Little Labs Redeye - A Tone Sucker?

[kev]

Hi chaps,

After a little reamping set up at the moment, and it looks like the redeye has what i'm after. (ability to record dry signal & play amp at the same time).
However, I read a post somewhere from a pretty knowledgable guy who noted that a significant amount of bite is lost when going through the redeye, that wasnt apparent when using an active device (such as the radial stuff).

This has kind of stalled me, as I was finally set on this little box.

Has anybody else noticed such things with this one? Maybe there is something newer on the market worth a try?

 

[arvoitus]

(ability to record dry signal & play amp at the same time).

Can't you do that with all common DI's? I mean, they have a through connection so you can always connect a amplifier.

But the Redeye can not DI and Reamp at the same time, right?

 

[if6was9]

It's not re-amping if you're doing it at the same time, it just "amping" and taking a di at the same time.
My best guitar tones have been achieved when I used the red eye.

 

[JeffTD]

I don't hear it at all, man - it's more dependent on what pre/converter chain you're running through, than anything. I use it on active and passive pickups all the time.

 

[kev]

I don't hear it at all, man - it's more dependent on what pre/converter chain you're running through, than anything. I use it on active and passive pickups all the time.

Thanks dude, it seems good enough for anyone else on here so I think its time to splash the cash on one.

 

[egan.]

Mine sounds fine.

 

[[UEAK]Clowd]

I love mine.

 

[Ermz]

Yeah it does suck tone when DIing passives. It's why I got the Countryman Type 85 and use the Red Eye only as a reamp device.

 

[kev]

Thanks everyone, and great tip ermz. Another thing I was wondering, has anybody gone the route of going straight into their interface with the guitar, then attempted to use the reamp device in real time with their amp- effectively as a send? I was wondering what sort of latency you might get, and whether at all it was workable really.

 

[Melodeath]

You should only get the latency of the A/D then D/A. Somewhere between 2 and 6 ms

 

[ahjteam]

And also a thing that I noticed when I was reamping for the first time with my Radial X-Amp; IF you use a UNBALANCED cable, it will suck the tone a lot. If you use a balanced cable, the difference compared to the original is barely audible and comes mostly only from the minor anomalies and random variables of the analog gear components.

 

[kev]

You should only get the latency of the A/D then D/A. Somewhere between 2 and 6 ms

And also a thing that I noticed when I was reamping for the first time with my Radial X-Amp; IF you use a UNBALANCED cable, it will suck the tone a lot. If you use a balanced cable, the difference compared to the original is barely audible and comes mostly only from the minor anomalies and random variables of the analog gear components.

Thanks a lot to both of you, that should save me some time. Im thinking I should probably be able to get away with just the x-amp in that case. Im not liking the idea of having the red eye suck some tone if passive pickups get used, and I dont really need a DI much anyway what with the instrument in's on the focusrite. The only downside of course is having to power the little bastard.

 

[Josh Burgess]

Yeah it does suck tone when DIing passives. It's why I got the Countryman Type 85 and use the Red Eye only as a reamp device.

Yeah, that was my thinking too... except cuniberti reamp for reamping

 

[Josh Burgess]

and I dont really need a DI much anyway what with the instrument in's on the focusrite.

you sure about that? most instrument ins on interfaces aren't that great sounding

 

[deLuther]

I`m using guitar straight to preamp->interface, with monitoring through Radial ProRMP, but my interface have low monitoring latency (only ADC-DAC latency, independent from ASIO buffer size). No problem, but I`m prefer using secondary output on my mic/instrument pre, for instant monitoring through ProRMP.

 

[Ermz]

Hey Kev, I'm not sure what the easy way round you're looking for is, but this can't be done effectively on the cheap.

I've tried. Everything from the DI, through to pre and converter sucked tone at one point. Several thousand dollars later, there's virtually no audible tone loss. Trust me, putting your guitar into the 'instrument in' on a mediocre interface is not going to put you on the one-way escalator to transparency, haha. If you can deal with that, then it's all good.

 

[greyskull]

with the redeye - Api mic in i never noticed tone sucking.
HOWEVER the api with the pad engaged ruins the top end on the di input. Crazy

 

[kev]

Thanks all. I guess it is pretty much covered for me now.

I'm definitely one of those value for money guys where I can be, but likes Ermz said, there comes a point where its an impossible game to play if you're shooting for best of the best. I have been happy with the quality of the saffire ins so far for what i am doing (it was a really noticeable step up from the pods direct tone!), but maybe there is still mileage to travel by getting a better grade DI in future too. What I never quite got originally was me wrongly thinking that the signal is inevitably hitting the mic/inst in on the focusrite anyway eventually, so assumed that you couldnt get a better route in.

I gather that a countryman into one of the phantom powered mic pre's is probably going to improve things again marginally on the DI front, but the limitation will be the clarity of the saffire, so the gap might be pretty small anyway in the end.

Best idea seems to be ordering in a radial from thomann this eve instead now, on the basis that im not feeling a great need for a new DI yet (especially one of questionable quality), and the radial will save £100 in the short term that could be spent on a countryman perhaps further down the line. Will work out very nice if the latency trip is a good one.