle is there as well."

Do you think thats the headphone being over driven as well? Or does that change your diagnosis?

Thanks
 
Why can't you just turn down the line level control on the hotplate? Does the DI box that you use in church have a speaker simulator?
 
even with the volume knob for the line out turned all the way down it still has the issue. And I dont know what kind of DI our sound guy uses, but I dont think it would have a speaker emulator on it since I think its the same one he uses for everything else.
 
The DI that you were using most likely has pad switches to cut the signal down to a reasonable level. Also some DI boxes have a speaker simulator that can be switched off.
 
cool. thanks. maybe I'll go investigate what GC has in the way of DIs with pads. thanks.
 
Well I went and got a DI box from GC that has either a 20db or 40db pad on it, and neither did anything to clean up the sound.

I'm baffled. :confused:
 
If you turn the amp's volume down does it still make the same noise?
 
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