Using a pedal in front of a Ruby with headphones

[isildur100]

Hi,

I just built a Ruby with the headphone mod. It sounds ok with a guitar directly plugged in but when I put other pedals such as distortions or fuzzes in front, it sounds like crap. In fact it sounds about the same as when I plug my guitar directly into a mixer, it clips awfully, even with the volume of the pedal turned down.

So my question is, what causes that clipping? The pedal in front of the ruby has its volume very very low and it still sounds bad.

Ultimately, I want to be able to test my pedals with an headphone amp, mainly because I'm driving the whole house mad when I debug  . Is there an guitar headphone amp that can handle the use of pedals? Do I need some sort of cab simulator?

cheers.

[isildur100]

Anyone?

[anchovie]

Does it sound OK if you run it into a cab? Seeing as headphones are designed for a wide frequency range, they won't be rolling off the treble like a guitar speaker would.

[isildur100]

I did not try it with a cab as I only wanted a headphone amp. Like I said, it reacts the same way as when you plug the guitar directly into a mixer. If I only plug the guitar, it sounds ok although not natural. Using a distortion pedal in front, it sounds horrible, even with the distortion volume as low as possible.

Is anyone using the ruby with headphones and other pedals in front? Are there any alternatives that work?

[earthtonesaudio]

I'm using a modified Noisy Cricket as a headphone amp.  My headphones have built-in rheostats, which I turn way down when I use the amp.  I also keep the "grit" switch off, and the level and gain controls way down.  I've used tons of pedals in front with no problems... but of course it sounds different through headphones versus my 2x12 cab.  If you're using it as a dedicated headphone amp, perhaps look into adding some filtering to make it sound more like a guitar cab.

[isildur100]

Thanks, I will look into filtering although I do not know exactly what to filter... Is it enough to roll off the highs?

[earthtonesaudio]

That would be where I would start, just a passive RC filter on the output.  Probably a 2-pole or higher order would be preferable, similar to the output filter in the BSIAB.  Of course you'd want to adjust the values to not drop too much volume...

[isildur100]

Ok, will try that, thanks!

cheers