recording guitar pre-amp

[Paul Bush]

Hi chap`s Ive just recently finished another song using all the virtual amps , but found that to get a good tone I had to use a lot of treble,  I´m thinking of putting the guitar firstly into a Pre-amp and rom the pre-amp into the audio interface ?  any coments or what do you advise ? cheers PB

[Sidney Earl Goodroe]

Having used amp sims and POD type devices for so long now, my advice to you would be to set the amp sim to a setting that you feel is best and if there is something lacking eq wise, insert a simple graphic eq on the output of the sim.

Preferably, before you hit any rack type of plugins. My setup is usually any gain type fx first, amp sim next, graphic or parametric eq, then add fx. This seems to be the most natural sounding configuration to my ear.

I am not against using the preamp but that to me would be adding something that is going to alter the natural tone of the guitar itself. It is also one more link in the chain that you will spend tweaking on for hours!! It sounds to me like you are less happy with the amp sound than the guitar itself. There should be enough tools in your amp sim or DAW that you can use to get that amp singing.

One more thought!! I had the pleasure to be on a session with the legendary Tom Dowd back in the day. There was a particular amp sound that just was not cutting it. The engineer started to grab eq knobs and twist his heart out.

Tom smiled and walked to the mixer, disabled the eq on that channel, grabbed a pair of headphones and disappeared in to the recording room. Within a matter of minutes, there was a great guitar sound singing through the monitors. When asked what his secret was, he smiled and replied, " moved the mic". 

I still to this day try to remember that you should try to fix the problem with as simple an approach as possible.

[rsinger]

5 hours ago, Paul Bush said:

Hi chap`s Ive just recently finished another song using all the virtual amps , but found that to get a good tone I had to use a lot of treble,  I´m thinking of putting the guitar firstly into a Pre-amp and rom the pre-amp into the audio interface ?  any coments or what do you advise ? cheers PB

I think it depends on your audio IF.  If you need to add high end that may indicate that you don't have 1 meg ohm input impedance. What does the IF say about input impedance? I normally use a guitar pre-amp into a mixer and the mixer goes into the audio IF, but I don't have a high end IF. I've been using a VG-99 for guitar modelling and I'm switching over to an SY-1000. If I'm not using guitar modelling I use an ADA MP1 that's programmed clean and neutral. The SY-1000 sounds pretty good, once I have it setup I may use that to record guitar.

[Paul Bush]

Thanks chaps , what I failed to mention was that I´m thinking ou using  an old analogue Hughes and kettner tubeman  ,before the interface  , I guess i´ll just give it a go and see what happens ,I´m now looking for a free Bass amp vst , i found one called  ``ronald -passion´´ but it wouldnt install ???

thanks for the info`s

[Alan Tubbs]

It couldn’t hurt to try.

[Paul Bush]

Hi alan, Yeah I thought so too , this new song of mine really needs some clean crisp sort of sound , almost biting tone thanks for replying 

[Jim Roseberry]

Though not a cheap solution, check out both the Revv D-20 and G-20 lunchbox tube-heads.

• D-20 - clean to crunch pedal platform
• G-20 - mini Revv Generator (two channels mid to high gain)

Both feature embedded Two Notes Torpedo (reactive load and Cab sim - no physical Cab necessary).

Both are tiny and weigh 9 pounds.

Both are 20w via a pair of 6V6 power tubes.  (I've not been much of a fan of EL84 powered lunchbox heads)

You can use Torpedo's onboard Cabs... or load your own Cab IRs (IRs can be up to 100ms in length).

• Onboard Cabs can mix a pair of mics.
• You can load/mix two simultaneous Cab IRs.
• Both amps have a 6 position switch where you can recall Cab/IR presets.  You can save/recall many more presets via MIDI or the Torpedo remote software.

From reading about the Torpedo Live, I wasn't expecting to like the reactive load or Cab sim.

Listened to some D-20 and G-20 demos (mostly Shawn Tubbs)... and decided to get the G-20.

The G-20 is one of the best sounding/feeling direct recording solutions I've used (I've owned many).

Liked the G-20 so much, I wanted to pick up the D-20... to use with drive pedals.  It too is fantastic.

Pair the BE-OD Deluxe with the D-20 and you've got classic JCM-800 to higher-gain modded Marshall tones... in a tiny footprint.

FWIW, I've owned all the top-tier modeling devices, the Kemper Profiler, and have been using an Axe-FX III.  All are capable of good/great sounds.

A Friedman BE-100 Deluxe running into a Boss Waza Tube Amp Expander was one of the best direct guitar sounds I've achieved.

I'd put the Revv G-20 and D-20 right up there with the BE-100/TAE combo.

The size/weight are perfect for the home/office studio.

 

[kennywtelejazz]

 

A Real amp = real tone .       An Amp sim = compromise .....

I finally figured that one out after beating my head up against the wall for the last  15 years  +

Kenny

[Chaps]

Just a thought... if you split the signal from your guitar with a direct box or preamp, you can record both the signal from the guitar and the audio from the preamp at the same time on different mono tracks.

[Paul Bush]

On 5/18/2020 at 2:01 PM, kennywtelejazz said:

 

A Real amp = real tone .       An Amp sim = compromise .....

I finally figured that one out after beating my head up against the wall for the last  15 years  +

Kenny

Yeah thanks Kenny it really comes down to that , i´m quite new to this bandlab , I´m constanty surprised at the quality of the  the tones cheers PB