Guitar players, spew your wisdom on tone here

Jekblad · Post by **Jekblad** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 1:32 am

Hey fellas,

I'm looking to move into a rack based system for all my guitar processing.

I borrowed a Pod X3 Live and was less than impressed, but i did manage a patch that sounded passable to me. I've been a tube amp guy for a LOOONG time. That being said, guitar rig and waves have restored my faith in digital technology. I don't want to bring my computer to bar gigs, so i'm looking for rackmount options.

Firewire or USB 2.0 connectivity would be a huge plus for me, since my current interface is still USB 1.0. Yeah i know..... i can't stand it either. I'm open to buying an additional unit as an interface and rackmount that, but i don't need a ton of inputs, just guitar and mic for now. I understand the wisdom of planning ahead, but also understand the wisdom of buying what you NEED not what you wish you could have. I'm not recording 8 inputs anytime soon.....

thanks for any help/opinions

Sir Maybe · Post by **Sir Maybe** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 1:49 am

Check out the FAS AxeFx Ultra.
(http://www.fractalaudio.com)
There´s nothing out there that comes close.

Homebelly · Post by **Homebelly** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 3:11 am

I'm at a point now where i haven't used a tube amp in about 10 years.
I had a Saldano 50+ that had been modded to bring the gain down a wee bit and add a little more feed back into the presence control. It had the greatest plexi type tone, but it was hella loud, even louder that an actual Plexi. I've owned every version of the pod up to and including the X3L. I also have GR. Both of these are fine, but not "actual" if you know what i mean they are quite flat with very little 3D feel. Thats cool though if you are into messing up the tone and sound using plugs.
My all time favorite amp is a JTM45, after that is the 1987X, the 1950SPL is also very cool, but way to loud for any thing any one playing less than a hall would ever need.
In all honesty, about the best virtual amp for just straight ahead tones is the iKMultimedia amplitube Jimi Hendrix edition. Its still not "Real" but it comes the closest to reacting like a real amp to playing dynamics and so on..

Tarekith · Post by **Tarekith** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 3:43 am

I sold all my tubes amps (Marshall, Fender, Vox) when I got my Pod XT, which i recently upgraded to an X3. Personally, I never notice the loss of depth some people do when talking about the Pod's. It doesn't always play like a tube amp, but I think the consistancy I get in tone now is well worth any possible downside.

Not sure what i can offer in the way of recommendations for tone though. In the case of the Pod X3 series, I think you have to be careful with the dual tone mode, as it's easy to muddy things up if you're not careful. Having two almost identical tones on each channel just seems to work against you. If you do use two tones, I find that layering different sounding tones and then balancing them to be more homogenous is the best option, or just use one tone.

I'm nto a real big fan of software based amp sims, I'm sure they sound fine, but I think the UI on the Pod series is so easy to use that I actually prefer to use it directly. I don't even use Gear Box or Pod Farm, the hardware itself is quick enough to navigate around,a nd it's one more excuse to not look at a computer screen.

Anyway, FWIW, i don't miss my tube amps at all.

forge · Post by **forge** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 4:16 am

why not build a rackmount PC and stick guitar rig on it? It would be more flexible and probably sound better and you could even use a utility like Sweetjesus' (from these forums) registry.exe which would let you boot straight into Guitar rig without even loading windows - or you could boot into Live and use it as a VST plus have Live at your disposal

personally I've never got into those pod things - I always hated guitars without Amps until recently with the NI and Waves stuff

in fact someone posted another one here recently called studio devil which I thought did a pretty decent job of the tube modelling

you could probably rig up a rack mount PC pretty cheap and even give it a touch screen if you wanted to

Pasha · Post by **Pasha** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 6:52 am

I ditched my amp many years ago, running solely on Zoom 9030 plus some Live effects. Recently I got a Toneport UX1 from Line 6 and I'm very happy. I can say I reached a new meaning of 'portable studio'.
Going all digital doesn't mean give away good sound.

- Best
- Pasha

Machinesworking · Post by **Machinesworking** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 7:13 am

I've got a Marshall JMP-1, I'm a tube snob when it comes to guitar. Then again I've always hated solid state amps for guitar as well. I play it through Guitar Rig, but I need to bring the laptop anyway, most of the synths and bass come from the laptop.

The expensive but best solution is to get a Receptor with Guitar Rig. Meshuggah run that Live, that's about as good of a recomendation as you can get IMO. They run it through a guitar cabinet though. If you're not bringing a laptop, just get a freaking tube amp for christs sake!! Doesn't have to be big.

kaffein · Post by **kaffein** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 8:26 am

I still use POD Pro -> Carvin dcm2000 power amp -> jcm1960a cab w/ eminence v12s in them for live use.

Got gear box recently, but haven't have the chance to use it much... However I'm impressed with the results I can get out it. Really the only sound you can't get of line6 stuff is real power amp saturation... Unless you get a tube power amp.

I will get one of these someday though:
http://www.reevesamps.com/index.php?opt ... &Itemid=40

kristoffer1989 · Post by **kristoffer1989** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 11:15 am

if you love the tube amp sound. and is going into a pa anyways i would consider getting a z.vex nanohead and a small cabinett. Then some great stompboxes and a sm57.

The nanohead is really really good. Don't get fooled by it's size!
http://zvexamps.com/amp_view.html

madlab · Post by **madlab** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 5:23 pm

You could consider Roger linn's adrenalinn.

sparklepuff · Post by **sparklepuff** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 5:29 pm

madlab wrote:You could consider Roger linn's adrenalinn.

That thing has some of the absolutely worst guitar sounds on it. The first thing I did when I got mine was disabled the amp setting so it only acts as an effects box. The amp sims are horrendous.

madlab · Post by **madlab** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 5:34 pm

Was version 1 ? Version 3 sounds much better to me. Also, the lack of reverb on version 1 wasn't really flattering.

sparklepuff · Post by **sparklepuff** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 5:47 pm

Yes, version 3. It may be passable for guitar sounds, but this discussion is about satisfying a tube whore's love of tone with something portable or possibly in the digital realm. The adrenalinn is not it.

Martyn · Post by **Martyn** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 5:57 pm

Jekblad · Post by **Jekblad** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 7:31 pm

accidental post