I only sort of know what I'm doing

[Mr. Joe]

I've been recording my own stuff for a few years on a Boss BR-900CD 8(ish) Track. Just using the canned guitar/bass patches for tones and the onboard drum machine I feel like I've been doing pretty good with it, and can work within the platforms limitations.

However, I recently got some new gear in the form of an Egnater Tweaker 40 & 2x12, Rivera Rock Crusher load box/line out, and a 31 band EQ. My "plan" is to play through the amp, reduce the cabs volume with the RC, line out a signal through the EQ attempting a speaker simulation, and then into the 8 track & maybe goofing the signal some more with the patches in there.

My questions are,

The Boss has a guitar/bass input & 2 mic inputs both with trim and a peak LED, and a line in input with just a trim. Which input should I use for this signal?

Would a DI box with a speaker sim (redbox) be a better choice for the line out source? I have a bit of contol over the signal strength from the RC, but the 2 times I've tryed, its sound a bit strong.

I already know I may be missing something as far as understanding line levels, but as long as the EQ & 8 track meters aren't peaking I should be good right?

Thanks guys!

Mr. Joe

 

[mjbphotos]

If you are using the lineout form the DI box, then you want to go into the line ins on the Boss, Going into any of the other inputs is going to put the signal through the Boss preamps. Have you considered mic-ing the amp instead of DIing it?

 

[Mr. Joe]

Mic-ing the cab would be ideal and I may build an iso box/cab in the future, but I live in a condo so lower levels are key.

As far as the boss' pre amps go, I can shut off all of the effects as necessary and what input I use is arbitrary as I can select which effect bank to use regardless of the input. The speaker sims available in the guitar COSM patches are a bit limited hence the 31 band eq in front of the boss. I called Roland today & they said to just plug into either of the xlr inputs.

I was most worried that my line level would be to high to work with and it would just get clipped. I looked at a di box today that has -20 & -40 db options. The Rivera is +10 if the line level pot is dimed.