Solving Distortion Setting

[Reece Stevenson]

Hello all,

This will be my first post on here and i am a music student currently in college.
When I plug my guitar into my Boss Me-80 pedalboard to then go into my Focusrite Scarlett Solo interface, the outcome of my guitar audio projecting out of my computer is a very raspy sort of sound when i include a distortion setting.

Also if i would plug my headphones into my pedalboard it would create the same raspy sound like the issue i am having above.

Only i can think is to use a Pre-Amp or have a microphone right next to my Amplifier

Other than that, if there's any other solutions/ideas will be very much appreciated.

Thank again

[albee1952]

Welcome aboard! You need to clarify a bit. You start by saying your guitar goes thru a pedalboard and into the preamp, but later you mention an amplifier. Is the guitar playing thru an amp? Is it recorded with a mic, DI, or directly into the preamp? If you are not playing thru an amp, are you using an amp simulation plugin?

Generally, electric guitars run directly into any DAW are not going to sound good at all. An amp sim plugin can work well, but how well is very dependent on getting a proper signal into the plugin, and that is a crapshoot for a bunch of reasons such as:
interface input impedance
active or passive pickups
input level
how noisy the guitar or pedalboard is

Then you mention how close the mic is to the amp; simple solution: move things around and see(hear) what happens
This "raspy sound", does it happen when you play, or all the time(even when you don't actually play the guitar?

[Reece Stevenson]

Thanks for the reply Albee,

Sorry i think i confused things when i stated:

"Only i can think is to use a Pre-Amp or have a microphone right next to my Amplifier"

This was just an idea i had, not what was happening at the moment. I am also not using a pre amp or an amplifier at the moment.
What I'm doing is hooking up my guitar into my pedalboard and then put it in my interface. Which is then causing that "Raspy Sound". So i don't know weather to get a digital amp sim or a Pre amp.

Please excuse my ignorance as i am only learning, do you mean a digital amp sim plug in. if it is a digital version do you know if i can get it through pro tools?

Many thank for your help

[albee1952]

Okay, unless the pedal has amp and speaker cab simulation built-in, you will need to cover those 2 functions, either with hardware or software(plugins). There are many plugins for amp/speaker simulation(Scuffman, IK's Amplitube, Guitar Rig 6, etc) and a google search will likely turn up a dozen or more. without these 2 crucial things, the only direct guitar sounds that will be presentable will be totally clean. Start by describing the kind of tone(s) you hope to get so the good folks here can make proper recommendations(I am shooting in the dark)

[Reece Stevenson]

Hello Albee,

Ive had a look at Ik's Amplitude and i sounded awesome. Even the starter presents sound wicked.

Really appricate your time

Many Thanks

[nsureit]

Hate to ask this, but are you pressing the “instrument” button on the Scarlett when you plug in the guitar? You must do that to set the correct input impedance.