Hey Guys, I'm trying to record some music on my PC and it seems like no matter what i do, i only get the low end sounds only (sounding really bad) and i have no idea why. Is there a common mistake that makes this happen? I'm using "Reaper" (the latest version) to record. I've tried the following combos... #1 - my bass guitar plugged into my mic port #2 - my bass guitar plugged into my line 6 podx3, recording in reaper over USB interface #3 - my regular 6 string guitar plugged into my mic port #4 - my regular 6 string guitar plugged into my pod Both instruments and through / not through the pod both had the same issues so it seems like it could be a software issue but as far as ive seen there is no EQ for recording in reaper or anything that might be causing this. I am still pretty noobish to sound and recording so it could very well be something dumb and obvious. Anyone have any ideas what could be goin on? Thank you!

Sound cards aren't designed to have guitars plugged directly into them. You'll get an impedance mismatch which, I'm told, can lead to losing the top end of your signal. This would account for why #1 and #3 would sound awful. But it shouldn't be the case for #2 or #4 however, so if the sound is much the same, the problem lies elsewhere.

Firstly, can I recommend you ignore Reaper for now and just use something simple like Audacity? This will reduce the chance of it being a software problem and help highlight where the problem is. Try Guitar -> Pod -> USB -> PC. If possible, also try Guitar -> Pod -> Line-In -> PC if you have the cables for it. (Note that should be line in, not mic in - if you don't have a line-in socket, ignore this.)

Also, ensure the Pod's output mode is set to Studio Direct, not to any sort of cab or speaker emulation (which again removes the high end).

Thanks Kylotan I'll give it a shot (:

The pod wasn't set to studio direct, sounds a lot cleaner now thank you (:

Although having said that, I was wrong in what I said and having it set to something other than Studio Direct should really have meant you get more top-end rather than less. Odd...