Blackstar HT-5 Metal Combo + DI box (for use with IR)

[imrulbinmonaf]

Hi,

I am planning on getting a Blackstar HT-5 Metal combo (tried one out yesterday at the local Blackstar dealership in Bangladesh) and I really loved the sound.

The only thing I am unsure about is whether I can do the following signal chain:

_____________________________________________________________/hiZ thru out to cab of combo
guitar>amp input>16 ohm speaker out to livewire passive DI box hiZ input (signal splits here)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\lowZ XLR out to USB audio interface

The reason I want to do this is because I want to use impulse responses (IR). A lot of people go into their usb interface from the fx out, but this only gives you the preamp tube processing. The way I have described would allow you to get the poweramp tube processing as well. Will this cause my amp to blow up (or something similar to that effect )

Regarding the emulated out, as far as I understand, it comes with a specific cab voicing as mentioned:

Speaker-emulated output with 1 x 12" or 4 x 12" voicing

(IR will not be really usable as it will cause a 'double cab' effect). Not really sure about this bit though

[thephantum]

First of all, the DI box is not going to be wired to handle power. It is the same reason you don't use a guitar cable to hook up a cab...it will eventually cause your output transformer to blow. Granted, it's only a 5 watt output stage so you might be able to get away with it, but I know I'm not trying it with my HT-5.

It's also not going to work the way you think it will. What you will be doing is sending an amplified signal to a device that 's expecting an instrument level signal. Somewhere along the path, that signal is going to clip. Depending on what the internal impedances are, that output going to an interface is most likely going to see around a watt. The input of an interface is not going to like seeing that high a level as it's expecting something in the milliwatt range. So even assuming that the hiZ thru will pass to a cab without clipping the signal (or frying your OT)...the input on an interface surely will.

For what you want to do, you are going to need either a load box or an attenuator with a line out. The good news is that it's only a 5 watt output stage, so you only need a load box that can handle 7.5 watts. Speaking from experience, the recorded signal is not going to sound like it does through a cab. Speakers have specific EQ response curves. Taking that direct signal sounds much different than it does coming through a speaker. Even using cab sims, I usually run through an EQ first to get it to sound right...which, BTW, is really all any cab sim really is...a glorified and very complex set of EQ's.

[imrulbinmonaf]

Thanks for the detailed post!!!

Any ideas for a cheap load box that will do the trick?

Also, I wonder what this guy is doing >_> ??? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtyvmJ2loTA

[thephantum]

No idea....even he's not sure.