Originally Posted by: WurlakinPretty self-explanatory. Is this feasible?

I'm presently recording with Reaper (great program) by plugging my guitar directly into my PC soundcard. The sound quality is..meh..ok. What irks me, tho, is the sound I record this way is very faint, requiring me to max out my guitar's volume knob and PC speaker for it to be heard clearly.

If I instead run from guitar to amp to soundcard, what wil lhappen? Do I risk damaging something? Better sound, worse? Should I invest in a preamp?

Thanks!

Is your amp configured with a line out output?

Things to remember, an actual amp was made to recognize the load it delivers to speakers. If the amp is only configured for speaker as the output method, any time you try to use the amp without using the speaker load, there's a good chance you could wreck the amp and possibly your computer.

I have a Fender combo that has a headphone jack, the amp essentially built in a bypass for the headphones but the sound is pretty 'small/flat' sounding as compared to using the speaker. It's because I'm hearing only the sound processing but without the load and acoustic dynamic from a speaker. I think this could also be a result you would get if you did try to run you amp to your computer. The tone you get from the speakers is as much a creature of the actual speakers (ohms) as it is the amp head portion of the amp set up.

Whatever you do, you need to get an interface to convert your guitar to essentially a midi signal. The short version is that your amp is putting out an analog signal and needs to be digitized (way oversimplification).

What you should look for is an audio interface like M-Audio, Apogee or IK's Stealth stuff. However, they aren't really made to accept a direct guitar signal either and you could ruin the interface if you plugged directly in to it from you amp.

You may also want to consider amp simulations. Some folks don't like them but I have used and recently expanded my IK Multimedia collection of amp sims and am very happy (I'm going to try to do a review with sample sometime soon). However, I'm pretty happy with the tone I'm getting. My point is that it might well be a much easier way to go to record yourself. My opinion is that the best way to record a guitar amp is via a microphone. Otherwise you lose the amps dynamic.

The above is just what bits I know. There may be a way that someone else has achieved that I don't know about but, in all, it's seemed that an amp directly to a computer is a tough and electronically dangerous road.