I have been capturing a few of my pedals since I got the QC and while I’m still perfecting that process, I am beginning to think about how I shall best approach the task of capturing my various amp heads separately, i.e. without cab and mic etc, so that I can freely combine with IRs or other captures afterwards.
Not to start a theoretical discussion on the interaction between the observer and the observed or even quoting Niels Bohr, I guess it is pretty obvious that an amp is hard to capture at working conditions without it being connected to some kind of load with which it inevitably interacts and which impacts the sound. Accordingly, my question is; how can this be done as neutral as possible in practice?
The manual proposes two ways of capturing amps, i.e. to mic it up in the traditional way using a normal cab and a mic or to use the direct/recording out of the amp. I guess both will work fine per se, but neither method seem ideal if you ultimately want to capture the “pure” amp sound for the purpose of combining it with another cab/mic/IR. Obviously, I could use one of my external attenuators too, which all sound great, but are also not particularly neutral sounding by default at least.
I am sure, I’m not the first to think about this, but I didn’t find the info I was looking for, so I thought I’d throw the question into the round here so we can share best practice on the matter.
I use a Behringer Ultra-G 100. Speaker cable in>Speaker cable out to cab>XLR out (cab sim off) into the Capture port on the QC. Very pleased with the results. Add a Cab or IR and you have the magic sauce.
I uploaded a few D50 (Dumble 183 clone) captures using this. Try them out. I use the Zilla H75 (16) cab with a 57 and 421.
I’m using the Fryette PS2, any similar reactive load box with a silent line out should work. Check out the capture of my Soldano SLO 30 on the Cloud and the preset I did for it… I prefer capturing with no cab or boosts so I can mix and match in the box. Really happy with the whole process so far.
There are lost of good reactive load products out there these days that should be able to provide a direct line out from the power amp: Fryette PS series, Two Notes Captor devices, Boss Waza, Suhr RL…
I do have a few loads including i.a. a Weber Mass, a THD Hotplate as well as a Two Notes Torpedo live. It suddenly strikes me that at least the latter should be able to output a fairly “unbiased” signal.
Your Mass, Hotplate and Torpedo Live should produce great results to use with the QC’s cab sims, the Torpedo should also produce great results of your amps with the Torpedo’s speaker simulation.
I’ve been using an UAD OX for direct Captures and amp + cab sim Captures and the results are outstanding.
This is something that I’m interested in as well. I haven’t been able to tell yet which are direct only unless there’s something specific written in the name.
I have the same question. I’m new to the QC and would like to learn how to capture some amps without mic’ing a speaker/cab but really don’t know the best way to connect the devices and which cables to use (speaker, instrument, trs)? I also have an OX.
I got 2Notes live, a Powerstation and a BSS DI box, the results of the DI and 2 Notes is virtually the same, DI box is the cheapest solution tube amps need a load, a loadbox or speaker, anyways my best captures are via microphone.
I’ve used a Bugera PS1 with great success. Both with a mic and direct. The thing to remember is you are capturing a snapshot of one setting. So often, whether pedal or amps, I end up capturing several different amp or pedal settings. My first 2 QCs went south. I am now on my 3rd unit. So far so good except for a bug or two.
After my second QC went south I bought an FM3 as a backup. It was a blessing is disguise. With Fractal the sky is the limit! There are literally thousands of tones in this box. And the quality of the tones are mind-blowing good. So I’ve had my best results creating amp tones on the FM3 and capturing them. I’ve tried using cab sims during the capture and capturing them sans IRs. I find that capturing them without IRs and then assigning them later on the QC have rendered the best results.
Do you capture the FM3 as you would a pedal? That is, do you make the same connections using instrument cables? I’m new to the QC and haven’t tried capturing anything yet. The last thing I want to do is damage my QC.
Hi MisterScary! You’re not going to damage the QC by doing captures. So I wouldn’t worry about that. But to answer your main question. Yes, I connect the FM3 just like you would a pedal. What I do is I run my FM3 thru my DAW and add UAD Plugins and any other plugin I feel enhances the tone. Sometimes I’ll even add EQ and a tad of compression. I’m a big advocate of BBE as long as it’s used sparingly.
I find it opens up the harmonic structure a bit. I also Captured my SLO-100 NDSP Plugin VIA my DAW. I love the tones I create on the FM3. More so than my Captures of my Tube Amps, of which I have a Fender Blackface SR which sounds glorious when Captured. I’m of the opinion that experimentation is King. Sometimes you can create very unconventional tone doing unconventional things. There really are no rules that apply for creating tone. If you like it, then it’s good!