[zimbloth]

Well I had been gearing up to start recording the guitar tracks for my band's CD, and due to the convienence/timing factor, I planned on going the Re-Amping route. I purchased a Little Labs Red Eye DI/Re-amp unit. Also borrowed my friends Avalon U5 DI to try out as well.

Unfortunately after a long time of testing, I just can't seem to get this to yield usable results. I really don't understand, I've heard people do this and it can sound good. I used all the right cables, all the right settings, levels, gear, etc...no matter what I do, when I send the DI tracks to be ramped, the tone that comes out of my amp is atrocious - nothing like how it sounds when I play through it "live". It makes the tone lifeless and mushy, undefined and stale. Through both the VHT bandmate's Mesa it sounded hideous.

We brought all our 7-strings down there, with the purpose of getting all our sounds on tape, so we could demo the different pickup tones through the various amps and find the best combination to use. This turned out to be a colossal waste of time. It's really depressing I've been preparing for this for months practically. The raw sound it's recording seems fine, it's just when the recorded signal is going from the Firepod Line out to the Redeye and then to my amp, somewhere along the way the tone degrades to the point of unusability. I'm using all the appropriate cables, don't get it.

Does anyone have any idea why this could be happening? Perhaps the Redeye I got was a dud? Something somehow I'm missing? Anyone who's done this kind of thing before with success, I'd appreciate the help.

[The Dark Wolf]

Maybe it's the output impedance of the line out not matching the guitar amp?

Output impedance of recorders and computers and shit like that can be low (200 ohm +/1), while input impedance on amps can be pretty high. If the output impedance is too low, you can lose high end and sustain.

http://www.zzounds.com/item--RADXAMP


From Wikipedia -

Playing back a signal from recording studio equipment directly into a guitar amplifier can cause unwanted side-effects such as input-stage distortion, treble loss or overemphasis, and ground-loop hum; thus there is sometimes a need for impedance conversion, level-matching, and ground alteration. Like running a guitar signal through a guitar effects pedal that is set to Bypass, re-amping introduces some degree of sonic degradation compared to playing a guitar live directly into a guitar amp rig.

A re-amping device commonly employs a reversed Direct Inject (DI) transformer with some resistors added for level and impedance shift. Level and impedance adjustment can be achieved by adding a potentiometer or adjustable resistor. A proper re-amping device converts a balanced signal to an unbalanced signal, reduces a high studio-level (line-level) signal down to a low guitar-level signal, and shifts the output to a high instrument-level impedance (typically a guitar pickup impedance).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Re-amp

[zimbloth]

Yes but that's what the re-amping unit I bought does. It takes the line level output from the recorder and converts it into an instrument level signal suitable to feed an amp. I'm not running it from the line out directly to the amp or anything.

[Donnie]

Weird. I so feel your pain right now.
We've been doing the whole re-amping thing and last night we finally started running the signal through different amps. I'm not to impressed with the results. It's sounds alright but there is just something that's missing. It sounds drastically different than if I am actually playing through the amps.

[zimbloth]

Originally Posted by Donnie

Weird. I so feel your pain right now.
We've been doing the whole re-amping thing and last night we finally started running the signal through different amps. I'm not to impressed with the results. It's sounds alright but there is just something that's missing. It sounds drastically different than if I am actually playing through the amps.

Yeah, exactly. Through my digital amp its not quite as obvious but still noticible, through the VHT and Mesa its night and day - very depressing.

[Jerich]

can i chime in here?

whenever i record a band with heavy guitars I cheat re-amp!! I know this is not the same thing as "Reamping" but works really well non the less. Record two suitible Dry guitar signals full pan (l) and a full pan (r) ...then ignore these tracks while regular recording and at the end of sessions you can experiment with the dry signal through various amps...of cousre you need to choice one guitar that is very consistant to do this and at time i have punched in and out of it but it allows you to try man different amp combinations....and do not let some tool who owns a recording studio tell you they cannot do it anyone running pro tools/cubase,sonar and any other Daw can do it....good luck...

[zimbloth]

Originally Posted by Jerich

can i chime in here?

whenever i record a band with heavy guitars I cheat re-amp!! I know this is not the same thing as "Reamping" but works really well non the less. Record two suitible Dry guitar signals full pan (l) and a full pan (r) ...then ignore these tracks while regular recording and at the end of sessions you can experiment with the dry signal through various amps...of cousre you need to choice one guitar that is very consistant to do this and at time i have punched in and out of it but it allows you to try man different amp combinations....and do not let some tool who owns a recording studio tell you they cannot do it anyone running pro tools/cubase,sonar and any other Daw can do it....good luck...

I don't really understand what you're saying. Just bypass the re-amping unit altogether and run the recorder line out directly to the amp? I tried that, sounds terrible.

[The Dark Wolf]

Originally Posted by zimbloth

Yes but that's what the re-amping unit I bought does. It takes the line level output from the recorder and converts it into an instrument level signal suitable to feed an amp. I'm not running it from the line out directly to the amp or anything.

Sounds like your unit might be the culprit, dude.


I can't believe I just typed that.

[zimbloth]

Originally Posted by The Dark Wolf

Sounds like your unit might be the culprit, dude.


I can't believe I just typed that.

Perhaps, but i've heard other people have success with the Redeye. I don't know, maybe mine is a lemon. I will try calling Little Labs tomorrow and see what they have to say.

[metalfiend666]

First off, let me just say that I have zero experience with reamping, but I have a side comment to make on what you and Donnie are saying. You both say the re-amped sound is nothing like the sound of you playing the amp. Maybe it's because you adjust your playing style to suit the reactions of the amp you're playing through, therefore recording a dry signal and sending it back through an amp will never sound like you playing the amp?