Members Hard Truth Posted February 28, 2008 Members Share Posted February 28, 2008 I haven't done a lot of reamping, but when I have, I got a pretty good sound by going through a passive direct box to the amp. I have also simply connected the high impedance output of my computer-audio interface to the amp. Have any of you compared these type of methods with the often fairly expensive reamp boxes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nerol1st Posted February 28, 2008 Members Share Posted February 28, 2008 Yeah. For me it was a noise issue even with balanced cable it was impossible to reamp clean stuff through a passive DI. Honestly reamping is allot quieter than plugging in direct to amp (for me). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted February 28, 2008 Moderators Share Posted February 28, 2008 Balanced and clean line is enough for me. I got a Radial DI and the Radial Reamp device. The funny thing is, because I'm getting such a great signal recorded, and a great signal to the amp, my reamp sessions frequently sound better than the live amp right from the start. I can take the time to only use the needed pedals, etc. Mogami guitar cable, etc. I run a balanced line out 30 feet to my big room and that would be impossible without it being balanced. I suppose if you're just running a short distance you're fine, but I love the luxury of having the amp isolated from my monitoring environment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members D Charles Posted February 29, 2008 Members Share Posted February 29, 2008 I've come straight out of my sound card and into amps with good results and no noise and no re-amping device or direct box for that matter. Only tried it a couple of times, but it seemed to work for me. I had some parts on a keeper song done with a Pedal board amp sim that were 2-D sounding and sent them to a tube amp and it seemed to help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members echoshock Posted February 29, 2008 Members Share Posted February 29, 2008 At the risk of hijacking this thread , could you explain reamping and why you typically do it? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members barneyc4 Posted February 29, 2008 Members Share Posted February 29, 2008 i think its sending a pre recorded clean signal into your amp and recording what comes out without you touching your guitar works well when you want to layer the same track, but with different tones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Majoria Posted February 29, 2008 Members Share Posted February 29, 2008 Reamping is recording the raw electric guitar (or bass), then sending that recorded sound to the amp to record the amp at a later time. An advantage of this is to get the best possible take and then play around with amp settings and effects. Takes the frustration out of getting the ideal recording but then finding out you had too much distortion. So it would be: guitar --> interface/computer --> amp --> mic --> interface/computer I do it in two separate steps: 1. guitar --> interface/computer (record)2. interface/computer (play) --> amp --> mic --> interface/computer (record) Or you can just do step 1 and use an amp plugin. You have the option of playing the signal back out to the amp for monitoring while not recording the amp during step 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lee Flier Posted February 29, 2008 Members Share Posted February 29, 2008 An advantage of this is to get the best possible take and then play around with amp settings and effects. Takes the frustration out of getting the ideal recording but then finding out you had too much distortion. Well then it's not the ideal recording, is it? I suppose re-amping is OK for people who use mostly hi gain amps and/or pickups that aren't terribly responsive to your fingers. For me, it doesn't work because my tone affects what I play. I'm not just playing the notes but listening back to what the guitar and amp do when I play them a certain way, and responding to that in turn. So, me playing anything without knowing what amp will be used on the final result (or playing through one amp and then re-amping through another later) doesn't work. Amp choice is going to partly determine how I play something and possibly even my choice of notes. I think you lose something the more layers you put between the performance and the final recording, and the more decisions you put off between the recording and the mix. I'm not afraid of commitment! If there's too much distortion on a take, I turn the distortion down and do another take. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nerol1st Posted March 1, 2008 Members Share Posted March 1, 2008 Why reamp? Because you might have recorded a crap o licous tone and want to change it later without re tracking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted March 2, 2008 Moderators Share Posted March 2, 2008 I think you lose something the more layers you put between the performance and the final recording, and the more decisions you put off between the recording and the mix. I'm not afraid of commitment! I've found a great application for reamping for folks with your mindset and ideals regarding capturing guitar. Keep the original amp in the mix. Then... reamp into the same room the drums were recorded and mic up the amp for ambience. This way you get the advantage of the live amp close mic'ed and a nice ambiance that would be tough to achieve with the live drums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted March 2, 2008 Members Share Posted March 2, 2008 I've never re-amped a guitar. However, I have taken keyboards that I've thrown down really quickly and later thought, "Hmmmm, great sound, great take...but it needs more body" and then amped it and miced it. If I were to re-amp a guitar, I'd split the signal, doing DI while micing the amp simultaneously. But really, I just get the tone right to begin with and throw it down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members oldman2 Posted March 2, 2008 Members Share Posted March 2, 2008 ever hear the saying it's not nice to mess with mother nature? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nerol1st Posted March 3, 2008 Members Share Posted March 3, 2008 ever hear the saying it's not nice to mess with mother nature? Yeah because every guitarist has the worlds best tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lee Flier Posted March 3, 2008 Members Share Posted March 3, 2008 I've found a great application for reamping for folks with your mindset and ideals regarding capturing guitar. Keep the original amp in the mix. Then... reamp into the same room the drums were recorded and mic up the amp for ambience.This way you get the advantage of the live amp close mic'ed and a nice ambiance that would be tough to achieve with the live drums. Yeah, I've definitely done my share of re-amping (not only guitar but kick and snare drums and other stuff) as an addition to the original track, like you say. Just not "instead of." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members amarule Posted March 3, 2008 Members Share Posted March 3, 2008 I almost religiously take a pre everything DI on guitars when tracking basics. With modern DAW apps an extra few tracks is not big deal, and that clean track often becomes, via reamping, what makes the guitars solid. Reamp devices, unlike reversing a DI, yield the proper impedance load from +4 line level to instrument level, yielding an identical signal to that of plugging the instrument directly into the amp. You can build them yourself for about $100, that's what I did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fuzzball Posted March 5, 2008 Members Share Posted March 5, 2008 I think it is excellent for adding layers..just reamp add some different flavor or change EQ and build a cool wall of sound! I use mine and get very nice results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted March 6, 2008 Moderators Share Posted March 6, 2008 I almost religiously take a pre everything DI on guitars when tracking basics. With modern DAW apps an extra few tracks is not big deal, and that clean track often becomes, via reamping, what makes the guitars solid. Reamp devices, unlike reversing a DI, yield the proper impedance load from +4 line level to instrument level, yielding an identical signal to that of plugging the instrument directly into the amp. You can build them yourself for about $100, that's what I did. And... the DI signal is always there if you need to do any time correcting. Group the guitars with the DI. Use the DI signal to find the transient that the distorted amp is disguising. Make your edit to the group. Fill gaps via time expansion, crossfade. For even more of a stealthy editing technique, now reamp the edited DI. You will never detect any manipulation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted March 6, 2008 Moderators Share Posted March 6, 2008 Speaking of reamping. Something I stumbled on that I dig. Use automation on the send to reamp. Adjust the send to the reamp to the input of the amp to drive harder or softer, using the tune to dictate what it needs, when and where. It's totally organic sounding yet the control is way beyond what even a very good player could achive live. Just cream the input on the climax then bring it down to a nice Jimi-like clean stum with tube vibe for the verses. Nasty trick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members echoshock Posted March 6, 2008 Members Share Posted March 6, 2008 Speaking of reamping. Something I stumbled on that I dig. Use automation on the send to reamp. Adjust the send to the reamp to the input of the amp to drive harder or softer, using the tune to dictate what it needs, when and where. It's totally organic sounding yet the control is way beyond what even a very good player could achive live. Just cream the input on the climax then bring it down to a nice Jimi-like clean stum with tube vibe for the verses. Nasty trick. Wow that is an awesome idea. What devices to y'all recommend for reamping? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Eschatologist Posted March 6, 2008 Members Share Posted March 6, 2008 My cuniberti ReAmp box is fantastic, no problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 Radial makes some excellent reamping tools. The main things you should be concerned with when reamping is level and impedance. Most recorders output a lower impedance signal that's "hotter" than the signal coming out of your guitar. That means your amp will usually be overdriven more by a signal coming directly out of your recorder UNLESS you knock the level down a bit. There will also be tonal differences unless you deal with the impedance mismatch. A reamp box is designed to do both of those things. As far as getting a suitable signal into the recorder for use with plug-in amp sims and / or for later use with reamping, a high impedance input on your recorder, or the DI input on your mic preamp will work. Alternatively, you can use a DI box. I generally agree with the idea of recording an amp along with the DI signal and printing them to separate tracks. A straight DI signal is pretty uninspiring to a player, and as Lee pointed out, the interaction of player with guitar and amp definitely affects the way they play because the response of the instrument - sustain, tone, etc. - is definitely different when going into an amp than when only going direct. Finally, I will add that reamping, while a useful tool, is not my "default" method of tracking guitars. I normally stick microphones in front of amps, dial up the sound we're after and press "record". If the tone sucks, and if we're REALLY unsure of what we want or might need in the mix, I might take the DI signal too just as a precaution / insurance policy, but as Lee said, don't be afraid to commit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted March 7, 2008 Moderators Share Posted March 7, 2008 Wow that is an awesome idea. What devices to y'all recommend for reamping? Radial X-Amp here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members echoshock Posted March 7, 2008 Members Share Posted March 7, 2008 So a DI box is used on the way in and a reamp unit is used on the way out of the recorder? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Exocaster Posted March 7, 2008 Members Share Posted March 7, 2008 Speaking of reamping. Something I stumbled on that I dig. Use automation on the send to reamp. Adjust the send to the reamp to the input of the amp to drive harder or softer, using the tune to dictate what it needs, when and where. It's totally organic sounding yet the control is way beyond what even a very good player could achive live. Just cream the input on the climax then bring it down to a nice Jimi-like clean stum with tube vibe for the verses. Nasty trick. That's the best thing I've heard all day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted March 7, 2008 Moderators Share Posted March 7, 2008 So a DI box is used on the way in and a reamp unit is used on the way out of the recorder? Right. And I try to get the DI before any pedals as well. It saves me from having to dis the guitarist's Uber Metal Agony Fuzz pedal. Just get the guitar before everything. I even have a nice Mogami guitar cable so I don't have to subject the signal to whatever the player deems as an acceptable cord. Then later when you're ready to reamp, route a send from the DI track to a +4 balanced out into the reamp box. The reamp box is situated right at the amp. Output from the reamp box is a standard guitar cable (using that Mogami) into the amp. So the balance out from your interface can run a long distance. In my case, through a 50 foot snake out to my big room. Balanced and clean. Then... the reamp box converts the signal to a guitar level at the amp. Effectively the same as the guitarist standing next to the amp and plugging in. Do any iffy edits you're going to do before reamping to let the natural distortion of the amp disguise your trickery in an organic way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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