Members brownbathrobe Posted September 24, 2009 Members Share Posted September 24, 2009 Hi folks I'm starting to look into the world of direct guitar recording and I'm a little confused. Maybe you cats can help me out? Ideally I'd like to keep using my stompboxes and just run them into a rackmount preamp unit instead of a guitar amp. I'm looking for a fairly clean tone with a little bit of bite to it. Do I need something "special" with amp modeling/speaker simulation (like a PODxt) or can I just use a preamp channel strip (like a Presonus Eureka)? What about a Tech 21 Sansamp (like a PSA 1.1)? Am I missing out on any other options? As always your input would be so very appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members southpaw pete Posted September 24, 2009 Members Share Posted September 24, 2009 When recording direct, I personally use a Sansamp character series Liverpool pedal, and run through a Mackie onyx satellite DAW. Sounds amazing, and also part of my pedalboard for live. I've used a POD previously, but have found the Liverpool much better sounding for my applications (great cleans, and handles my other ods and effects very nicely). Of course, you can get good results with a POD as well - I just prefer my Liverpool. Otherwise, you can simply plug from your pedals direct into your DAW... USB or firewire into your computer... and download a program or plugin (vst etc) with amp emulation. Lots of good options for that as well, free and, well, not so free.There's my thoughts. Hope it helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members brownbathrobe Posted September 24, 2009 Author Members Share Posted September 24, 2009 Thanks for the reply, Pete! I should have specified that this is actually for a live application, so I won't be using a DAW. My situation dictates that micing an amp is not possible (for bleed reasons) so I am looking for alternate solutions. I'll definitely check out the Liverpool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members southpaw pete Posted September 24, 2009 Members Share Posted September 24, 2009 Yeah, and it fits right on the pedal board. They also have the other "characters" like Blonde, California, British... but I personally like that nice chimey Vox-y tone. I use mine direct at church every week (for stage volume level reasons), and at home for recording (for 3 sleeping children reasons ) And even when I do record micing an amp, I also run a line through the Liverpool as well, and it gives a great flavor to mix in with the mic'd track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members c+t in b Posted September 24, 2009 Members Share Posted September 24, 2009 Hi folks I'm starting to look into the world of direct guitar recording and I'm a little confused. Maybe you cats can help me out? Ideally I'd like to keep using my stompboxes and just run them into a rackmount preamp unit instead of a guitar amp. I'm looking for a fairly clean tone with a little bit of bite to it. Do I need something "special" with amp modeling/speaker simulation (like a PODxt) or can I just use a preamp channel strip (like a Presonus Eureka)? What about a Tech 21 Sansamp (like a PSA 1.1)? Am I missing out on any other options? As always your input would be so very appreciated! what kind of amp do you have? i use a marshall speaker emulator (now made by groove tubes). you can get a direct signal from your amp head and use it for live or recorded material Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members peridot1 Posted September 24, 2009 Members Share Posted September 24, 2009 Sansamp character pedals are great. I have everyone except the blonde. Another is the DC Womanizer. It won't provide amp modeling but it acts like a direct amp. Very transparent and warm. I use both together. I hear the ultimate direct preamp is the AxeFX. If you can afford one I doubt you'll want to use your stomp boxes. It does it all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members grayeyes777 Posted September 24, 2009 Members Share Posted September 24, 2009 i've never gotten a useable tone doing what you suggest. not saying it's not possible but it's always been way too much of a pain for me. if i'm going direct then i just keep it all pod or plugin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members geoff_p Posted September 24, 2009 Members Share Posted September 24, 2009 Hi, maybe my experiences will help. it has been a long journey. i do not own a guitar amp, it is not practical fo me. i play into a quality and big stereo system. i first tried digital modellers - an old but expensive zoom (poor), a behringer vamp2 (surprisingly not too bad, esp as it is by far the cheapest, but still disappointing, also the effects were very poor), then a gt8 then vox tonelabs se and le (both the tonelabs were not bad but after a while you begin to notice that all the settings sound similar. then it begins to grate. this took several weeks - i was blown away by the tonelabs at first. se effects were dull (i am very very very into effects), the le effects were better than the se, really rather good if a little limited) good at one sound only. the only one i kept was the gt8, and that is only good for clean sounds (using the rfier clean amp sim). they all just did not do the business for me with overdriven or saturated sounds. gt8 has by far the best effects, one of the reasons i kept it.so then i tried a variety of tube boxes. a seymour duncan twin tube - not designed as a preamp but worked quite well, it has a lack of high end which is necessary as a make shift speaker sim, but it still didn't sound like i hoped. one of the new blackstar duals, really didn't like this, must be something wrong with me as the reviews suggest it is awesome, but the speaker sim was poor, too much top end which makes it fizz horribly. it is hard to eq out without making it too muffled. if you have tried any distortion unit into a stereo system you will no how awful it can be. and finally a damage control womanizer. not keen on this, a very grainy sound and again the speaker sim let too much high end through. so i finally turned to analog solid state devices. first an AMT california, quite good but again rather muffled and gain cannot be turned down enough. hopeful though. then a tech 21 o.d. pedal, this sounded quite good (brit and calif settings, tweed was horrible and tinny)but i was looking for better than quite good. finally a tech 21 british - i chose the british because it came up on ebay, will try the liverpool and the california whenever funds allow and they appear on ebay. i am in uk which has a much smaller selection of things on ebay than us. (and why do we pay 50% more for pedals over here? prices in us and uk are about the same in dollars and pounds. mini-rant over.) it took a few hours trying settings, with and without eq pedals, in front of the gt8 or in its loop etc, but now i have finally got what i want. glorious, glorious sounds, particularly for heavily overdriven sounds. a good light overdrive sound is still elsuive from this pedal, but it is light years ahead of any digital modellers. and an overdrive can always be slotted in front of the british if you like. it works well. also my rat sounds great going into it. the character knob gives quite a range of sounds and there is a separate gain control. check out burgerman666 on youtube, he demonstrates all the character pedals superbly, with brilliant sound quality recorded direct to computer. so i thought i was there, finally not just happy but ecstatic with my direct sound. then i thought just for the hell of it i would try a tech 21 gt2, simply because i got it very cheap on ebay. i intended to sell it for a profit. but it has thrown me into confusion, i love it. and it does light overdrive much better than the british. and it has a california setting to add variety. i think i will probably keep both, can't part with either. bear in mind that in some ways i do not know what i am talking about. i have never played through a guitar amp, so i cannot compare. i have a very modest guitar - a middle of the road 80s westone. but i have spent hundreds of hours tinkering with them fun boxes and i know what i like. and i like tech 21. in addition i like bucket loads of effects so maybe i like the tech 21 stuff because it sounds divine with modulations, delay and reverb. so my current set up goes into the gt8 set to either clean or with amp sims off, using sometimes the compressor and the wah, out of its loop into the rat, the gt2 then the britsh, back into the gt8 for occasional trem (ok), frequent chorus (stunning - you can set 3 choruses with different rates, depths etc.), and very occasional flange and delays and onto a damage control glass nexus which is the main effects box (modulations, delay and reverb). this is the best effects box i have ever heard by about a million miles, i cannot begin to describe how blown away by it i am. the richness, the subtlety, the organicness (?), the detail of the sound is a wonder to me. i have never heard such stunning sounds as this set up produces. all i need now is a better guitar and then to learn how to play it. sorry if this was a bit rambling and if i went off the topic. time for bed, goodnight. 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Members Davo17 Posted September 25, 2009 Members Share Posted September 25, 2009 A good speaker sim is important. geoff p I too have a gt-8(which requires lots of time), and just got a tech-21 tri OD today-good post. I have found that running an analog pedal in the gt-8's loop helps warm it up. There are some great e-books on the gt-8 on the net. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members peridot1 Posted September 25, 2009 Members Share Posted September 25, 2009 one of the new blackstar duals, really didn't like this, must be something wrong with me as the reviews suggest it is awesome, but the speaker sim was poor, too much top end which makes it fizz horribly. it is hard to eq out without making it too muffled. if you have tried any distortion unit into a stereo system you will no how awful it can be. and finally a damage control womanizer. not keen on this, a very grainy sound and again the speaker sim let too much high end through. I have both and don't run either by themselves. I use them as stacking pedals. The womanizer's mid to high gain is very grainy and personally unusable direct, but on a low clean setting it acts as a direct box and amp. I can run any pedal through it. Same with an HT Dual on the A channel but it does compress the sound a little. edit: made a little clip here to see how I use the HT Dual and Womanizer together and why I use them to get an amp tone direct.. http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?ydo1tzmkmzu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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