guitar > ? > soundcard (... or what's the missing link

[Thomas P.]

What would you guys advice me to build if I'd like to play some of my pedals straight into the soundcard's line-in to create some soundfiles and do some recording stuff?
Would a simple speaker-sim (like the AMZ or the Runoff) do the job? I also thought of building a sansamp. Or would an easy IC or Fet-based amplifier circuit do the job as well.
What I like to have is a nice guitar sound without loosing too much bottom or sounding steril.
What do you all use to record things to your PC?

Thanks in advance!

[Johan]

the tech-21/ sans-amp was made for just that...geting a good tone into recordinequipment without using amp-mic-proccessing.....I am very happy with my Tri-AC, but I think the GT-2 is even better....
...or mabe Morley's JD-10 ( search the schematics-2 for a schematic...) I've heard good things about them..

Johan

[smoguzbenjamin]

Cabinet simulator, mate! I am planning on building a bulldog cabinet simulator, haven't done so. Yet

[Thomas P.]

I couldn't find a schematic for the bulldog speaker sim, so far :cry:

[smoguzbenjamin]

No, you're right it has dissapeared off the face of the earth . Maybe I'll post it on my site.

[bobbletrox]

What about that Marshall Cab sim that's floating around somewhere?

I'm gonna try and build it soon because I won't have to shell out for a stompswitch.  It's just two jacks and a couple of ICs!

[Ammscray]

All those simulators sound ok but not great...kind of fake and too direct and "solid statey" IMO... if you want the best representation of your guitar and pedals sound, then mike your amp with an SM57 into a good preamp then into the soundcard...record flat (no EQ) and add a bit of reverb or whatever to add some depth...it's a BIG difference...

 you don't have to record at wall-shaking volumes either, if you have a good preamp...I use the older ART TubePac, it's awesome and alot better than the current version...it has a compressor/limiter too!

Oh yeah, no soundblasters please!

[Ansil]

i dont' worry anymore.  i use a load box that i built and drop it into creative soundcard

[Thomas P.]

Thanks so far, guys!
It all goes like I expected it - no absolute solution

I think I build several things and listen to what's best for me. Since those speaker sims doesn't require a lot of parts it should be no problem. And the Sansamp, well, after sucessfully building a Mutron it shouldn't be such a problem :wink:

[Joep]

I think the problem with all the cabsims is that you don't have a "room-like reverb" kind of sound to it. It all sounds a bit sterile through it. My soundblaster Audigy2 has build in "EAX effects" you can activate them in a menu.

I run my GT-2 through the Audigy and then I use the headphone output of my PC to listen.

[aron]

Another option is to simply build an op amp booster and drive them right into the line level inputs of the sound card.

Then use a plug-in simulator for the guitar sound.

Nothing beats a mic'ed amp, but on the other hand, a lot of simulators can sound better than a cheap mic and noisy amp setup.

[Ammscray]

I think the problem with all the cabsims is that you don't have a "room-like reverb" kind of sound to it. It all sounds a bit sterile through it. My soundblaster Audigy2 has build in "EAX effects" you can activate them in a menu.

I run my GT-2 through the Audigy and then I use the headphone output of my PC to listen.

Yeah I agree, they sound too "direct" and too in your face...you can't simulate air coming off of a speaker!

[Joep]

ACtually the cabsim part of the GT-2 is really versatile. There are three simulations (Classic, Centre and Off-Axis) and the tonecontrol come after that which add some more versatility.

[Ansil]

http://www.geocities.com/austenfantanio//cabsim.htm


just a thought.

[smoguzbenjamin]

Kewl What's the diode for?

[Ansil]

crosover clipping.  it just sounds right.  maybe someone out there can tell me why it does.

[spongebob]

I used the following circuit to connect my guitar to the line input of my soundcard:

http://www.till.com/articles/GuitarPreamp/index.html

Finding the J201 JFET was the hardest part, but probably any other JFET will work just fine...

[Thomas P.]

I used the following circuit to connect my guitar to the line input of my soundcard:

http://www.till.com/articles/GuitarPreamp/index.html

Finding the J201 JFET was the hardest part, but probably any other JFET will work just fine...

I tried to use a quite simmilar circuit useing a Mosfet, but it had to little gain. Now I'm trying to use two of them in series.

But thanks anyway :wink:

[Thomas P.]

I used the following circuit to connect my guitar to the line input of my soundcard:

http://www.till.com/articles/GuitarPreamp/index.html

Finding the J201 JFET was the hardest part, but probably any other JFET will work just fine...

I tried to use a quite simmilar circuit useing a Mosfet. It had too little gain so I'm useing two of them in series.