Need help with guitar tone using Torpedo Reload as loadbox

talus1984

New member
Hi All

My first post. I'm having an issue with the distorted signal from my tube amp with the Torpedo Reload as a loadbox as the load.

My signal path is as follows:

Tube amp speaker OUT --> Torpedo Reload speaker IN --> Torpedo Reload loadbox xlr OUT --> ULN-2 mic xlr input1 --> DAW (Logic Pro X with WoSIII plug-in)

Clean tones sound pretty good, but as soon as I go to a gainy channel on my amp, the guitar tone sounds fuzzy and thin (almost unprocessed). I thought it might be because I'm not bypassing the mic preamp on the interface - but then I read "the Torpedo Reload Loadbox output signal can be sent to any microphone preamplifier" in the manual.

I'm not even sure if the clean tones are meant to sound the way they do because they are slightly on the sterile side, but as I said distorted tones really reveal that something is not right.

Can anyone help? I can't work it out!

thanks!
 
Hello talus1984,

don't worry we will help you with that issue.

y first question would be: what preset(s) on the Wall of Sound plugin did you try? Which one would be the best (or the least bad^^).
 
OK - so I worked it out. It did have to do with overloading the signal since I was going straight into the Mic preamp analog input. The reason it didn't affect the clean tone as much is purely because it wasn't clipping as much as the distorted tones.

What I did: I had to turn down the Analog input on my mic pre/interface to -∞, so that it doesn't affect the tone. Of course I could play around with the levels to taste but the signal that was being fed was too amplified.

I am going to now try an XLR to 1/4" TRS and bypass the mic pre in my interface altogether - see if it's identical or better.

Thanks!
 
I have 2 ULN-8's in our studio, run the XLR out into the line in (bypassing the mic pre) on the ULN-2 and select line in in the Mio console (which I am guessing you use) and adjust the trim to the desired level. This should solve the problem of too hot a signal.
 
Thanks for both responses.

Forgive my noobness, but how do you select line in in the MIO Console? As far as inputs I can see Analog1, Analog2, Digital L, Digital R, and a bunch of ADAT channels. So I'm a little confused about how to select 'line in'.

This is probably the configuration I'm going to need as I plan on going into R1 with a XLR to 1/4" balanced TRS cable.
 
In the Mio Console,the top box you will select "analog", in the box directly below that one you will select "Line+4". You can also connect xlr to xlr (loadbox out on Reload to Mic/line in on the ULN-2) or xlr to trs as you originally stated. Put the WOSiii plugin in the track you are recording to in your DAW. Set the volume on your amp and output on the Reload. Final input can then be set with the "trim" in the Mio Console which is just below the box that says +48v (this will be grayed out since you have chosen line+4) to make sure you are getting a good level in the Mio Console then out to your DAW.
 
Hi,

I'm totally new here, and am about to purchase an attenuator . . . And I think I'll go for the Torpedo Loadbox. I have read the manual, but something is not really clear to me yet and I hope that you guys can explain.

What signal is output at the Loadbox output ? Is it the sound of my amps speaker out at line level ? Or something else ? If I connect the Loadbox output directly to a channel of my mixer, will I get a decent sound (as if put a mic in front of my speakers) or would I need to process it with Wall of Sound, speaker emulation, IR etc.

Thanks for your response and sorry if I put this question in the wrong place.

Taco
 
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