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Your guitar plugs into the amp, not the controller.

Did you purchase Podfarm, or are you using the free version? The free verison is a 'stripped down' one and doesn't contain all the available amps/FX.etc.

The Spider V has a USB output, plug that into your computer, and select it as the audio input device in Logic.

The Alesis has a 'direct/USB' monitor mix dial, can you hear the guitar when you turn the dial to 'direct'? I'm wondering that since the Alesis is an older device, you don't have drivers that are compatible with your OS (are you running Win 10?)

You don't need an audio interface if you just want to plug the Spider V amp into your computer and record the DI - the amp has a USB output for this. You would only need an audio interface if you wanted to mic the speaker of the amp.

DO you have the Alesis selected in PodFarm AND Windows (assume that's your O/S) as the audio input and output device, and headphones/speakers plugged into the Alesis?

You can use PodFarm and EZ Drummer in Reaper... yes, there is a learning curve, as there is with any DAW, but its worth it!

Stop using this amp! There is something wrong in the wiring (the amp itself should have 3 wires to its power section - positive, negative and ground). Since you say you do not have '3 prong' wiring there, someone has probably wired up a 2 prong plug and attached the amp's ground wire to the negative 'prong'.

Easy solution - move away from GarageBand to a full-featured DAW! Try Reaper, free to download and try it, $60 to register it.

Interesting discussion. I'm not surprised that the acoustic sound is not great - no different than plugging an acoustic into any electric guitar amp, once can adjust to 'clean' sounds, but it never quite gets there. The manufacture decision to put controls on the top-back corner of amps has been one of my peeves for a long time!

Could be a sample rate thing - do you have your software set for 44K or 48K?

RMEG - this thread is 4/5 years old, doubt that 'razorstage' comes back here. Which amp are you using and how old is it? Unfortunately, amp components do fail. Have you hooked up the amp to your computer to make sure the firmware is updated?

Not sure of the cost, you would need use a high-strength battery (maybe a marine style?) and a power inverter - in the end this is one big rig to be wheeling around for busking! Most cities have noise limits that would keep you from really using an amp of this size. I know some people are using USB power supplies (converting their output to 9v) to power pedals when busking, or for just staying power-wireless on stage.

Yes, I use it all the time for DI-ed bass, and occasionally, as well, for DI-ed guitar. As long as its installed as a plug-in (rescan your VSTs in Reaper if you don't see it), you just insert it on a track.

The solution above ^^ is taking the powered speaker output and paralleling it to more devices. Note that this could affect the amp's output circuit (running a parallel circuit will reduce the impedance seen by the amp circuit). It's also sending a powered signal to whatever device is being used - this could blow out components in an audio interface or computer's audio input. Not sure why the OP wants to hook up desktop speakers directly to the DI - the amp's built-in speaker will give the best tone.

You really need to be using a USB audio interface. The amp's USB output is great for getting the sound to a computer without one, but leaves you with the problems you are having (monitoring, etc).

If you are trying to get a brighter sound when finger playing an acoustic, I wouldn't use PodFarm at all. Get a good dry recording, then just use any EQ plug in you have in Cubase.

Have you tried Audacity? There is a free version you can use. It's more of an audio editor than a true DAW, but might work for you. There are quite a few USB audio interfaces available under $100, but I can't vouch for how good any of them are.

You need an FBV MkII Express (or Shortboard) pedal to do this easily while playing. Without a pedal, you save your 'clean sound' as a user preset, then switch to that preset using the front panel controls. You should be saving your 'song preset' as a 'user preset', not just accessing them through the list of song/artist presets.

HI 'TheGroobster' - it's not clear what you are trying to do. 'capture the backing track that I am playing over'. Do you have a device plugged into the CD/MP3 input of the amp? If so, would you not want to record your guitar part together with the backing track? What you really need to use is an audio interface, as the sound card (the device in your Chromebook that convers audio signal to digital, and back) is not made for high quality music reproduction.

The Line Out/headphone out from a Spider 4 75 is not instrument level. khawkins75 - what speakers did you hook up?

the "BZZZAAAPPP" happens to me with a Tascam interface, running Win7 - even when that computer is not connected to the internet, but I bet that something is 'grabbing' the drivers.

Sorry, I mistyped, connect to the computer with the USB cable.

First, try connecting it to your computer with the USB cable, register it and download Monkey and check for updated software. If its still not working, return it to where you bought it for a new one.

Typically, delays (and reverbs) are going to sound better with 'post' settings - meaning they are after the other preamp settings (like distortion, gain, etc) - if you use the 'pre' routing, you are sending the delayed clean guitar signal through the gain/distortion effects.