Too Much Signal?

[Jeremy Brizzi]

Hello,

I have a Scarlet 2i2. I am connected from the send on the back of my amp to the interface on my scarlet. I'm using line. I have the interface volume turned all the way down. I turned down the volume on my amp. The interface is still constantly yellow and red. If I turn down my amp any more, I won't get the sound I need for the recording.

Any tips on how I can address this? We want to be able to rip and push some sound but the interface can't seem to handle the feed. Plugging the guitar into the interface and using the available plug-ins is terrible. Mic'ing the amp brings in too much ambient noise...don't want that either.

So, how do I get the volume I need without pegging the interface...I mean, I can't turn is down any lower.

Best,
Jeremy

[Darryl Ramm]

Too Little Information?

You want to let us into the secret of what exact amp you are talking about? What guitar/pickups and what tone you are after? Anything else in the signal chain, effects pedals? What cab is the amp driving?

We can kinda guess you are talking about a guitar amp.

By send you mean the FX Loop send on a guitar amp? Or something else?

The FX Loop send on a guitar amp is often far hotter than line level. You are wasting your time trying this, and might risk damaging the interface. You are also likely to pick up hum doing this vs. going though a load emulator with a balun adapter that gives differential output signals to an interface. Some guitar amps will provide a line level output from an internal load emulator (maybe include some cab emulations as well). If your amp has this it will be clearly labeled, but cheap amp implementations of that can be not great.

Why would you record the FX Loop send? that's going to be missing the power amp distortion/presence. If you can't mic a cab the "proper" way to do this is with an iso cab or with a speaker/cab emulator like the very nice UAD Ox.

Given you seem very new to this and a little lost...

I doubt very much you can't get a fantastic tone via amp sim plugins or an outboard processor (Eleven Rack, Axe FX, etc.), if done with some skill/learning time spent dialing this in and maybe playing with impulse responses if you want to get fancy. For many folks an amp sim plugin or processor box is likely the easiest way to get started. The venerable (and no longer sold/poorly supported) but very low cost Eleven Rack is a great beginner choice, (maybe for all but the more extreme metal amps) and you can get help on DUC for Eleven Rack questions... and it's amp and pedal sims are all in the Pro Tools Compete Plugin bundle which gives a lot of flexibility.

I doubt very much you can't get fantastic tone via recording a cab if done with some skill/time spent reducing environmental noise. Gobos, moving blankets, good mic placement (close), good gain staging, good choice of mic, etc.

You may want to go back and revisit both those options before looking at purchasing a load/speaker emulator/recording interface.

[BScout]

what is your cable?

You need to use a TRS/TS cable going from the amp to the front combo connector. And the INST needs to be off.

If you use an XLR connector, then it expects a mic (and can only accept 9dBU input max). If you use a TRS connector into the front (with INST off), then it expects a line input (which can accept 22dBU input max.)

If that isn't enough (or this isn't what you are doing wrong), then you'll need to buy an inline pad to put between the output of the amp and the input of the Scarlett since the Scarlett doesn't have a built-in line pad.

[Jeremy Brizzi]

I'm running a 1/4 inch rattlesnake cable out of the back of the cabinet (custom built), so am getting all of the effects, etc., and taking that directly to the interface on the 2i2, using the 1/4 inch jack.

When I do this at home out of the back of my Rivera combo, I don't have any issues.

Maybe, like you said, it's the number of pedals he is using, maybe it's the cabinet....either way, sounds like I either need to mic it or to get something inline to buffer the signal like you said.

Thanks for the feedback. I am new to this and working to shorten the curve while also trying to keep this simple and all the technical mumbo jumbo can be quite a rabbit hole.

I just want a simple path to recording a clean sound so that my recording are decent enough quality to listen to.

[Darryl Ramm]

Great you built a custom cabinet. But what exactly is that 1/4" cable connected to. If it's just across the speaker load... you can't do that, you need at least a resistor divider network to reduce this level down, and even better a ballin/transformer to float the signal and help avoid ground loops since one side of the speaker signal will be grounded.

What amp is driving the cabinet?

What exact model Riviera do you have at home some of those have the exact recording output/speaker load that I mentioned, designed to go into an interface wether you have the amp driving the speaker in the cab or run it silently. It will not be just taking a signal from across the speaker.

Again for folks getting started an external processor or amp sim plugin can be the easiest ways to get going. You have to spend time playing around, get the DI signal level correct, play with just an amp and cab sim for a while until it's starting to work for you then add in effects etc. Do not assume you can grab a preset and it will be useful at all. Start with a bare amp and cab sim close to a real amp you know/like and play around until you can get the feel of that. And you need to look out for the loss of effect from a loud "amp in the room"... i.e. set up a loud PA/stage monitor in the room may really help. A guitar coming out of a low-power set of DAW monitors or headphones has a very different feel than a live guitar amp in the room.

A used Eleven Rack may also be something low cost to play with and have it drive a PA/stage monitor.

Otherwise, mic the cab... videos on YouTube showing tutorials on that. Ask questions if stuck. Play the amp at the volume for best tone, i.e. often loud. SM57 mic can do great, but get it close, see the tutorials.

[Jeremy Brizzi]

I didn't make the cabinet - just to be clear. I'm not engineer. I'm just trying to write and record some of my original music. While I'd love to have the technical knowledge to get this type thing down to the last watt, amp, and ohm, I'm function at more of an ignorance is bliss level.

I just want to plug something in and adjust a level so that it sounds good in my ears.

While I sort this out with you and I truly appreciate the education, the guy I'm playing with has spent countless hours getting his sound right, so I'm not trying to recreate that using the free amp plug in options.

He has about 10 pedals that he's running and has those signals buffered going into his stack, which has a Fuchs head and the aforementioned custom cabinet.

I was just using the send/output jack on the back of the cabinet because silly me, I thought the interface would just take what I give it, and I'd adjust the volume there to get what I need.

I'm not looking to dole out a bunch of cash either but I do have a 57, so I'm going to take your advice and I'll just mic the cab as the best/least costly way to go.

Truly appreciated. Any chance you live in Illinois and can be tempted by Pizza, Gas Money, and Beer to spend a few hours teaching?