VH4 & home recording

Hi guys,
in your opinion what's the best way to capture my VH4 tone for recording purposes in a home studio environment?
Please note that I'm only looking to capture the tone of the head, not the cab, because I want use impulse responses later inside my DAW.

I'm looking at devices like loadboxes (e.g. Koch LB120-II/8) for silent recording (which would be preferable) or simple D.I. boxes which can be placed between the head and the cab and are able to send a feed from the head to the audio interface (e.g. Behringer ULTRA-G GI100 or the Palmer PDI-09, but with the Palmer you can't switch the speaker sim off if I'm not wrong).
The Torpedo stuff (Reload, Studio, etc) looks great but it's a bit pricey for my current needs.

What d'you think?

Hi,
I was also trying to do the same. I tried a Torpedo Live with the VH-4, and as nice, as silent recording was, I wasn´t totally sold on it and returned it to the dealer. At this time I also had a Mesa 2x12 horizontal, which gave me really good results at bedroom levels.

When you´re dealing with impulses, try to work with a loadbox and take the signal from the FX Send. If you try the Torpedo W.O.S Plug-In you can get really nice results with the Poweramp sim, but again, I prefer the cab miced and the amp set to bedroom level.

djerry":17h40w4i said:

Hi,
I was also trying to do the same. I tried a Torpedo Live with the VH-4, and as nice, as silent recording was, I wasn´t totally sold on it and returned it to the dealer. At this time I also had a Mesa 2x12 horizontal, which gave me really good results at bedroom levels.

When you´re dealing with impulses, try to work with a loadbox and take the signal from the FX Send. If you try the Torpedo W.O.S Plug-In you can get really nice results with the Poweramp sim, but again, I prefer the cab miced and the amp set to bedroom level.

Click to expand...

Thanks...I already tried to record the FX send feed using this "trick" and got very good results, but I was trying to figure out if there's a cheap way to include the poweramp section too

The Koch you mention is a great piece of gear. You can take the poweramp signal from the Koch and apply impulses later in the DAW. You will get much better tones than by taking the signal from the amp's preamp (fx send). Also the Koch does a great job in preserving a nice high end without the typical harshness of the dummyloads.

yeah, the Koch seems like a great option.
What about a simple D.I. like the Hughes & Kettner Red Box, Palmer PDI-09 or a Behringer ULTRA-G GI100?
The Behringer one is even able to switch the cab simulation off, which is a great feature for what I'd like to do, but I'm not sure about the overall quality of the product.

VH4paul":17qzk8n2 said:

yeah, the Koch seems like a great option.
The Behringer one is even able to switch the cab simulation off, which is a great feature for what I'd like to do, but I'm not sure about the overall quality of the product.

Click to expand...

The Koch has also a "non cab simulation" signal that you can take to your daw. That's the signal that I use for my recordings. I apply cab impulses in the DAW at a later stage. It makes for a very versatile way of recording imho.

This is a test of the ch4 (everything is ch 4) of the VH4 with the Koch. I used no eq or other processing in the guitars (besides the impulses) and a little delay/verb for the leads.

ProgFreak":2haywnsq said:

This is a test of the ch4 (everything is ch 4) of the VH4 with the Koch. I used no eq or other processing in the guitars (besides the impulses) and a little delay/verb for the leads.

Click to expand...

Very pleasant test

Which IR cab did you use ?

VH4paul":33do4jzx said:

yeah, the Koch seems like a great option.
What about a simple D.I. like the Hughes & Kettner Red Box, Palmer PDI-09 or a Behringer ULTRA-G GI100?
The Behringer one is even able to switch the cab simulation off, which is a great feature for what I'd like to do, but I'm not sure about the overall quality of the product.

Click to expand...

I have used an old H&K Redbox Pro to do just that a few times, worked really well. With that version you could also switch off the cab emulation and just use impulses in your DAW. Of course it's not silent recording per se (I used my cab as a load) but it does work well and the Redbox cost me 35 Euros or so used.

You could of course also combine it with some other load (i.e. no cab) but then an integrated solution like the Koch that was mentioned is probably less hassle.

thanks a lot for the advices guys!

docben":1x9rw8yu said:

ProgFreak":1x9rw8yu said:

This is a test of the ch4 (everything is ch 4) of the VH4 with the Koch. I used no eq or other processing in the guitars (besides the impulses) and a little delay/verb for the leads.

Click to expand...

Very pleasant test

Which IR cab did you use ?

Click to expand...

Thanks! I used the Mesa cab from redwirez.

Rezamatix":1x9rw8yu said:

ProgFreak":1x9rw8yu said:

VH4paul":1x9rw8yu said:

yeah, the Koch seems like a great option.
The Behringer one is even able to switch the cab simulation off, which is a great feature for what I'd like to do, but I'm not sure about the overall quality of the product.

Click to expand...

The Koch has also a "non cab simulation" signal that you can take to your daw. That's the signal that I use for my recordings. I apply cab impulses in the DAW at a later stage. It makes for a very versatile way of recording imho.

This is a test of the ch4 (everything is ch 4) of the VH4 with the Koch. I used no eq or other processing in the guitars (besides the impulses) and a little delay/verb for the leads.

Click to expand...

this is excellent sounding. Love it.

I use the PDI-09 and i think its pretty cool. I have a bogner 2x12 cab that I lay face down in the carpet and use the PDI-09 straight to my Daw. I will put on IR's in the DAW. Im using recabinet.

here are some samples: Some are VH4 or Hagen, or BOTH!

http://www.tonefinder.com/files/581382220064-Thumper.mp3

http://www.tonefinder.com/files/161382753669-sexyvh4-1.mp3

http://www.tonefinder.com/files/491380560593-Diezel_tester2.mp3

Click to expand...

Thanks! Yours also sound great. Which recabinet version and cabs did you use?