Re-Amping Explained

[bigtree]

I want to build up my re-amping chops so I'm looking at boxes and tips. What makes a better box than another and any tips you can share, please do.

[bigtree]

I'm checking out Radial:

[Boswell]

The recent re-amping thread brought up a few ways of doing things, but, quite honestly, what I would do to start out is get one of the Radial X-Amp (active) or Pro-RMP (passive) boxes and find out what that can do for you. They are not a lot of money for a pro bit of gear. In my experience, there is much less audible difference between the various makes of re-amp boxes compared with all the variables of how you set up the amplifier, pedals, mic(s) and room.

Once you have chosen a box that does not overload the amplifier or pedal you are driving and is not itself overloaded by your output source, you can mostly forget about the re-amp box and concentrate on the amp settings, the microphone positioning and room acoustics.

The acoustics are really important. Some while ago I was proudly shown an old chest freezer that had been converted to a re-amping cabinet. The sound was terrible; the amplifier had no breathing space and there were sonic reflections bouncing around inside the cabinet. About all I could find in its favour is that it reduced the disturbance of the neighbours.

Don't make the mistake of using a high-power guitar amp. Even 15W-25W practice amps are quite adequate for re-amping if you can find one that gives you the range of tones you think you might need.

[BobRogers]

The recent re-amping thread brought up a few ways of doing things, but, quite honestly, what I would do to start out is get one of the Radial X-Amp (active) or Pro-RMP (passive) boxes and find out what that can do for you. They are not a lot of money for a pro bit of gear. In my experience, there is much less audible difference between the various makes of re-amp boxes compared with all the variables of how you set up the amplifier, pedals, mic(s) and room. Once you have chosen a box that does not overload the amplifier or pedal you are driving and is not itself overloaded by your output source, you can mostly forget about the re-amp box and concentrate on the amp settings, the microphone positioning and room acoustics.

Ditto. I have the Radial X-Amp and it is a completely transparent and trouble free piece of gear. I'm sure the signal path of guitar -> DI -> AD -> DAW -> DA -> X-Amp -> Guitar Amp has an effect on the overall sound, but it is far less than some "bypassed" pedal boards that I have seen, and the effect is certainly smaller than the guitar, amp, settings, room, mic, etc.

The acoustics are really important. Some while ago I was proudly shown an old chest freezer that had been converted to a re-amping cabinet. The sound was terrible; the amplifier had no breathing space and there were sonic reflections bouncing around inside the cabinet. About all I could find in its favour is that it reduced the disturbance of the neighbours.

I don't understand the chest freezer at all. If you have to use an isolation cabinet, why bother to reamp? I haven't been impressed with any isolation cabinet setups I have seen. (I admit I haven't seen any of the really elaborate/expensive ones.) I either reamp or run a long cable to an extension speaker in another room. A bad isolation cabinet is a lot of time, effort, expense, and studio space in the service of sound that isn't as good as a DSP simulation.