Patchbay use for guitar...

[prospectbox]

Friends - my question requires a bit of setup. I hope I explain this sufficiently...

Problem: I wish to use my patchbay for running my guitar through my TC M300, then into a practice amp. I may add other outboard effects if this works.

My friend wired my simple ProTools studio for me using a Neutrik NYS-SPP-L patchbay. Below is how it is wired in the back. My TC M300 takes one input on #14 bottom (sorry, #13 bottom would have made more sense). TC outs are #9 & #10 top (L/R), which is a stereo feed (from one input) back into ProTools (aux inputs). This works perfectly for my aux sends in ProTools. Here's an ASCII map - "X" means: not in use.

 [OUTS]

         |         | TPS Out | DBX Out | TC Out  |   Pro Tools Out   |
         |         |         |         |  L / R  |  1 / 2     3 / 4  |    
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1 |  2 |  3 |  4 |  5 |  6 |  7 |  8 |  9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | ... 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
         | TPS In  | 1066 In |   Pro Tools In    | Tape In | M300 In |
         |  X / X  |  L / R  |  1 / 2     3 / 4  |    X    |  X   L  |

 [INS]

Bad solution: To bypass this default setup, I plug a TS guitar cable (half way in - bad, I know) into #14 bottom (TC in) and another TS cable from #9 top (TC L out) into an amp.

Question 1: While this (sort of) works, it's clear that TS/TRS don't mix well. Do I need to get a different TS channel module to swap into my Neutrik for accepting a guitar? Should I instead use a TRS cable? I would have tried, but all of my TRS cables are used elsewhere.

Question 2: Is it common to add a pile of ground noise by doing this? My amp plugs into one Furman and the rack gear plugs into another Furman, but both go to the same 2-outlet panel in the wall. I live in Queens and there's only one outlet in the entire freaking room - common for old NYC apartments. :-( I can kill the ground noise by resting my big toe on the metal end of the guitar cable sticking out of the amp - not a desired solution... heh...

Ok, that's a lot. My advance gratitude for anyone willing to take a stab at this.

[WhiskeyBro]

My question to you is why are you even bothering using the M300 with your Pro Tools setup to begin with? Don't get me wrong the M300 is a fine multi-effects unit but I would compare it pretty evenly with any of the Digi effects that come standard with PT (D-Verb, Delays, etc.), not to mention that fact that you are probably getting tons of latency by having the M300 inserted in your PT in/out chain. I would suggest that you take the M300 out of the patchbay all together and just use it with your practice amp with regular TS style cables. I use an M300 for live use mixing a band and use TS cables and don't have any ground or noise problems. Just my 2 cents.

[shasha]

I wouldn't recommend putting an instrument level signal through a patch panel. It's different wires (coaxial vs stranded wire) and because the level is so low to begin with you are asking for interference and loss.

That's just my opinion, take it for what it's worth.

[prospectbox]

Thanks for responding. I can boost the level by hitting my ART TPS tube pre first... still noisy as hell and doesn't work for the connection issues. I just thought it would be nice to use the M300 as an effects processor, but also have it wired up for aux sends... for good or bad.