Why am I having trouble with my Blue Tube? @*?

[frank_1]

I have had the Blue Tube for a month now and things still don't seem right. I mostly use a Shure 57 for my guitar amp. I Don't use a rediculous amount of distortion and my amp Is Not super loud. I mostly use a Boss distortion pedal. The mic is about 3-4 inches away from the cone, off axis to the outter edge.

I usally put the Gain knob about half way. If I turn the Drive knob one notch up, I start to hear it distorting. Keep in mind the signal level is at 0-1 dB. Now if I don't use the Drive knob, well I think the sound is kinda flat and sharp. It doesn't sound analog to me.

Is this how the Blue Tube should sound? I keep hearing that the Blue Tube sounds "silky" and that is sounds "smoother" then the Art MP. Whats up with this?

 

[darnold]

Hmmm

Well that could be caused by a few problems, you might need to be more specific on what kind of distortion your getting. also you should let us know what your input setup is and what kind of cables your using. You might be running it too hot. Also, depending on the type of distortion you are getting will let know more of what the problem is, it could be the room, or mic distance. you might wonna put the mic a little closer to the cone to give it a less roomier effect. If its kind of a sound thats making it sound tinny i would try moving it back. Also, you might wonna be a little more specific on the mic placement. you say its off axis, but is it going straight or is it angled towards the center of the cone, and if angled, how much?

Let me know some more specifics and i will try and help yah out.

 

[darrin_h2000]

How loud is the amp?

If you are overdriving the microphone pre by playing too loud that may be the sourse of your problem. This can make any preamp distort.

 

[frank_1]

I set the mic at a 45* angel. I use Groove Plugs, and two other companies that are a little cheaper then the Groove Plugs. I know one of my cheaper cables is a 24 gauge. The distortion of the preamp sounds like it's being overloaded. Crackle and pops is what I hear.

The amp is really not too loud. If I lower the amp then the preamp will not get enough signal, so then I would have to turn up the Gain knob. I find if I turn up the Gain Knob to high (more than half way), then it will distort and be very noisey.

I will post an mp3, as soon as I am able to "Bounce To Disk" on ProTools FREE.

 

[frank_1]

Hey guys, I finally got around to posting that mp3. It's Not from ProTools, it's from my Tascam 414. See if you can hear the guitars distorting...

And if you want you can comment about my mix. Give me some pointers! Keep in mind I recorded to a 4-track Tascam.

Drop Zone-mp3

 

[frank_1]

Okay, I see your point. These files have only one track. The first mp3 is about 2 min long and it was recorded useing my Marshall Valvestate's distortion. Distortion on amp was at 6. The second track I used my Boss pedal and is about 3 min long. Distortion on pedal is set at 36.

All tracks start out with distortion then it changes to a clean sound. All tracks were recorded with a Shure 57, 3.5 inches away from the grill. THe Blue Tube was set one noch over Half Way on the Gain knob. The Drive knob was set a zero. The dB level was a 0-3 dB, it didn't go any higher that 3 dB.


Marshall's distortion



Boss pedal's distortion