Seems like forever that I just went from guitar to direct box to preamp to USB interface to DAW. It always worked fine, but was problematic.

If I used that method and tried to put on the effects inside the DAW, the latency was too much to bear, so I always laid the guitar tracks down with no effects, listening to the output from the preamp. This eliminated all latency, but of course the guitar sounded like a very low volume no character twang. I had to imagine what it would sound like with effects.

I use the RME TotalMix software mixer. It is fantastic, but confusing to get up to speed on it.

Anyway, today I got fed up with the volume issues and decided to make it better. I had given my son a small Orange amp, but he has his mind on other things, so I stole it back.

Well I can’t believe I waited so long to do this. It gave me plenty of power, and enough character to play more easily. I still put effects on after I record, but this has made things so much easier.

Another thing that it made me realize is the difference between pickups and volume and tone controls on my Fender Strat. I was so used to just using the bottom two pickup positions with the tone and volume full open on the guitar. There was little difference otherwise. Now, each switch position and the tone knob changes makes a huge difference.

I’m so glad I finally did this. Details below.

Here’s what I tried…

From the guitar to my direct box

From the direct box to the Orange Crush input.

From the Orange headphones out to the Behringer ADA8200 preamp

From the Behringer to an RME Babyface Pro USB Audio Interface

Into the TotalMix software and to the DAW