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Silent tube amp recording

TaySte_2000

TaySte_2000

Jun 23, 2001
8,101
2,042
Houston, TX
#1
Hi Justin hope all is well with you.

I'm wondering if you've ever run any of your tube amps into a loadbox and then a DI/pre and if you had any recommendations for this sort of setup.

I'm seriously considering an Avalon U5 for its abilty to take wattage but I still need a load box or attenuator and there is also the fact that this might be completely pointless and I'd be better looking for like an Isocab and maybe an attenuator to get the volume manageable for a small box like that.
 
#2
I've done it with a B-15 head and a H&K Red Box Classic. Sounded great. Very similar to the tones I've heard out of the REDDI and Low End True Voice on Basstasters. I used an 8 ohm dummy load to bypass the cab.

But you didn't ask me, you asked Justin. I'm just horning in ;)
 
#5
You know guys, I'm not really savvy. Whenever this is done with a project I'm working on, someone usually uses the Radial stuff, and it works and sounds great. Early in NIN rehearsals I used a THD Hot Plate, that worked fine too.

I'd love to get more info on this area, for sure.
 
#6
Can't say I'm all that savvy, either. I just wanted a way to record bass and guitar with power tube crunch late at night without disturbing my family, and I didn't want to spend what it costs for a U5. Decided on the Red Box because that's what the Foo Fighters use for guitar and they always sound great on board tape bootlegs I've heard (and the price is right). Actually works pretty good for guitar. A bit drier than micing a cab, but no less snarly. But it works excellently for bass. That's about the length of my knowledge base on the subject.
 
#7
Well I'm heavily looking into it now so I'll let you know what I come up with.

Current idea is 100w head into THD Hotplate but might get something different acting as a loadbox and the Avalon u5 in parallel with that using the speaker in connection.

This setup will give me the most versatility in other situations since all 3 items can be used together, in combination or independently of each other.

Or I might just go blah send me a Reddi
 
#9
That's what I use live too, but I use the two-channel version...one for bass, one for guitar. Forgot to mention that. But the one I use is more like a colored DI, it's not the one that handles an amp load.

JMJ
 
#11
That's exactly the one I have, in the main and backup rigs.

They sound really cool, actually! I dig what they do for the tone.

However, I'm not so sure that a well-programmed Pod X3 might be able to do the same thing as all this rack stuff I have going. In fact, I'm so interested in this, that I had Line6 send me out the Pod X3 Live, their top of the line all-in-one floor thing. I was shocked - it sounds really good.

I originally intended this to be something I'd use for hotel room recording, but now, I think I'm going to start emulating some of the sounds in my elaborate live rig, and eventually using this for a "C" rig. Meaning, the rig I would have around if all else failed, or if we need to do a one-off show somewhere far away where we couldn't travel with all these 250 lb. racks.

We'll see how it goes.

JMJ
 
#12
My friends are telling me not to obsess so much and just buy a simple di box :p and not bother with any of this post amp stuff.

I just don't know :(

Justin in your opinion if you ever just had to have a single do it all di which would you pick that would cover the most ground both live and in the studio and not really leave you wanting.
 
#15
This is a subject I'm also interested in as I just started using an Orange AD200B all tube head. I've been considering getting a di to take the speaker load but my brother in law, who is a professional sound engineer, has said that unless I have my own sound guy to work to get a good sound it could end up sounding bad.

Having such an awesome amp I would like to get the sound of my rig out front. I used to use the sansamp RPM but I'm thinking more and more to go away from this as the sans sounds nothing like an orange and going for a radial DI and just sending my direct bass sound and hoping the sound guy will make my bass sound full and phat.. and then later down the line when we get an engineer incorporate the mic.

Is it true a direct signal gives the soundguy more to work with? Maybe I'll go for a bass driver and jsut get a basic tube sound. or maybe i should check out the pod... argh i dunno!!
 
#16
A DI CAN give the soundman more to work with. That's why combining DI with mic is a popular combo. You get the amp thru the mic, and the DI can be used to fill in holes that may be missing in the freq spectrum that he needs. At least that's the way I like to combine the two. I was just micing for the past couple months, but recent events (involving missing freqs and ridiculously boomy venues) have made me want to try blending again.

Anyway, there's a million different ways to do it and all of them great. And one of these days, I'll settle on something ;)
 
#17
attackbass said:
This is a subject I'm also interested in as I just started using an Orange AD200B all tube head. I've been considering getting a di to take the speaker load but my brother in law, who is a professional sound engineer, has said that unless I have my own sound guy to work to get a good sound it could end up sounding bad.

Having such an awesome amp I would like to get the sound of my rig out front. I used to use the sansamp RPM but I'm thinking more and more to go away from this as the sans sounds nothing like an orange and going for a radial DI and just sending my direct bass sound and hoping the sound guy will make my bass sound full and phat.. and then later down the line when we get an engineer incorporate the mic.

Is it true a direct signal gives the soundguy more to work with? Maybe I'll go for a bass driver and jsut get a basic tube sound. or maybe i should check out the pod... argh i dunno!!
Click to expand...

Personally I think you should get a DI to run between head and cab, that tube sound is no harder to work with than a Sansamp, hell the sansamp is aiming to replicate what you already have.

I've made my mind up I'm 100% getting an avalon u5 as soon as I can afford one, not sure on the loadbox yet, weber look very interesting as it's a completely different technology to the rest but I want to learn a lot more about it and 200w is very very hard to get a commercial loadbox for weber recommended his 150w version for my 100w head.

It's a bit different for us UK guys as people in America have no idea how bad the average soundman is over here.

Also Attackbass I'm in Anglesey on Saturday at some all day festival don't suppose you'll be in that general area?
 
#18
JimmyM said:
A DI CAN give the soundman more to work with. That's why combining DI with mic is a popular combo. You get the amp thru the mic, and the DI can be used to fill in holes that may be missing in the freq spectrum that he needs. At least that's the way I like to combine the two. I was just micing for the past couple months, but recent events (involving missing freqs and ridiculously boomy venues) have made me want to try blending again.

Anyway, there's a million different ways to do it and all of them great. And one of these days, I'll settle on something ;)
Click to expand...

Just to complicate matters have you tried mic'ing and running it to your own mic preamp and then sending him an xlr feed from that?

Your sound in their format :D
 
#19
dude you live closer to angelesy than me... there's a festival in angelsy? I live in south wales! I'm playing a show somewhere.. not sure where it is but it's a warm up for this months bout of touring and festivals.

I'd love to know how matt rubano has the avalon set up with his rig as his sound is awesome live.

I think when the whole band is playing nobody can really hear the detail in the bass sound that well.. or for a matter of fact care or even know what the bass is lol!

I'm going to try a few things out... there's also a palmer di with speaker simulation called the junction.. wonder if anyone knows about that?

Right now im on the side of using a jdi..
 
#20
TaySte_2000 said:
Just to complicate matters have you tried mic'ing and running it to your own mic preamp and then sending him an xlr feed from that?

Your sound in their format :D
Click to expand...
Tayste, I may be anal about tone these days, but I'm also a huge fan of keeping it simple. Taking a mic and running through a preamp means one more thing I have to set up. Besides, like Justin said, all these nuances get eaten up in a live situation anyway. Sure, we want it to sound like we want it, but there comes a point of diminishing returns. I'm quite happy with a simple DI from my Microbass II and a mic in front of my cab that goes directly to the board. I'm not doing effects or anything, and about the only sound change I do in an evening is P pickup to PJ pickups.

EDIT: Whoops...I see that was Attackbass that said the stuff about not hearing details live, not Justin. Sorry, don't want to misquote, so I'm adding this edit.
 

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