Any amp into computer guys might know why mine sound lame?

[vander]

Hi fellas,

Saw Two notes wall of sound was free until today so I downloaded it to give this amp into the interface thing a try.
Running a modified 84 JCM 800 into my Fryette Power Station 2 with the balanced line out into a scarlett 6I6 into Studio One Pro with TN WOS on the guitar track.
Power Station running in silent mode (not plugged in or turned on...just as a load box).

Everything works fine but sounds like ass. I've used the WOS cabs...Celestion Plus 25w GB IRs....Redwirez Mesa V30 impulses...but everything sounds really anemic.
The amp master is at noon and pre amp gain and my modded second gain up to about 7 oclock. I know if this was hooked to a 4x12 at my practice space it would sound raging and pissed off but in this setup it sounds hardly better than a good sounding kazoo....like all my gain is being subdued.

I'm wondering if the Power Station 2 is the problem. I saw a guy doing the same thing on Youtube with a PS-2 and he got really good sound...even put the switches on deep and edge. I'm scared to drop $500 on a TN Captor x or something if it doesn't sound any better. Could one load box be that much better than another?

Anyone know where my bottleneck might be? Is there anyone here who swears by playing amps into loadboxes into pcs? I have 3 of the Nearul DSP plugins that sound WAY better and am starting to think I shouldn't have lugged this head home from the space. Just thought it might sound awesome since the amp with a cab rips so I wanted to try it out.

Thanks for any help anyone can give!

 

[stratjacket]

Do you have the Scarlett input setup for instrument, line level or mic?

 

[RaceU4her]

would help if you had some clips recorded to hear what is going on.

 

[vander]

The scarlett is set to line. I've tried it with the pad on and off. I can record a clip...I'll do that in a bit...thanks guys!

 

[stratjacket]

Have you tried going into the settings of the Scarlett and turning down the gain?
I had a PS2 for a while, can’t remember if you need to plug it into a mic, line or instrument input, have tried each?

 

[vander]

I'll play with scarlett a little more and see if that changes anything. I tried to record a clip but works too busy right now...I'll try later.
One other issue someone may know how to solve? I got Vintage C and WattFanC with the program and 5 free cabs after setting it up and did all the license stuff. The 5 showed up for a little bit in WOS but now are listed as (MISSING).Only the Vintage C and WattFanC are available.
Seems WOS thinks I don't have an internet connection but all of my other plugins seem to get out online a verify licenses. Can't find info online about why WOS thinks I'm offline.

 

[romanianreaper]

Have you tried going into the settings of the Scarlett and turning down the gain?
I had a PS2 for a while, can’t remember if you need to plug it into a mic, line or instrument input, have tried each?

That might be one of my issues when I do recordings sometimes, the gain.

 

[vander]

Thanks for the help guys. Earned an engineering degree on Youtube last night setting up Scarlett control and figured out my DAW wasn't routed to the headphone jack on the Scarlett so I couldn't hear the cab emulation and then everything came to life. Funny enough when I changed the routing my WOS extra cabs started functioning normally. Messed with WOS and the Ignite Libra trial IR loader for a couple of hours tweaking the Scarlett settings now that I have a masters in sound engineering...lol. Ended up sounding pretty good...but in the end...this load box process just seems to strip the hair and sizzle off the amp. God bless the amp to pc guys but I'm taking mine back to the practice space and practicing with Neural DSP plugins...easier and sounds more like an in your face amp and cab. Guess it's whatever your used to.
Gonna continue recording in the studio with cabs and mics.
Figured it was worth a try since I hardly ever get to the space anymore due to covid and missed my real amps. At least I learned something in the process.
Thanks for the help and replies...Rock on!

 

[stratjacket]

Glad you got it working. One thing you may want to try before you give up on it, try some different Cab IR‘s, because like regular speakers, cabs, mics and mic placements, they vary widely.

 

[romanianreaper]

Thanks for the help guys. Earned an engineering degree on Youtube last night setting up Scarlett control and figured out my DAW wasn't routed to the headphone jack on the Scarlett so I couldn't hear the cab emulation and then everything came to life.

That is crazy! I didn't even know that was an option.

 

[vander]

Glad you got it working. One thing you may want to try before you give up on it, try some different Cab IR‘s, because like regular speakers, cabs, mics and mic placements, they vary widely.

Thanks stratjacket...yeah I'm in no hurry to get the head back to the space....I'll give it another try sometime and see if I can dial it in.

 

[vander]

That is crazy! I didn't even know that was an option.

If you have a 1st gen Scarlett and you're not that familiar with Scarlett Control there are some good Youtube videos laying it all out. Control is just about as complicated, customizable and deep as learning a DAW. I learned a lot about it. Weird that to input the raw guitar signal for use with Neural DSP worked just fine and when I used the same xlr input from my load box I had to change the setup...but using the scarlett has always been frustrating for me...you hit one button to try to solve an issue and everything goes to hell...lol.

I dont think the 2nd and 3rd gen control are as confusing....but I also haven't spent a lot time with them.

 

[JerEvil]

Weird man. I love my Torpedo/Two Notes shot direct with amps. I’m using a Clarett 8pre interface from Focusrite.

 

[vander]

Weird man. I love my Torpedo/Two Notes shot direct with amps. I’m using a Clarett 8pre interface from Focusrite.

Hey JerEvil....I know...I've seen a lot of your clips and they sound amazing. Your interface is a lot more expensive than mine....your Torpedo studio is as well. Maybe that's the difference. Most of the well known guys on youtube getting great tone seem to be using high end interfaces. Maybe that's the difference between getting good tones and great tones. Who knows...maybe I'm just not setting everything correctly. It's just for home practice in my apartment so I'm surely not putting as much passion into it as you are.

Good luck with your new cab series....looking forward to seeing them. Thanks for chiming in!