Directly Recording A Tube Head

[mteeyne]

Is there any way I could hook my ENGL Fireball head to my PC so that I can record directly from it?

I want to take those direct recordings and then experiment with them using Impulses etc.

I don't really mind if the head has to also be connected to a cab, my main requirement is that I can capture the signal from the pre-amp + power-amp before it hits the cab.
I'm not doing this for silent recording, I'm doing this for convenience and flexibility.

So is there any way I could capture the signal coming out of the speaker output jack?

Any help would be much appreciated!

 

[Red Phoenix]

Everyone will ignore this, because you must be a bot. Only bots don't know the incredible search function

But i like talking to non human species...so...only 2 topics lower from that you opened you should find your answer with a bit of reading..

 

[TRA]

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=019-020

and

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=092-106

and

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=248-672&FTR=behringer gi100

 

[mteeyne]

what would the "Neutrik NP2C 1/4" Mono Plug Nickel" be used for? and where/how would i use the "8 Ohm 100W Non-Inductive Dummy Load Resistor"?

thanks for your helpful reply!

 

[TRA]

The 1/4" connector is soldered to the terminals of the dummy load. The dummy load plugs into the cabinet output on the Behringer box. Your head plugs into the input of the Behringer box. The line output goes to your mixer or interface.

There is a speaker cab emulation that can be bypassed. There are plenty of other ways to do this. You could just plug in the dummy load to your head and use the FX send of your head and record that signal (if you have an FX send).

The route I posted is a good generic way to do it.

 

[TRUIE]

If you don't mind having your amp connected to a speaker cabinet cranked, you just need to plug another PA out (same impedance) to a DI that support enough power.

Something like this : http://www.avalondesign.com/pdfs/u5speakerin.pdf
You don't need a U5, many DI's can do this too.

 

[MatrixClaw]

Since you mention that you don't mind having it plugged into a cab, you don't need a dummy load. Just plug a cable into your amp's Effects Send, and plug it into your interface. Load up an impulse on the track, and you're done.

 

[TRUIE]

Yeah, but in most of the cases / with most amps, it will sound better with the poweramp sound.
With your method, you only record the preamp out (and it works, but it sounds better if you record the poweramp out).

 

[Benny H]

Search the forum for old fireball threads.. pretty sure this is one of the easiest amps to do this... even possibly with the amp on standby.

CJ done some beastly stuff with fireball/impulses years ago.

 

[TheWinterSnow]

Using the FX as a direct in doesn't achieve good results. If you amp as a preamp out, you want to use that instead. Realistically, you want your signal to come after the poweramp for best results.

I build dummy loads with active/passive line out, and can easily do any custom work on the cheap ($50 USD +shipping), like in your case allowing you to switch between a dummy load and your cabinet.

 

[mteeyne]

thanks alot for you help guys, you've given me a lot of food for thought.
this place is awesome! so much friendly and useful input (i will make sure not to make nooby threads in the future though )

so from what TRA and MatrixClaw said, i've come up wtih the following diagram.
is this correct? will i be able to properly and safely capture the signal from my amp head AND have the cabinet running at the same time?

thanks!

 

[TRUIE]

It's perfect !
You just need to check if the DI you'll use will handle the load/power of your amp.
You want to use a ULTRA DI or is it just for the diagram ?

 

[mteeyne]

yea, i was planning on using the behringer ultra DI-100 or GI-100 (i think they're the same, except the GI has speaker cabinet emulation).
i was going to use them because they're pretty cheap and because the website says it "Allows direct connection to speaker outputs with up to 3,000 Watts".

 

[TRUIE]

Don't know these DI but technically it's OK.
I hope you won't get too much THD / noise from the DI.

 

[mteeyne]

yea me too, im hoping it will be ok, but thats why im going for a cheap one. if it doesnt work then i havent wasted too much money.

 

[006]

The Fireball does not need the standby flipped to go direct through FX Send on the back of the amp, and therefore does not need a dummy load to do this.

 

[MatrixClaw]

Yeah, but in most of the cases / with most amps, it will sound better with the poweramp sound.
With your method, you only record the preamp out (and it works, but it sounds better if you record the poweramp out).

I'm sure it does, but it's also more expensive, and more technical. For 90% of users, using the send/preamp out is just fine, and gives much more realistic results than using an amp sim would. It's up to the user, I suppose.

Using the FX as a direct in doesn't achieve good results. If you amp as a preamp out, you want to use that instead.

The effects send and preamp out are the same thing. The only thing that might be different in an amp that has both, is one might be buffered.

 

[TheWinterSnow]

The effects send and preamp out are the same thing. The only thing that might be different in an amp that has both, is one might be buffered.

I don't know what amps you have been looking at but no they are not the same. A preamp out is supposed to sit on the input stage of the phase inverted which results a much different result than taking the signal from the FX send.

 

[MatrixClaw]

I don't know what amps you have been looking at but no they are not the same. A preamp out is supposed to sit on the input stage of the phase inverted which results a much different result than taking the signal from the FX send.

Well, considering early FX loops were a pair of jacks that interrupted the signal between pre and power amp, in a lot of cases, the difference is just semantics. Interesting discussion though... So which input to the phase inverter is the preamp out usually taken from?