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by Jim Button February 18, 2020 3 min read
So you've set up your favourite pedals, you've tuned your guitar and now you're ready to lay down some music for future generations.
But where to begin? Well, there are two methods of recording with guitar pedals:
"Printing" a track refers to the act of committing your recording to tape (or more likely, a track within your DAW). This includes any time or modulation effects such as delay or tremolo.
If you're confident about how your guitar tone sounds and how the track will sit in the overall mix, then there's nothing wrong with doing it this way. People have been achieving great results like this for decades!
Re-amping is a more time-consuming, technical but ultimately more flexible way of recording with guitar pedals, allowing you to tweak amp and pedal settings after the initial track has been recorded.
Say you want to alter the delay time, or turn the gain down a notch - you can do that!
Firstly you'll need a re-amp box. Radial are one of the most popular brands out there, but Palmer also make one that I recommend - the Daccapo is a passive re-amplification box which comes in at a more affordable price than the Radial stuff.
The idea is that you record a clean guitar track (either with an amp set very clean or with a DI straight into your mixer/audio interface). This signal can then be used to retrospectively feed through your rig. The beauty of this is that it gives you the ability to tweak settings on the fly, or even try out completely different pedalboards or amps using the same signal!
Your audio interface pumps out low-impedance, balanced line-level signals that are pretty hot (+4dBu), but your pedals and/or amp will be expecting a high-impedance, unbalanced, instrument-level signal from a guitar pickup, which is a lot weaker (‑18dBu).
A re-amp box acts as the medium between these differing signal types, allowing you to turn that hot signal back into a pedal-and-amp-friendly signal. It also isolates the grounds with a transformer, which helps to remove any ground‑loop hum issues that may arise. Some provide additional gain knobs to allow you to dial in levels.
You can get away without one, but chances are your pedals and amp will not be anywhere near their best and you may pick up a lot of hum.
To record using re-amping, your signal path will look something like this:
Guitar -> Audio interface channel input 1 DI -> Audio interface line out -> Re-amp box -> Pedalboard -> Amp -> Mic -> Audio interface channel input 2 -> DAW
Other more complex variations are possible too.
One technique I am fond of is printing one track with your dirt pedals in front of your amp, while re-amping the signal on a separate track through your time and modulation chain and back into your DAW in real time.
This allows you to commit to a core tone you like, but tweak the delay, reverb, chorus etc at a later date so it sits better in the mix. You could even use this re-amped track for monitoring purposes.
This signal path will look something like this:
TRACK 1:
Guitar -> Dirt pedals -> Amp -> Mic ->Audio interface channel input 1 -> DAW
TRACK 2:
Audio interface line out -> Re-amp box -> Time / Modulation effects -> Audio interface channel input 2 -> DAW
Re-amping not only makes recording with guitar pedals a lot more flexible, adjusting settings on the fly, but it allows you to introduce amp and effect plugins within your DAW too, combining the best of in-the-box software and real hardware. A cool way to get started is to experiment with adjusting delay settings in real time for a trippy intro or breakdown.
Try experimenting to see what you sounds you can achieve!
by Jim Button April 18, 2023 12 min read
by Guest Author August 26, 2022 3 min read
by Jim Button June 24, 2022 5 min read
This Pedal is easy to use and has many sweet spots! Perfectly tuned combination of two legendary circuits! Highly recommended!
super fun trem, decent sound, huge volume. havent spent a lot of time messing about with it, but did have a play with the slide and drift feature which are a nice bonus. cant wait to have more time to play around with it.
Boost Guitar Pedals are great as always, fast delivery
been playing it a few days now, and have it set up so it works with with whatever i thow at it. its in my chain after OD but Before Distortion. feedback dial is great and can have it very far clockwise before it sends you in an infinity loop, mix is a bonus, i haven't messed about with the shapes much yet because i found a dreamy setting i dont want to change. would highly recommend isolated power suppy, it did not like daisy chain or cheap single wall one, but works smooth with isloated brick
Boost Guitar is great again to got it within 24 hours of shipping
Perfect for that traynor amp growl on bass. There’s a lot of scope with gain and EQ controls (which sound ace wherever you dial them in). Had the Tronographic Rusty Box before this which I regrettably had to sell; this is a perfect (and smaller, less power hungry) substitute.
I spent months searching for an affordable vibe pedal that actually sounded authentic.
Not only does this have the very sound that I was after, without a ton of tweaking, but it is priced reasonably too. It is not at the cheap end of the market, but for a hand-built pedal with dual speeds this is unbeatable.
The sound is spot on. Warm and rich with the throb missing from many of the lower-priced pedals. The second speed makes it easy to switch between chord and solo settings.
The delivery was amazing too - ordered in Friday afternoon and delivered on Sunday morning!
I can’t recommend this highly enough to anyone looking for the best univibe around.
add another 5 stars, im no pro but i know what sounds i like and the Bloom is the sound i like. ive had Boss BD2, donner dumble drive, Tumnus and Tumnus deluxe but to me The Bloom tops them all. its a well built easy to dial in. having full gain is so clear and not nosiy. only tried with my strat single coils atm. the distortion isint the best but im comparing it to the Drunk Beaver Batv2 and have a feeling that its a layer distortion for another distortion pedal. fuzz is lush. the chip and fat switch really bring it to live and gives you more options for sound. i cant believe this is made by 1 guy. To me Drunk Beaver are up there with the best pedal makers. could send hours going on about the great things. and im only useing a boss katana mk2 no tube amp but you can get some faux tube headroom with the right switch. if you like the demos, well i got good news, it sound way better in person
Boost Guitat Pedals are great too, fast delivery, great communication. couldnt ask for a better store
Bone white Davies 1611
The Bleak District Tapescape is one of the best delay and ambience style pedals ever invented. The controls are all intuitive but highly flexible, the sounds are rich and detailed, the modulation can go from dreamy to nightmarish very quickly, and all of that inside a small footprint with a low power requirement. It's difficult to get a bad sound out of it, honestly.
Add in that Boost shipped it out quickly and it arrived with a nice note written on the invoice, is there anything else you could ask for? Definitely will be buying more from both Boost and Bleak District in future.
Part came as described. Website was easy use.
very cool pedal
Awesome service and communication all along!
Will gladly order again
I ordered a set of strings from Boost, that did not initially turn up. After contacting Boost via the website they immediately sent out another set (no questions asked). Both sets arrived a few days later (Thanks Royal Mail!). Boost were prompt in dealing with the issue (gave) me a set of strings and got things sorted out. Highly recommend you use these guys.
My favourite strings, at a great price! Very reasonable postage rates and speedy service. My first purchase from Boost, but will definitely not be my last. Hassle free, excellent...
Jazzmaster happy🙏
I didn’t know that particular manufacturer from Italy, but I definitely recommend their "Vintage Vibe”. It’s simple, intuitive, it looks awesome, the build quality seems impeccable, and most importantly, it sounds fantastic.
Pre-ordered the Tapescape through Boost Pedals. Great pedal, great order experience
I'll be away from my pedalboard from 6th - 18th April...but you can still browse!
I'll ship all outstanding orders on Friday 19th April.
All the best,
Jim