Problem reamping with Redeye + Firepod

U

UM1

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Feb 7, 2009
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I tried reamping with the LL Redeye today and I must be doing something wrong but I'm not sure what it is.

First, I used the RE to DI the track into Cubase 4 for reamping. I think I did that part ok (maybe not?)

The problem is on playback into my amp. When it's playing back into my amp, I have to really turn up the gain and volume to get a distorted sound.It doesn't even sound good. It's way more gain and volume than playing it on it's own. I tried recording that sound (micing my cab) and it came out terrible.

I'm sure I have something connected wrong on the Firepod but I don't know what it is.

Does anyone have any ideas what I should look for? What cables should I be using and which output on the Firepod should I use?

Thanks!
 
Make sure the track the DI is on is hard panned one way or the other (experiment to see which is better), make sure the level is all the way up on the Redeye, and make sure the pad on the Redeye is disengaged! (you'll probably have to open it up to see)
 
ahjteam said:
can't download it so I can't analyze it and the mp3 conversion just degrades it so its pretty useless if you try to reamp it, but you can clearly hear that its clipping there.
Click to expand...

Where can you upload .wav files to be downloaded? I have it on my storage space on Comcast but the link doesn't work. So I put it on Soundclick which I believe only allows mp3 files.

Anyway, how can you tell it's clipping on your end? Maybe when I exported it my master bus was too high becauase I didn't check that. On my end it's a clean sound with no distortion. Though it isn't a clean sound I would want on a recording.

As I said, when I run that back to the amp it seems something is missing. Even when using an exaggerated amount of gain and volume it doesn't get up to the sound of playing a guitar straight into the amp.

Do you know where I can find an example of a DI clip made for reamping? That way I know what it should sound like before it gets to the amp.

Also, what are the proper cables to use and where on the back of the Firepod should I be going out of and into the Redeye? I think this may be part of it.

If I can't get this figured out I will probably send the Redeye back for a refund. I really don't need it but wanted to give it a shot to see if it could make things easier.So far it hasn't but I only tried it once. I could just put the money towards the Axe-Fx I keep putting off buying. :)
 
Try this one, I just recorded it. http://www.ahjteam.com/upload/di_example.wav (~700kb)

This guitar has passive humbuckers and was in standard tuning and the guitar is hollow body, so it might be very different tonewise, but if it doesn't sound like total utter crap when you reamp it, then there might be something wrong with something else than the redeye.

edit: okay, I went oldschool and recorded the mp3 track with my soundcard. Might lose a bit of fidelity, but I just wanted to show you this picture:

distorted_track.jpg


edit: i think you can upload wavs to yousendit, megaupload and dropboxio and others are places, but I don't use those services, see where everyone else here have sent their files
 
ahjteam said:
Try this one, I just recorded it. http://www.ahjteam.com/upload/di_example.wav (~700kb)

This guitar has passive humbuckers and was in standard tuning and the guitar is hollow body, so it might be very different tonewise, but if it doesn't sound like total utter crap when you reamp it, then there might be something wrong with something else than the redeye.

edit: okay, I went oldschool and recorded the mp3 track with my soundcard. Might lose a bit of fidelity, but I just wanted to show you this picture:

distorted_track.jpg


edit: i think you can upload wavs to yousendit, megaupload and dropboxio and others are places, but I don't use those services, see where everyone else here have sent their files
Click to expand...

Thanks for going to all the trouble and doing that. :)
I can't download it now but I will tomorrow when I get home.

Here is something I remember about tracking that DI clip. When I was listening through my monitors (Mackie HR824's) I thought that the sound was incredible compared to going direct into a Firepod input. It was a nice clear/clean tone. The recorded sound doesn't sound like what I was hearing in the monitors. I recorded it in 24 bit mode.

Also, no one has answered my question about the correct cables and routing.

This might be my first problem. From what I read, it's best to use the shortest cables possible. The XLR cables I have are 10+ feet long.The only thing I had that was shorter is this:
http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Whirlwind-Little-IMP-Lo-to-Hi-Impedance-Matcher?sku=427600 I thought that you can't get a cable that's shorter that this, so I tried it. It seemed to work but I have to admit that I don't know if it is right or wrong and why. I made sure that I wasn't clipping the input. But, like I said, the sound in the monitors was a lot cleaner/clearer than the recording turned out.

Now, the next thing I believe I need is a XLR to TRS cable coming out of the Firepod back into the Redeye. If that's correct, which output should be used from the Firepod?

If I need to, I want to get the proper cables tomorrow and try this again before sending it back.
 
I just got a redeye and have the same setup. What output should I be using on the firepod. At the moment I got it working bussing the signal out to "mono output 3", but is there a better way?

EDIT: Just noticed this question was already asked, sorry, but it still hasn't been answered.
 
Any mono output that isn't 1 or 2 is the best, yeah! That way panning doesn't matter, and you don't have to mute everything else! Personally, I make the output mono 3 when I re-amp, rather than just a bus, so the only place the signal goes is out 3 (so I don't hear the DI track through my monitors when I wanna listen to the mic'ed track from the cab)
 
Metaltastic said:
Any mono output that isn't 1 or 2 is the best, yeah! That way panning doesn't matter, and you don't have to mute everything else! Personally, I make the output mono 3 when I re-amp, rather than just a bus, so the only place the signal goes is out 3 (so I don't hear the DI track through my monitors when I wanna listen to the mic'ed track from the cab)
Click to expand...

Sounds like a good tip. I'll try it next time!

What type of cable are you using for this?
 
My previous attempts with reamping were splitting the guitar signal with an Axess Buffer/Splitter. One output to an amp and the other direct in to the Firepod.

Then, I would take that recorded dry track (sounded a lot worse than the clip I posted) and try "reamping" to amps. Or, use that track with either a POD VST or impulses. It never sounded good or even half decent and I wondered how others are doing this with great results. I would go through this process a couple times a year to see if I could get it working. Each time it ended with "Forget it. It's a waste of time."

So, I have decided to give it one last try and buy a dedicated box, figuring that has been my "missing link". First attempt didn't go so well but I will keep trying any tips I can get here. :)
 
Metaltastic said:
TRS - XLR male! :)
Click to expand...

Ahh, at least I figured out part of the problem myself!

I'm going to get one tomorrow.

What length are you using?

If I can't find one, do you see a problem with using an adapter with a short(3 foot) XLR cable?

If I can't find one, I'll just wait and order one online.
 
Nah, there shouldn't be an issue with using an adapter, though every connection a signal has to go through degrades it (though I HIGHLY doubt it'll be noticeable). And mine is maybe 8 or 9 feet (I bought the cable and connectors and soldered it myself); with a balanced cable carrying a line-level signal you really don't have to worry about length! In fact, the longer the better, so you can put the Redeye on top of the amp, so that when you plug the re-amp output into the amp (or into the Tube Screamer and then into the amp) the instrument cable(s) can be as short as possible (I use a 1 ft. and a 2 ft.)
 
And to answer your question on the cables: Unbalanced as short as possible, balanced doesn't matter that much because the impedance is a lot lower (edit: from Radial J48 DI-box's puff: "The 600 Ohm balanced XLR out is mic level to properly match concert splitters - will drive 1000 feet without appreciable noise."). If preamp/interface doesn't have an instrument input, use a DI-box. The lenght of the XLR cable doesn't really matter that much when recording in my opinion as long as you don't use multiple cables connected to eachother.

I used a bit higher quality 2m guitar cable to my preamp and then with a 0.5m balanced TRS to RME Multiface. Just make sure the signal doesn't clip at any part (be it at DI-box, preamp or DAW), I tried the whole riff and put the gain so that the peaks were at -6..-3dB, because I know that when you really start to play, you will play it a bit louder. In the clip I sent, the loudest peak was at -1.07dB ;)

edit: typos n stuff
 
I bought the XLR<>TRS cable today and tried it out. It's not much better.

The signal that the amp is getting out of the Firepod seems to be clean but the amp sounds nothing like when pluging straight into it. I don't know how to describe it but it just doesn't react the same way. I can even turn the gain and volume up all the way it's not even nearly as loud as when pluging the guitar in with the amp volume at 1/4.

I think the Redeye is going back!
 
Did you disable the Pad? And are you outputting to the Redeye from a mono track? Cuz I and many others have had no trouble getting identical tones when re-amping with it!
 
Metaltastic said:
Did you disable the Pad?
Click to expand...

The manual says to take a small screwdriver to push the pad in/out. I don't have one small enough to fit in there so I tried a straightened out paper clip.

I really couldn't feel the pad while poking in there so I tried it while playing back a track and there was no noticable difference. So, I don't know if I actually got it or not. The manual says that the pad out will give an extra 6db of gain and that's it's rare that you will need that.

I don't want to take it apart becuase if it gets damaged, I won't be able to return it.
 
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