Two Notes Torpedo Live sounds awful through headphones

Tallgeese

New member
So whats the deal?

With sennheiser hd 280 pro plugged in to the headphone jack of the torpedo live my guitar sounds HORRIBLE. Like a boss metal zone or something, which when I'm running a Deizel VH4 and a torpedo live does not make me very happy. Is anyone getting EXACT amp tone through headphones or is this just something we are supposed to compromise on?

I've checked the forums for some solutions but so far nothing really.

The settings ARE on wet/wet
 
I am also using HD 280's with my Live and it sounds great to me. You should not expect to be hearing the same tone you hear through your cab when you are just playing in the room without being miked up. The sound you hear from the Live would be comparable to if you were listening to your amp/cab miked up.

Also worth noting that you shouldn't necessary expect the same amp settings that work through your real cab unmiked to work through the Torpedo Live.

What cab models have you tried and with which microphones?
 
So through your headphones it sounds like you're monitoring it in a studio? I was just under the impression that the point of this unit was to emulate a speaker cabinet and pump that sound out to whatever source you chose so why should the tone sound different through headphones vs. PA? Besides the obvious things like they are two different sizes of sound rigs.

I've plugged it back in to the cab and put all the knobs at 12 (oclock) and tested it then plugged it back in to the TL. After that I spent two days going through every single cab/mic combination, it all sounded terrible. Like I was using the cheapest distortion pedal through the worst 1x12 combo you could get. It sounds harsh and scratchy, sometimes even muffled like the amp is in a different room from me.

I'm fully aware I'm not doing something correctly though. Will I be able to monitor the EXACT guitar tone if I run everything through an interface and plug the headphones in to the interface? I suppose I still have to test what it sounds like when its recorded.
 
The Live is designed to emulate the sound of a miked up speaker cabinet. What you are hearing from the headphones shouldn't be any different than what you would hear when recorded through your DAW. That of course is true if everything is working properly for you so it would be a good test to try recording something to see if there is a major difference in sound quality.

I do have to adjust my amp settings quite drastically when playing through my real cab vs. playing through the cab sims on the Live. Did you try adjusting the mic position & distance? They have a pretty dramatic effect on the sound as well. For what it's worth I didn't particularly care for any of the default patches on the Live. Try starting with a cab from scratch without any EQ or anything applied and then play with the mics and positions to see if you can come up with something closer to what you're looking for.

My favorite cabs are the Uber30 and the MesOS (downloadable from the Le Boutique). You can audition it before purchasing and there are a wide variety of cabs available there. That said many of the stock cabs are very good (the Engl V30 comes to mind), so you certainly should be able to find something that doesn't sound like a distortion pedal through a crappy 1x12 combo.
 
The Torpedo Live emulates a mic'ed up speaker cabinet. Its not intended to sound like you are sitting next to your amp. Also, there are about a million variables as to why something sounds the way it does. You haven't described your setup at all in Torpedo Live.

You say it sounds fizzy like a Metal Zone pedal through the headphones. Do you still have this bad sound when plugging the line output into an audio interface and then monitoring that?

Do you accidentally have the Power Amp simulation on? Which cabinet have you chosen? Which mic are you using? Is the mic centered? Off to the side? Is very close to the speaker cabinet? What are the settings on your amp? What guitar are you using? Is it away from it? Have you compared what you are hearing to the real thing? Guitar cabs are very directional. By doing my own recordings, I have come to realize there is a difference between listening to the amp while standing up, and listening to what the mic is picking up. When I crouched down and listened to my cab at the same level as the mic, things were pretty fizzy and not pleasant. This means I have to fix my EQ at the amp.

Know one here knows whether there is a problem with the headphone output of your Live. The only way to test that is to monitor the line out to see if you get exactly the same result or not.
 
Signal chain

Guitar > amp > TL > headphones

Amp: Diezel VH4 silver face
Guitars: Schecter S-1 Elite with EMG 81/85, Schecter 006 Elite with a Lace Dissonant Aggressor.
Torpedo Live
Headphones: Sennheiser HD 280 Pro

I did hook the VH4 back up to the speaker cabinet (Marshall 1960 B) and tested it by using my ear as a mic by moving my ear across the cone. I did this using my normal settings on channel 3 which are by "clock face"

Master: 11
Channel Volume: 11
Gain: 1
Treble: 11
Mid: 2
Bass: 10
Presence: 1
Deep: 10

I also turned all the EQ knobs off and tested it as well as turning them all to 12 o clock to test it. After I did that I hooked the TL back up and did the same thing with a calif stdC, brit vinC, angl vintC and a green tri. To test this I took EACH mic and started with the center and distance at 0%, first moving the Center +5% and then moving the distance +5% at a time until I had tested the center being at 5% with every 5% interval in distance. I did this test with each 5% center interval up to 100% with every single mic on each of the cabs listed at normal EQ settings and 12 o clock settings. I have had this amp for 8 years and am VERY familiar with how the EQ reacts to different speaker cabinets and microphones. Using this method provided absolutely no acceptable tone qualities. I also watched some of the youtube videos demoing the TL with high gain amps (even more than a few VH4s) and duplicated any settings I could see in the video. Even with the exact same settings I did not produce anything close to what I heard from other users.

I have not tested it with with my audio interface yet because I haven't figured out how to hook it up to my Mbox2 mini (I know shut up about it), but I stated previously that that was my intention. I actually covered most of your solutions in my previous posts so sorry for not being clear enough. My question WAS whether or not I should hear a difference between monitoring the headphone jack and ANY other situation that the TL can be monitored in.

So for future reference: Is using the headphone jack on the front of the Torpedo Live inferior to monitoring it with headphones in some other way? If not why am I experiencing quality issues with my tone when I use the headphone jack?

To Eliminate some other things: I did change the battery in the 81/85 guitar. The tubes are BRAND new. all the strings on my guitars are 48 hours old. I've tested all the cables and swapped them out with 3 different sets, went and bought new ones just in case.
 
To answer your question at its most basic level, there should be no difference between what you hear through the headphones and what you here when monitoring through your DAW from the line out. If there is a significant difference when you perform that test, then it would be a good bet that there is something going on with your headphone out.
 
redstone-rt":1bt5hw39 said:
Hey, post a sample of your bare amp and we'll see what kind of cab settings fit your rig.

I'll work on that. Really any settings for a high gain amp should sound at least partially acceptable I would imagine. I've copied https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnxWVN9Tsfw and more.

I've gotten SOME decent tones, what I'm guessing now is that anything that I'm hearing that I like is from a double tracked recording. But on the other hand during this video you can hear what I'm guessing you should hear coming out of the headphone jack BEFORE he double tracks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0i3dpBxbSlo
 
It definitely sounds like you've put in quite a bit of time into figuring this out. As far as I know, there should not be a dramatic difference between the headphone output and what you get from the line out. Definitely the "Metal Zone" sound is the pits. The only time I have ever gotten that kind of awful sound is when the cabinet emulation is turned off. Or, perhaps you are overloading and clipping the input of the Torpedo Live?

All I can think of is to listen to the line output through your Mbox and let us know if it is the same result.
 
cycosuicide":1o06671h said:
Do you accidentally have the Power Amp simulation on?

The Torpedo should sound amazing with headphones. Did you check the power amp simulation? Power amp sim plus your actual power amp can result in metalzone toan.
 
It sounds like you have the dry soiund assigned to the left output, check your Setup Menu/Output parameters!

Setup Menu/Output (parameter 6/9)

The Torpedo Live is a mono unit, but the S/PDIF digital output carries 2 channels: the Wet (meaning with speaker simulation) or Dry (meaning without speaker simulation) signal, or a combination of the two.

It is important to note that the LEFT S/PDIF channel and the Line/Headphones output of the Torpedo Live are fed by the same signal. In other words, when the LEFT S/PDIF channel carries the DRY signal, the Line and Headphones output will carry the DRY signal too. When the LEFT S/PDIF channel carries the WET signal, the Line and Headphones output carries the WET signal.

There are 4 options that determine the way the 2 S/PDIF channels and the Line/Headphones output are fed:
 
Successful update.

So I have it somewhere close now. I'm posting this as a tip of sorts to maybe get people further faster on their first try.

What I did to find a decent sound is saturate my gain a little more than I knew I would need at like 2 o'clock. Then I turned every EQ knob (treble, middle, bass, and on my Diezel the 'deep' as well as presence) ALL THE WAY UP and then I backed it off until I got what I wanted. The settings ended up being WAY higher than I ever would have set them on any amplifier I've ever played or recorded. But the end result was actually being able to hear a dynamic tone through the headphones. This technique ended up working well with most of the mic/cab combos with some combos obviously sounding better together.

I can't say much for the end result in a recording because I'm guessing I'm going to have to record 3 or 4 tracks to get what I would want, but it is now tolerable through headphones.
 
I have no such problems, maybe it's your headphones?

If you want the sound of your cab consider making an IR of it.

Tallgeese":11224ts6 said:
Successful update.

So I have it somewhere close now. I'm posting this as a tip of sorts to maybe get people further faster on their first try.

What I did to find a decent sound is saturate my gain a little more than I knew I would need at like 2 o'clock. Then I turned every EQ knob (treble, middle, bass, and on my Diezel the 'deep' as well as presence) ALL THE WAY UP and then I backed it off until I got what I wanted. The settings ended up being WAY higher than I ever would have set them on any amplifier I've ever played or recorded. But the end result was actually being able to hear a dynamic tone through the headphones. This technique ended up working well with most of the mic/cab combos with some combos obviously sounding better together.

I can't say much for the end result in a recording because I'm guessing I'm going to have to record 3 or 4 tracks to get what I would want, but it is now tolerable through headphones.
 
I thought the same thing when I had it. This digital stuff is not for me. Sounded absolutely terrible and did none of my tube amps any justice. People make it sound good by adding layers upon layers of tracks.
 
Most likely people make it sound bad bad via operator error (and a lack of understanding the mic'ing process with regards to guitar cabs).

I use my Two Notes gear in a professional setting almost every day for everything from clean jazz tones through hard rock guitar tones, plus bass tones, with multiple amps including Hiwatt, Marshall, Fender, Orange, Matchless, Vox, Kittyhawk etc, and I get pro quality tones no problem.

The tones from the Two Notes gear are every bit as usable as tones achieved with real mic's and cabs IMO (slightly different of course, but just as usable).

Ya'll were most likely listening to the LIVE's input rather it's output due to operator error...

Setup Menu/Output (parameter 6/9)

The Torpedo Live is a mono unit, but the S/PDIF digital output carries 2 channels: the Wet (meaning with speaker simulation) or Dry (meaning without speaker simulation) signal, or a combination of the two.

It is important to note that the LEFT S/PDIF channel and the Line/Headphones output of the Torpedo Live are fed by the same signal. In other words, when the LEFT S/PDIF channel carries the DRY signal, the Line and Headphones output will carry the DRY signal too. When the LEFT S/PDIF channel carries the WET signal, the Line and Headphones output carries the WET signal.

There are 4 options that determine the way the 2 S/PDIF channels and the Line/Headphones output are fed:

VC4Ever":s9dmzvmc said:
I thought the same thing when I had it. This digital stuff is not for me. Sounded absolutely terrible and did none of my tube amps any justice. People make it sound good by adding layers upon layers of tracks.
 
Probably was my fault, but this isn't explained in the manual is it? Anyway its long gone and I don't plan on buying another one. Digital just isn't for me.
 
Yes, it's in the manual (which is what I copied and pasted).

The concept is that you can record two audio tracks at the same time, one of the LIVE's Input (no processing, and that would sound horrible!), and one with the LIVE's Output (with the processing).

Then later, prior to or during the mix you can change the tones either by putting the LIVE in a channel insert, or by using the Two Notes WOS III plugin (which you automatically get when you purchase Two Notes H/W (along with the Torpedo Remote Editor and their BlendIR which is a IR capture and mixing application).

You should've made your own IR(s) of your favorite mic'd cab(s) as then the LIVE would sound pretty much identical to your mic'd cab(s).

Well if you don't need the capability then fine, but don't blame the digital hardware.

VC4Ever":4nfz1vg8 said:
Probably was my fault, but this isn't explained in the manual is it? Anyway its long gone and I don't plan on buying another one. Digital just isn't for me.
 
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