Re: RME Firewire 800 and Guitar Amp Sim - Preamps

[Luca Formentini <luca@unguitar.com>]

Hi Kris,
you may consider me crazy but since at least 10 years I play with no 
speaker simulators at all.
When I play live I go direct into the converter ( FF400) just after 
having passed an overdrive, a compressor and a volume pedal.
The outputs of the FF go direct to PA.
When I record i have a few preamps to place before the converter to have 
a certain sound or to add what you call the tube drive/compression you 
get when playing harder.
If I need to tweak the sound of a track I prefer re-preamping than 
record with a preamp placed between my rig and the recording converter; 
this way I keep all options available.

I think that preamps are the item I checked more during the last 15 years.
I tried all the Mesa, Ada, Alembic, Swr, Ampeg, Brunetti, Hughes & 
Kettner, Soldano, Trace Elliott, Sansamp, Carvin, Pod, Vox Tonelab, 
Summit, Avalon ...
I still have my old Alembic F2-b, Mesa Boogie Studio pre and Spl 
Gainstation 1.
1st thing I noticed: most guitar preamps are pumping the mids in a way 
that even if you cut all of them you can't get a good "flat" signal.
2nd thing: bass preamps are usually more sensitive, natural and wide in 
frequency range.
3rd thing: most voice channels that offer a DI input are usually darker 
sounding.
4th thing: a good preamp can go direct to board and allow you to tweak 
your guitar later in the processing ( if you like).

All my albums have been made with this system, being them ambient or 
rock or jazzy or ....

I think that the ideal preamp ( don't forget pickups) has to be natural 
sounding, replicating the real, acoustic sound and character of your 
electric guitar.
I look for wideness ( in the frequency range), dynamic sensitivity, the 
right amount of thickness and that subtle valve deepness that valves can 
deliver.

Most of the speaker emulators I tried are just equalizers, in fact I 
think that speaker emulators are just a clever way to steal money ( I am 
not talking of those speaker emulators you place on the outputs of a 
real power amp).

So I encourage you to look for those things you really need a preamp for 
that are gain, dynamics, wideness ... so that you still have ALL you 
original sound.
You can always cut and eq.

my 2 eurocents ;-)

luca
www.unguitar.com


Krispen Hartung wrote:

> Can anyone comment on the speaker emulation filter and tube 
> sim/limiter of the FW800? Someone on the Max/MSP list commented that 
> it was one of the best amp sims they've used. See below.  Is any other 
> high end firewire audio interface offering ann amp sim?
>  
> I am now focusing on how I can get the most natural electric 
> guitar/tube amp sound on my system, BEFORE going into the laptop (so, 
> no tube amp VSTs, etc). I need to do it with the audio interface, or 
> by adding a real tube amp or high end tube amp simulator (hardware)
>  
> Kris
>  
>  
>
> "The FireFace 800's Hi-Z instrument input offers a soft-limiter, which 
> has been tuned especially for musical instruments. Due to a soft 
> transition and deliberate creation of harmonics, the input signal is 
> compressed steplessly according to taste, or the limiter can be used 
> for distortion with tube sound. Activate the Drive circuit too for 
> broad guitar distortion. The Speaker Emulation filter, which can also 
> be switched on separately, takes low- and high-frequency disturbances 
> away and guarantees an optimal basic sound even when recording 
> directly into the computer, or when monitoring through a mixing console. 
>"
>
>  
>
> 
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