Reamping with -10db output?

[GuitarMaestro]

Question - I use a computer with a sound card. Do I need a Reamp to send recorded tracks to a guitar amp?
Answer - Yes. Most high-end music cards (m-audio, lynx, aardvark) have +4 outputs on breakout cables. If your computer sound card has +4 outputs you are ready to go into the Reamp. Many consumer “off the shelf” computer cards (Sound Blaster type) are only –10 unbalanced. In this case, you will need to lower the output level another 10 to 15 dB, stay unbalanced and go directly into the amp without a Reamp. Don't call me if it doesn't works.

The quote above is from the official reamp site. As I have recording cards where I can switch the outputs between +4 and -10db I wonder if I need a reamp in order to reamp? lol
I thought the reamp's effect is to match impedances with a transformer and not only a signal boost....the -10db out does not have the guitars impedance as far as I know?!?!?

 

[Noumenon]

Hah. Go figure. The difference between +4 and -10 isn't in the impedance is it? Rather in the signal level. Hm.

 

[Glenn Fricker]

Get one of these:

LINE LEVEL SHIFTER

 

[GuitarMaestro]

@OzNimbus:
I dont understand what the line level shifter is supposed to do for me....As I wrote I can get -10 db unbalanced AND +4 db balanced from my recording card. Do I need a reamp at all when I use the -10 db unbalanced out and connect that to the amp?

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

Do I need a reamp at all when I use the -10 db unbalanced out and connect that to the amp?

I say yes unfortunately.

 

[Kazrog]

I've done tests of the -10 unbalanced outs on my MOTU 828 Mk II against the ReAmp, and the ReAmp sounds way better. That's what matters to me.

 

[006]

Hey I just got to thinking and started confusing myself. I record guitars at the studio like this: guitar -> Morley ABY -> A into POD, B into the board, then I send the B signal back out through SEND1 on our board into our ReAmp, and then of course into the amp. What is the level of my signal throughout that chain? I mean, I've never bothered to learn that stuff. So what should a signal out of the DI be, going into the ReAmp, that is. Just so I know the numbers, heh.

~006

 

[SPLASTiK]

I rewired my DI earlier this month into a reamp, worked pretty well. A reamp is a pretty simple circuit actually...

People were reamping long before the reamp was around though, passive DI backwards using aux sends or a fader to control the level. A lot of people still do it that way though I'd imagine a proper device does it better.

 

[Jackal_Strain]

How exactly did you rewire your DI? I'm very interrested in learning how to do something like this.

 

[SPLASTiK]

How exactly did you rewire your DI? I'm very interrested in learning how to do something like this.

I guess it depends on what your DI is but I built mine with a Lundahl transformer and I rewired it 1:3.5 (it was 1:7 as a DI) and then added a 50k pot for level and a 100k pot for impedence on the output, more or less following the Jensen reamp schematics and what a guy at Lundahl suggested me to do for my specific transformer: http://www.jensen-transformers.com/as/as092.pdf

Now I might buy another transformer and jacks and wire it in there so I have a DI and Reamp in one box.

Here's an actual Schematic for the "Reamp" brant reamp.
http://www.muzique.com/images/reamp.gif
very very much like the Jensen circuit.

There a well known guy amoung DIY's NewYorkDave who posted a schematic for a cheap reamp device with an Edcor transformer, total part cost is around $40 i think I read. A lot of people say it's pretty good and rivals more expensive ones. A quick google will probably provide you a few threads.

Also check out: http://www.prodigy-pro.com/forum/ An excellent DIY forum.

 

[GuitarMaestro]

I've done tests of the -10 unbalanced outs on my MOTU 828 Mk II against the ReAmp, and the ReAmp sounds way better. That's what matters to me.

In which way did it sound better?

I say yes unfortunately.

Why?

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

Why?

Because it sounds better, lol
Less noise, better signal, more dynamics, better high end...