Reamping Woes (again)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kapo_Polenton
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Kapo_Polenton

Kapo_Polenton

Well-known member
Ok,

Tried this a few years ago with a Radial reamp box (not the blue ProRMP, the black cuniberti model) and had a hell of a time. Fast foward with a whole new setup and the tones are still very uninspiring when compared to a mic'd amp with the guitar straight into it. My signal is RAdial Pro DI to split signal between amp and DAW, Harrison Mixbus 5 > Audient ID14 (so these are my converters) > Torpedo Reload/or Radial ProRMP which I had also picked up along the way.

So my question is, would converters play a role in this? How many people actually compare the original signal with the reamped one? Sure i could reamp a signal through a loud 5150 and gain it up and there is a track but have any of you actually compared your tracks? Mine def. have less gain and lack the oomph of the original. I see it working on BASS as well as routing signal out and through some cool pedals but for guitars? I feel it is lacking. Maybe with some really expensive 5k converters things might sound amazing but for an average setup, I am not overly impressed. Maybe at crazy volumes thing equalize but monitors don't lie and the shortest path to the amp is easily the winner. I can understand their use after the fact for use with plugin amps or with support tracks to beef up a primary track, but I def. don't see the hype here. I think committing early on is the way to go personally.

PS- in case anyone questions the D.I side, I have tried going into DAW via Radial DI, Audient DI, and a Vintech 573 DI. DI's sound fine..back the other way though, meh.

What have your experiences been?
 
Use the level match feature of the reload. Of course it sounds worse if the output is lower. I'm perfectly happy with reamped sounds using the reload (using a RME UCX. So no 5k interface needed).
 
When you say output, what are you referring to? The Replay function on the Torpedo Reload? As far as I can tell mine mostly stays in the middle with the occasional flicker up or down so that should be good. Or do you mean the output from the DAW?
 
You're right commiting on the way in and miking up a cab is ideal. Reamping is a workflow benefit. You can send your edited final take through the amp one time and be done or save something that wasn't quite right at tracking after the band has gone home. Or it can eliminate pick noise if you are playing in the same room as your microphone.

The gear you mentioned is good quality. It should sound fine. It must be one small thing overlooked. The Audient stuff is highly recommended so I would rule that out. It kind of sucks if you don't have 4 balanced outputs and have to unplug one monitor to reamp but not too big of a deal.

Play through the computer like it was a pedal. Adjust input and output levels until it sounds like you are plugged straight in. Get the latency adjusted as low as it can go and not glitch. Make sure your outputs are set to +4 balanced in the Audient driver software. You might need a little compression to make it sound right. Is your reamp cable a TRS to XLR?

If you monitor through the amp while tracking you will get a little of the pickup / speaker feedback thing going. Maybe that is what is missing.
 
Is it an issue of impedance mismatch ? When the guitar goes into the DAW it has to pass through a direct box (or similar) to make it lo z, it has to convert back to Hi z before the amp I would think on the re-amp...
 
I’m confused. How are you outputting from the ID14 to a reamp device? It doesn’t have line outputs right?
 
Spaceboy":ny1n5vno said:
I’m confused. How are you outputting from the ID14 to a reamp device? It doesn’t have line outputs right?
Click to expand...

The ID14 does have line outputs but it does this by using the speaker sends and setting the software to DAW THRU in order to do this. In hindsight I should have just sprung for the ID22 considering I've dropped cash in an ASP880, and a few 500 series preamps. So yes, it is a bit of a pain but it can be done. To answer a few of the other posters, I run 1/4 out from audient into torpedo reload and then another balanced 1/4 to the amp. No XLR with the torpedo but if I use the PRO RMP then yes, it is 1/4 to XLR.

Thinking about it, I just noticed that even though I am using my left speaker output as a send, in the software, I still have it sent to "center". I wonder if not panning it left means I am not getting the full signal? I will have to try this and report back as I remember this being mentioned somewhere.
 
Not sure why but the Torpedo calls for a combo of unbalanced and then balanced? I can't see that doing anything for noise really. One thing that is apparent though, reamping results in more noise. My bigger issue before i can play with this now is that half my basement is without power so i can't get back up and running. I think the breaker in the panel is gonzo when i ran a space heater the other day. Gotta love home recording...
 
Ok, I got it working! Used the Radial reamp box for a quick test and the issue was in my Audient desktop software interface. I was sending signal out of one of the speaker sends so I had to pan the audio completely Left. Only half the signal was getting to the amp. Once I did that, I got full power. Doing a quick A/B, the amp sounds fuller but the reamp actually sounds almost like it has been EQ'd a bit and cuts better. It will probably sound better with the Torpedo as it is a powered REAMP box but even the little blue radial does a very usable job. So the tone is a bit different but if you weren't comparing, you'd think it was a good crunchy guitar tone. No obvious issues. Guess it did all come down to user error.

As for the DI side of things. I read (and agree) that using a stand alone DI box vs. built in interface is another good tip as it is too easy to peak the levels on the built in DI's. You barely crank the level and you are in the red. DI boxes also give you a pass through so you can hit the amp for live tracking. So all is good.. as usual, the problem was between the guitar and the DAW (me).
 
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