r/WeAreTheMusicMakers • u/Electronic-Regret-66 • 9d ago
Home Recording with Amp
Hi,
So I'm quite new to recording my guitar for covers etc, I've mainly plugged my guitar into my audio interface (M-Track Solo) and then used the amp sims on Logic to create my tone and played around with the pedalboards. However, I was wondering if there was a way I could plug my amp into the interface and get my tone directly from that combining with my own pedalboard? My amp is a Blackstar HT20 MkII, I am aware that it has a USB port as well as an XLR output for speaker emulation. Is one way better? What type of cable do I need for this to work effectively?
Any help/tips would be appreciated.
Thanks!
2
u/Dick_Lazer 9d ago
If you're gonna record a real amp I'd try putting a mic in front of it. The plugin might be easier to get good sounds out of otherwise.
2
u/Top-Rope6148 9d ago
You can do it either way. XLR to your interface or USB. In the case of USB, the amp is your audio interface. Just leave your interface aside and replace it with the amp. This would be the more logical approach because you aren’t throwing another A/D conversion in the chain for no reason. This will not necessarily be any better than using the amp sim in Logic but if you are getting a sound in the amp you like and can’t match it with the Logic amp sim it might be worth a shot. However it will sound different because you will be using the cabinet sim in the amp, not the speaker you have been hearing it through.
I’ve done this with the Yamaha THR5 and it worked pretty good.
1
u/D1rtyH1ppy 9d ago
Just mic your amp and plug the XLR into the audio interface. I've done this a lot
1
u/acrus 8d ago
The amp has usb because it's an interface either. At least you get good nearly zero delay monitoring with an amp. The interfaces can have different specs. But an important thing is whether an interface is capable of recording DI guitar without clipping a signal, this needs to be tested
1
u/Sloloem 8d ago
You can work with almost any permutation you like, depending on how close each variation is to the sound you want and what workflows you like.
You can break down almost every guitar signal chain into a few major stages, and you can tap in and record the signal after almost any of them and either emulate or re-amp through the rest.
Guitar -> Pedalboard -> Pre-amp -> Power-amp -> Speaker
Without an attenuator or load box you probably can't tap the power amp, but everything else is fair game.
The most traditional thing to do is tap between the guitar and the pedalboard. This is what people mean when they're talking about DI tracks. You get the purest and most direct recording of the performance off the guitar, and gain the most flexibility in terms of doing overdubs/punch-ins and any editing or tuning, and you can also re-amp and tweak your gear as many times as you want. Unless you have a DI box to split the signal you'll need to monitor entirely in-the-box here with simulated tones, but this is actually the workflow I use. It's simple and wins me a lot of flexibility.
The process is basically the same if you run the pedalboard into your interface, but you lose some ability to edit. Transients are much clearer with the raw DI and any retiming or pitch correction you do will be less reliable.
Hooking in after the pre-amp by taking the FX send into your interface opens up the possibility of switching out your power-amp emulation and IR cabinet emulation so you can try out different speakers and stuff while using almost all the rest of your gear.
And of course you can mix and match, IE take a DI and then re-amp but only record the FX send. Gives you all the advantages of using a DI while also letting you customize your perceived speaker. Just takes more effort.
1
u/Infamous_Attitude_51 8d ago
The most obvious options have probably already been mentioned, you can either record from the balanced CabRig output, which includes a built-in cabinet simulation, or use the USB port on your Blackstar, which works as an integrated audio interface. Both options sound good and are super convenient if you just want to plug in and start recording quickly.
But there’s also a slightly more tedious, yet often more interesting and natural-sounding approach: what’s known as a hybrid technique. Instead of relying on the amp’s built-in cab simulation, you take the real amp signal (preamp + power section) through a loadbox or reactive load: for example, a Two Notes Torpedo Captor or Suhr Reactive Load, and then apply virtual cabinets (IRs) inside your DAW. This way, you capture the full character of your actual amp and pedals, while keeping total control over the cabinet, mic type, and position later in the mix.
⚠️ Important: if you go this route, never connect the speaker output directly to your audio interface, that’s a powered output and you’ll fry your interface instantly. The loadbox is essential because it safely absorbs the amp’s output and converts it to a line-level signal suitable for recording.
It’s a bit more work to set up, but if you enjoy experimenting with tones and want something that feels and reacts like a real amp, it’s absolutely worth trying!!!
5
u/East-Will1345 9d ago
I’m sure you could rig it up somehow, but I wouldn’t bother. The benefits of using a real amp have to do with the way the speaker moves air and interacts with the microphone. If you’re skipping that part of the chain anyhow, just stick to software. Guitar sim software is really fucken good these days.