Annoying Hiss / Guitar Amp Pro

Hello everyone...
There is a REALLY annoying HISSING sound when I use Guitar Amp Pro with a guitar plugged directly into the computer (via either a MOTU 828 or a Focusrite Saffire or the Presonus Firebox or even directly into the built-in audio-in on my iMac).
So, is this expected, or what is the deal?
It mainly happens with distortion settings... Any tips, ideas, thoughts guys?
Chris M.

Ok, a few things about this "Countryman DI"...
1. I would plug my guitar into where it says "inst." on the front, with "pickup" selected as the input. Then, connect the XLR on the other side to the XLR input on my audio interface (which is the Focusrite Saffire right now)... Correct?
2. Also, should I choose "Open", "PIN 1", or "GROUND" on the backside of the device?
3. What if my audio interface (the Focusrite Saffire) has phantom power enabled, will that effect the XLR coming in from the Countryman DI? Does it need phantom power to run anyways?
I read this on one website for the Countryman DI:
"How does it eliminate buzz?
Hum and buzz are often caused by a connection between the mixer and ground at the guitar system. The Type 85 can always isolate ground, even when running on Phantom power. Most direct boxes can't do that."
Thanks for your input (anyone)...
Chris M.

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Excess noise & feedback when using guitar amp pro

Hi, As soon as I select any Guitar Amp Pro plug ins to an audio channel I get very loud hiss and hum on everything but totally clean settings. This makes all of the amp modelling and distortion effects unuseable. I am using an Alesis Io/2 interface but the noice appears even without the interface plugged in. Can anyone please help,
Thanks , Jim

Not sure if this will be helpful or not but a lot of guitar settings give out hum.
Here are some things I do:
Make sure that any dimmer switches in the house are shut off. Turn off any fluorescent lights. This really helps.
For single coil guitars, you can adjust the pickups so you use two pickups instead of one (if you like the sound)
Move around a little bit when you are playing guitar and find a "sweet spot" where the noise is smallest
Use a noise gate so you don't get the hum when you are not playing

Any guitarists using Mainstage/Guitar Amp Pro in live situations??

I'm getting ready to purchase Logic Studio(as soon as my pc sells), and I was wondering if anyone is using Mainstage as a guitar rig for live situations. Is Guitar Amp Pro "tweakable" enough to get good results out of? I'd love to have GuitarRig3, but, that won't be in the budget for a while. Any thoughts?

I've been using it with an acoustic bass. It's a little different from your situation but I can say that it's pretty fun. having all these sounds on command is a blast.
That said using a computer for some effects is one thing, using it to get a nice tube like distorted and/or warm sound is another. Unless you want to spend a few grand on a serious converter and preamp you probably won't be really matching a real analog sound in the real world flesh-space. The converter/interface and how you preamp it into the converter will make a huge difference in the sound. A lot of cheaper effect pedals are already using digital converters (bad ones) so if this is your baseline you could do much better with Mainstage easily. If you are trying to replace an 'all analog guitar straight into a tube amp' kind of sound you probably won't get it.
I've been using NI GuitarRig some, mostly because I had it before. The Mainstage guitar amps seem a little simple tweeking-wise, but that's just a brief impression on my part.
I use the laptop on an effects loop as an effects processor, and not to achieve my basic sound. The hardware you use around Mainstage can limit the quality of your final sound, so if you are on a budget don't expect to get the ultimate guitar sound by plugging straight into the laptop, or even by using one of the cheaper consumer interfaces.
I've been using an RME expresscard interface - which seems to degrade the sound a little- and I'm trying to replace that and the preamp with a Duet, mostly for size/weight considerations (you just cannot get these types of things for backline, so I gotta bring it with me).
Jump in and start working it out, have as much fun as you can. Maybe use it with your guitar amp as an effects unit. If you run it through the house and monitors at a venue you will get wildly varying results. If it's a critical mission have a way to bypass the computer or have a backup rig/sound handy... It's still a computer and they do weird things. Don't be browsing around the interwebs for pr0n or anything like that on the computer you expect to work for your live rig. Turn off as much network activity as you can. Turn off background apps. Keep the amount of audio and midi programs you install to a minimum. Keep backups. Go nuts.
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Trouble with guitar amp pro

I am completely new to Logic Pro 7 and am having trouble trying to figure out how to even bring up any sort of guitar amp pro menu (I don't know anything about guitar amp pro either, other than that it is cool)? Currently, I am connecting my guitar to my MBP with the M-Audio fastrack and playing through garageband. Would anyone mind explaining to me who to get started with guitar amp pro, whether it is compatible with fast track, etc. I have logic pro 7.0.1.

Guitar amp pro (GAP) is a plug in that you assign to an audio track
Plug your guitar into your audio interface
choose and audio track
assign the input to what ever input your guitar is connected to
make sure its outputs are assigned to whatever speakers you are monitoring with
record enable that track
at this point you should hear your guitar
now at the top of the channel strip for that track there are inserts
click and hold on one of the insert buttons to expose the menu
under "distortion" is where you will find GAP, choose it and the user interface will open.
you can choose presets from the menu at the top left to experiment with the factory sounds
Hope this will get you started
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Rage Against the Machine setting in Guitar Amp Pro missing....

There was this setting in the "Ultra Metal" folder of GAP that was great. For whatever reason, Apple has nixed this setting without a worthy replacement.
Does anyone know where I can find it online? Alternatively, does anyone know the way to get guitar amp pro to have that thick *** sound again?

Ubuntu can cope with (UEFI) installations. It's a tiny bit more tricky in that the EFI partition needs to be mounted as /dev/sdX1 first but the Ubuntu installer should do that.
Other Linux distros can cope too though I think they are still limited.

How to Access Guitar Amp Pro

Hi,
I'm trying to figure out how to access guitar amp pro, when i have selected a guitar track, the plugin is exs24, not guitar amp pro. or is guitar amp pro a separate plugin only for when you have a guitar connected to logic?

UM......either I'm really not getting this one or you guys aren't.
Guitar Amp Pro is an EFFECT, and EXS24 is an INSTRUMENT. Instruments go in the INPUT slot of an instrument track, at the bottom where it says 'I/O', and EFFECTS go in the EFFECT INSERTS on a channel strip, the top slots where it says 'Inserts'. You don't need to do any of this bussing, or create an audio track, because GAP works on instrument tracks as well. Simply go to your guitar track that has EXS24 on it, go to the effect slots, and put in Guitar Amp Pro. Now you have an effect on the instrument track.
This question seems awfully similar to the other really basic question you asked the other day.
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=7487041#7487041
You REALLY NEED TO READ THE MANUAL. I don't mean to be harsh, but this is like wanting to drive a car and asking where the steering wheel is. You are going to have to do some of the work here to learn the basics of how Logic operates.
<Edited by Moderator>

Low B sound in Guitar Amp Pro?

On apples website they give a guitar amp PRO sound in there examples, its called LOW B,
How do I emulate that? I tried using the metal stuff but not as thick, thats how I like it,
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thats weak dude! I dont like there metal grunge sets

Guitar amp pro question

When mixing in a guitar part is it best to adjust the volume of the track with the fader or use the output from the amp in GAP and leave the fader as close to odb as possible? I usually have to bring the level down quite a bit with the fader. Also, what tricks do you use to make the guitar sound more three dimensional - reverb?
1.8ghz powerpc g5 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

You use both, and it all depends on your GAP settings. For high distortion settings, you will want to set your GAP output down a few db in order to be able to manage it in the mix. The GAP output itself is not a substitute for the track fader. If anything, you want to be able to have a little more control over mixing dynamics and if GAP is super hot that you leave yourself only a centimetre of play in your track fader, you're going to have some mixing challenges. Same thing goes if you set your GAP output too low and have to push your fader up almost all the way. Balance it out.
As for a little space, use a Modulation Delay in stereo with the phase set to 180. As well, a little delay on one side will widen it out. Shorter delay times will thicken it out, while longer delay (up to 60ms) will be a little more discernable (sort of that Boston-ish type of tone).
jord

I can't find Guitar Amp Pro?

I just downloaded LPX and I cannot find GAP anywhere. This is bogus. Oh and sidenot, space designer is not allowing me to use the filter, so that is a bummer too. Any help would be appreciated.

When clicking on the insert slot hold option (maybe command) and you will see a Legacy category at the bottom. GAP should be in there. Space Designer EQ & Filter Env. are broken.

Using guitar amp sims live onstage... requesting your feedback

I know this is mainly a recording forum, but I expect a few of you out there are using amp sims live. So I've about a dozen gigs now and it's been OK for the most part. I also use Logic to run backing tracks, and I've been using different amp sim plug-ins on live guitar tracks to test them out and see what works best. For the most part I'm using Guitar Amp Pro, but I'm also trying Amplitube 2 and Guitar Rig 3. In general, I've had comments from FOH audio techs saying that my tones are pretty good, but there's always seems to be a bit of harshness and thinness in the tone that is not apparent in my headphones at home, and if anything I tend to reduce the treble and presence in all my patches, below that of the factory presets anyway.
I mainly play through the monitor systems at gigs, and am looking at different in-ear options, but last weekend I played a venue with limited on-stage monitor capabilities, so I made provisions on my own. I split off the stereo signal coming out of my Firebox interface and went into a little Mackie 1202 mixer, then into a Crest stereo power amp, then into my Vox 4x12 stereo guitar cabinet. You can't run a processed guitar signal back into a regular guitar amp head as this combination sounds like ka-ka, understandably, because the amp sims have already processed what the amp would then process a 2nd time. Anyway, I ran the EQ's on the mixer totally flat, so in effect I was sending the uncolored original sound to the cabinet.
Surprisingly, in this new configuration my tone was actually very good and "amp-like" sounding. My theory is that the 4x12 cabinet, not having a horn or high frequency driver, naturally removed any high end harshness with it's limited frequency response (it's probably about 8Khz bandwidth I'm guessing). I might have expected my tone to be muffled, so either I'm running too much high end in my patches or what, but it's no wonder that a monitor or FOH loudspeaker system with separate high frequency drivers would sound the way they do. My next thoughts are to maybe test running a low pass filter on the output strips in Logic to roll-off frequencies above 8kHz or so, to limit what gets fed out to the monitors and FOH.
Another theory about the thin sound is due to the fact that in an amp sim environment on-stage, there really isn't any air moving speakers like in a true mic'd up guitar cabinet on-stage. In terms of amp sim preferences, I find that Guitar Amp Pro is not as detailed or warm as the others, but it can be tweaked for acceptable higher gain tones and some really nice clean tones. I think in general, Amplitube 2 has the fullest fattest tone in some of their amp models, and while Guitar Rig 3 has some really nice models which sound fine in headphones or studio monitors, they seem to sound the thinnest live of the three sims I've tested.
I know guitar tone is a very personal thing and what sounds good to one person may sound like crud to another, but what generalities and experiences have some of you had? I think we're just on the tip of a revolution in live guitar, what with the new Stomp IO and Rig Kontrol products coming out, just to name a few... Also, how are some of you finding the latency issues that are still hindering this technology to some degree? Many thanks in advance!

hey thanks for the responses guys! I usually get notified via email when a reply is posted but that didn't happen for this post (?). Anyway, great advice, but in the meantime I've actually managed to make a dramatic improvement in my onstage tone and it was very simple, and logical too. The first rather embarrassing point is that I tried setting up my tones with different sets of headphones and whoa what a difference. One would expect that different headphones will all sound different (as it is with loudspeakers) but the Yamaha headphones I was previously using removed pretty much every bit of high-end harshness that I was hearing on stage through the monitors, so what I thought was a good sound in reality was NOT. With my new BeyerDynamic earbuds (which I will be using as in-ears onstage soon) I heard pretty much exactly the same harshness that the Yamaha's were masking.
The fix to this was actually pretty simple: in the cabinet simulators of the plug-ins, I simply moved the mic to "off-center" instead of "on centre" where I had the majority of my patches saved as. Other than maybe a little less presence and treble, the tone was instantly 100% better. The funny thing is, from all the live shows I've done I always position the mic off-centre because it sounds better, doh!
I've played 4 shows since and 3 of them were festival style with great quality monitor rigs and my guitar absolutely rocked when on high gain tones, instead of giving my bandmates and the first few rows in the audience a very close shave The tone was very punchy, fat and "amp-like" and I was even getting some controllable feedback from the wedges. The guys in the band and even some FOH engineers commented that I had great tone so I felt alot better about the whole thing. The other show was a club with cheap monitors and while the sound was nowhere as good, it still was not harsh like before.
I admit that my overall tone is maybe still not quite as dynamic as it could be and there's a minimal (but almost unnoticeable) amount of latency, but overall it sounds like a guitar should, and I've heard many players with good quality amp rigs that sound much worse. I'm going to continue with my "ampless" crusade (no hard feelings jnashguitar haha!) and as technology improves I'm confident I'll continue to zero in on that elusive holy grail of guitar tone that every guitarist can attest to. That's the thing with guitarists, we think we have achieved the perfect tone, but after a few months we start looking again, but that's what makes it fun, buying new toys, trying new things. Good tone is everywhere!

Guitar Amp & Pedalboard roundup from a guitarist....

After receiving my copy of L9 early, I delved straight in to the Guitar Amps which was one of the main attractions to the upgrade. I thought I'd round up my thoughts for anyone who might be interested...
Firstly, in terms of ease of use, visibility and CPU it obviously integrates much better than the likes of Guitar Rig (not that there's anything wrong with GR in this respect but...): there's just a more 'hands on' feel here, and the integration is as we'd expect from a Logic plugin. Saving and creating amps is easy and will render this a good option for playing live without the occasional risk involved with 3rd party stuff.
I would probably have to say that to my ears and playing style, on the whole, the sound quality, tones and modeling was at least equal to, if not better than GR (I've not used Amplitude). I'm tempted to say better than, but I probably need more time with it. Also there are some other issues which I'll come to in a minute. On the whole though the sounds were very convincing and the range and diversity of amps is spot on. They each have the characteristics you'd expect, and are distinct enough from each other to give you a lot of choice.
I would say that the distorted amps are excellent and respond very naturally with no harsh digital characteristics (which can easily be the case with amp sims). Rock guitarists will rejoice, particularly when combining with the various new pedals on offer. However, I tend to judge an amp by its clean sounds as I think this is where the real test lies, and here the story is a little different...
I personally use clean sounds 80% of the time, and I long for that transparent ringing clean sound of the likes of Gilmour and those Fender sounds (I'm using a Strat too which is particularly suited to it). But once again I'm not yet convinced. The problem seems to be a combination of sustain (or lack of) and tube/gain power (virtual anyway).
In order to achieve those strong clean sounds from a Fender amp or a Vox you have to boost the gain on the clean channels pretty high before they break (which you can because many have dedicated clean channels). This allows the tube to get nice and warm and deliver the power needed to provide those rich sustains, whilst maintaining a clean sound.
But in Logics new amps, there are no channel selections between clean and distorted, meaning that the gain control, is your gain control for both clean and distorted. Subsequently they tend to break up at around 4-5 and become crunchy, before being quite distorted at around 6-7 and full on thereafter. I felt this didn't give a massive range to play with on the clean side and meant that they felt weak. On a decent Fender amp, you'd expect clean sustain to ring for quite a while, whereas here they would ring off quite quickly and sound a little thin.
I should probably emphasize that this is perhaps purely personal taste, as they had a good tone, but I wasn't quite able to coax the richness out of it that I know I can from certain amps (that are modeled here).
On that note, it's a slightly curious thing that they went to a lot of trouble to make the amps look authentic, but the setup and dials on each amp are not as you'd find them on the real models. In fact it appears every single amp model has exactly the same controls, including mod/reverb effects which do not exist on many amps. Quite why they did this when these effects can easily be applied elsewhere is odd, but by no means a real problem. It just means that they don't necessarily behave as you'd expect the real amps to. Dual channel options on some amps would have been a very good idea, and I don't imagine it's something they'll add at a later date.
Though I didn't spend that much time with it, Pedalboard looks pretty good indeed and it's great to see some simple yet useful effects in Logic. The quality was always good and authentic and it simplifies things from a guitarists point of view no end, particularly when you take into consideration the likes of Apogees new Gio unit. The routing options are also flexible and I didn't have any problems, and lets not forget that you don't just have to use this stuff with guitar. Not to mention the prospect (hope) that Apple can continue adding new effects with upgrades (assuming there are any!).
Lastly I was excited to see the Looper function in Mainstage but disappointed that this doesn't seem to have been integrated into Logic itself. Also it seems a little primitive at present compared to the like of Sooper Looper. Still it's something that could evolve maybe.
Anyway, I'm very happy to see this feature in Logic and it makes a lot of things easier for me and gives me live integration with Logic that I probably wouldn't have risked before. It's a tool which we should be grateful for and I didn't see coming. I look forward to playing a lot more and honing down some amps and sounds that suit me, and when you bare in mind the routing options to other things afterwards, I look forward to some interesting results!
Marks out of 10? I'd say 8 right now, but I might well change my mind after more experimentation. It could go either way, as my quest for that perfect clean sound continues...!
Message was edited by: siderealxxx

Nice review. I can't comment on the clean sounds so much because for me the true test of authentic modeled tone is in the warm tube sound. I own GTR3, Guitar Rig, and several of the Amplitube products and of those GTR3 is the standout in terms of extremely realistic warm tube tone. Amplitube is very close. Guitar Rig has never had a very satisfying warm tube sound to me.
In terms of how much the tones resemble actual warm tubes, I would put Amp Modeler well above Guitar Rig and just a tiny bit shy of Amplitube and GTR3. Just a tiny bit though--all three would be good choices for recording a realistic warm tone. Couldn't say the same for Guitar Amp Pro.
I agree on the oddity that the various amp models don't necessarily have the same controls as the originals. Whether that's good or bad depends on what you're going for. If I want a totally realistic Fender Twin sound from a plugin, I'm sure Amplitube will still be my first choice. If I want to wrap myself inside a warm glass tube and just live there, I'll go with GTR3. If I want to create my own tone from scratch, I would definitely start with Amp Modeler.
The effects are really fantastic, a lot more than what I was expecting. The modeling sounds spot on, even in the little details (like the way the Candy Fuzz transistor-based fuzz breaks up in the same way as my Devi Ever pedals and the 'moving tape head' sounds when adjusting the tape delay). I like how I can browse them all in one window or just look at the delays, distortions, etc. and assign which controls I want to manipulate when playing, although having immediate access to all controls for some of the more complex effects boxes would be nice.
As for ease of use here is where Amp Modeler and Pedalboard really shine. The whole approach to selecting, swapping, tweaking and routing pedals seems to me the most intuitive of any of the guitar sims I have worked with.
So I'd have to say although it won't replace Amplitube or GTR3 it is a worthy part of my amp sim arsenal. I think I'll end up creating some channel strips with GTR3 amps and the Pedalboard as my go-to setup for recording, and for everyday jamming plan to get the GiO and use MainStage, Amp Modeler and Pedalboard for that.

In logic pro, where do you find the knobs for the guitar amps like the treble, gain, mids, drive, level? In garageband there're knobs for the amp

In logic pro, where do you find the knobs for the guitar amps like the treble, gain, mids, drive, level? In garageband there're knobs for the amp & effects & pedals but in logic pro 9 all are just presets?
Thanks for any help.

From one old hippie to another..
LOGIC IS NOT GARAGEBAND
Stop comparing the two it's annoying!
There, I feel better!

How can I record my guitar amp with garageband?

Hello, new member and new to recording with garageband!
I would like to capture the live sound of my guitar amp using garageband. I know there are many modelling and FX options using GB, but I really want to hear how my amp sounds.
I'm using the following:
-macbook pro and garageband
-Presonus Inspire 1394 interface
Traynor YCV 50 all-tube guitar amp
-Shure SM57 mic
-Yamaha SG700 electric guitar
So far, the results have been dismal. My main instinct was to keep all levels in the green and go for it. I used the most basic setting in GB with no effects added. All attempts sound like I'm playing into a garbage can.
Any quick tips would be appreciated, please and thanks!

Your setup should be getting excellent results.
Are you using a real instrument track?
Are you sure garageband is getting the input from the Shure and not the built in mic?
Is the mic close to the speaker / pointed at the speaker / have you tried pointing it at different parts of the speaker?

Guitar amp with 'classical guitar' sound

Hi,
I'm using the Fender Squier Strat usb to record with Logic Pro X. Guitar amps don't include an amp that would simulate 'classical guitar'. Is there? Anybody's advice would be helpful. I know there is a patch to play classical guitar via a keyboard. But I'm a classical guitar player who would like to use his USB Strat to record classical guitar stuff. Thanks in advance.

I think, tongue-in-cheek Pancentre is making a valid point that you're not going to get that 'classical' sound too easy you need a warm acoustic sound going in. However, let me explain:
Logic (In fact 99% of music software) can be expanded via plugins. On the Mac/OSX these are called Audio Units. 2 Of the big players for guitarists is Native Instruments (NI) Guitar Rig, and IK's Amplitude.
Guitar Rig is an all-in-one solution which can be used with a guitar pedal controller which controls the software. It's got tons of options, standard presets and loads more scattered around the internet. Anything from experimental, through to Jazz and Death metal you can get from that, it's very flexible.
Acoustic emulation/simulation is basically a series of effects and EQ's in Guitar Rig/Amplitube/Logic which will provide you with an acoustic/warm sound. Basically, it's job is to raise the low frequencies and remove the mids (At least that's how i have to process mine) and place a bit of delay/reverb on the high frequencies to create space. But you never will recreate that wonderful sound of a classic guitar 'pushing air' by plugging an electric in and running it through an acoustic simulator.
The characteristics, fret noises etc. Just won't be there.
If you're just wanting to have some fun, jam and make a few tracks for your own enjoyment they're still pretty good for that. But you will have to adjust some effects settings, purely as guitars, pickups, strings etc. can all cause the sound to differ. So don't think you can just get away with selecting a preset each time.
Personally, i think it's part of the enjoyment coming up with a sound which helps you play, and sounds 'right'. These plugins, and guitar simulators are so straight forward too, they've invested a lot of development into making them act like the real thing.

I have garagaband for iOs in my iPhone 4S, I connect my squire iOs guitarr to the iPhone, I select a Guitar Amp at the GB app then I Only can tune the guitar but I m not able to make the guitar ring with the amps. May some one help me?

I have garagaband for iOs in my iPhone 4S, I connect my Squire iOs guitarr to the iPhone, I select a Guitar Amp at the GB app then I Only can tune the guitar but I m not able to make the guitar ring with the amps. May some one help me?

You got the new iphone????? I have same problem. I transferred audiobooks to device to find no audiobooks on device (despite it being in iTunes as if it was). Have you found a solution????? I even tried to change import settings on format transfer but hasn't worked.

Annoying Hiss / Guitar Amp Pro

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