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can you record with just a guitar head or would Micing it up to a cab be ideal cause i have a carvin head and the clean sounds amazing. but i sold my cab, if so what out put should i run the head into to mixer to get a nice clean sound this is probably a stupid question i know

Comments

inLoco Mon, 11/15/2004 - 20:01

if you get sound of from the head you can mic it! if the head has a line out you can connect it to a mixer or soundcard and record! just don't expect excelent results... just ok...
in my band's reharsal's we have the outputs of our amps connected to the mixer so that we can record the reharsal! the sound is good but nothing special...

Jeemy Tue, 11/16/2004 - 10:12

very bad advice. if your amp is a valve amp and you do not provide an adequate load for the outputs, you will risk potentially serious damage to the transformers.

never switch a valve amp on without double-checking the speaker is attached.

not only that, but you will lose the speaker filtration that results in good guitar tone although as you rightly say, this will not matter as much on a clean sound - it will still matter though!

i personally would not connect a transformer amp without a load either. ymmv, but so many guitar amps now have valve simulation circuitry, a valve hidden in the preamp stage, or very sensitive gain circuitry, that i would not risk it. perhaps somebody else can comment on whether i am being over-sensitive here.

something like a powerbrake or my personal favourite the THD hotplate can provide a dummy load, and then a direct out. although they have some filtration circuitry, this will not improve the sound much, but if you intend to reamp it later (it sounds like you don't) you can use it, but you'd still need to beg, borrow or steal a cab.

inloco can manage because he's got cabinets connected at the same time or is using combos. i hope to god you get this message before you switch on because most carvin amps with a killer sound are valve amps. a new transformer will cost you as much as a new cabinet.

why not buy a totally f**cked 1 x 12 cab from a junk store or s/h guitar store, and buy a celestion vintage 30 speaker off ebay. that'll give you a beautiful-sounding setup and you can then use the direct out of the carvin while you are recording, with the speaker plugged in of course.