I'm new and have a question...Mic Amp or Play Direct?

  • Thread starter Thread starter sjaguar13
  • Start date Start date
S

sjaguar13

New member
I'm new to home recording. I want to record some guitar licks, but don't know the best way of doing it. Should I mic the amp or play straight in to the Roland audio interface box? They are metal licks, I don't know if that matters. The only thing I don't understand is a direct box. Is that like an amp head?

Thanks,
SJaguar13

P.S. Anyone know how to stop a local radio station from being picked up in my speaker cabinet?
 
The normal signal strength a console and / or recorder works with is called "line-level".
A microphone's out put is well below the line-level voltage / signal strength.
A preamp and a direct box bring a low voltage level up to line level.

There is no such thing as "you should do this or you have to do that". Try both ways, compare them, see which method gives you the sound you like. One, often used, method of getting the "right" sound is to use something like the Line 6 POD 2.0 Recording Amp, which will emulate multiple sounds.

There are many reasons why you might pick-up a radio station.
-Is your gear properly grounded? Ineffective grounding often causes this problem.
- Low quality cables with ineffective shielding can do the same.
Try to remedy the above first.
 
First of all, is a amp head the same as a preamp? Second, if a mic is not at line-level, will my guitar be at line-level, like can I plug it right into the audio interface or should I put it through the head first? Also, since the mic isn't at line-level, I should run that through a head before plugging it into the interface? I'm going to look into the recording amp as soon as I get done posting this.

The cables are cheap. I have one Ernie Ball which is the best one I have, the others came with my speaker cabinet. The speaker cabinet was bought by online from a site called Speaker Hole, I'm pretty sure they make the cabinets and they are kinda cheap, too. If they aren't grounded, how would I fix it?

Thanks!
 
I wouldn't plug an amp head into my sound card without checking the spec's first. I'm running my SansAmp through a mixer and into my card - that's no amphead I know, but that's how I do it. Your guitar signal is far below line level, you need some kind of pre amp, like a pod or something. It's not the speaker cabinets but your amp that should be grounded, and how to do that ? get an electric chord with 3 legs ( this is of course dependent on the grounding of the source ) or you could go by a spike and hammer in the ground, if you have an unused output on your amp, you could connect that to a grounded unit ..... that's the ways I came to think of right now - hope it helped just a bit
bizz
 
Speaker cab cable IS NOT the same as instrument cable. The speaker cab cable is unshielded, which explains why you're getting the radio interference.

Your guitar does not put out line level (unless you have active pickups - some of them are hot enough to put out line level signal).... but if you want to connect it directly into a console you need to use a DI box.

The answer to "should I mic an amp or go direct?" is, as Sjoko pointed out - it depends. It's not that you choose one method over the other, it's whichever method best suits what you're trying to accomplish.

Bruce
 
If I get that Line 6 Recording Amp, would I still need the audio interface? Also, I'm still confused on why I get the radio signals, is it because of the cable going from the head to the speakers? The head, it's a peavy, has this ground button on it. It looks like the power button. I also have 3 outputs on the head that are free.

What's the difference between a DI box and my amp head?
 
with the line 6 - you just plug in and plug the output into whatever you are recording in / on.

Your readio signal - basically your cable works as an areal. Try the peavey's ground switch, see if that makes a difference.
 
Since I have no line in on my sound card, I still need the audio interface right?

I played with it and I don't see any difference at all, unless I'm not doing it right. I just pushed it up and down and nothing changed.
 
what kind of sound card is it?I would assume if it is the native sound card that came standard with your computer,that you will need a good audio sound card interface.There are a lot of them out there.
 
My sond card is an ESS Allegro, it's the cheap crap that came with my Compaq, I think it's onboard audio, but I'm not really sure.

I was going to get the Roland UA-3 USB audio interface, is that a good one, or do you think I should get something else?
 
I'm sure it will be fine,but I would check the search button and enter sound cards or audio interface ect. and read what this forum says about the various choices.

If you don't already have a software program for audio I would suggest the Digi01 for DigiDesigns.It comes with Pro Tools Le software and it is sopposed to be the sh*t.It costs about $795.
 
I was at Radio Shack a couple days ago and seen music cable and it said shielded. Is that what I need for my head to amp to stop the radio signals?

If I get the Line 6 POD thing, would I need the bass one for bass, or would the guitar one work for both?
 
pod is designed for guitar. you can probably use it for bass but I don't know. anyways that's one cheapass sound card if it has no line-in. I recommend just buying a proper one, they're quite inexpensive. Yes shielded cable is what will prevent noise. It prevents all kinds of hum, not just radio noise.
 
Yeah my sound card sucks. Should I just get a new one instead of the audio interface or would the interface be better?

Do I need sheilded cable for everything, like head to cabinet, guitar to effects, effects to amp?

If I get the Line 6 POD, do I need a DI box or is that the POD?

Am I going to need a different POD for each instrument?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top