Hello Members..

I am newbie in this forum and in Audio recording too. I don't know if this is the right place to ask such questions. If not, please excuse and suggest the right place.

I have the following gears with me.

1. Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 2nd Gen USB audio interface.
2. Fender CD60CE Electro-Acoustic guitar.
3. Apple MAC Book pro with Logic Pro X, Main Stage and Amplitube 4 installed.

I don't have any acoustic/electric guitar amp and I connected my Creative Inspire 2.1 Speakers in to the output channel of Scarlett 2i2 using Hosa CMP159 cable which is working perfectly. I used to record my Guitar through Scarlett 2i2 with Logic pro X and some time, Amplitube.

My Question is: Is there any method to connect the output of my Audio Interface (Scarlett 2i2) in to a regular guitar amplifier so that I can use my virtual amp modelling software (Mainstage/ Amplitube) for a live performance.

Thank you.

 

If you're using amp modeling then you don't need a guitar amp you could go from your interface straight into any powered speakers.
A big PA system will have its own amplifier but you don't need a guitar amp.

Edit: you can plug the output from your interface into the mic input of you amp using a Y cable maybe that'll work but i don't think that's the best method.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Mar 28, 2017

@Ziko , Thank you for the quick reply.. That's OK, I want to know that like you said using a Y cable can I use the Amp like a monitor while performing live. Don't you think it may sound differ compared with the real output coming from audio interface's out.

 

If you connect line out to your amp mic input you'll get a distorted sound and possibly even fry the input. You need to match the impedance from Scarlett's line output to your amp's guitar input. For that you will need reamp pedal, like Palmer or Radial's ReAmp.

But really the better solution is to just use the virtual amp in Amplitude and just connect the output from Scarlett to the mixer directly and then use an output from mixer for monitoring. Or use another output from Scarlett for monitoring.

 

If you want to run the output of your sound card into your amp, you'll need a LINE LEVEL to INSTRUMENT LEVEL (Hi-Z) converter, like a reamp box. Radial makes excellent utility boxes, and they have quite a few options for this very task.

It'll go :

Line out - from interface, using a TRS or XLR cable --> into REAMP box --> Instrument cable into Hi-Z input of amp (guitar input)

* This is also a great way to reamp anything such as kontakt instruments, vsts, vocal tracks, reverb busses.....you name it. And, you're "pushing REAL air" into a microphone which sounds very satisfying, and provides some character to your overall production.

Just plop a mic in front of your speaker, move it until you find a sweet spot, and hit record!

http://www.radialeng.com/reamping-products.php

 

Okay, now the signal from your audio interface is way too loud for a guitar amplifier. A guitar amp only expects a very weak signal coming from a couple of magnets on your guitar. It's only 84mV (that's just 0.084V), while line-level ("output of your interface") is about 1.7V. That's 26dB more, which means you'll be getting horrible distortion even on clean setting in your amp. Guitar amps just don't expect signals that are so hot. Ideally use outputs of your audio interface direct into the PA or use a reamp box. Using a padded cable with -20dB built in (you can look up how to solder those or buy an adapter) is a so-so solution, but it more or less does the trick (as in: sounds like guitar, not like horrible mess. But it still isn't the "proper way")

 

As mentioned, you need to run a cable from your interface to your guitar amp's input...Not sure if your interface has extra hardware outputs, but the Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6 does, which is what I currently use...It was a happy accident I found this, as I used ampsims for years before deciding to use real amps, cabs, mics in my recordings...

You'll need a re-amp box to change the interface's output to intstrument level...I use the Radial RMP for this, & it's been rock-solid for years...

Something I learned along the way is you can use the stompbox/rack/whatever effects from your daw, & run them into your amp...Before finally buying a real wah pedal, I'd use Amplitube's wah pedals running into my guitar amp...You'd be surprised how good it sounds...Amplitube's Boss SD-1 emulation is really good too, I did a comparison with the real pedal vs. AT's emulation, & there wasn't really a noticeable difference...I'm sure their other od/dirt pedals are really close like the SD-1 too (along with many, many others), so it opens up a whole new world of possibilities when you're able to re-amp in this way...

In short, I'm able to use effects I have in the daw that I don't have on my pedalboard, & with a little tweaking, they can sound really, really good...

Good luck!!!

 

question is, do you want to sing too? if not, just simply connect the Scarlett's back into the PA channels' inputs and you have stereo guitars. of course if you need effects you have to use a daw with this setup.

 

If you want to record guitar well you should first connect your guitar to fender amp then mic it
or if no mic available connect line out put of amp to line input of scarlet

 

If the regular guitar amplifier has a series efx loop the answer is YES. Interface to efx return of amp with a 1/4" cable. Simply turn off cab sims in Amplitube. Could be a cool setup if the speaker and cab is decent.

 

Thank you everyone. So now I understand that the balanced output cannot be connected to the unbalanced input of Guitar Amp. For that purpose I need a remap box...!! Right..??

@SineWave I agree with you. That might be the simplest method I think.

@bluerover and @Dirty Hairy II Thank you for the detailed information

@Qrchack Thank you for making it simple. I really liked the way you presented it.

@korte1975 Usually I don't sing while I play my guitar.

@dragonhill The guitar amp don't have an efx loop behind.

@zizi Thank You..

 

@Shyam hear for yourself. Reamping is for when you record guitar into your interface then put it through a guitar amp, but you asked about pretty much the same, just live

Also, if you're using amp sims you probably just want to run straight to the mixer anyway, otherwise you'll be going guitar > amp (software) > amp (hardware)

 

@Qrchack, that video really helped.

So the re-amp setup will be
Guitar TRS Output --> Audio Interface's (Scarlett 2i2) Insrument Input --> Audio Interface's TRS Output --> Reamp-box XLR Input --> Reamp-Box TRS Output --> Gutar Amp Input. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Thank you once again.

 

Basically, yes. Through consider just skipping the amp altogether and plugging straight to the PA

 

Just a little supplemental.

Guitar/bass has a TS low-Z, instrument level output. That means Tip-Sleeve, unbalanced connection. It's basically any mono jack.
Your audio interface has line level TRS inputs and outputs. That's Tip-Ring-Sleeve, balanced connection. You use stereo jacks for that.

Unbalanced TS connection is prone to picking up EM interference [hum] and it's recommended to keep it as short as possible for lower hum, noise, and better sound.
Balanced TRS connection is much less prone to EM interference and the cables can be long without any loss in sound. That's why TRS stereo jacks or XLR are preferred everywhere, but especially on stage.

So if you ever wondered why professional guitarists use DI boxes [that convert TS low-z input to XLR TRS output], now you know why. Because that way you can keep the TS connection short and you connect to the mixer/PA with a balanced TRS connection that can be as long as needed.

For perfect re-amping you need both a Re-amp box and a DI box. You connect the TRS output from your audio interface to the re-amp box, then connect pedals and amp in between with short as possible TS instrumental cables, and connect the last device in the chain to a DI box which up-converts low-z output to XLR balanced connection that you connect to your audio interface's XLR pre-amp input [mic level].

Cheers!

 

Last edited: Mar 30, 2017

Sure, I do and many Thanks..

@SineWave Thank you for the Supplemental details. You people are Awesome...

 

For the price of a proper reamp box you could get a nice amp? Since you mentioned you are a newbie, I wouldn't mess with reamping yet.
I personally wouldn't use Amplitube for acoustic guitar unless you need the distortion/fx. Thanks to this forum, I recently found out about acoustic guitar IRs.

 

Not really germane to the OP, but for anyone interested, I use my MPA Pro as a sort of reamp box. It has line level outputs on the back as well as the XLR's. Plus you can add some nice tube sound even on solid state amps. Just throwing that out there for anyone reamping guitars. Look and see if you have line level outputs on your preamps. YMMV depending on the preamp.