Reamp only the 5150 head?!

[Jan [MTW]]

Hey Guys,
I just finished recording DI's with the band i'm currently recording. Before, I wanted to use onqels new ampsim: the tse x50. But now one of the guitarists told me that he has a Peavey 5150 at home, but only a very shitty cab. Now i'm wondering if I could send the DI trough the head and then the head back to my daw and record it. After that I'd use a nice cab impulse like the s-preshigh.
Is that even possible?
Would it sound better than the ampsim?
If yes...how to do it?

 

[RichMinerva]

You need a loadbox to take the power signal then send the preamplifier out into your interface and load up an impulse

 

[Jan [MTW]]

Oh ... I expected it to be easier. I don't want to buy such a loadbox, so i probably have to use the Tse x50.
Anyways, thanks for the answer!

 

[Tommy Gun]

Man, you're bound to know SOMEONE with a Vintage 30 or Greenback cab. Find someone to loan you a cab for the reamping.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

You don't need a loadbox, the crappy cab the guitarist is using will be just fine. Hook it up to the head, and then take the preamp signal from the FX loop send of the head into your interface and apply impulses.

 

[Jan [MTW]]

You don't need a loadbox, the crappy cab the guitarist is using will be just fine. Hook it up to the head, and then take the preamp signal from the FX loop send of the head into your interface and apply impulses.

Thanks a lot!
But would it be better than the ampsim?

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Thanks a lot!
But would it be better than the ampsim?

That's a kind of a subjective matter, and I wouldn't know since it's been quite a while since I used amp sims for this matter. A lot of the "real amp tone" comes from micing a real cab, but I'd say it's definitely worth a shot. A 5150 is always a 5150, you know

 

[kev]

I've done this before. Its probably not worth it IMO. Its the banging cab that gets you the tone really.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

I've done this before. Its probably not worth it IMO. Its the banging cab that gets you the tone really.

I've done it ages ago too, and IMHO it beat the shit out of Revalver MKIII back then, but then again, there are loads of new sims out there. The files seem long gone, though.

 

[RichMinerva]

You don't need a loadbox, the crappy cab the guitarist is using will be just fine. Hook it up to the head, and then take the preamp signal from the FX loop send of the head into your interface and apply impulses.

Touché sir I initially thought of that but then wondered if the reason he was using sims is because of noise haha

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

Yes it will be better than going through an amp sim.

 

[ahjteam]

I just tried this out and it works fabulously:

My awful playing -> Mesa Dual Rectifier 8ohm speaker out -> speaker cable #1 -> Radial J48 DI-box input (PAD must be "on" and if you must, double the PAD from the preamp, otherwise it clips constantly) -> M-Audio Profire interface input #2
DI-box thru -> speaker cable #2 -> guitar cabinet
and for reference RÖDE M3 microphone in front of the speaker -> M-Audio Profire interface input #1

DO NOTE THAT TO DO THIS YOU MUST HAVE A SPEAKER CONNECTED OR THIS WILL FRY YOUR AMP, DI-BOX AND GENITALS. Well, maybe not the genitals right at the bat, but after the guy with 5150 finds out that you fried his amp, he will kick your balls. HARD. If you have a DI-box with a speaker sim like Behringer GI100, you can use that instead of micing the amp live.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1338211/DI_to_speaker_output_test.wav (~14MB)
miced signal on the left and speaker out on the right
(do NOT listen to it as is, put a cabsim on the right channel)

 

[Jan [MTW]]

Thanks for trying this out and all the informations.
Too bad I don't own a DI-box yet. I'd definitly give this a shot!

 

[Red Phoenix]

In my opinion no amp sim beats a 5150 preamp + impulse.
As loadbox all you need is simply this:
http://www.tube-town.net/ttstore/pr...ochlastwiderstand-8R2--8-Ohm----150-Watt.html
http://www.tube-town.net/ttstore/pr...2263_Kabelsatz-fuer-Lautsprecher---Combo.html

put this in the speaker out. ready.
i do it exactly the same way and it costs almost nothing.

cheers from and to hanover

 

[Cheesebone]

I have an old 5150 and have done this myself, using both the preamp-out directly into my interface, and the FX Send directly into my interface. Both sound identical.

I will say that the lack of the power amp and cabinet, it's definitely a strange sound. Using an impulse like s-preshigh or the asem Recto V30 definitely does sound like a 5150, but getting that really dirty distortion still doesn't happen for some reason, you definitely need a clean boost in front of the amp to help.

Part of that is because the resonance & presence knobs are in the POWER AMP section, so basically you're hearing the preamp without ANY resonance / presence and that's where a lot of that badass gritty shit comes from in these amps.

Personally, I like the X50 more than just the straight 5150 preamp-into-interface.

 

[nwright]

I have an old 5150 and have done this myself, using both the preamp-out directly into my interface, and the FX Send directly into my interface. Both sound identical.

I will say that the lack of the power amp and cabinet, it's definitely a strange sound. Using an impulse like s-preshigh or the asem Recto V30 definitely does sound like a 5150, but getting that really dirty distortion still doesn't happen for some reason, you definitely need a clean boost in front of the amp to help.

Part of that is because the resonance & presence knobs are in the POWER AMP section, so basically you're hearing the preamp without ANY resonance / presence and that's where a lot of that badass gritty shit comes from in these amps.

Personally, I like the X50 more than just the straight 5150 preamp-into-interface.

But you have to factor in the amp used to make the impulse...IIRC, the Catharsis impulses were made with a 5150, so you ARE getting the power amp imprint in the impulse...The knob settings may be different than you'd prefer, but the power amp is still "there".

 

[NSGUITAR]

You're probably better off with an ampsim.

 

[SimonTaddio_Qc]

Oh ... I expected it to be easier.

Oh geez...how hard is it to plug a load in the head's output? Not harder than plugging a 1/4'' in your guitar, probably...

You're probably better off with an ampsim.

Are you serious? I use to record all the time with my Rev1 preamp before I had a decent cab, and no ampsim ever gave me the same satisfaction. You have to use real good impulses, but there's so many out there. Also, if it's the boost you're lacking, just add one in front of the head. I really don't see the problem there

 

[Jan [MTW]]

In my opinion no amp sim beats a 5150 preamp + impulse.
As loadbox all you need is simply this:
http://www.tube-town.net/ttstore/pr...ochlastwiderstand-8R2--8-Ohm----150-Watt.html
http://www.tube-town.net/ttstore/pr...2263_Kabelsatz-fuer-Lautsprecher---Combo.html

put this in the speaker out. ready.
i do it exactly the same way and it costs almost nothing.

cheers from and to hanover

Thanks for the info!
Cheers from and to hannover ;D

Oh geez...how hard is it to plug a load in the head's output? Not harder than plugging a 1/4'' in your guitar, probably...

Actually I didn't meen the pluggin-in. What I meant was that I thought I could do it without to buy anything additional!

Okay I'll try it. Afterwards I still can decide if I'll go with the ampsim or the real one!

Thanks a lot guys!

 

[SimonTaddio_Qc]

A simple load is not very expensive vs. most audio gear, plus if you can DIY a bit, you can build one for probably less than 10$