Re-Amped

[Virtual Aaron]

G'day all.
Just wondering how some folks deal with the hum/noise issue involved in taking a +4 signal and feeding it into a HI-Z guitar amp input. There are converters like these http://www.reamp.com/ but they come at a price, for what must be a fairly simple circuit. Any DIYers tackeling this??

Recording a DI split of a guitar or bass signal and re-amping it later is a great way of capturing a live band performance, and maintaining absolute separation. It also takes the pressure off capturing the right sound from an amp 'on the fly', giving you the opportunity to pump it back through a stack of different amps, at any volume, and still have the exact "live performance" X factor, but I always get a horrible buzz...

[Howard Jones]

Leaving aside the questions of impedance mismatch and level mismatch with attendant consequences for frequency response, it sounds like you have a good ol' earth loop problem. If you look at the Re-Amp, you will see that it has a ground lift switch.

The lead carrying the +4dBm signal should have the earth wire connected at one end only (not the Hi-Z input end). Try this and let me know how you get on.

If this doesn't work, you are going to have to build an interface box with an impedance transformer in it.

[Virtual Aaron]

Cheers, I'll give that a shot and post a verdict. I've tried running the signal through guitar pedals as I've heard they act as an impeadence buffer, but it didn't seem noticibly different. I'll try a modified lead with the amp end ground wire floating and see what happens.

[rick]

i have tried to do the amp thing a bunch of ways, some better then others and basically the reamp box is a passive di box wired in reverse , however its a perfect and fantastic way to do it , much better then any method or product i have ever bodged up

my advice is bite the bullet and buy a reamp
they have figured the impedences out to match older tube amps perfectly and they let the tone ring through , its a lifetime studio investment, wont wear out, blow up or get outdated.

the reamp is cheap considering how often you will use it really...
some guy solved this problem 20 years ago , made a cheapish product thats well made and does the job, i dont know why every studio doesnt have one, are we all so afraid to pay for something without a power cord or and lcd...? even if its a good idea that does the job..? and from the guy that solved the problem..?

btw. its a jensen transformer inside and if you go to their site ( jensen) you can buy the same transformer and make you own if you simply must save some bucks

[Virtual Aaron]

You're right about that Rick, a tool is a tool and should not be judged on it's complexity, I know a sculpter who's blown heaps more on a chisel (without a power cord!)
A local electronics guru has informed me that he is in the final stages of a product that will do this reamping job, so I'll prob just hang and buy Australian.

but while we're on a DI related topic, can someone tell me what type of signal a keyboard spits out? As they often get plugged into DI's, and i'm pretty sure they don't spit out HI-Z. Can this create a problem?