Home studio amp to interface

hedgefunk

Greetings.

I'm having trouble getting a decent sound with my MIM strat and 1st gen Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. It clips going direct so I got a DI box which has helped clipping but the signal isn't that strong with gain up as high as it can go on the interface.

I'm using Ableton Live 9 suite and guitar rig 4 software. The guy in my local guitar shop told me I need a preamp so I've been looking around at a few options. 

I don't have room for a cab or combo or to mic one up so ideally I want an amp/preamp head that is rack mounted and can go into my glorious workbench desk. 

I've been looking at:

Line 6 pod pro
Laney ironheart
Various other rack mount preamp on eBay such as Marshall 9000 series. 

The pod pro seems decently priced (2nd hand red one) but with guitar rig 4 is it overkill?

The Laney looks amazing and is top end of my budget (2nd hand) and combined with the software seems perfect. Also it seems made for my situation with the option to build into more of a rig down the line. 

The Marshall 9000s look nice and better priced but not sure of comparability with my interface and DI combo. 

I'm looking to play mainly jazzy/funky cleanish tones and want to explore custom tones further.

The Focusrite goes out into a pair of Yamaha hs50 monitors. Sorry if these questions are a bit basic but I'm not too familiar with amps and rigs etc. I do want some guitar hardware and start moving away from.software. 

normula1

Before you buy anything, try putting a buffered pedal in front if the 2i2 as It has quite a low input impedance. I tend to use a Boss compressor. If you are playing mostly clean and still clip you can just turn the volume knob down on your guitar a tad.
The Gen 2 drivers work on the Gen 1 2i2 and reduce the latency by a good amount and set to 96k for the lowest latency.

Dodge

I've got a 2i4 and I'm surprised you're getting clipping. With a Strat type guitar I've got plenty of travel on the gain pot before it clips with it set to instrument.

Is it the same on both inputs?

TheBigDipper

Do I understand you correctly? Your guitar is connected to the Focusrite, which goes into a computer running Ableton and Guitar Rig. You're getting clipping.

The input knobs on the Focusrite control how hot the analogue signal from your guitar is as it enters the digital domain. The halo lights on the unit will be green if it can see a signal and red if you've got it too hot. Make sure it stays green. That avoids digital clipping on input by the analogue to digital conversion inside the Focusrite. 

Once it's been converted to digital, then the software controls inside Ableton and Guitar Rig will set your levels. Again, you don't want digital clipping - if you can see the dB levels in a meter somewhere, never get your output signal above 0dB. An average level of -18dB is plenty, peaking at -7dB. That gives the digital to analogue converter in your Focusrite a signal that is not going to be noisy but will not be clipping, either. 

The output level control on the Focusrite controls how much analogue signal is sent to your headphones or amplifier. That's what controls how loud it is for your ears, nothing else. 

You don't need a preamp to fix this.

Does any of this help? Hope so. Good luck! 

ecc83

You don't need a pre amp, you need an attenuator! The 1st Gen 2i2s were notorious for lack of headroom on the High Z input.

You COULD just turn the volume pot down on the guitar but I know a lot of guitarists don't like doing that so you need to attenuate the full output at the 2i2 input jack. Ideally you would use a pair of resistors but that is a fixed loss and we have no way of knowing just how much to bash it down. Therefore, get a 1 meg log pot (Maplin) and put it in a baccy tin with a jack socket and about 1/2mtr of git' cable and jack on the output.

That way you can tweak the level to taste. I guess you know this but: Record at 24bits (44.1kHz) and aim for an average level on the software (DAW) meters of around -18dBFS.

Meantime I will look for a link for the VC wiring (can't post an attachment here) https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=volume+control+wiring+diagram&tbm=isch&source=iu&pf=m&ictx=1&fir=Cp0Tw9cwI6fsyM%3A%2CrchcikeRNKqDeM%2C_&usg=__zlyI93WP8j26Hw3_g6s3IGSUCVs=&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi6lcyKz_rWAhWEfRoKHf4pBLMQ9QEIKjAB#imgrc=Cp0Tw9cwI6fsyM:

Dave.

ecc83

Maplin code : JM 80B but it occurs to me that you can buy those attenuator pots that go in FX loops? They will do but make sure they are 1 meg or higher.

dave.

Jonathanthomas83

If you're looking at Laney, look at the Lionheart  L5H which is a superb amp with lots of studio helpful stuff in the back.

hedgefunk

Thanks for the replies all. Is it not worthwhile to get an amp just to start off my own real rig? 

The gen 1 2i2 clipping issue is fixed with the DI box but it just sounds weak when overdubbing over tracks. I got very inspired by this vid of someone using a hybrid amp software set up:



Suppose I kind of want to start building my own rig as well. 

hedgefunk

Forgot to mention rack mounted and good clean sound are must haves 

ecc83

hedgefunk said:

Thanks for the replies all. Is it not worthwhile to get an amp just to start off my own real rig? 

The gen 1 2i2 clipping issue is fixed with the DI box but it just sounds weak when overdubbing over tracks. I got very inspired by this vid of someone using a hybrid amp software set up:



Suppose I kind of want to start building my own rig as well. 

Once you have the guitar track in software you can boost the level and EQ, compress and generally cluck the ***t out of it! Post tracking boosts do not cause a noise penalty.

Dave.

hedgefunk

ecc83 said:

hedgefunk said:

Thanks for the replies all. Is it not worthwhile to get an amp just to start off my own real rig? 

The gen 1 2i2 clipping issue is fixed with the DI box but it just sounds weak when overdubbing over tracks. I got very inspired by this vid of someone using a hybrid amp software set up:



Suppose I kind of want to start building my own rig as well. 

Once you have the guitar track in software you can boost the level and EQ, compress and generally cluck the ***t out of it! Post tracking boosts do not cause a noise penalty.

Dave.

Yeah I've been doing a lot of EQ and compression in Ableton and GR4 - I think I just want to buy an amp for some reason - it just won't go away! 

olafgarten

Get a BOSS Katana. 

drwiddly

If you're dead set on getting a rack preamp, I have a Rocktron Chameleon in my studio rack that I'm not really using these days. It's the blackface model (i.e. The good one) and basically the same as the Voodu Valve but without the valve!

Yours for £80 posted. PM me if you're interested.

hedgefunk

drwiddly said:

If you're dead set on getting a rack preamp, I have a Rocktron Chameleon in my studio rack that I'm not really using these days. It's the blackface model (i.e. The good one) and basically the same as the Voodu Valve but without the valve!

Yours for £80 posted. PM me if you're interested.

Thanks. 

I've done more reading around and it looks like I just need a better interface as I have the 2i2 1st gen which is has known problems for line in electric guitars. 

There are Focusrite Saffire Pro 40s going  on Ebay for around £150 which I'm very tempted by although I'd probably be fine with a 2nd gen 2i2.