How to split guitar signal?

Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 6:06 am

In the studio, what is the proper way to split a guitar signal so that I can record multiple guitar rigs at once from one performance? I'd like to be able to set up one rig in an isolation booth, and another different rig in another booth, and then still have the original signal to go straight into the board for plugin processing. Do I need a dedicated piece of gear to do this right or should I just set it up by plugging into my console (DM-4800) and using sends to go everywhere? I think I'd rather have a dedicated piece of gear for it. Your suggestions are much appreciated.

Eric

Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 7:11 am

I wouldn't plug into the mixer and run everything through that.

The ULTIMATE device would be this:

http://www.radialeng.com/di-jd7.htm

Run a ton of amps, easy re-amping for your recorded signal, direct out to the board from the input...

May seem a bit pricey, but when you add up what you would need to do all of that from a bunch of other boxes, not so bad...if you were going to use it enough to justify.

Other than that, a three-way passive split would be dicey, at best. You'd definitely need something in there before the splits to keep from loading down the guitar too much.

Maybe other folks have a cheaper solution?

Kapt.Krunch

Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 10:55 am

I am not a big fan of running guitars through a mixing board, BUT, if you are satisfied with the tone you get running through your mixer then you should be able to split the signal as much as you want using sub outs.
I do not believe that this would be a passive split (my apologies Kapt. if I misunderstood your post) . Aren't mixing boards by nature "active"? I did have a true passive mixer once, it was a 4 channel, DOD, line mixer, and it required no power, but thats another story altogether.
If you want to do it right, I would definatley go with the Radial box.

Good luck
MarkG

Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 3:09 pm

Go here and click on products/signal splitter.

If it's good enough for SRV, it should be good enough for anyone.

Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 4:06 pm

Both of the products listed by the posts above seem great.
One for $90....the other for...uh...way more?

For splitting guitar outputs I have for many years used an APHEX servo-driven 1-in X 4-out little half-rack box. Because it was servo-driven there is no problems with loading down on the outputs. Very solid device. I think it was about $199 or abouts.
As a bonus - it worked AWESOME as a SMPTE distribution amp because as we know the SMPTE signal can be fragile and this box gave me 4 strong clear outputs for complex film/video mixes when I had multiple devices all synched up.

~Cheers

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