I'm not sure there are crappy enough converters to hear the difference tbh, but your thinking is on the right track...sometimes it's cool to dumb down (to steal your term) the signal before going in. In my rig which consists of many sims, Vandal, and several tube amps with multiple routing options, I have quite a few options starting with a radial aby box for signal splitting.fateamenabletochange wrote:Kind of thinking aloud here, but amp sim, hardware mics or lines, hardware modellers...all share having to undergo an A to D conversion, with a signal that is very complex.
Even good converters might 'dumb down' the signal, and the differences between methods, to an extent ?
reference amp (for recording using direct monitor on my card) I use my pod xt, this can be routed through fx and monitored through fx and recorded dry or recorded both dry and with fx
re-amping I run two signals from the radial two a boss ch-1 super chorus (one with chorus an one is dry) giving me old school stereo guitar.
the third out on the radial (true bypass) goes to one of my amps that has a weber attenuator giving me both a line out and a speaker out and of course I mic the speaker.
This has changed slightly since a post earlier in this thread because this week I added an Egnater Rebel 20 tube head.
I honestly believe the re-amping channels benefit from going through the chorus and as you call it 'dumbing down' the signal. The most harsh signal is the reference from the pod, the mic'd cab is very nice and the line out from the attenuator is up to what I use for speaker impulses.
I also run either a boss turbo od when needed or an mxr dist+ and active electronics on all of my guitars, all of which I think soften the digital harshness before the converters. Whether it's true or just in my head doesn't really matter much as it works for me
