reamping help?

P

p.babs

New member
Hi there,
I'm new to re-amping, and I've already run into a problem.

Ok, I recorded some 'dry' tracks from my guitar, through a DI box, (radial jdi) and into my presonus fire tube to cubase 6.

ok, then i hooked up my radial x amp (through the fire tube's head phone jack) then to my amp's guitar jack.

seems simple enough to me-mute the tracks you don't want recorded, tell the mic'd tracks to record, and hit record. and it does work, except that it is like the amp is being bypassed-it is playing the dry tracks, with ZERO distortion coming out of the cab.

is there something i'm missing here? I thought that any input into the guitar jack would come out the other end 'distorted'-just as if i had played it through the amp in the first place?...

any help would be appreciated guys and gals.
 
I don't think headphone output is the way forward.

Use a line out on your interface and assign your dry recorded track so it plays out through that line out.

Then, as you say, set up a new track to record from the mic.


If you do it this way, you can use the headphones to monitor the entire mix, including the new guitar tone.
It helps to hear it in context.
 
You want to use a balanced +4db line output on the back of your presonus. Then you want to route the dry guitar track to that output in cubase.

Things to note:

-Keep the guitar cable from the X amp short, if you have something 3' or less then use that.

-Use XLR (femail) to TRS cable when connecting from your firetube to the x amp. This is less of an issue with the length but I personally like to keep this run under 25' if possible.

-DO NOT put any effects on the dry track you are re-amping in cubase, don't normalize, limit, compress etc... Just don't.

-Ajust the trim on the x amp to taste, but honestly I wouldn't go over board with it.

-When you record your dry tracks, make sure your peaks are no higher than -3db TOPS, preferably -6 or maybe even more. You DON"T want to clip the DI track. Clipping sounds like nasty shit re amped.
 
well, I don't know what to tell you guys, i've tried every output including the main's on the rear of the fire tube, and i'm getting more of the same-just a dry guitar sound running through my cab.

when i adjust the knobs on the amp, there is a change in sound-but nothing very noticeable. and I have plugged my guitar into the amp to make sure that it wasn't broken-and it is working fine.
 
What level did you record the DI track into cubase at? You might not have enough signal to drive the amp the way you want to. If that's the case, it would be like plugging your guitar in and playing with the volume on the guitar turned way down.
 
Farview said:
What level did you record the DI track into cubase at? You might not have enough signal to drive the amp the way you want to. If that's the case, it would be like plugging your guitar in and playing with the volume on the guitar turned way down.
Click to expand...

Yup...this is what I was thinking....not enough signal going to the amp, so it stays clean no matter what.
 
I'll try "up-ing" the signal during the initial recording, see what that does for me.

thanks for the tip.
 
ok, I ran the dry guitar track through my mixer and the signal was defiantly stronger, and it seems to be doing the job.

I'll know more in a few hours when i can actually dime the amp-but from what i heard while playing it quietly it already sounds distorted.
 
ok, scratch that. It only sounded like there was more distortion because i jacked up the input to much.

I still have the same problems as before.

I've attached a mp3 of the dry channel.

The signal is now coming through stronger than before.
 

Attachments

  • re amp.mp3
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I run into this problem every once in a while. Some amps just don't like the x-amp (the Splawn Quickrod comes to mind) It just wouldn't saturate the same way and sounded thinner than the guitar plugged in would.

You can bring up the level of the track to just below clipping, run it into a limiter as well to see if you can get the amp to do what you need it to...

Of course, make sure the adjustment on the x-amp is turned all the way up.
 
here is the situation:

you guys were right, the signal going into the amp wasn't strong enough-I did the simple thing and turned up the out put on the xamp. Problem is, that I had it at the maximum level I could have it before a loud hum/whine started coming out of it. So, I can now get a decent sound out of the amp when re amping, but there is a constant hum as well.

any suggestions?
 
Either there is a ground loop issue between the computer, X-Amp and guitar amp...or the original signal has some low level hum, and with everything boosted, you also raised that too..

Investigate...as both should be fixable.
 
Try running it through an amp emulator plugin, witha lot of distortion, and see if the hum is still there, then we'll have a better idea of what it is
 
Farview said:
What level did you record the DI track into cubase at? You might not have enough signal to drive the amp the way you want to. If that's the case, it would be like plugging your guitar in and playing with the volume on the guitar turned way down.
Click to expand...
Sounds like it could well be the culprit.

G
 
ok, I'm back in town after going to a wedding (ever seen a groome with a black eye because the bride punched him in the eye two days before the wedding? because i have). I'll try some of these suggestions. thanks guys.
 
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