Hi All! Sorry if this has been covered but tried some searching and couldn’t find the exact answer I was looking for…Or maybe I misunderstood.
Im trying to figure out the best way to capture amp heads without a cab at all. Basically I want go out from the amp head to some sort of box (loadbox?) then out of the that box, whatever that may be, directly to the quad cortex and use the included IR to play through the amp and figure out my settings before capturing it. Would this work with the Two Notes Torpedo Captor Reactive Loadbox DI and Attenuator or would I break something. Any recs?
Like would I need a load box with a speaker defeat basically so I dont blow anything up? Could I essentially use the amp heads effects loop to just capture the preamps as well?
It might not be the most popular answer but I think the Kemper DI box is excellent, it’s simple, just plug in up to 500w and go.
It’s also a lot cheaper than many other solutions, at around $99 I think.
Can vouch for the Two Notes Torpedo Captor, it is excellent.
The Captor itself is a load box and does not need to be hooked up to a speaker cabinet in order to get the line out to work (to go the QC’s capture input), but many people who have used it for captures claim that they get better results if the speaker “through” outputs are connected to a cabinet.
Yes the Kemper is just a DI box so still needs a load.
As stated the TwoNotes load boxes are the absolute best without having any cab. I had a Revv G20 which had one built in and it was excellent.
A friend of mine used to work for the and still swears by them.
Keep in mind real speakers do not have constant impedance across all freq responses and so that will be reflected in your capture. All load boxes are not created equal, either.
How much that actually matters is for the individual to decide.
What I have found that works best, is to either have a reactive load box, or a DI box with an attenuator. You really want a speaker or reactive load to “respond” to the amp. If you do it with just a flat load, or just line out if your head has one, the captures are not as dynamic.
Two notes is great. The Captor is probably the cheapest way in.
For myself, being a bit of a tinkerer, I built my own reactive load and attenuator that allows for the cab to “be seen but not heard”.
But then just decided to use the Behringer Ultra-G for the DI, out to my attenuator, and the the cab - turned so low you do not hear it.
When you do this it does NOT capture the cab. It only gives the amp something to “react” to giving your capture a more dynamic response.
If I was going to buy one, it would either be the Two Notes Reload II or the new Boss Tube Expander (pricey, but both full featured).
Incorrect.
When you have a cab on a reactive box, but capturing DI from the amp using a Captor, or other unit that allows the cab to be connected, it allows the amp to “react” to speaker movement. This does not alter the sound of the DI amp capture, but makes the capture more dynamic.
This is very well documented and tested. Capturing through a load box with no cab, vs capturing with the same load box WITH a cab is night and day in the finished result.
There will also be a difference, but not as much, if you have a 412 vs 112 connected. Because the amp will react a bit different.
It is all very fascinating and I’ve spent 100’s of hours capturing in different ways with different devices. It is one of the thing I enjoy most from the QC.
The problem is the capture will be different depending on the speaker you are using, i.e. a celestion V30 vs a Greenback. So even if you apply an IR afterwards, a certain character is going to imprint itself on the result. Yes it might sound better, but not accurate. I believe the new cabs on the new Helix Stadium, model this very interaction between speaker and amp.
The only way the cab can affect the sound is if you capture with a mic on the speaker. When capturing direct, all the speaker does is cause the amp to react to changes in resistance as the speaker moves, causing the amp to change in response which affects how the capture responds when you use it. Capturing an amp directly, will not sound very good until you pair it with and IR, which absolutely will sound differnt based on what kind of speaker or cab it is..
It is well documented.
I won’t push into any further, I am not trying to create any stress about it.
Definitely recommend the Suhr Reactive Load/IR. I’ve used it for my DI captures, and you can even capture with the IR you want at the same time too from the same unit. Plus, if you do have tube amps, you can use those live with the Suhr Reactive Load/IR with our without a cab. Highly recommend. The only way to capture an amp DI, with no cab, is with a reactive load.
