Ableton Forum

hi everyone,
some of you may remember me posting a similar thread not too long ago RE favorite amp sims... I'm a big fan of guitar rig 2, but I wanna get playing guitar not infront of a computer screen, so I'm diving back into the world of real amp and getting myself one for home practice / gigging.
Being used to having a plethora of virtual stomps, moving to a real amp might have me feeling a bit limited. Whilst this may possibly be a good thing, I was wondering if any of you have any recommended multi fx pedals?
I find myself using distortion emulations : Big Muff, RAT, Sansamp as well as usual delays, choruses, and occasionally reverbs.
so do I get one pedal to rule them all (and in the darkness bind them)
or settle with a smaller array of individual genuine pedals?
plus... what do u and your feet use and love?

God I struggle with this....

I've used individual pedals for years, switched to a amp sim/effects processor (gt8) and now use gtr rig and live to process my sounds. In a perfect world, I'd be using an amp I love, with individual pedals on the floor. But guitar rig is so friggin convienent to use...and in an apt, it's ideal.

Oddly enough, Kevin Shields from My Bloody Valentine and Dave Navarro from jane's addiciton both make good use of basic boss guitar pedals (Kevin uses a yamaha rackmount to get the backwards reverb sound).

Curious to know what other's are doing as well. My goal was to do use Live and Guitar Rig for EVERYTHING. I can't help but shake the feeling though, that all this laptop generated sound is....dare I say, fake.

only the most expensive handmade, handpainted boutiqe pedals will do, plugged in to the most expensive handmade british boutique amp - or one of these http://www.petecornish.co.uk/

i love zvex fx. i know you're looking for multifx pedals, but i haven't found any that come close to what you can get with a bunch of stomp boxes (you always end up with that cheesy over effected 80s sound).

dj superflat wrote:i love zvex fx. i know you're looking for multifx pedals, but i haven't found any that come close to what you can get with a bunch of stomp boxes (you always end up with that cheesy over effected 80s sound).

So true...so true.

Pod XT?

To me you just can't go wrong hooking up Guitar Rig 2 to a great littie tube amp like the Fender Blues Junior. I've had a few pieces of MFX hardware and nothing comes close to GR2 for versatility. Of course it helps to have GR2 on a laptop.

Distortion: Hot Cake (Made by crowther audio in NZ)

Delays: Boss DD-20 (this is a completely different beast to most digi delays - it sounds as nice as my ye olde Boss analog DM-100)

Those are the only 2 pedals that I whole heartedly recommend - I own quite a few other pedals but they all have things about them that shit me, except for those two. Both pedals aren't cheap, but I would lay down the cash in an instant to replace either of them.

Guitar Rig is pretty dammed cool IMO, best digital rack I've heard. Otherwise it's stomp boxes, preferences RAT, and Marshall JMP-1 for distortion. and OLD amps, don't think anything made in the last 30 years sounds as good as an old tube amp, and a few select pedals. I tried rack mount all in one deals for years, and always ended up selling them and pulling out a few old stomp boxes with the JMP-1, plugged into a 1969 Marshal Major.

Funny, I was just playing with the StealthPlug and Amplitube I got for Xmas, really cool package. It's a soundcard on a guitar lead and comes with Amplitube, tons o'fun and all laptop driven.

Favorite pedal - Boss Pitch shift with delay, PS-3, very versatile.

PODxt Live is a great device running into an Atomic Reactor amp.

I don't think I understand this thread......but I'll add in anyways.

As most people can tell, I have way too much time on my hands......however, I am a pretty good guitar player ( and even better bass player ) with allot of time/money and PAIN invested.

guitar rig 2 is simply by far the best sounding ampsim......I have or have tried them all.......other than what a "QUACK" company (customer service wise) NI is, this one they got right.

Going into an amp is too subjective......mic placement, room acoustics..........I'm already tired! But for a guitar/bass, into the computer, GR2 can't be beat. I'll take that "pepsi challenge with ANYONE!".........

Of course, I do run a UAD solo 610 in front of my motu traveler........I can guarantee you that is part of how killer the tone/feel is.....but still......as bad as the "company" NI sucks.......GR2 is SICK sounding!

The moral of the story? Have a tube pre if running guitar into soundcard/get GR2 if you don't have it (there is a demo, and yes it has bugs.......but tone wise it's terrific!) and learn to play!

Ok, I'm ready for my spanking now.........

...well this is a question as: Fender or Gibson, or which Tube factory?

Basically everything that suits your needs is the best sounding effect.
Since there are so many boutique fx on the market it is impossible to say which is best, but obviously many are not bad

I play guitar and bass for 25 years and one stomp box I kept over the years is my 2nd series T.C. Chorus/Flanger which I mainly use in studio in Pitchshift mode to fatten the bass.
IMHO overdrive and distortion HAVE to be made with tubes and a decent AMP and the sound also comes from the instrument and obviously your fingers.

I tried so many Amps: Marshall, Boogie, Fender, Peavey, MusicMan, Kitty Hawk, Hughes & Kettner, but 3 years ago I changed to a KOCH Pedaltone PDT4 Tubepreamp which is modified and to my handbuilt LENDER poweramp which is based on an old Soundcity poweramp from the 70's which has got partridge transformers and an 1x 15" cabinet with an Eminence Legend 151.

The only fx I am using on guitar are a Electro-Harmonix tube compressor "Black Finger" and a Tech 21 Killer Wail Wha-Wha in front of the preamp, and a Digitech TSR-24S (old multi-fx -u can get one cheap nowadays on ebay - I paid 1000 € new, 11 years ago) only for delay and reverb after the Preamp. I am still looking for a good Tremolo/Vibrato. Lovepedal seem to sound quite good or Line6 MM4- this one is versatile but not really built as a Tank.
The rest is preproduced with Ableton

In terms of amp simulations I would prefer Amplitube on an Laptop, but a simulation can never have my unique sound and not the dynamics of the real thing, but for composing, jingles, preproduction, etc. this is a fast and portable solution.

my 2 cents, best

michael

Do any of the other hardware amp sims compare to the Pod series? I do still like to be able to play guitar without a computer. I live in an apartment, so a juicy amp is... If you can't turn an amp past 2, set it free. The Mesa DC-10 was a bit much, sold it, Line 6 Spider was too cheesy, returned it to the guy who loaned it to me.

Tone Deft wrote:Do any of the other hardware amp sims compare to the Pod series? I do still like to be able to play guitar without a computer. I live in an apartment, so a juicy amp is... If you can't turn an amp past 2, set it free. The Mesa DC-10 was a bit much, sold it, Line 6 Spider was too cheesy, returned it to the guy who loaned it to me.

try one of those:

http://cgi.ebay.de/Badcat-Mini-cat-2-Bo ... dZViewItem

or those:

http://www.tonehunter.de/custommade/ton ... ation.html

or:

an old Fender Champ

or:

an old Hughes & Kettner Tubeman (the old blue one), good tube sound for direct recording and probably cheap.

I don't like pods, they are not dynamic, especially in a band. Try a sansamp instead. I got one for bass.

best

michael