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Tuesday, May 26, 2009
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4 Cable Method
With the 4CM method, you are connecting things as you would with a normal effects chain. Normal chain would be something like:
Guitar > Wah/volume/distortion stomp boxes, etc > preamp > choruses, delays, reverb, etc > power amp > speaker/cabinets
If you use a 2 cable method like this:
Guitar > Boss or Line6 device > Amp input
Then any delay (for example) is then going to get distorted by the preamp in your amp. Maybe that's the sound you want, but generally you want delayed distortion, not distorted delay.
So, the 4CM method is:
Cable 1: Guitar output > Boss or Line6 device Input
Cable 2: Boss or Line6 device effect loop send > amp input
Cable 3: Amp effect loop send > Boss or Line6 device effect loop return
Cable 4: Boss or Line6 device output > amp effect loop return
This gives you a proper signal path:
Guitar > Boss or Line6 device > amp preamp > Boss or Line6 device > amp power amp
The send receive in your Boss or Line6 device effects path should be AFTER your comp/distortion/amp sims and BEFORE your chorous/delay/reverb effects.
Note that you can still put external pedals in the right places - i.e. real wah pedal before the Boss or Line6 device input or a distortion stomp box before the amp input and other effects processors in the loop before/after the Boss or Line6 device.
Guitar > Wah/volume/distortion stomp boxes, etc > preamp > choruses, delays, reverb, etc > power amp > speaker/cabinets
If you use a 2 cable method like this:
Guitar > Boss or Line6 device > Amp input
Then any delay (for example) is then going to get distorted by the preamp in your amp. Maybe that's the sound you want, but generally you want delayed distortion, not distorted delay.
So, the 4CM method is:
Cable 1: Guitar output > Boss or Line6 device Input
Cable 2: Boss or Line6 device effect loop send > amp input
Cable 3: Amp effect loop send > Boss or Line6 device effect loop return
Cable 4: Boss or Line6 device output > amp effect loop return
This gives you a proper signal path:
Guitar > Boss or Line6 device > amp preamp > Boss or Line6 device > amp power amp
The send receive in your Boss or Line6 device effects path should be AFTER your comp/distortion/amp sims and BEFORE your chorous/delay/reverb effects.
Note that you can still put external pedals in the right places - i.e. real wah pedal before the Boss or Line6 device input or a distortion stomp box before the amp input and other effects processors in the loop before/after the Boss or Line6 device.
Hi Sebastian, I usually just go straight into the amp input. You should be able to get a good sound if you use the 4cable method. I have a description of that to the right>>>>
ReplyDeleteCheers
how do i get a great sounding wah wah
ReplyDeleteOn the X3-Live I like the Wah called "Throaty".
ReplyDeleteHello again Glenn!
ReplyDeleteHope you had a good thanksgiving!
Wanted to ask you couple of questions if u dont mind...:)
-I made notes of your EQ trick for both clean and dirty sounds. What would be the EQ tweaks for something in between like crunchy guitars (not too clean not too heavy. The dirty EQ trick doesn't quite work, I tried messing around based on it but didnt get good results.
-Also wondering, if you know how to make delay patterns that are not the same note values one after the other (example, bunch of eight notes)....but rather, say eight notes with sixteenth notes in between, or any other combo like that
Thank mate!
Sebastian
Hi Sebastian, yes for the EQ on the dirty tones, try not turning down the very high end EQ level down so much. For the delay just use the digital delay instead of the stereo delay and set the delay time to the 1/8th note pattern.
ReplyDeleteIt's the gain.
ReplyDeleteDone
ReplyDelete