monitor sound discrepancy huh?

[imi]

Hi, can anyone help me out here please?.. recording electric guitar directly through a Pod to a mic-pre then straight into Pro Tools. Whilst recording the guitar sounds fine but when playing back it sounds "thin and hard". How can this be?.. is not the directly monitored signal exactly the same as the recorded track (except possibly a volume difference)?

Thanks for any advice

[rockrev]

Outputs on the POD 2.0 and the PODxt (not xt Live) are balanced lines (TRS). Choose your line level selector on your Mbox and increase your gain from the POD (not the pre). Also, if using the POD 2.0, make sure you are in A.I.R. mode, not the Amp mode.

Thin and hard? Well, the POD's no Marshall stack. I posted some tips on improving the POD tone on the "Host Tips & Techniques" forum. Try those out afterwards.

rockrev

[imi]

Thanks Rockrev, that makes sense the thing I still don't understand is that the sound I hear when recording must be "post tape" (after A/D D/A conversion) but is tonally different from what is recorded on the track. Am I missing something here?

Thanks again

[rockrev]

I could be wrong, but I'm fairly sure that on the Mbox (using the "zero-latency" mix knob) the input signal *that you hear while actually tracking* comes before the conversion/writing to digital. You are simply blending your analog input signal - with - the PT digital data converted to analog for playback (all tracks but the one you are recording). Yes, there will be some difference after conversion, but that difference can be subjective. If you are using the mic pres, then there will be even more difference - again, that difference can be subjective, so go with what sounds best to you.

Overall, remember that you're dealing with the POD - it will not sound like the real deal. Close, but not close enough for a clone.

rockrev