Line Out

  • Thread starter Thread starter pdadda
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pdadda

pdadda

Captain Sea Boots
Really dumb question that I am embarassed to ask:

I recently lost my recording space, so I will now need to record at home and be much quieter. I am thinking of recording direct with my amp instead of micing (the only time I ever have to record is late at night and I share walls on 2 sides). Do I use the send of an effects loop on my amp or the headphone jack?
 
What type of amp is it? Generally your headphone jack will give a better sound than the effects send. On most amps the headphone jack at least attempts to emulate the poweramp and speakers.
 
I'm not quite sure what your asking, but whatever you do don't hook your amp directly into your recorder as I was told this will fry the recorder. At first I went out and bought a D/I box which you can use to connect your amp to the recorder. Then I took that back and picked up the Digitech RP50 and just plugged right into it. It has all kinds of effects including drums which makes it great for recording. Plus you can record anytime, even while the rest of the world is asleep.
 
It's a Fender Princeton Chorus, about 10 years old. I figured I could run a chord from the headphone jack on the amp into my MOTU828mkII into the computer. Just wanted to make sure that is an OK idea.
 
You can run the headphone out to the motu. Just watch the volume, it will be easy to clip the motu.
 
I used a Princeton Chorus about 8 years ago--awesome amp IMO. I went out the effects send and got great results when using the chorus. I seem to recall you could go either pre effects or post effects, but its been so long I don't remember. I know that the song I recorded with it sounded great. I don't even remember a headphone jack, but at the time I lived in a duplex and lived in the unit next to my lead guitarist so playing too loud was never a problem. I used a separate unit that was a guitar effects preamp for recording my lead parts, but just because I could use delay and echo with that unit.

I would try both options (headphone and lineout) and see which one you like better and can control better. With some of today's modelers out there you might find more versitality with one of those units. I use both a POD 2 and a Boss GT-6, depending on needs. But I also have a small amp to use when recording during the day for that true amp sound (a Fender Pro Junior which even at 15 watts is way too loud for night time recording).

Have fun and be creative while experimenting.
 
I use a Princeton Chorus and have had good results comming out the stereo output of the effects loop, the mono output works best if you do not want any effects (not even reverb.) Go ahead and split the siginal into two inputs on your mixer and pan one hard right and the other hard left, Iv'e been pleasantly surprised by the results of doing this and this also allows you to add additional effects to each side without affecting the other. I wouldn't advise using the headphone jack (especially if you are turning up the volume) for two reasons, 1, as mentioned clipping and, 2, even though the voltage is low on headphones there may be enough to overload the circuits in the preamp of your mixer, and definately enough to overload a computer.
 
Bad news. I tried the mono send, the stereo send, and the headphone jack, and they are all freaking noisy. Even if they were quieter, the tone they give is not very close to the amps actual tone. I definitely prefer the sound of my amp miced.
 
pdadda said:
Bad news. I tried the mono send, the stereo send, and the headphone jack, and they are all freaking noisy. Even if they were quieter, the tone they give is not very close to the amps actual tone. I definitely prefer the sound of my amp miced.
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Unfortunately, that's pretty much gonna be the case. There really isn't much that can match a mic'ed amp cabinet. The only thing that has come even close has been the SansAmp XLR direct outs that are in Tech21's Trademark series amps. I use the direct out on that every Sunday and it's great!
 
Another option if you have the time is a recording cabinet, essentially it is a sound proof or nearly as is possible box that you put the amp in, it is mic'd up and you can get the magic sound and not get a call from the police.

Someone had one on this site a while back, it was fairly simple to make.
 
Clive Hugh said:
Another option if you have the time is a recording cabinet, essentially it is a sound proof or nearly as is possible box that you put the amp in, it is mic'd up and you can get the magic sound and not get a call from the police.

Someone had one on this site a while back, it was fairly simple to make.
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Hmm...that sounds like a damn good idea! If anyone knows anything about this, please let us know!
 
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