Hi all,

I’m posting this out of sheer desperation really. I bought the full version of Overloud TH3 and am using it with a Tascam US-4 x4 interface and Rokit 6 monitors.

Try as I might I simply can’t get a decent overdriven guitar sound. in fact many if the presets sound absolutely terrible. I’ve done all the obvious - inputs into the Tascam sound OK; instrument setting selected on the Tascam; no clipping. The overdriven/distorted sounds are awful - really fuzzy and unnatural.

On the Tascam in the settings panel there’s an option for a ‘monitor’ mix or a ‘computer’ mix. With the former, via a knob, you can monitor directly to alleviate latency. I’ve never really understood why you would select one or the other? Can this affect the quality of the sound? I’m currently using ‘computer 1-2’ so the mix knob is redundant. Should I be using the monitor setting?

Sorry if I’m being a bit vague. I’ve been messing around with this for days and am so disappointed with the quality of the results I’m getting. I’m really not expecting a magic bullet from anyone to help with this because there’s so many variables but perhaps some if you may have had problems with amp sims in general and can point me in the right direction. Many thanks.

Dave

A good direct box is what you are missing.
Yeah, you can get a "decent" sound with sims without a good D.I., but I guarantee you are going to see the night and day difference in the quality of your sound. I don't really see this talked about that often when discussing amp sim sounds. Buy , try, test, don't like it send it back (but you won't).
Something like this one (highly recommend the Countryman 85, worth it's weight in gold and built like a tank). A staple in many major studios, and for good reason.

I disagree with KingsMix.  I think your Tascam should be good enough to overcome what sounds like an extreme problem with the signal or sims.
First off, how is your gain staging?  is the signal coming through the Tascam at the right level (not clipping, but present)?  Make sure that the signal going into the TH# Sim is also at a decent level.
Then take into account what the presets are.  They are usually very generic and i'm not sure who they're really meant for.  For me, i've never liked presets, they almost never sound good (imo).  Find a sim of an amp you like.  Run it clean, and tweak the amp knobs until you get a decent clean sound.  Then increase the gain slowly (either on the amp or with an OD pedal), and you should get a solid overdriven guitar sound.  Be careful not to overdo the gain, that tends to ruin a sound pretty quickly.

Slugbaby
Find a sim of an amp you like.  Run it clean, and tweak the amp knobs until you get a decent clean sound.  Then increase the gain slowly (either on the amp or with an OD pedal), and you should get a solid overdriven guitar sound.  Be careful not to overdo the gain, that tends to ruin a sound pretty quickly.

This^^
 
I had the same experience with the version of TH3 that came with Platinum. Their instructions for setting the input level gave horrible results whether on clean or overdriven sounds. When I cut back the input gain, the sounds improved dramatically.

Food for thought fellas. Thank you!
 
Dave

henkejs
When I cut back the input gain, the sounds improved dramatically.

Line 6 PodFarm has the same issue. 
I got a better DI because I thought the signal was was weak and that a clean hotter signal would improve things.
It didn't. The hotter signal made everything sound like crap.
Try lowering your input.

KingsMix
Something like this one (highly recommend the Countryman 85, worth it's weight in gold and built like a tank). A staple in many major studios, and for good reason.

The Countryman 85 rocks - you can occasionally pick one up on eBay for a song.

Ive found that no matter what di im using, when using th2 or th3 i always find myself putting a distortion pedal in front of the distorted head and mixing the both gains for a decent distortion. Usually seems like one or the other just sounds bland by themselves. But then again as stated above, if youre not careful you risk having way too much gain and sounding way overdriven. Best thing about sims though, you can change everything again later, haha.

KingsMix
Something like this one (highly recommend the Countryman 85, worth it's weight in gold and built like a tank). A staple in many major studios, and for good reason.

The Countryman DIs are still good, but the newer Radials blow them out of the water.  I replaced all my Countrymans with Radial J48s (active) DIs.  The signal is stronger and more transparent.  The passive version (JDI) is also great, and provides better isolation. 

OK guys. Probably something really obvious I'm missing here but:
 
When I turn the channel gain on the Tascam interface right down to virtually zero, on the TH3 interface when I strum my guitar, the input levels are still hitting 50% on the meter. I can't reduce the levels any further via the Tascam yet they're still quite 'warm' on the TH3 meter. What's going on? How can I reduce the signal level into TH3 more than I already have?
 
Dave