Recording through "Headphones out"???

  • Thread starter Thread starter EveningSky
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EveningSky

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I have several amps and effects boxes with a stereo headphones out 1/4 socket. I am often impressed with the clear and detailed sound I hear through my headphones.
Can I make a recording of this signal?
What do I need to do to achieve this?
What equipment do I need?
Thank you,
ES
 
I would probably use an insert cable (TRS to dual TS) and run those through DI's. But then I probably wouldn't because I would probably mic the cab instead;)
 
Recording from the headphone out jack is not a good idea. There is a small amount of voltage on that line which can damage other equipment, especially a pc, it dosen't take much to fry a soundcard. Also since the signal is already amplified (yes even headphones require an amplified signal to opperate,) you are very likely to get a lot of clipping even if you turn the output volume down very low. If you want to make a dirrect connection, you will get much better results using the line out from your amp, and avoid the risk of overloading a circuit, maybe even knocking out an entire pc.
 
Why dont you connect the headphones to the Aux Sends? and set the level of each channel for the sends.
 
Usually the circuit for the headphone output is one of two ways:
Voltage divider off of the main output.
Or a seperate (usually low-quality) amplifier circuit.

Either way, the output for headphones will be quite low impedance, and will also be prone to noise and potentially high enough voltage to damage your mixer.

So, if you know what you're doing (don't turn the volume to 10), and you're willing to accept the possibility of somewhat low-fi response. You should be OK.
 
Thank you to all respondants

Thank you. That is helpful, if in the end discouraging.
Should I consider a DirectBox such as a Radial to put the signal through first, prior to sending it to a middle quality preamp?
Is a passive or active DirectBox from Radial a basic tool to deal with such connection issues?
Yours,
ES
 
Perhaps a direct box which is designed to take speaker level signals, but not one designed to take the output of an electric guitar (a very low level and high impedence source, just the opposite of what your headphone out is giving you). Even if it does work (i.e. get the signal to the proper level and impedence), you'll still have to deal with the high probability that the S/N ratio and/or unwanted distortion will yield a poor sounding result.
 
So am I to understand that your amp has a headphone out, but not a line out? That seems a little odd to me....
 
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