dont want to hear guitar amp while recording

[Sushidude]

I want to record my fender amp through pro tools but dont want to hear the amp while recording.

I have a cable going from my guitar into the input of the amp, then a cable going from the output of the amp into the input of my mbox pro. I have headphones in the output of the mbox pro, and I ONLY want to hear my guitar through the headphones, not the amp.

Is there any way to silence the amp while recording???

[brad383music]

Isolate the amp in a different room to the control room. Or is this one of those trick questions? I'm confused. Haha


Win 7, PT 9, 11 rack, superior drummer 2.2, Gibson guitars, yamaha bass, Dimebag washburn

[brad383music]

Sorry, but there have been a few sarcastic questions posted lately! What I do is this:
Move my amp into a separate room and use 2 10 metre leads, but the only difference is I mic the cab, not go through the amp output. The theory is the same though. Not knowing if it's a combo amp or not, in my experience you can't mute the amp. Even if you are using just the head of an amp, DO NOT use it without connecting a speaker load. I may be wrong, but this is how I used to record before the 11 rack. Oh and instead of headphones I used my monitors, but phones will do an adequate job if they are really good quality.


Win 7, PT 9, 11 rack, superior drummer 2.2, Gibson guitars, yamaha bass, Dimebag washburn

[Bill Denton]

You didn't mention what model Fender amp you have, but...

Most of the amps (all brands) that I've seen that have a line out also have a headphone out.

Just plug something into the headphone out and it will cut out the speaker.

I usually use a 1/4" x 1/8" stereo headphone adapter (cause I've got a ton of them), but I have used other 1/4" thingies...

[moff]

Like Bill said - you didn't mention what kind of Fender amp it is.

What output are you using from your amp to feed your mBox? Line out? FX send? Or (gulp) speaker out? Unless there is a dedicated "recording out" on that amp, it's probably not going to sound very good, because a lot of an amp's sound is from the speaker itself. Overdriven and distorted sounds especially will sound fizzy.

Often, plugging something into the headphone output (if there is one) will also mute your other outputs, and you may get no sound at all. That said, taking the signal from the headphone out might be OK. It will give you a "speaker emulated" signal and mute the speaker.

Here's an idea if it's a tube amp: Fender tube amps have a 1/4" speaker output on the back - most of the time two of them, "internal " (or "main" and "extension". Combos have them too. The combo's internal speaker isn't hard-wired, it's attached to the main speaker output. There are devices like the Hughes and Kettner Red Box http://www.hughes-and-kettner.com/products.php5?id=110 or the Behringer GI100 http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/GI100.aspx which are DI boxes with built-in speaker emulation, built to be used after the power amp output. You simply unplug your tube amp's speaker (DON'T do it to a solid-state or digital modelling amp) and plug one of these in instead, rub a mic cable from the other side, and you're golden. Guitar signal (with speaker emulation) to the mBox, but no sound otherwise.

****EDIT - Sorry about this, but it appears that neither the Red Box nor the Behringer have a "dummy load" (IIRC, the Red Box used to), so DON'T use them without a speaker attached. That sort of fscks up my suggestion, unless you go to Weber and get a dummy load box. OTOH, seems kind of silly to be fretting about using an amp for recording if you have an 11R. Just saying.... - END EDIT****

[aaron.ferrer]

Originally Posted by moff

Like Bill said - you didn't mention what kind of Fender amp it is.

What output are you using from your amp to feed your mBox? Line out? FX send? Or (gulp) speaker out? Unless there is a dedicated "recording out" on that amp, it's probably not going to sound very good, because a lot of an amp's sound is from the speaker itself. Overdriven and distorted sounds especially will sound fizzy.

Often, plugging something into the headphone output (if there is one) will also mute your other outputs, and you may get no sound at all. That said, taking the signal from the headphone out might be OK. It will give you a "speaker emulated" signal and mute the speaker.

Here's an idea if it's a tube amp: Fender tube amps have a 1/4" speaker output on the back - most of the time two of them, "internal " (or "main" and "extension". Combos have them too. The combo's internal speaker isn't hard-wired, it's attached to the main speaker output. There are devices like the Hughes and Kettner Red Box http://www.hughes-and-kettner.com/products.php5?id=110 or the Behringer GI100 http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/GI100.aspx which are DI boxes with built-in speaker emulation, built to be used after the power amp output. You simply unplug your tube amp's speaker (DON'T do it to a solid-state or digital modelling amp) and plug one of these in instead, rub a mic cable from the other side, and you're golden. Guitar signal (with speaker emulation) to the mBox, but no sound otherwise.

****EDIT - Sorry about this, but it appears that neither the Red Box nor the Behringer have a "dummy load" (IIRC, the Red Box used to), so DON'T use them without a speaker attached. That sort of fscks up my suggestion, unless you go to Weber and get a dummy load box. OTOH, seems kind of silly to be fretting about using an amp for recording if you have an 11R. Just saying.... - END EDIT****

I think you guys are overthinking this... Haha...

If the fender amp is a tube amp, with standby (hopefully it is, I don't see any point in recording an SS fender.) Just use the line out or preout into the mbox and leave it on standby.

As for the bolded part, this section is the guitar related section, not the 11R section.... Posting here does not imply that one has an eleven rack. If so, why would he have an mbox?

[Sushidude]

I want to thank you all so much for helping me out!! PROBLEM SOLVED!!!
It was a fender deluxe tube amp and basically when I put an additional cable in the slot on my fender that said power amp in, the sound would go away.

THANKS AGAIN!!!!!!

[moff]

Originally Posted by aaron.ferrer

I think you guys are overthinking this... Haha...

If the fender amp is a tube amp, with standby (hopefully it is, I don't see any point in recording an SS fender.) Just use the line out or preout into the mbox and leave it on standby.

That method might work if he is recording clean guitar and doesn't want any "grit". As soon as you try to do any distortion or overdrive, while taking the output from the any preamp output (line out/FX send), it WILL sound fizzy and bad, because much of an overdriven/distorted sound depends on the frequency response and "filtering" of the speaker itself, hence speaker simulators like the Red Box and GI100.

Originally Posted by aaron.ferrer

As for the bolded part, this section is the guitar related section, not the 11R section.... Posting here does not imply that one has an eleven rack. If so, why would he have an mbox?

Yeah, my bad. Posts in this section are fairly heavily weighted toward the 11R, and I just followed that trend...

[aaron.ferrer]

Originally Posted by moff

That method might work if he is recording clean guitar and doesn't want any "grit". As soon as you try to do any distortion or overdrive, while taking the output from the any preamp output (line out/FX send), it WILL sound fizzy and bad, because much of an overdriven/distorted sound depends on the frequency response and "filtering" of the speaker itself, hence speaker simulators like the Red Box and GI100.

There are plenty of IR plugins out there. IR-a-Live is a free IR loader, and there are free IR's out there that would give more flexibility than the red box or the GT1000. Even running into Eleven Free would work. Don't believe the redbox or GI100 allow you to kill the volume back to the amp though. I guess OP's solution of plugging into the power amp jack cuts off the connevtion to the poweramp.

[moff]

Originally Posted by aaron.ferrer

There are plenty of IR plugins out there. IR-a-Live is a free IR loader, and there are free IR's out there that would give more flexibility than the red box or the GT1000. Even running into Eleven Free would work. Don't believe the redbox or GI100 allow you to kill the volume back to the amp though. I guess OP's solution of plugging into the power amp jack cuts off the connevtion to the poweramp.

I hadn't thought of IRs. When I originally suggested the RB and GI100, I was thinking they could use it instead of the speaker, but was unaware that neither have a dummy load. OTOH, I was sure the old RB I had 15 - 20 years ago did, though.