Question about lineout on AD series amps

[aeolian]

I have a question about the lineout on the AD series amps. First a bit of background.

I have been doing some home recording the last few years using an amp sim (J-Station). I am interested in getting an AD30 to replace my old 'real' amp which is starting to fall apart. I'm specially interested in using the lineout on the AD30 for recording but I remember reading that the lineout signal is not the same as the signal that goes to the speaker. If I can't get the same sound out of the lineout as I hear from the speaker it will make recording with the lineout almost useless. I know I can mic the amp, but it is so much more convenient to use the signal direct from the amp.

Can someone explain how the sound is different at lineout versus the amp speaker? It is also entirely possible that I completely misunderstand the thing about the lineout/speaker deal and what I plan to do with the AD30 will work perfectly fine. Will somone knowledegable about this help me out?

Thanks.

 

[Robert]

Hi aeolian, welcome to our hangout!

I know what you are talking about. I bought my amp with the intention of using line out for recording. My take is - forget it. The line out bypasses the valve circuit in the amp, and the sound you get when recording is mediocre, in my humble opinion. I would think the J-station sounds better for this purpose.

I have tried miking the amp though, and WOW! - you can get killer sounds!

In summary, a Vox ADxxVT for recording purposes - not recommended by me.

 

[aeolian]

Are headphones plugged into lineout?

If headphones are plugged into lineout, then I also will not be hearing what I would hear from the speaker through my headphones.

If this were the case, I wonder why Vox would do it this way because it is so counterintuitive.

 

[SuperSwede]

They probably would like you to buy their Tonelab for direct recording purposes.

http://www.voxamps.co.uk/products/tonelab/tonelab.htm

 

[Blueswaite]

The line out is before the tube reactor section so you lose the tube part of the sound. If you like the sound I would mike it.