Need some advice on dead cheap re-amp boxes please!

[ForbiddenWytch]

Hey everyone. 

I'm an idiot. Let me get that out there first.

I thought I could send one of the outputs of my Focusrite 18i20 directly to my pedals and re-amp my guitar and bass signal. That was until this weekend when I realised that's not how it works and that I'm an idiot because the 18i20 outputs are all Balanced which I completely looked over. Lovely clean DI signals recorded in with an amp sim for monitoring then I planned on reamping the guitars through pedals as I prefer that over VSTs. 

So, my question is... what's the cheapest balanced to unbalanced signal reamp box out there? I really don't have much cash spare atm (some sort of pandemic or some stinky poo going on) and because of the aforementioned fact that I'm an idiot, a simple "in and out" device would be great. Less I can fudge up, the better. Because I'm an idiot.

Thanks in advance!

[King Tut]

Following

[EBS_freak]

You'd be hard beat to get something better than the Orchid Electronics box for the money - http://orchid-electronics.co.uk/Amp_Interface.htm

[adamg67]

I can't help with the dead cheap I'm afraid, I went for a Palmer Daccapo but they're just shy of £60. IMO worth getting a proper reamper with volume (rather than just using a DI backwards).

Reamping works really really well once you get the hang. One thing that helps is to record a track with the bass direct through the interface, then put that through the reamper and back in to another track (don't make a loop,. that's like crossing the streams in ghostbusters ). You can then tweak the volume on the reamper to match the original signal from the bass, which really helps as you'll be driving your gear at the right level. I have a song saved just for doing that, although you only really need to do it once. Oh, and also watch out for the levels on the output to your DI box, you need to keep those the same once you've got the level set, if your DAW lets you lock them then do it.

Edited December 16, 2020 by adamg67

[Woodwind]

On 14/12/2020 at 20:26, ForbiddenWytch said:

Hey everyone. 

I'm an idiot. Let me get that out there first.

I thought I could send one of the outputs of my Focusrite 18i20 directly to my pedals and re-amp my guitar and bass signal. That was until this weekend when I realised that's not how it works and that I'm an idiot because the 18i20 outputs are all Balanced which I completely looked over. Lovely clean DI signals recorded in with an amp sim for monitoring then I planned on reamping the guitars through pedals as I prefer that over VSTs. 

So, my question is... what's the cheapest balanced to unbalanced signal reamp box out there? I really don't have much cash spare atm (some sort of pandemic or some stinky poo going on) and because of the aforementioned fact that I'm an idiot, a simple "in and out" device would be great. Less I can fudge up, the better. Because I'm an idiot.

Thanks in advance!

Have you tried it using the balanced outs? Just running a line from there into the fx and amp?

 

Edited December 16, 2020 by Woodwind

[adamg67]

One more thought, does your amp have effect send/return? line level balanced out to effects return might also work.

[EBS_freak]

5 minutes ago, adamg67 said:

One more thought, does your amp have effect send/return? line level balanced out to effects return might also work.

But then you are bypassing the front end shaping of the (pre)amp.

Edited December 16, 2020 by EBS_freak

[adamg67]

Just now, EBS_freak said:

But then you are bypassing the front end shaping of the (pre)amp.

Yeah, probably... my amp can do strange things (send / return is a slot in the DSP chain so can go anywhere) so I couldnt' remember where it normally is.