Seeking re-amping advice

[maxaxenyc]

Hi all, I'm about to start recording with my band Torpedo Rodeo and I just read online about the process of re-amping. Since I am a huge tone and fx junkie this interests me a whole lot and I was hoping someone with more insight than myself could help answer a few questions:

1. I need a Direct box to go to the board (recording in our home PT studio). Will any old direct box (ie whirlwind EDB1, the cheap one I have access to) work for this purpose?

2. While I record my direct signal, I also want to be able to play through my amp live, to get my tone and feel and such... Can I also use the direct box as the splitting device (since most of them have two outputs)? Can I split the signal without degrading it?

3. Is there a quality difference between the cheapest option I've found for a re-amping box (Radial Pro RMP, $99) and other more expensive ones?

Any other advice would be huge. Thanks in advance. We probably won't be ready to record guitars for another two weeks so I am hoping to figure out the gear I need and order it by the beginning of next week.

-Max

[joemudge4]

Maybe somone else can chime in, if I'm wrong... but I think you can use like a Boss tu-2 tuner to correct the impedance when running back into the amp.

I've also had good luck running out of the fx loop, recording, then running back into the fx loop to record the mic. It's not really reamping, you're kind of stuck with the amp's gain and eq settings... but it's good for allowing you to play with mic placement and different cabs. If you're amp has an fx loop.

Neither of these is probably as good as having an actual reamp box, but its cheap/free and worth a try if you got the means.

[che_guitarra]

Originally Posted by maxaxenyc

While I record my direct signal, I also want to be able to play through my amp live, to get my tone and feel and such... Can I also use the direct box as the splitting device (since most of them have two outputs)? Can I split the signal without degrading it?

-Max

I bought a Morley A/B/C splitter box for this purpose to try in our studio. Via this box, the guitar signal splits to an amp (mic'd up) and also DI'd straight into the desk, each recorded to a seperate tracks in Protools.

While it works, i've never been able to mix the two signals to a usable result. Using one or the other - it sounds perfectly fine, but combining both the amp and DI signal to try and achieve 'one' sound ultimately just ends up sounding thin, phasey, and generally unpleasant.

If you try this and look at the two wav files (of the same performance) in your sequencer, the DI tends to capture all the transients and has a very fast sound, whereas a mic'd up guitar amp is generally a flatter transient response, but is a bit more dynamic due to the guitar/amp interaction. Putting them together - it just sounds wrong, and fine adjustment doesn't fix.


I'd save my money if I was you

[nerol1st]

Originally Posted by maxaxenyc

3. Is there a quality difference between the cheapest option I've found for a re-amping box (Radial Pro RMP, $99) and other more expensive ones?



-Max

To this I say there is a difference from a shootout someone did between a reamp V.2, a X amp, A pro RMP and a redeye.

Basically though I would say it's the transformer they use that makes it cost less. The quality wasn't so much less that the pro rmp isn't a great box though.

I personally own a Reamp V.2 and love it, simple and it works.

DI boxes do have a huge difference IMO, a cheap behringer doesn't hold water to a nice Radial. Again I would say due to the components not build structure.

Most DI boxes that I have seen (even cheap ones) have a low Z out and a high Z out for splitting the signal. There shouldn't be any degradation of the signal when run this way.

[nerol1st]

I will say that running a DI backwards sucks compared to a box designed for re amping.

Things to consider:

Keep the instrument cable from the DI box as short as possible. I personally use a little 6" cable. The balanced cable run to the reamp box doesn't really matter as much.

Same for the DI box, keep your instrument cable runs as short as possible. If your using two instrument cables treat that as the run and don't go longer than you absolutely have to.

Make absolutely sure your DI is not clipping.