Best way to Direct Record Dark Terror

[jontheid]

Dear Jon, Thanks so much for your help.

So, do I understand you correctly that
(1) I would have to solder a wire between the tip terminal and sleeve terminal to make a "shorted jack plug"?
(2) Do you know if anyone online sells "shorted jack plugs"?
(3) Should this shorted jack plug be connected to the Radial JDV in my setup above? or should it just dangle--attached to nothing but the return of the effects loop (other end dangling)?

You can short a jack plug using a small piece of wire soldered between tip and sleeve. Sometimes you don't actually need wire and can bend the terminals together and then blob solder on.

If you can't solder you can get a cheap short instrument cable, cut it in half and twist the wires inside together and then cover with insulation tape. It's all very low voltage stuff so no risk of shock.

I don't know anyone who sells shorted jack plugs.

The shorted jack plug is just a plug, and it goes in the effects return loop.
Your setup should be:
efffects send --> Radial JDV MKIII Direct Box --> xlr to mixing board

and effects return just has a shorted jack in it.

Cheers,
Jon

[higain_guitar]

Dear Jon,

Thanks, following your instructions I was able to make a shorted plug and I tried it out... and it works! Thanks so much. It's great to be able to record silently considering I have two young boys I don't want to wake up during their naps.

ONE last question, so when recording silently I should probably keep the amp on 7 watts (not 15 watts) to prolong the power tubes, right? I mean with the shorted plug the poweramp section is bypassed, but the powertubes are still glowing so 7 watts is less stress on them... unless I am mistaken.

Merry Christmas!
HG

[higain_guitar]

Here is a little sound demo of recording direct with the shorted plug method:
https://soundcloud.com/higain_guitar/radialdi3shorted" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Epiphone Les Paul w/ WCR Godwood pickup into DT.
Effect return has the shorted dummy plug
Effects send to Radial JDV, xlr out to Art Studio V3 preamp, into Audiophile 192
Peavey Revalver 4 to simulate poweramp and orange cab ppc112.
Only effects are DMG eq to notch out some bad high frequencies and
BBE maximizer

[jontheid]

Thanks, following your instructions I was able to make a shorted plug and I tried it out... and it works! Thanks so much. It's great to be able to record silently considering I have two young boys I don't want to wake up during their naps.

ONE last question, so when recording silently I should probably keep the amp on 7 watts (not 15 watts) to prolong the power tubes, right? I mean with the shorted plug the poweramp section is bypassed, but the powertubes are still glowing so 7 watts is less stress on them... unless I am mistaken.

Glad it worked out for you!
Yes, 7 watt mode will mean the power tubes last longer. However switching to 7 watt mode also affects the preamp tubes as well - so I'd say go for whatever setting gets you the best sound. EL84s are cheap anyway!

Merry Christmas!
Jon

[higain_guitar]

Thanks again, and I updated the soundcloud clip above...

[higain_guitar]

Being somewhat ashamed of the crappy tone in the soundcloud link above, I finally got some time to tweak things... and now my direct sound does not sound too bad.

Behold my latest effort at direct recording (no mic) with the shorted-jack in the effects return loop technique (for silent recording):

https://soundcloud.com/higain_guitar/be ... trecording" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

NOTE1: the riffs are slow (and nothing special) just to see if the tone rang out well.

NOTE2: Signal chain: Godin Redline guitar w/Miracle Man bridge pickup into MXR gt-od overdrive peal into Orange Dark Terror w/ shorted dummy plug in effects return; the effects loop send goes to ISP Decimator 2 into Radial JDV MKIII into Art Studio V3 preamp and finally into my sound card. In my DAW, I used Recabinet 4 for poweramp sim and Revalver 4 for cabinet and mic sim. I also used some other plugins to shape the sound: eq to notch out fizz, and 2 plugins to shape the stereo field: shred spread and nugen stereoizer. I also added echo/delay with nomad factory's echoes plugin.

NOTE3: When you use the short jack technique the phase inverter tube and the power tubes (of course) are not being recorded. However, the first three tubes are and I put vintage tubes in. I used: v1 RFT 12ax7, v2 Bejing 12ax7, v3 Brimar 12at7 (effects loop tube).

[scottlynn73]

I use a Palmer PGA-04 unit to record my Thunderverb on bass and guitar, I think it sounds pretty good!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkkKHOAojAE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[higain_guitar]

I have been fiddling with my Dark Terror, trying to improve the direct recording process over the last 3 or 4 months, and here is my latest effort, which I like best so far:

https://soundcloud.com/higain_guitar/or ... t-shorted4

This was recorded with no microphones, late at night while my 2 boys were sleeping (with the help of headphones).
I used the shorted-jack in the effects return loop trick for silent recording.

Les Paul, WCR Godwood Bridge, Elixir nanoweb 9-46, Drop C# tuning, green dava pick
into mxr smartgate and maxon od808 in front of the Dark Terror
Orange Dark Terror w/shorted jack plug to record preamp section only
Vintage tubes: v1 rft v2 bejing v3 brimar 12at7 fx loop out to ISP decimator II into Radial JDV mk3
into Art Studio V3 preamp w/bejing tube on e-gtr warm setting into soundcard
Impulses: Rosen Digital Orange PPC 3 (left); Catharsis s-pres5 (right).

Peace,
HG

[enricoromanielo]

Just to add my two cents... I use the Suhr Reactive Load to proper load the tube amps, and use an IR (Ownhammers are amazing) with the Wall of Sounds Torpedo Plugin.

Very nice results.