Dealing with hot guitar

L

luke

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I recently received a guitar with hotter pickups that is overdriving the input.

I realize I can reduce the percentage in the I/O input, but then I have to remember to return to my normal 50%. Live it would be difficult.

I cannot lower the pickups, they are direct mounted, reducing the volume on the guitar yields undesired tonal results.

What is you best practice, fast way to resolve?
 
The 'Input 1/Instrument' parameter doesn't affect the level of the guitar entering the grid (except for extreme settings). There is an automatic, inverse volume applied to the end of that function. Set it to 'tickle the reds' for your loudest guitar and leave it.

Axe-Fx III manual, page 5
 
I’ve got active Fishman humbuckers in one guitar that’s high enough that I have to drop the level to about 15%, I haven’t noticed a difference using my other guitars, including a Strat with single coils.
 
To amplify on Moke's comment, if you have one guitar that is hotter than the rest, adjust your input level for that hot one so it doesn't overload the A/D converter, and leave it at that level for all your guitars. Your other guitars won't be using the full range of the converter, but the extra noise due to that is rarely enough to worry about.

There is a separate issue of different tube distortion with different guitars due to different pickup output levels. If you want to balance those, you can adjust the input gain whenever you change guitars. Or you can leave it alone if you want to hear different different amounts of gain for your different guitars.
 
I recently bought a new guitar with an EMG 57 and it constantly pushes the red on the input meter with power chords (not single notes). I have to lower the input level all the way down to like 8% to get it to just "tickle" the red. I did some comparison recordings at the default level and at the lowered level and they sounded exactly the same so I put it back to the default setting and stopped caring. There's still 6dB of headroom once it hits red so unless it's super hot you can get away with a little more than tickling.
 
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Flashback said:
I recently bought a new guitar with an EMG 57 and it constantly pushes the red on the input meter with power chords (not single notes). I have to lower the input level all the way down to like 8% to get it to just "tickle" the red. I did some comparison recordings at the default level and at the lowered level and they sounded exactly the same so I put it back to the default setting and stopped caring. There's still 6dB of headroom once it hits red so unless it's super hot you can get away with a little more than tickling.
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Isn't the 12 dB in regards to the output block? Or perhaps the input uses the same design philosophy?
 
I use Input Trim on the amp block. I know you said you have many presets, so creating two sets might indeed be a lot of work. I have only 4 that I duplicated, for HH and SSS guitars.
 
mr_fender said:
https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/am-i-clipping-the-compressor.166643/post-2001645
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Interesting test. No wonder I get the same sound at 50% and 8%. Both clip on hard strums, but it's only noticeable on the DI. In fact I have to go all the way down to 0% to eliminate clipping entirely. Even the slightest tickling of the red seems to clip a little on hard strums. That doesn't make any sense... The levels guide says there's 6dB of headroom when hitting the red: https://forum.fractalaudio.com/thre...s-wanted-to-know-about-levels-iii-fm3.168584/

Edit: Thanks for posting this because I probably wouldn't have noticed until I started recording a bunch of DIs to reamp. It's amazing how bad the clipping can sound on the DI but ends up being completely inaudible otherwise. Of course I've mostly been chugging with the Recto since I got this guitar so that's part of it but it's amazing how the processed recordings sound exactly the same at 50% and 0% regardless of clipping.
 
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Flashback said:
Interesting test. No wonder I get the same sound at 50% and 8%. Both clip on hard strums, but it's only really noticeable on the DI. In fact I have to go all the way down to 0% to eliminate that. Even the slightest tickling of the red seems to clip a little on hard strums. That doesn't make any sense... The levels guide says there's 6dB of headroom when hitting the red: https://forum.fractalaudio.com/thre...s-wanted-to-know-about-levels-iii-fm3.168584/
Click to expand...
I know this discussion has come up before and there are pros and cons, but it sure would be nice if the red LED meant overload instead of "maybe you clipped, or maybe you didn't".
 
I believe the 6dB headroom thing is for the output meters. Judging by the DI recordings, seems like red LED = clipping on the input meter.
 
mr_fender said:
I believe the 6dB headroom thing is for the output meters. Judging by the DI recordings, seems like red LED = clipping on the input meter.
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Can you double check that? I'm pretty sure the manual is correct. I see the red LED before any clipping occurs.
 
It's hard to tell with a really dynamic input like a guitar pickup. They can have some pretty serious transients when you hit hard. A signal generator and an o-scope would be the way to tell for sure. I've been on the hunt for a cheap used one for a while to fart around with.
 
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