Recording Fostex MR-8 With External Guitar Amp?

S

ST2023

New member
Hi,

I wonder if someone could answer this question for me please?

I've just got hold of a Fostex MR-8 MkII . I can record a guitar perfectly well with direct input, but when I put the guitar into an amplifier and then link the amplifier to the MR8 I get only silence.

Is there any way I can use the MR-8 with an external amp, or do I have to rely on direct input?

Thanks.
 
What amp are you using? Are we to assume it's got a direct out? You'll need to know the pinout and output level of the direct out.

Most people I know just throw a microphone in front of the amp and record it that way. A lot of the tone of an amp is due to the speaker. A Celestion sounds different from a Jensen or an Eminence. Unless you have an amp that emulates speakers, you won't get that part of the sound signature.
 
It's just a small Marshall MS-2.

I've done it previously without problem on older cassette portastudios, using the headphone output on the amp. But it looks like that may not be possible with this?
 
It shouldn't be a problem, except that the output might be pretty hot compared to a guitar or mic input. I suspect that you need to have the proper cable. Unfortuantely, the manual for the Marshall was useless, it just says headphone output, but doesn't say anything about if it is a stereo output or not. It may have a TRS jack.

Did you just run a guitar cable from the headphone output into the unbalanced input and adjust the input sensitivity down? I'm guessing here, since I've never seen an MS-2 or the Foxtex, but if you did it with a portastudio, you should be able to do it with the Fostex. The inputs aren't anything special.
 
Actually, after a bit of fiddling about I've managed to get something out of it, although it's hardly impressive. If I crank the volume and overdrive on the amp up full and crank the additional in-built distortion etc on the studio up full, and push the studio faders almost to the max, I can hear the amp. But by that stage, as I'm sure you can imagine, there's not exactly any nuance achievable with the sound and it doesn't sound much like the original amp source!

I think for now I'll stick to using the MR-8's in-built amp effects. The demos I'm currently recording only require a couple of tracks of guitar plus vocals. But to expand on that at a later stage I'll clearly have to rethink my approach....as the MR-8 seems to have painted me into a corner with the amp problem.

Thanks anyway for the replies!
 
That's probably the best route. I don't think that the mini Marshall is the right tool for the job. You can get lots of amp modelers used for $100. It's more in the realm of something like a Line 6 POD setup or a Digitech RP pedal.
 
I agree with Talisman. Invest in a effects unit with sims. As an MR8 user for years I've never used the built in fx, as I had an ME-33 pedal board already and it works fine with it's sims. Or invest in an SM57 and mic the amp. I've gotten great results micing the amp too. If you haven't already, download the Wavmanager software for the MR8. It allows you to transfer your tracks to a pc and load them into editing software for further mixing. Plus you can send mixed tracks back to the MR8 and use for guide tracks for more overdubbing. So you're not limited to just the 8 tracks in the machine. I keep my imported tracks in folders so if something goes wrong, I still have my original tracks in the folder to grab and use again.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top