Connecting Electric Guitar to Digi 001 Box

[daveydave]

Sorry this might be a stupid question. I just recently started playing electric guitar. I have the Digi 001. To connect to the digi box, do I need to run my electric guitar running through an amplifier first? Right now I have it connected to a guitar distortion petal right into the digi box and it sounds like it has way too much treble? Thanks for any help!

Dave

[Slim Shady]

You don't necessarily need an amp, but you will want some sort of amp simulator hardware or plug-in (like amplitube, guitar rig or eleven) if you want it to actually sound like a guitar . The direct output of a guitar without an amp or amp-sim is definitely going to be very thin and treble-y. BTW, if you had an amp, you'd run the guitar into the amp and then mic the speaker, not take a direct output of the amp into the Digi 001.

You can also use hardware simulators like POD guitar units and their brethren to give you the amp simulation before running into your Digi hardware, which means you avoid any extra latency that an Amp-sim plugin might add.

[daveydave]

Thanks for the help. Can you recommend a POD device?

[albee1952]

The original POD II is still a decent sounding direct piece if you take the time to tweak the settings. I record mono with the internal effects turned off and use plugins(which sound better anyway) but I can get very useable tones that way. I also like the Vox ToneLab units a bit better but you still need to teak as the factory sounds are questionable. POD II units can be found used for around $100-125.

[daveydave]

Thanks for replies. Very helpful. I been looking at the Live 6 Pocket POD. I already have a distortion pedal which is the only effect I really use. So I figure a basic very basic POD is all I need to record into my DIGI hardware? What are these plug-ins everyone is mentioning? Are they included in the Protools application - or do I need to purchase these?

[Slim Shady]

There will be a "light" version of Digi's amp simulator called "eleven" (Spinal Tap reference) included with Pro Tools 8, but until such time that PT8 exists, all amp plug-ins would be extra $$. A light version of Amplitube shipped with some "factory bundles" with some PT hardware, but getting it up to date if it's old can be a real pain. If you have a card with a reg. # on it for Amplitube LE in your Digi documentation though, you might be able to track down a working version.

I use the Pod XT, which has a USB port that when connected to my Mac allows me to dial in and tweak my sounds using their "Gearbox" software as opposed to having to deal with turning the knobs on the actual Pod itself, which makes for much quicker sound-searching, at least for me.

[daveydave]

Thank you for the help! I think I am confident now that the POD 2 of the POD XT is what is best suited for me. I was interested in the Pocket Pod, but from what I've heard - it is best for traveling musicians. THANKS AGAIN!