I've been experimenting with my Quad today, trying to find a good recording setup. I had to downsize on some gear so I no longer have a cab or a power amp (used to have an orange 1x12 and a marshall 9005, which was a great combination but not great for a small flat), so it's all straight to my interface now. I've tried each channel in the the following output options:
- in the loop of my digitech gsp1101 (I use this for fx and some of the amp models, it's very handy for easy recording), main and then recording outputs then back to the gsp1101 and then the XLR out to the interface
- the main outputs to the interface (no gsp1101)
- the recording outputs (ditto)
- the FX send, line level (ditto)
I level matched it all in reaper and added the cab IR that i've uploaded to the gsp1101, so it's a reasonably fair comparison.
There were some interesting differences but the overall character of the amp is present in each of these modes. I'll discuss the routing that didn't involve the gsp1101 first, because obviously this is totally specific to my setup (though the results are worth discussing). so, the main outputs have more of a raspy top end, a slightly clearer sound in the two lead modes and R2. I set L2 as my heavy rhythm tone and it has a nice chunk with the main outs, though it's slightly lacking something compared to L1 for solos. L1 is THE mode for long sustaining solo stuff.
the recording outputs are a bit muddier but give a slightly nicer, bouncier clean tone in R1. I tried to stick to the bridge humbucker of my HSS strat but a few phrases on the neck pickup sounded nice here, quite fender-y. the recording outputs sounded ok-ish without the cab impulse file (the main outputs sounded like cack, as expected). L1 gets a bit too muddy on the lower strings around the 12th fret - this would be more noticeable and more annoying with a neck humbucker, and i have quite different settings with my yamaha sg2000 (basically a gibson LP sort of sounding guitar).
the real eye opener for my was using the FX send. there is so much more detail in the top end. R1 is very spikey and it's like a presence control has just been opened right up. I would be tempted to record from the FX send and experiment with some different IRs, because it just seemed like there is more detail there.
I had a look at a couple of the stock Reaper eq plugins to get a visual idea of what's going on with the frequencies. basically, there's a gentle slope all the way up from 20Hz to around 100 (the booming, mud that you just remove anyway), and then fairly even response up to around 5-6k, from which just vanishes. the recording outputs have the least top end, basically nothing above 6-6.5k. the mains have a little more, but it's essentially absent from 8k up. the most interesting thing was the FX send, where there's a gentle slope down from 7-8k down to 12k or so - basically supporting what I was hearing about the extra detail. it's not particularly usable in the distorted modes (you can happily low pass at 9k and it's sound great), but the extra "presence" is surely something worth experimenting with in R1.
now, the patches i've made with the gsp1101 include a bit of delay and modulation, but more importantly you can add a stomp box, which gives a nice bit of compression and mid boost (tubescreamer vibes). the other key addition you can make is to add a parametric eq and this does help tighten everything up a bit: cut the extreme lows, the mud 300 Hz region, and maybe a wide boost in the 1-3k area (or wherever suits the mode/guitar/song/etc.).
all this experimenting was enjoyable, but it did sort of make me wish for a simple combo! on the other hand i know that I can get a huge range of sounds, just by messing with a couple of cables.
