Big Re-amper shootout!

[Metaltastic]

Alright, at long last, the time has come to post my re-amper shootout! I used my Little Labs Redeye, a Radial X-Amp that I bought for the project, and a Radial ProRMP and Cuniberti Reamp V.2 that Mike/006 and Loren/Guitargodgt (respectively) were gracious enough to loan me for this test. Here's the lot:

I recorded two DI tracks with my Ibanez (now with an EMG 81 in the bridge), then re-amped them through each box without changing amp settings, mic position, etc. (though I had to turn the amp gain up for both Radial units so it would match the other two). The signal chain was TS7 --> Mesa 2 Ch. Dual Rec, Red channel --> Mesa Stiletto Slant 4x12 --> SM57 mic'ing the bottom-right speaker --> Mackie Onyx Satellite.

AND MEGA EDIT: The audio files are gone temporarily cuz I just realized I had the ground lift button enabled on the X-amp (or rather, it came that way, and I didn't disable it), so there was annoying buzz with that, so I have to do it again, dammit...hold please

EDIT 2: THE RETURN OF EDIT - Ok, here we go - wavs and mp3s!

 

[J.DavisNJ]

Marcus,

I think you need to change your title to "Shootout master," or something, haha. Anyways...

Out of the four, I think "B" sounds the worst. To me it's a big muffled/congested and not as clear as the other three. It sounds a bit thin.

I think "A" is my favorite, and it sounds quite close to "D" as well. "C" doesn't sound bad by any means, but from repeated listens "A" and "D" win for me.

I think that is your best tone yet!

-Joe

 

[KeithTidd]

my convertors are shit, but the only real difference i discern is D. It sounds somewhat weaker than the others. A-C all sound very similar.

 

[Metaltastic]

Thanks guys! Unfortunately, though, you guys should delete those, cuz I need to re-re-amp and re-re-upload - it'll be up in half an hour max!

 

[J.DavisNJ]

Argh! You scoundrel...

-Joe

 

[RockGuitarX]

I'm gonna be ADD and request a full pic of your head with the black faceplate

 

[Jaymz]

Where did you get that faceplate?

 

[Metaltastic]

I painted it!

Yanked it clean off (old amp, dry double-stick tape), sanded, primed, and spray-painted - but then, thinking it was dry, stuck it back on the amp and put some dish towels on it so I could stack books to press it down. The next day, I discovered it was not, in fact 100% dry, so now it's got lots of lint Oh well, I'll sand it down and re-paint it eventually! (though this time I'll just remove the chassis and mask the edges of the headshell)

Oh yeah, and OP updated with the new and improved files! (and I'm happy to say that the X-amp is now quiet as a church mouse). And Joe, thanks for the comment on my tone dude; I think you'll agree, with the 85 went the awful low-mid "wooliness" of the tone in my DI shootout! I admit this one is a bit harsh, though - time to experiment with the 18 volt mod, as well as my new Blackout!

 

[J.DavisNJ]

Backkk,

Yeah dude, I can't wait to hear how that Blackout sounds! Install it at once, haha.

Anyways, my opinions still stand on the shootout, although the cloudiness/muffled nature of "B" doesn't seem as apparent as before. With that said, I *think* I still prefer "A" and "D" the most. I am also just listening on my computer speakers right now. Not bad speakers either.

-Joe

 

[006]

I gotta say I pretty much agree with Joe. Glad to hear there isn't a HUGE amount of difference, but it's more apparent than with the DI shootout, still really subtle but in a mix I think it won't make too much of an impact. I really hope my RMP isn't B, , it does has a slight bit of a muffled quality to it, nothing major though. I do like C the most.

~006

 

[GuitarHack]

They are quite close. A has a bit of high-mid honk, B is slightly muffled/cloudy in the mids. I am just nit-picking and trying to find differences though, as it's extremely close. The DI box shootout wasn't as subtle.

Did you track the DI's with the Redeye? If so it would have been good if you recorded the amp with the "straight-through" (whatever it is named on the redeye) directly into the amp (no actual reamp box low/hi Z or Line/Instrument conversion) so we could compare that to all the Reamp boxes. EG, Live performance V's Reamped. I am interested in that difference.

Cheers for the shootout.

EDIT: I had some EQ and Comp on the MB when I first listened so after I got rid of that there was a little bit more of a difference than I originally thought.

 

[Metaltastic]

No prob. Hack! And you're right, that would've been wise - I guess it didn't occur to me cuz I wanted to get the DI's right, then reamp 'em a few times to tweak the mic position/amp settings, so they were sorta two separate processes. Oh well!

 

[Ermz]

Wooh, didn't realize you'd get this one done so quick. Cheers as always.

The differences are quite subtle. It's once again a ridiculously hot day here so my CPU fans are absolutely drowning my ability to hear any nuances out. I don't suppose you had any passive loaded guitars to compare with? Makes me wonder whether the difference would be more significant with them again.

On the whole they all sound like I'd expect the Red Eye to; Too much content down around 300 - 400Hz. As a result none strike me as immediately more open or '3d' to the others.

So far I believe B and C are my least favourite. Both seem to have an abundance of cloudiness. Are these two the Red Eye and the Cunniberti?
D has an edge to its upper mids which seems nice, as it breaks out of that playing in a plastic tub sound a bit more.
A seems to have a slight mid-shift to a more pleasant and 'recordable' area. Clearer low-mids than the rest and seemingly a bit more '3d'.

Hard to say whether A or D are my fave, but it's definitely one of them.

 

[Metaltastic]

Haha, don't think I'm gonna give it away so soon Ermz And yeah, I did indeed use the Redeye for the DI's, though I can't quite see how that would hamper the differences between re-amp boxes (and the same goes for passive pickups, once the signal is captured it's just a balanced line-level signal coming from the interface to the re-ampers, so it wouldn't make a difference).

 

[Ermz]

Aww, here I was hoping for another PM so I could make arrangements to sell the LL

The idea that the DI box and passive PUs wouldn't be too important on the results of a reamping shoot-out are fairly logical. But at the same time electronics tend to work in strange ways, so you never really know what difference it can make until you hear it for yourself. For all intents and purposes though, the differences here seem smaller than the DI shoot-out.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Hey I forgot to tell you than John C. states in the directions to start at 12 o clock on the trim. I personally end up at 1-2 o clock when I reamp with that thing.

But all the way up and I think your going to get some weird over gaining with it. Just a heads up.

 

[Metaltastic]

Hmm, too late now But since it's a passive device, it's not like it can add gain... (and btw I had all the levels maxed on each unit, and the pad on the Redeye disengaged)

 

[Ermz]

Does the Red Eye with pad disengaged roughly correspond to the same amount of gain coming out of the Cunniberti device?

 

[Metaltastic]

Yup! You of course know the results Ermz, so you know which two to listen to for comparison (I didn't change ANYTHING between the Cuniberti and the Redeye, and only a little more amp gain for the two Radial boxes)

 

[mintcheerios]

Awesome, you got this up pretty quick! I can't hear any big differences that really stand out. Everytime I think I notice something, I don't hear it again after a repeat listen. Thanks for the very useful shootout (just like the last one).

One thing though. How did you manage to connect the ProRMP? Did you have a balanced 1/4" male to XLR male cable lying around or did you use an adapter of some sort?