Reamping Failure

  • Thread starter Thread starter rechtien
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rechtien

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Looking for advice on reamping. The guitarist's timing is bad, so I tried reamping, but I can't get the same tone as going straight from the guitar to the amp. My most recent attempt was to plug the guitar into a Countryman DI and run that into the digi003 stock mic pre. After editing, I routed it to an ada8000 output (via ADAT) and into a Radial X-Amp. From there it went into the amp. I also tried removing the X-Amp and ran directly out of a digi003 output into the amp.

The digi003 output option was unacceptably noisy, but got fairly close to the tone - although thinner. The ada8000 output option was quiet, but the drive was gone and the tone was thin.

I'm not going to buy expensive gear in an effort to fix this problem. I'd rather buy a barbed whip and beat the guitar player until his timing is right. But I have these great DI takes I would like to use. If reamping requires processing to offset the devices in the signal chain, then it's not for me. But if there is a simple solution to my problem, any insight would be appreciated.
 
there might be some amp simulator plug ins that might save the day.
Amplitube..etc. there may be some free to cheap ones..
 
logic studio has a good amp sim and I have amplitube. If you want to send me the di tracks and what you want the guitar to sound like I can attempt it and send it back to you.

Also I may be able to attempt to reamp it for you but I'm limited to a Fender blues deluxe, marshall avt, and a fender 65 deluxe reverb. If any of those sounds could work.
 
rechtien said:
Looking for advice on reamping. The guitarist's timing is bad, so I tried reamping...
Click to expand...
Let's stop right here and make sure we are actually talking about reamping:

Reamping is recording the sound (usually) directly off of the guitar, at a later time sending the dry recorded guitar off of the recorder into a guitar amp, micing that sound, and recording it.

What does that have to do with editing somebody's timing?
 
Chibi Nappa said:
Let's stop right here and make sure we are actually talking about reamping:

Reamping is recording the sound (usually) directly off of the guitar, at a later time sending the dry recorded guitar off of the recorder into a guitar amp, micing that sound, and recording it.

What does that have to do with editing somebody's timing?
Click to expand...

"beat the guitar player until his timing is right. But I have these great DI takes I would like to use"

I think he was able to play it just not consistently
 
I still don't see what that has to do with reamping. That sounds like a "copy/paste" or "nudge to a grid" type of thing.
 
It's reamping as described above. I record direct into the DAW, then edit it while it's in the DAW then send it out to the amp and record back into the DAW with a mic on the amp. The issue is the signal changes too much in the process and once it gets back to the amp, it's just no good.

I have Amplitube 2 and I messed with it for 4 days trying to get the sound I wanted, but it just won't go there. The gain settings really just seem to go toward buzz and fuzz, instead of the crisp breakup I would like to hear. I did use Massey's free Tape Head plug-in (after Amplitube in the plug-in chain) and then eq'd and compressed the signal and got something decent, but it was a significant compromise from the sound I was going for.

I also appreciate the offers to reamp, but I need to figure out a long term solution and make it work.
 
rechtien said:
The issue is the signal changes too much in the process
Click to expand...
That is the entire point of reamping! The only reason to ever reamp is to change the sound. Why not just edit the timing and then don't reamp?
 
rechtien said:
It's reamping as described above. I record direct into the DAW, then edit it while it's in the DAW then send it out to the amp and record back into the DAW with a mic on the amp. The issue is the signal changes too much in the process and once it gets back to the amp, it's just no good.

I have Amplitube 2 and I messed with it for 4 days trying to get the sound I wanted, but it just won't go there. The gain settings really just seem to go toward buzz and fuzz, instead of the crisp breakup I would like to hear. I did use Massey's free Tape Head plug-in (after Amplitube in the plug-in chain) and then eq'd and compressed the signal and got something decent, but it was a significant compromise from the sound I was going for.

I also appreciate the offers to reamp, but I need to figure out a long term solution and make it work.
Click to expand...

when reamping you must remember...

your guitar has a certain impedance and voltage that the amp likes to "see", without the correct relationship (read impedance) you won't get good sound from reamping.

your DI guitar track has been converted into line level signal which is what most DAW's need to "see".

In order use that signal again with your amp you must convert it back to a signal level and impedance that the amp likes to "see".

so...

interface Output>reamp converter (connected to bring the signal back to "amp level")>amp>mic>interface input

i'm betting that your reamp box is hooked up wrong.... how do you have it connected? :D
 
themdla,

I believe I only have two output options on the digi003 - there are the line outs at line level, then I have a behringer ada8000 hooked up to the 003 via adat that provides XLR outs. The reamp box calls for an XLR input, so I utilized an ada8000 output, ran that into the reamp box then ran the signal straight out of the reamp box 1/4 inch out to the the amp with an instrument cable.

I was under the impression that the reamp box (X-Amp) prepared the signal for going into the amp. I'll mess with it more over the weekend. Thanks for the input.
 
What type of tone are you after?

I'm confused about your relating reamping and timing. Are you slicing, dicing and time shifting the DI?

I have some time available to reamp. See Sig.
 
I'm with Chibbi Nappa, I don't see why you are reamping to begin with. Just record the guitar player, through the amp, and edit. There is no reason to reamp.
 
I appreciate the comments. Just to expand on why I want to reamp, for me, the DI signal is easy to edit and the occasional negative consequences of time stretching a note, etc. tends to be covered up once the DI signal is then run through the amp. Editing a driving distorted guitar that has been recorded by micing the amp leaves fewer good edit points because of the compression. Editing the recorded DI signal is much easier and cleaner. Also, having the DI track would allow me to continue to work on the guitar tone so it sits better in the mix before I commit it to the DAW. In other words, I can send the DI signal to the amp and hear the amped signal playing along with the other tracks and tweak the gain, eq, etc. until I am confident that the tone is just right for the song. I did start off recording a mic'd amp the first time around and as the song developed, I wasn't happy with the guitar sound. In order to avoid numerous retakes and the editing necessitated by a less than perfect guitar player, reamping a DI signal would a great time saver - if I could get it to work for me.
 
Did you vary the output gain on the x-amp at all? A difference in signal level coming out of the x-amp vs. what comes out of the guitar is what is causing different sound on the amp.
 
Thanks again. I tried all the suggestions over the weekend. It just doesn't work as I hoped it would - with my gear anyway. Anybody have a nice barbed whip they'd trade for an X-Amp?
 
I gave it one last shot with a different cable. I purchased a 1/4 male to XLR cable, which I didn't have before. This allowed me to come out of the 003 1/4 output directly into the X-Amp XLR input. For some reason this was the key.
 
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