DIYstompboxes.com

DIY Stompboxes => Building your own stompbox => Topic started by: casey on April 07, 2005, 01:27:19 PM

Title: guitar to line out conversion...
Post by: casey on April 07, 2005, 01:27:19 PM
how do you convert a guitar signal to a line out, or better yet, the other way around.

i would like to use guitar effects and such on the inserts of my board...but i think that line outputs are a little stronger....is this right?
Title: guitar to line out conversion...
Post by: onboard on April 07, 2005, 06:39:11 PM
Do you want to go straight to the board through your pedals, or will your amp still be in the chain?

I think you want a DI box -  a forum search for that found quite few threads.  
Here's  a thread (http://diystompboxes.com/sboxforum/viewtopic.php?t=19971&highlight=di+box) that might help.

A speaker cabinet simulator might help too. The RunoffGroove Condor would be a good place to start.
Title: guitar to line out conversion...
Post by: niftydog on April 07, 2005, 07:51:23 PM
guitar signals are significantly lower in amplitude that line level signals.

To convert between them, you simply need either an amplifier or an attenuator. That is to say you either need a positive gain or negative gain op amp circuit.

Exact gain levels would depend on your guitar and pedals and rack equipment. Adding in a gain adjust pot would allow you to fine tune it for each piece of gear.

Any standard op amp circuit would do the trick.
Title: guitar to line out conversion...
Post by: Pedal love on April 07, 2005, 09:31:46 PM
ACTIVE AMPLIFICATION will do it. If you want to reduce then attenuation is the means. :D  pl
Title: guitar to line out conversion...
Post by: R.G. on April 07, 2005, 10:01:34 PM
Another job for .... The Adjusticator!!

At GEO.

http://www.geofex.com
Title: guitar to line out conversion...
Post by: casey on April 08, 2005, 10:00:53 AM
Quote from: R.G.Another job for .... The Adjusticator!!

At GEO.

http://www.geofex.com

yeah i saw that...what im wanting to do is use something like my dd-5 as a delay when im doing live sound...like run vocals through it and such from the aux sends on my board back into a channel.

or better yet, use a tube pedal on the inserts of my board to warm up something like a sterile sounding vocal track when im mixing a recorded track....

could i just modify the inputs on the pedal or do i need to use some type of transformer, or with the adjusticator, how do i apply that circuit to do what i am wanting...( am i making this too complicated ?)

i suppose i could use a reamp...(which is different from a direct box).

the more simple, the better.
Title: guitar to line out conversion...
Post by: R.G. on April 08, 2005, 10:14:19 AM
Quotecould i just modify the inputs on the pedal or do i need to use some type of transformer, or with the adjusticator, how do i apply that circuit to do what i am wanting...( am i making this too complicated ?)
Possibly you are.

"Guitar level" varies all over the map, but it's generally taken as about 100mV peak, 71mv rms. This is about -20db (1/10 voltage) from the the generally accepted 775mv rms of "consumer" line level. To complicate matters, "professional" line level is higher.

The bottom line is that pedals are usually designed to accept guitar level and not much more. So if you want to put board level outputs into a guitar pedal, you usually have to attenuate it by about ten to one to avoid having the guitar level pedal distort from too big a signal. (Presumably on vocals you don't want the distortion.) Once you get the delay done, you have to then re-amplify it back up to get back to line level.

I don't know if your board lets you set output level for a line out. If it does, take the single vocal line out, turn it down until the delay output is not distorted on peaks, and then run the delayed signal back into another input on the board that lets you get a gain of ten to get the signal level back up.

My "Adjusticator" answer was predicated on your not having a board to play with or not having access to it to do as you like; in fact, the Adjusticator was designed for people who want to do this kind of thing within a pedal setup or from the effects loop of an amp.

Did that help?
Title: guitar to line out conversion...
Post by: casey on April 08, 2005, 10:23:45 AM
cool.

what about an inline pot? of course then i would have to boost it back up i suppose...ill give the adjusticator a try.

thanks.



Quote from: R.G.
Quotecould i just modify the inputs on the pedal or do i need to use some type of transformer, or with the adjusticator, how do i apply that circuit to do what i am wanting...( am i making this too complicated ?)
Possibly you are.

"Guitar level" varies all over the map, but it's generally taken as about 100mV peak, 71mv rms. This is about -20db (1/10 voltage) from the the generally accepted 775mv rms of "consumer" line level. To complicate matters, "professional" line level is higher.

The bottom line is that pedals are usually designed to accept guitar level and not much more. So if you want to put board level outputs into a guitar pedal, you usually have to attenuate it by about ten to one to avoid having the guitar level pedal distort from too big a signal. (Presumably on vocals you don't want the distortion.) Once you get the delay done, you have to then re-amplify it back up to get back to line level.

I don't know if your board lets you set output level for a line out. If it does, take the single vocal line out, turn it down until the delay output is not distorted on peaks, and then run the delayed signal back into another input on the board that lets you get a gain of ten to get the signal level back up.

My "Adjusticator" answer was predicated on your not having a board to play with or not having access to it to do as you like; in fact, the Adjusticator was designed for people who want to do this kind of thing within a pedal setup or from the effects loop of an amp.

Did that help?
Title: guitar to line out conversion...
Post by: dpresley58 on April 08, 2005, 02:37:00 PM
http://www.till.com/articles/PreampCable/index.html

This is also an alternative, although I'm not sure about some of the resistor values. Good concept, though. I was perf'ing a prototype last night (what? Insomnia? Me?) and couldn't get the JFETs down to the 6V suggested in the text.
Title: guitar to line out conversion...
Post by: casey on April 08, 2005, 05:56:06 PM
Quote from: dpresley58http://www.till.com/articles/PreampCable/index.html

This is also an alternative, although I'm not sure about some of the resistor values. Good concept, though. I was perf'ing a prototype last night (what? Insomnia? Me?) and couldn't get the JFETs down to the 6V suggested in the text.

yes, but i think boss already has signal buffers in their stompboxes.....