[LAU] Re: Guitar to USB devices can be quite good

On May 21, 2025 10:46:24 PM GMT+02:00, david <[email protected]> wrote:
>On 5/21/25 06:06, Will Godfrey wrote:
>> On Wed, 21 May 2025 08:23:05 -0700 (PDT)
>> Len Ovens <[email protected]> wrote:
>> 
>>> There are lots of guitar to USB audio devices out there and it seems they
>>> have all done them wrong. I modified one of them and it actually sounds
>>> very good. Perhaps better than plugging into the "high impedance" input of
>>> many audio interfaces or using a DI box into a mic input. The result is a
>>> much more open sound in particular with single coil pickups (or tapped as
>>> I happen to have).
>>> 
>>> Why do I think they have likely all done them wrong? The Application notes
>>> say: "Please follow the reference schematic for microphone section
>>> design." So not only is it easy but it is recomended. I am sure it works
>>> well for a computer mic.
>>> 
>>> Anyway, for those who want a good quility direct to usb guitar cable here
>>> is my journey to fix a toy into something better.
>>> 
>>> https://www.ovenwerks.net/hardware/GuitarUSBhack/index.html
>>> 
>>> I find it amazing that the manufactures would not reduce their parts count
>>> while making a better product.
>>> 
>>> Len
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Len Ovens
>>> www.ovenwerks.net
>> Thanks for that. Very interesting and quite easy to do!
>> 
>Thanks for the explanation. It's not something I'd consider easy to do, my soldering/electronics skills aren't up to that!
>
>A friend gave me a DI box that has amp modeling and other capabilities, but it does have one feature I've used many times. Gain control. Plug the guitar into it's guitar input, leave everything else at neutral (no amp modeling), and adjust gain until it's output is right for line input to my little USB card.
>
>I bought a contact mic for the guitar that outputs electric guitar levels but haven't tried it yet with my classical guitar. I wonder what a classical guitar might sound like going through Guitarix?
>

Sorry for top-posting. Phones suck ;)

Here's another "trick" that often enough works great: Use any _buffered_ guitar pedal in front of a line level input. Boss tuners or (pure) boost pedals are good for this. Especially uf they are _not_ true bypass, i.e. the bypass goes through the buffer. The buffer usually has enough juice on its output side to drive the low impedance line-in.

The difference to going straight from the guitar is like day and night :) And having a gain knob on a boost pedal is handy as well!

Regards,
FPS
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