Fast Track Pro 1/4" unbalanced out question

[baskinova]

Hello,

What I'm trying to do is send out a track signal to a guitar preamp and bring it back into the Fast Track Pro. A friend of mine tells me that what I need is an unbalanced 1/4" output. If I read the manual correctly, the 1/4" TRS outputs are balanced. Is there no way around that so I can get an unbalanced signal out? I don't really understand the difference between balanced/unbalanced but I do know that one has a higher impedence level than the other and in my case unbalanced is desirable.

If anyone can answer this question it'll save me from buying a Firewire 410, which would be sweet but money I don't have to spend.

Thanks.

[AndyH]

The TRS (tip, ring sleeve) interconnects are three wire cables for balanced connections with the plug divided into those three parts. Instead use two wire interconnects for which the plugs are are simply tip and sleeve. The difference is easy to see. The cables are manufactured by the millions. This will work with no problems.

[baskinova]

Hello,

So I plug one regular instrument (unbalanced) cable into one of the TRS outputs, send the unbalanced signal to my amp, line out the signal, put it through a direct box (balancing the signal) and then return it to the Fast Track Pro. Does that sound right? I could just use a regular mic cable from the direct box to the Fast Track Pro, right? Did I confuse your post? Did I just complicate things by adding a direct box?

[AndyH]

Going to the preamp is correct.

I have no experience with direct boxes. Is its only purpose, in this case, to change from unbalanced to balanced? If so, why?

Is the purpose of the guitar preamp in this setup to add some effect to the signal that you can't achieve on the computer?

Hopefully someone else will step in.

[baskinova]

I got my hypo wrong. I just talked to a friend of mine and he told me that what I want to do is use a balanced (low impedence) 1/4" to XLR (f) cable from my interface to a direct box which will convert the signal to an unbalanced (high impedence) signal to my amp and then line out the amp back into my interface.

The balanced TRS outputs usually only put out a balanced output. (The point of my thread was to ask whether the TRS outputs on the Fast Track Pro could send out an unbalanced signal like some of their other products. Apparently it doesn't.) My friend said using an unbalanced cable might do the trick but he was weary that a signal with high interference would come out.

The point of converting the balanced signal to an unbalanced signal is to input a strong enough signal into the amp. Guitar amps are designed to receive high impedence signals, so a low impedence signal would not be enough for it.

The point of running a recorded signal through my amp and back into my interface is to provide effect to my signal. My friend recommends this method to eliminate time recording a guitar. This way you get the guitar part down first, and then you can tweak your amp to where you like it. That way you don't have to lay down a bunch of tracks over and over again with different amp settings. I hope that makes sense.

Thanks for your help. If you have any other suggestions or comments, that'd be sweet. By no means do I take my friend's advice to be completely true, but it makes more sense to me.

[AndyH]

Line level outputs are normally, perhaps always, low impedance. If your amplifier need a high impedance input signal, that is indeed where the direct box should go.

It is always possible for balanced I/O to be non-standard wired but it seems unlikely there is much of that about. Putting a regular two-wire cable on 1/4" phone plug into a normal balanced TRS jack will "convert" it to unbalanced. This is a very common usage. Signal level is also reduced relative to the balanced line but this is not normally a problem.