"Virtual Guitar" as a Backing Track into Guitar Amp

[Guitar_Steve]

I couldn't figure out how best to word the title, so I'll explain.

I play bass in a live karaoke band where we just lost our lead guitarist. Our current setup has a click tied to karaoke video content with backing tracks like keys, etc. all run with Reaper. This is going to an audio interface to the PA with video to a monitor. Drummer picks the track, counts us off to the click and away we go.
We decided to have a go as a three piece, and current efforts to double guitar sounds with bass is proving unsatisfactory (bass signal split into pitch effects into a guitar amp).
We would like to run backing tracks mono and hard pan right. Clean guitar tracks would be recorded and run to a guitar amp hard left. Mic the amp to PA.
The idea is to give the rhythm guitar a lively feel instead of something more digital sounding.
We tried this setup and it works, but, with left out to the guitar amp, there's a lot of noise coming from the laptop when nothing is playing.
We tried a DI between the interface and the amp, different instrument cables, TRS cables, speaker cables...it all leads to noise through the guitar amp at idle. No noise when plugged into studio monitors.
Question is obvious. How do we get rid of the noise?
Would also like to note that the amp is overdriven. Basically just trying to get a virtual guitar via reamping a clean signal. Appreciate the help up front.

 

[DonaldR]

Have you tried an IK Axe I/O for the reamping?

 

[Wasnex]

The first thing is to figure out what the original signal level is and if it is noisy.

The way this is normally handled is by sending a line level signal to a reamp box.

The reamp box takes the line level signal and knocks it down to instrument level.

If you send a line level signal straight into an instrument level input, you generally have two problems:
1. The signal is noisy,
2. It can be difficult to impossible to set the signal low enough where it does not clip the front end of the preamp, causing undesired and potentially harsh clipping.

A passive DI should work, but you need to run the signal through it backwards. This may not work well with a crappy passive DI, but the directions for the Radial JDI describe using it this way.

You need an XLR female-to female turn around to plug the line level signal in the DI's output. Then you patch the DI's 1/4" input into the guitar amp. It may be beneficial to engage a pad if the DI has one. Also you may still need to turn down the output on your audio interface to avoid overdriving the transformer in the DI.

 

[KidAmnesia]

Why don't you send the recorded guitars through the PA?
Adding another amp and a reamp box sounds just like extra work.

 

[SoCal80s]

You can get rid of the noise by adding a gate to the guitar track in Reaper, or where needed (at the mixer, etc.).