Reamping doesn't seem to work with drive pedals for me

All about the tools and techniques involved in capturing sound, in the studio or on location.

Moderator: Moderators

Reamping doesn't seem to work with drive pedals for me

Post by cominginsecond »

I've been trying to use my Radial JCR for basic reamping, and I'm running into issues. I have a Fender '65 Twin Reverb reissue that I'm using it with. When I plug my guitar straight into the amp and compare it to clean reamped tracks, it's pretty dang close.

However, if I reamp into my pedal board and use, say, the MXR Timmy (computer > JCR > pedal > Twin Reverb), the tone isn't even remotely close to when I'm just recording with a guitar in the normal fashion. When I reamp with some pedals, it seems to boost the mids to the point where it almost sounds a little like a "telephone" effect. With others, it's just really harsh and unusable. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I've adjusted the output level on the JCR and that doesn't seem to matter much.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.
cominginsecond
Poster
Posts: 12 Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 12:00 am Location: Boise, ID, USA

Re: Reamping doesn't seem to work with drive pedals for me

Post by The Elf »

Welcome! :thumbup:

Quite often this type of problem is due to a mismatch (level or connection type) somewhere in the chain.

Take us through exactly how you have things wired (including the types of cable) and routed.
User avatar
The Elf
Jedi Poster
Posts: 19938 Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2001 12:00 am Location: Sheffield, UK
An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.

Re: Reamping doesn't seem to work with drive pedals for me

Post by cominginsecond »

Thanks!

I'm patching it out of Cakewalk By Bandlab to an output on my Focusrite interface. I use a Mogami instrument cable to go from the interface to the Reamp box. Then I use another instrument cable to go out of the reamp box to the pedal.

Maybe it's possible the output going out of the Focusrite is too hot in the virtual mixing software? I thought I had it at unity, but I'm pretty new to my interface so I could have messed something up.
cominginsecond
Poster
Posts: 12 Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 12:00 am Location: Boise, ID, USA

Re: Reamping doesn't seem to work with drive pedals for me

Post by The Elf »

The re-amper is expecting a balanced line input - are you using a balanced cable?
User avatar
The Elf
Jedi Poster
Posts: 19938 Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2001 12:00 am Location: Sheffield, UK
An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.

Re: Reamping doesn't seem to work with drive pedals for me

Post by cominginsecond »

No, I'm using an instrument cable. Maybe that's it.
cominginsecond
Poster
Posts: 12 Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 12:00 am Location: Boise, ID, USA

Re: Reamping doesn't seem to work with drive pedals for me

Post by The Elf »

It could well be.

Try swapping the interface to re-amper cable for a proper balanced cable (I'm assuming balanced TRS jack to XLR, but you haven't said what interface you are using) and let us know what happens.

The cable from re-amper to pedal is fine as it is - unbalanced jack to jack (which I think you are referring to as an 'instrument cable').
User avatar
The Elf
Jedi Poster
Posts: 19938 Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2001 12:00 am Location: Sheffield, UK
An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.

Re: Reamping doesn't seem to work with drive pedals for me

Post by cominginsecond »

The reamp box has a quarter inch input and an XLR, but since I don't have a cable that's TRS to XLR, I'll use a TRS to TRS and see how it goes.
cominginsecond
Poster
Posts: 12 Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 12:00 am Location: Boise, ID, USA

Re: Reamping doesn't seem to work with drive pedals for me

Post by The Elf »

Yep, that should be fine.
User avatar
The Elf
Jedi Poster
Posts: 19938 Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2001 12:00 am Location: Sheffield, UK
An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.

Re: Reamping doesn't seem to work with drive pedals for me

Post by cominginsecond »

Ok, well I found out why it sounded harsh in my testing yesterday. Amplitube was still enabled on the track I was sending out to the amp. Embarassing. That said, I did some testing correctly, and now the problem is that it sounds really mushy, with flabby low end, compared to just plugging the guitar into the amp. I engaged the high pass filter on the reamp box and it was better but still not something I'd be interested in using. I'm either doing something wrong or reamping isn't what the hype would suggest. Unless I can get this figured out I'll either sell my reamp box or only use it on things like synths and vocals as an effect.
cominginsecond
Poster
Posts: 12 Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 12:00 am Location: Boise, ID, USA

Re: Reamping doesn't seem to work with drive pedals for me

Post by Wonks »

Are you sure the levels are the level from the reamp box is similar to that coming from the guitar? Plug the guitar directly into the amp and make sure the reamp box level the same when playing the same chords or riff.

How are you recording the basic guitar signal into the computer to begin with? If that signal is losing frequencies, maybe due to too low an input impedance, then reamping is never going to sound similar (though you've said it sounds similar for clean sounds, when any issues like that should be noticeable).

And if you normally play into a loud amp, but record for reamping direct into the computer, them you'll miss that volume reaction that you get between a guitar and an amp, which will come through in the recording of a DI signal.
User avatar
Wonks
Jedi Poster
Posts: 17001 Joined: Thu May 29, 2003 12:00 am Location: Reading, UK
Reliably fallible.

Re: Reamping doesn't seem to work with drive pedals for me

Post by cominginsecond »

Wonks wrote:Are you sure the levels are the level from the reamp box is similar to that coming from the guitar? Plug the guitar directly into the amp and make sure the reamp box level the same when playing the same chords or riff.

I've tried several different levels on the Reamp box, if that's what you're asking me. The mushiness is there regardless. I've also tried different volume levels in my DAW going out to the Reamp.

Wonks wrote:How are you recording the basic guitar signal into the computer to begin with?

I'm plugging my guitar into a Radial JDI and then into the API clone channel of my Seventh Circle Audio preamp and then into my Focusrite interface. The recorded track peaks at about -3 db.

Wonks wrote:And if you normally play into a loud amp, but record for reamping direct into the computer, them you'll miss that volume reaction that you get between a guitar and an amp, which will come through in the recording of a DI signal.

Are you talking about the idea that I may be playing differently because I'm plugged into a DI rather than a loud amp? Yeah, that's possible, but the difference isn't subtle and I was making an effort to play as similarly as possible between my amp and the DI. Also, when I recorded the direct part, I monitored it through Amplitube on a distorted setting, so it definitely felt pretty similar to playing through an amp.
cominginsecond
Poster
Posts: 12 Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 12:00 am Location: Boise, ID, USA

Re: Reamping doesn't seem to work with drive pedals for me

Post by The Elf »

cominginsecond wrote:Ok, well I found out why it sounded harsh in my testing yesterday. Amplitube was still enabled on the track I was sending out to the amp.

That leads me to wonder what else may be amiss. You absolutely *need* to know what is being sent to the re-amp box. Monitor it and check.

I re-amp all the time. There's no hype - it simply allows you to capture the raw guitar and re-apply processing to it. I see you're using a DI box. -3dBFS (if you mean dBFS) seems way too loud, though. Record with peaks at -10dBFS or lower. If you're pushing too high a level into the re-amp box it will likely sound fizzy and thin.

Are you sure you are capturing a clean DI signal? Have you compared your guitar to the DI you're capturing? And are you sure you are getting that clean signal back to the re-amper? Compare your clean guitar straight into the amp (no pedals) and then the DI. Are they identical? Match their levels. These are the basic steps to sort it out.

'Re-amping' per se is not a vocal or synth concept, though you *could* push it that way, if you really feel the need - it's specific to guitar.
User avatar
The Elf
Jedi Poster
Posts: 19938 Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2001 12:00 am Location: Sheffield, UK
An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.
Post Reply