Marshall jcm 2000 DSL 401 with Marshall SE100 speaker emulator and heaphones

[light_n_roses]

Hi there!

I own a Marshall JCM2000 DSL 401 and a Marshall SE-100 speaker emulator, I mainly use the SE100 to play with headphone my tube amp without the speaker connected but I also recorde silently something time to time.
I have a few problems with the SE100 and I would like to see if someone could help me solve it!

- the signal that from the SE100 arrives to my audio board ( Focusrite 2i2) is preatty weak (low volume) even if normal the very same setting on the amp connected to the speaker would determinate a huge volume. This situation force me to going up with volume, master volume and gain on the amp; while this is a good thing for the overdrive channel it's not at all for the clean channel that get really dirty. I would like to keep the clean channel clean...marshally but clean. I think that maybe this is connected to the fact that the signal out of the SE100 is preatty weak combined with the fact that the my amp "is just" 40W (of course more that sufficient for a speaker..maybe not for this kind of thing).

- I own 2 pair of heaphone an AKG k240 600 ohm and AKG K121 55 ohm. Well the AKG k240 of 600 ohm are more like monitors and have a more defined sound but lack completely of volume also like I have already written it force me to keep the amp at huge level (no clean sound). The k121 of 55 ohm have more volume but are not so define. I usually connect the headphones to the audio board (where the se100 signal arrives), I could also connect them directly to the SE100 headphone out but the situation doesn't get much better. Also I have the doubt that the heaphone out of the SE100 doesn't get the speaker emulation of the SE100 itself but it just resend out the power signal from the amp (indeed distorsion sound from the SE100 headphone out are not that great).

So I'm here to see if there are any mode/advise/tips to help me improving the situation of the low volume and the clean sound that get distorted

 

[JohnH]

Have you tried the DI out straight into the board? I find that it is a particularly good sound with this amp, great for recording, mixing or using with headphones on a mixer. Just take a tad off the treble, either at the amp or at the board.

Or with the system that you are using, can you not just turn up the mixer input gain?

 

[light_n_roses]

Have you tried the DI out straight into the board? I find that it is a particularly good sound with this amp, great for recording, mixing or using with headphones on a mixer. Just take a tad off the treble, either at the amp or at the board.

Or with the system that you are using, can you not just turn up the mixer input gain?

My Focusrite 2i2 board act like a DI itself I think, there is a switch in each imput channel to select from "line" to "instruments", I think that it switch from hi impedence to low impedence. I keep it at "line".

It also there is preamp gain inside the focusrite 2i2 board but if you turn up too much it start to dirt the clean chanell too

 

[light_n_roses]

Actually I cannot give me peace about this problem, I can't understand why the SE100 signal out has a so low volume. With this situation it takes a 100 W head to geat a decent volume out and keep the clean channel, clean...

 

[light_n_roses]

I up this thread again as I'm still struggling with this problem. I hope that someone could give me some advices!

 

[Dogs of Doom]

how do you have it hooked up?
what kind of cable?
What settings on the SE-100?

Maybe you should try the mic in, rather than line in on the Focusrite.

 

[light_n_roses]

how do you have it hooked up?
what kind of cable?
What settings on the SE-100?

Maybe you should try the mic in, rather than line in on the Focusrite.

From the DSL 401 power out to the power in of the SE100 I have used a power cable. From the SE100 signal out to the focusrite 2i2 I have used a normal guitar cable (I have even tried with a balanced mono cable but nothing change).

The SE100 doesn't have many things to set, there is just a volume knob and it's at the maximum value. The focusrite has 2 imput each of them has a switch from "line" (low impedance) to "instruments" (high impedance) and I use the first (line).

As I have said the problems are 2:

- low volume
- clean channel that gets too dirty.

the overdrive channel is good (except for the low volume of course).