newbie question about sansamp to firebox

H

handy

New member
Hey everyone, got a dumb question about my new firebox. I'm trying to run my Tech21 trademark 10 amp into it from an XLR out. The amp has a built-in modified sansamp GT2, which I figured could act as a preamp so I'm turning the gain on the firebox all the way down. Problem is I have to turn the volume up all the way on the amp to get anything. I'm wondering if it's OK to turn up the input gain on the firebox as well... or is this bad because there'll be too much signal after a preamp is boosting a preamp? it definitely sounds better after I do it, but will it damage anything if i keep it like that?

thanks
 
Set the amp as you would normally and adjust the gain on the Firebox until you get a good signal with no clipping. You won't hurt anything as the gain knob is there for that purpose.
 
Nicole_Rose said:
i would mic the amp. it sounds better that way and your problem would be solved.
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ocnor said:
Set the amp as you would normally and adjust the gain on the Firebox until you get a good signal with no clipping. You won't hurt anything as the gain knob is there for that purpose.
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Both posters are right. I grabbed a Trademark-30 as a practice amp/emergency amp while my old Mesa was in the shop, and I can confirm that like any DI box, you need a certain amount of gain on your interface to get a useable tone.

However, I can also confirm that while it works used as a DI, foor all but maybe a handful of applications where the artificialness might be beneficial (electronica metal, "djent"-y math metal, etc), a SM57 in front of the amp sounds way better than the direct out. It's certainly useable, but stick a SM57 on the grille, and run an XLR from the back of the amp to a new channel, and then play back the two independantly. If your mic position is even moderately good, you'll come away preferring the mic.

...and the kicker is even the 30 watt version is quiet enough that it sounds SERIOUSLY good at bedroom volumes. :D Big fan of this amp, the touch-sensitivity isn't quite as good as a good tube amp, but if they ever get that sorted out and drop the silly active EQ (or at least give you a passive option - sorry, pet peeve) I just might make the switch from tube to solid state.
 
Thanks for the advice. Good to know that I'm not frying my new firebox. I think I will end up using a mic though. I also think wonders of my little Trademark 10 but a lot of the tone seems to be lost through the XLR. It sounds decent after turning it up whlie it's on clean, but the distortion is terrible. None of the tone sounds very close to the actual amp though so hopefully the mic will fix that.
 
handy said:
Thanks for the advice. Good to know that I'm not frying my new firebox. I think I will end up using a mic though. I also think wonders of my little Trademark 10 but a lot of the tone seems to be lost through the XLR. It sounds decent after turning it up whlie it's on clean, but the distortion is terrible. None of the tone sounds very close to the actual amp though so hopefully the mic will fix that.
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It definitely will. Honestly, I think it records better than it sounds in the room.

Personally, I leave the speaker switch off all of the time, as I find it sounds more "natural" like that, but YMMV.
 
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