Reamping. Noise noise noise!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Uladine
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Uladine

Uladine

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I recorded completely dry guitar tracks and I'm trying to send those tracks back through my amp to get the right sound. The problem is that I'm going for a pretty heavily distorted sound (not saturated, but crunchy) and just plugging my breakout box into my amp makes a terrible noise. Almost like if you were holding the tip of the cable against a piece of metal. Well maybe not that bad, but you get the idea.

I blame my rather cheap breakout box (st audio dsp 2000 c-port). I've tried moving it far away from my computer, turning off the computer monitor and every other unnessecary electronic device in the room but to no avail. I also tried using the balanced xlr output into another unit before going to the amp but the problem persisted. Is there any way around this? I imagine the problem might be because the breakout box doesnt have the same kind of internal shielding as a guitar. How do you reamp a guitar track without getting such noise? It doesnt happen when I put my amp on clean settings by the way, only distorted channels. The noise is hard to hear when the guitar is playing, but its loud enough to keep the noise gate open on my POD.
 
First you mention guitar amp then you mention the POD. What exactly is the signal path? Is the problem a ground buzz or is the level too high?
 
I use my POD pro as the preamp for my live rig. The speaker simulator is bypassed so its pretty much just simulating the preamp section of the different amps, then it goes to a QSC power amp, then to a marshall 4x12. The POD is fed from my soundcards breakout box, which is about 3 feet from my computer. The guitar tone itself is wonderful, its just that the noise from the breakout box is too much. The sound isnt on the track, as you can hear the sound even when the track isnt playing.

Hey, an idea just popped into my head... Though I can't try it out yet because I'm not home...

What if ran the track's output though the headphone jack so I could push the signal up way over the level of the noise, then run that through my mixer or something that could handle the level and would let me bring it back down to a good level before hitting the POD. Would this work or would the headphone jack raise the noise along with the guitar signal?
 
I am pretty sure that you want to use a DI between your sound card and your POD.
 
What kind of noise is it? If it's a persisent hum or buzz make sure everything is plugged into the same power strip to avoid ground loops. Double check all your cables and make sure it's not something simple.
 
what Darwin said.

the C-port is a good piece of equipment, but it sends at line level and your amp expects a guitar signal.... DI...
 
Yes, as mentioned it could be a ground loop problem and/or a level issue.

Your card out is likely a line out and your pod likely wants to see an instrument in. You would need somewhat of a reverse DI or a dedicated "reamp" box to fix the line vs. instrument level issue or some effects that can accept both. The dedicated reamp box is kind of a controversial issue. Some say it sounds fine doing what you are doing. I found the sound less than desirable, especially when running non-guitar signals into the amp (vocals, percussion etc.). I bought a Little Labs Redeye recording tool and now my life is much better. The sound is great, it is easy to adjust, and has ground lift and phase switches which help take care of any noise issues as well.
 
My POD has a line level input, which is what I'm using, but the noise is still there. It also has a ground lift switch which does nothing, but I have yet to try plugging the amp into the same power strip as the computer, so I'll try that later today. Thanks for the input so far.
 
For what I've understood of your explanation:
you don't get hum when using a clean channel, but the moment you switch to a crunch channel, the noise is there.

Isn't that like always with guitar amps ???? If a channel is set to distort hard, even line noise will get distorted and amplified....


Herwig
 
Yes, this line noise is what I'm trying to get rid of or lessen before hitting the amp. the noise from my guitar gets cut off by the PODs noise gate, but the noise from the breakout box is too loud to let the noise gate close.
 
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