The Steel Guitar Forum

Howdy, I have a small home recording studio using a Universal Audio Apollo Twin interface with Logic Pro as my DAW.

Any thoughts or comments on this chain? I have my Stage One plugged directly into the Apollo Twin from my volume pedal amp output.
Then in Logic Pro I add any plug-ins, reverb and or delay if needed. The goal is to get a clean as possible sound without distorting.

Lastly, if I added an amp to this chain, do you prefer recording direct from the amp or use a mic to record from your amp?

Thank you,

Dave

I had a busy home recording studio for 15 years.

I recorded steel many different ways but probably mostly either direct or through a preamp model in a POD X3.
I liked to record the steel dry and add anything in the DAW and usually only a little reverb.

I tried micing with different mic's and except for the Quilter Travis Toy 12 combo amp I liked direct or if an amp had an XLR/Recording output I used that.

There are others that "must mic amp" and others that like to add any effects while recording. Only problem using effects while recording and some effect isn't right the only alternative is to redo the steel track.

When I mixdown a song, I finalize it by "mastering" with Izotope Ozone. Ozone is the final touch and makes a good mix great.

My 2 cents.

I'm getting a decent sound with this chain:

guitar > blackbox > volume pedal > apollo guitar input

then I use the Neve 1073 plugin in the unison slot for some EQ and buss to the Ocean Way Room or other reverb in Luna.

I use a Kemper Profiler so the set up is different. My volume pedal is connected directly to the Kemper so it isn't part of the signal chain. I go Steel directly into the kemper where all effects, amp models, etc are added. Then I go to the Apollo Twin X via S/pdif into Luna. Works really well.

here is my chain: guitar > volume pedal > apollo guitar input. Why do you use the blackbox? What does it add to your sound?

Chris Tarrow wrote:I'm getting a decent sound with this chain:

guitar > blackbox > volume pedal > apollo guitar input

then I use the Neve 1073 plugin in the unison slot for some EQ and buss to the Ocean Way Room or other reverb in Luna.

I don’t go anywhere without it. Makes the steel sound warm and fat at any volume and for me at least makes solid state amps tolerable. Great for direct recording of any instrument.

Dave Falk wrote:here is my chain: guitar > volume pedal > apollo guitar input. Why do you use the blackbox? What does it add to your sound?

Chris Tarrow wrote:I'm getting a decent sound with this chain:

guitar > blackbox > volume pedal > apollo guitar input

then I use the Neve 1073 plugin in the unison slot for some EQ and buss to the Ocean Way Room or other reverb in Luna.

My most common direct recording chain after the steel /volume pedal and maybe pedalboard is

Sarno V8> neve 1073LB > 1073LBEQ (maybe engaged)>pendulum audio OCL 500(maybe engaged)> interface.

The key is that V8 into the neve pre. Sounds fantastic. I have used a milkman The Amp instead of the V8 also. It sounds great to.

With my set up I don’t go for pristine clarity. It sounds better when the V8 is pushed just a little. Getting the hair on the tone works best on the way in.

When I don't feel like lugging a Vibroverb and MD409 to the studio I use a Roland Street Cube for preamp, tone, and effects, taking its stereo headphone out directly to a pair of system inputs. Clean and sweet and doesn't break the bank.

I like the Strymon Iridium...sounds more like an amp than anything I've ever used...easy to dial up a good sound.

SH

Steve wrote:I like the Strymon Iridium...sounds more like an amp than anything I've ever used...easy to dial up a good sound.

How does it compare to your Kemper? I like the Kemper myself (especially with the IRs you shared), but sometimes it's just 'too much' stuff to tweak.