Bad squealing when using Torpedo Studio

[bmccoy]

I have an ENGL 50 watt Thunder head that I have been using in the studio using a Weber Mass Lite attenuator and Wall of Sound Plugin and get fantastic results with it. I decided to upgrade to a Torpedo Studio this week and now when I plugin, turning up the volume on my amp results in a high pitched squeal on both crunch and clean channels. I tried different guitars, different cables, switched between 16 ohm and 8 ohm settings (the amp supports both), switched between reactive and resistive load, and the only thing that eliminates the squeal is if I either mute the strings on the guitar, turn the guitar's volume knob down, turn down the treble tone on the guitars or I start playing (but the squeal comes back as soon as I stop). The tone sounds good when I play, but the squeal makes it unusable for recording. This works beautifully with the Weber attenuator and WoS plugin (very clean signal, even when the amp is cranked up to 7 or so) and am dumbfounded as to why this is happening when plugged into the TS unit.

 

[sysexguy]

you are likely getting some electro-magnetic coupling between pickups, perhaps a transformer in the amp and the coils in the reactive load. The first step would be to allow at least 3-4 feet between (each) the amp, studio and your guitar..... once the system is quiet, you can experiment with optimum placement for workflow without any issues...ie moving things closer.

 

[bmccoy]

I tried several variations of guitars and cables and proximity to the Torpedo unit. Got some suggestions from Two Notes help desk also. I think it's definitely a an issue with high gain feedback and/or interaction between guitar pickups and coil in the Torpedo unit.

Solution that ultimately worked -- I put the attenuator between the amp and Torpedo Studio, using Torpedo's line in, and it sounds perfect now -- very clean sound, no hum, no hiss and no squeal. Definitely sounds better than the Wall of Sound plugin, too, and sending SPDIF via RME Multiface into my DAW... perfect sound.