Aux Sends

[dB Music]

Occasionally when teaching guitar it would be benificial if I could run 2 guitars through the same FX unit, but played at different volumes. I know this is not the norm! However it would save me having my Fender Twins all over the place. The pupils rairly are playing at the same time as me.

Here's what I tried

Guitar 1 Digi input 1 onto track 1
Guitar 2 Digi input 2 onto track 2

Track 1 Aux send to output 3
Track 2 Aux send to output 3

Output 3 to Boss GX700 FX unit

Boss GX700 output into inputs 3 & 4 of Digi.

Inputs 3 & 4 to tracks 3 & 4 (or track 3 as a stereo aux return)

Use aux send levels from tracks 1 & 2 to control individual guitar levels (as there seems no other way to avoid getting the volume controls on Ch. 1 & Ch. 2 to work other than allowing the dry signal to appear in the mix.....or is there?....If I made the aux send post fader & then mute the track would this work?..... I shall have to try that one out.... he said thinking out loud)

Ayway that was how I set it up.

How did it sound? ........ C**P!

I believe this is mainly because the Digi's outputs are not high enough gain to drive the GX700 like a guitar. Therefore all the distorted sounds or amp emulaters don't have enough gain to drive them corectly, and hence sound like your playing through a Marshall stack with your guitar volume backed down to virualy nothing. A little pointless if you realy want that "gain at No. 11" type Marshall sound!

Here's My Question

Can the Digi's output volume be increased like the input volumes etc.?

Don't say buy an Amp farm or Sans amp etc. I cant afford one yet! and anyway the GX700 works quite well (when used in-line anyway!)

Can anyone help, or am I missing something obvious here?

Dave Brown

[This message has been edited by dB Music (edited July 28, 2000).]

[guitarman1]

dB,
Try this,
1.Setting the individual outputs of the guitar channels to to an output other than 1-2. (so the original input does not come out the main outs)
2.Put the aux sends on post fader set them to 0db. then when you increas the volume of the channel it will ride the inputs to your proccessor.
3. If you want the gtr's slit left and right pan them at the aux(stereo) input.

Hope this works for you.
Guitarman1



[This message has been edited by guitarman1 (edited July 28, 2000).]

[lwilliam]

I don't know the specifics of the GX700 model you're using, but if it expects to see a guitar input and you're feeding it a line level signal from the Digi001, you'd be overdriving the unit and really getting garbage.

Additionally, if it outputs an instrument level and high impedance signal (normally would go into a gtr amp), and you're sending that to Digi inputs 3/4, that's the second place the signal will get all screwed up - not ENOUGH level there (and too high an impedance).

It sounds like you're trying to make instrument levels work with line-level inputs and outputs.

Here's another option:

Gtr 1 into input 1
Gtr 2 into input 2

Send the outputs of the tracks to output 3 via a mono aux channel. I don't think you need the aux sends for this.

Record enable the tracks so that they've got signal coming in and going out. Your channel faders and aux fader should then control the level to output 3.

You'll need to keep the levels WAY down when sending to the box. You will not get as good a sound as playing it directly from the guitar output because the level and impedance are so vastly different.

You'll also need to keep the input levels HIGH (and output from the GX700 high) on the return path to try to get the instrument level output somewhere near line level.

This is why boxes like the "re-amp" were invented: to convert line-level signals to instrument-level signals with the appropriate impedance change to keep the signal quality high.

I've heard of this also being done using a passive direct box - in reverse, but haven't tried that myself.

You could try simplifying the above setup by just plugging the Boss unit into an amp (and eliminate the second half of the problem).

I used to use a little Radio Shack 2 channel passive mixer going into a little amp when I was teaching. It had two 1/4" inputs and one 1/4" output with little thumbwheels that controlled the volumes. That way, I could balance the two guitars. There's probably a little DIY project for this somewhere.

Hey, maybe I'm way off base 'cause I don't know the "ins and outs" of your unit...

------------------
LW

[This message has been edited by lwilliam (edited July 29, 2000).]

[dB Music]

Thanks for the advise. Both of the methods would work OK. But the problem of the Boss GX700 sounding cr*p was actualy due to the i/p to the unit its self. There is a rear i/p that can be used instead of the main guitar i/p on the front of the unit. As soon as I used the front i/p it sounded great again. I'll contact Roland to see if this is usual.

By the way in the end I opted for

Guitar 1 i/p 1 Trk. 1
Guitar 2 i/p 2 Trk. 2
Trk's 1&2 to o/p 3
o/p 3 to i/p GX700
GX700 stereo o/p to stereo aux ret. Trk 3 (may change to Trk 3&4 i/p depending on recording requirements)

If any of you want a good way of geting guitar down with out a mic', then you should consider this as a good unit along with the Marshal JMP1, POD, Line6 & Sansamp etc. I've used one for recording and gigs for a few years now with excelent results.

Thanks once again for the advise

Dave B

Any one intrested in Correspondence Guitar Tuition should e-mail me for details

[This message has been edited by dB Music (edited July 30, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by dB Music (edited July 30, 2000).]