Just wondering if I would be able to plugg the beat buddy straight into a speaker cabinet that I have an amp running through to avoid the built in distortion/high gain channel affecting the drum tones? If so, where would I plugg in? Right now it’s just your regular mono setup. One cord running out of the amp into the one L insert on the back of the cab. So could I just plugg the beat buddy into the R input that is open on the back of the cabinet?
The BB needs to go through an amplifier before it goes to a speaker. Just like your guitar.
The BB will sound best when going through a full range system like a pa. If you can live with the sound through a guitar cabinet, and if your distortion is all from pedals or your amp’s preamp, and if your alphas an effects loop, you could try the BB in the effects loop. This solves your issue.
Right now I’m using the distortion from my high gain channel on my amp, which distorts my drum rhythms from my loop pedal, so will it do the same with the beat buddy? By effects loop do you mean amplifier effects or an effects pedal chain? I’m going to eventually get a separate distortion pedal, but there still may be times that I use an overdrive channel on my amp so I’m hoping that won’t distort it too bad.
I’ve personally tried the distortion channel of my Roland Cube 20X with BeatBuddy. The drums are definitely distorted (BeatBuddy has simply no way to prevent it), but the sound is still pretty useable. In order to circumvent this problem, I’ve bought a Blackstar HT-1R tube amp, and use it as an overdrive pedal (being first in the signal chain), then use a clean channel for second amp. Solid state amps (like Roland) have crystal clear clean channels, and tube ones do have a very powerful overdrive/distortion, though only at extreme volume levels. As Blackstar HT-1R is only 1 watt, this allows me to drive it all the way up without disturbing my neighbors (much).
TLDR: Using a second very low watt (as low as 1) power tube amp is the way to have the best of all worlds. Non-distorted BeatBuddy beat sound and a nice warm saturated tubes power distortion at acceptable bedroom volume levels!
Depending on your amp, you may be able to plug in an Aux device, this is usually found in modern amps, but some older ones have it to, this is where you would normally plug in an mp3 player for backing tracks etc… This is usually not put through the gain and distortion channels and plays clean.
If you have one, try using that, you may need to buy some stereo to mini jack cables but they tend to work pretty well.
A warning though, Aux IN is usually not controlled by amp volume, so if you forget to lower the volume of BeatBuddy to like 5-10% you can easily damage your amp (or ears). Anyway, the shock from very loud volume is not pleasant at all!
True…but you only do it ones 
Plugging things in set to full volume is generally a very bad idea with any amplified device.
It would be helpful if you posted what amp you’re using.
IF your amp has an effects loop, it will most likely be on the back of the amp. You’ll see two jacks. Sometimes they’re labeled “send” and “return” while other amps use different terms like “FX OUT” and “FX IN” or something similar. Some amps have a series parallel switch. Others may have switches or a knob to determine the level of the loop (usually line or guitar level). An effects loop is essentially an output from the preamp section that you send to certain effects (usually time based effects like chorus, delay, reverb etc…). If the output section of the amp is clean and does not add distortion you’ll get the distorted sound of your guitar from the preamp and the BB should be amplified clean. If you turn them loud enough, tube amp output sections will add distortion.
I just found this explanation which should be helpful: http://proguitarshop.com/andyscorner/fx-loops-explained
Right now I’m playing through a Crate Flexwave 120, but will eventually be upgrading to a Peavey 6505. Now that I think about it, I have an additional combo amp that I don’t play through anymore so could I just plug the beat buddy into the input jack by itself and play it through the clean? I don’t need an instrument plugged into it for it to work right?
Absolutely correct. But why not chain two amps?
Connect Guitar > Crazy Dirty Amp > Delay/Chorus/Reverb Effects > Looper > BeatBuddy > Clean Amp.
That way you avoid a multitude of problems:
- You use your second Clean Amp as an attenuator (master master volume), as most amps with effects loop can not control the return sound volume.
- If your first Dirty Amp is a low wattage tube one, you can overdrive it to the max!
- Your first Dirty Amp doesn’t even need to have Effects Loop.
I guess I’m still a little confused on how I would hook up with two amps. I’m more of a visual aid kind of guy. So right now I plug my guitar into the first pedal of my effects pedal chain, which is a wah, then it runs through a phase shifter, to a flanger, to my loop pedal, then into my amp input. So once I get the beat buddy that would just go at the end of my effects chain then into the amp, but if I’m running it through a a second clean amp that’s in this chain, that’s where I’m getting confused as to how I chain the amps and my effects pedals all together.
Up to this point you make a great rig. But right after that, just use your first amp’s output socket to chain to BeatBuddy, then to your second amp. My Roland Cube 20X has ‘Recording Out/phones’ socket, Blackstar HT-1R has ‘Emulated Output & Headphones’ - that’s it. As soon as you plug the cord into it, your amp speaker should turn itself off - that’s the intent. Simply balance it’s overall volume to not run very hot signal through the BeatBuddy to your second clean amp. (Also, you may want to move your looper to after the first amp, straight before BeatBuddy, - to be able to record already distorted signal and experiment with overlaying different gain levels from your first amp).
So the sockets on the back of my first amp are an additional insert socket, two footswitch sockets one being my channels (clean,OD,High gain), and the other for A and B bank effects, then my speaker output. Would I use the speaker output jack for my out? And with the loop pedal after the first amp I would be able to record clean and switch to overdrive without distorting the clean loop correct? I’ve also thought about just getting a separate distortion pedal and running my amp clean then just run everything into one amp, and only use the pedal for my distortion. That would help prevent the beat buddy and my loop pedal from getting distorted as well yeah? I don’t know, is there a benefit to just using a distortion pedal over amp distortion/OD?
A lot of questions! Let’s try to parse them one by one.
That’s correct.
Exactly, and that’s the intent!
Yes, this will definitely prevent beatBuddy from being distorted. If your distortion pedal (or first amplifier) is before the looper, then it won’t be distorted as well. If you plug distortion pedal after the looper, it will.
Usually distortion pedals are solid state. While you can find and buy a tube pedal, they are pretty rare and uncommon. I simply love how my Blackstar HT-1R sounds that’s why I don’t want to replace it with OD/dist pedal.
Ok awesome! One final question. You said a low watt tube amp for the second one would be best for the beat buddy. Right now I only have two High watt solid states, would that still be ok? Thank you so much for your time and feedback. Now I’m just waiting for my beat buddy to show and I can experiment with some different setups. Again, thank you so much.
A correction - first amp in the chain is best when it’s low watt tube amp. Wattage for solid states is close to irrelevant in this case, so don’t worry, you’ll be okay. Just don’t forget to set the volume on both amp very low, and then fine tune the volume level. First amp in the chain will act like an OD/dist amount, and second (clean) amp will be like a master volume.
The difference is that solid state amp will distort the signal no matter the volume. Signal shape doesn’t change whether you are very quiet or super loud like a helicopter flying. Tube amp distortion changes drastically whether you are very quiet (close to no distortion at all, almost clean) or very loud (the most warm and deep distortion). So to get the best distortion you will need to play very loud. You simply can’t stand your own playing without an attenuator. But an attenuator changes the signal pretty significantly! Having a very low watt tube amp helps overcome this last problem effectively. To get powerful warm distortion at acceptable bedroom volume levels.
Am I following this right? Are going to plug the SPEAKER OUT INTO THE BEAT BUDDY???
Yeah. Right through the looper and then BeatBuddy to another clean amp.
Ok cool that’s what I needed to know. Thanks!