Level / Gain Problems w/ External Guitar Input
Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2014 6:55 pm
Hi all,
First off, I'm new to keyboard workstations and recording in general. So please excuse my amateurity.
I'm having level problems with my Kross and PRS SE Custom 24 (passive pickups). The guitar is being amped through a Roland Cube 30. The Cube 30 has a headphone/recording-out output (the pre-amped signal... "line level" I believe is the term?) that I'm inputting to the mic-in of the Kross, as instructed by the Kross manual. I cannot seem to turn down the gain/levels on the Kross or the PRS/amp enough to totally prevent clipping!
I've adjusted the master volume of my amp to the recommended recording-out levels (basically the lowest). I have turned down the audio-in gain on the Kross as much as possible. The EQs on the amp can be turned down to lower the clipping, but this seems dumb - I don't think being forced to adjust my amp's EQs to prevent clipping is the right answer. I can adjust the volume knob on the guitar itself (this really seems to make a difference), but this totally changes the guitar's dynamics.
Basically, I can turn everything down as much as possible and get little to no clipping, but I feel at the expense of audio integrity. I've miked my amp with an SM57, and the level/gain settings are SO MUCH easier to set!!! Is the recording-out of my amp just too much signal for the Kross mic-in? Or maybe my guitar's pickups are just too hot? (this doesn't make sense, and they're not "hot" pickups anyway.) It would be nice to occasionally record directly from the amp instead of miking. Any help with this would be much appreciated!
First off, I'm new to keyboard workstations and recording in general. So please excuse my amateurity.
I'm having level problems with my Kross and PRS SE Custom 24 (passive pickups). The guitar is being amped through a Roland Cube 30. The Cube 30 has a headphone/recording-out output (the pre-amped signal... "line level" I believe is the term?) that I'm inputting to the mic-in of the Kross, as instructed by the Kross manual. I cannot seem to turn down the gain/levels on the Kross or the PRS/amp enough to totally prevent clipping!
I've adjusted the master volume of my amp to the recommended recording-out levels (basically the lowest). I have turned down the audio-in gain on the Kross as much as possible. The EQs on the amp can be turned down to lower the clipping, but this seems dumb - I don't think being forced to adjust my amp's EQs to prevent clipping is the right answer. I can adjust the volume knob on the guitar itself (this really seems to make a difference), but this totally changes the guitar's dynamics.
Basically, I can turn everything down as much as possible and get little to no clipping, but I feel at the expense of audio integrity. I've miked my amp with an SM57, and the level/gain settings are SO MUCH easier to set!!! Is the recording-out of my amp just too much signal for the Kross mic-in? Or maybe my guitar's pickups are just too hot? (this doesn't make sense, and they're not "hot" pickups anyway.) It would be nice to occasionally record directly from the amp instead of miking. Any help with this would be much appreciated!