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Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
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All have there place, I still have a bunch of big old amps that sometimes get used live but most weeks I use a modeller into an frfr cab as it's quick to set up and takes up less space and I can have a consistent sound.
The advantage of anything like that is that it does everything - silent home practice through headphones, recording via the USB interface and rehearsals/gigs.
At home I mainly use one of the amps, and for late night practice I use the headphone out of my Valvetronix AD120VTX.
http://i63.tinypic.com/2evpvfm.jpg
(and yes it does have glow-in-the-dark dial markers!)
Bandcamp
Spotify, Apple et al
I have a bit of a tendency to try and get on with modelling / multi-fx and failing. Mainly due to option paralysis rather than anything to do with sound quality but it doesn't stop me wanting to try it again from time to time.
In theory, I shouldn't need many pedals anyway since I have a H&K Switchblade which allows you to store patches with effects and sounds plenty good enough for my purposes. But I always seem to end up with an ever-expending pedalboard nevertheless.
I am quite interested in the Digitech unit (the GSP1101 mentioned above) as that always gets good comments and is pretty cheap these days. I could run that straight into my Orange TH-30 clean channel which is pristine clean up to brain bursting volumes so should work well for that...I think if I went for one of the current crop it would probably be the helix mainly due to ease of use and price. It sounded pretty good on the Ola Englund comparison videos (which are worth checking out, if you haven't already).
I assume the old POD 'feature' of a big pause between patches when you switch has been removed on the Helix? I had a PODxt for a bit and that was annoying.
But instead you use Snapshots which is a single button recall of different settings within a patch. That is seamless.
So as an example I have
Snapshot 1: Fender amp set clean, touch of chorus and reverb
Snapshot 2: Dual Rec,, gain on about 5, bit of mid scooping
Snapshot 3: Dual Rec, but this time with the gain on 8, higher mids, also turns on a short delay for thickening and a tubescreamer. All with 1 press.
The Snapshot remembers the exact settings you are playing with. So set it up and save it. Then do No2 etc.
You can squeeze 3 amp models into 1 patch if you use both signal paths and don't over do it on the FX that need a load of DSP power.
https://speakerimpedance.co.uk/?act=two_parallel&page=calculator
I'm going to defiantly have a play and see how the helix feels under the fingers. On the videos i have seen it sounds very amp like.
The most important thing is does it inspire me, does it make me play in a certain (good way)
I really don't think people in the crowd would notice the difference its just how the player feels.
I do love a good valve amp like most people. Something magical about it, so to be converted will be hard despite the practicalities.
Has anyone compared the GSP1101 with the new batch of modellers? I guess for £300 there's bound to be a jump in quality but I wonder how much. I read that if you replace the stock cabinets with the IR ones then it makes a big difference to the modelled sounds. I think I heard something similar about the Kemper.
the amp models are generally good and one or two are really good (5150). The effects are good - delays and reverbs in particular- but mod and pitch fx are one at a time. For example, if you wanted chorus and flanger together, it's not possible.
the beta C63 firmware is a huge upgrade and is a must. Better IR's do make a big difference and you can load 10, in addition to the stock cabs. Midi implementation is very good and more flexible with C63. It's very reliable- I've gigged mine loads and never had a problem. It's a real Swiss Army knife and very useful in a variety of situations which is why I've kept mine.
Clearly they weren't good enough but I couldn't afford something like an Axe-FX so I had to find something in the middle ground. That was a lot harder than you might think because there is surprisingly little choice. I read some good reviews of the BluGuitar AMP1 so I decided to take a chance and bought one. I found the tone to be far more convincing than anything I'd tried previously as it really did sound like a valve amp and was incredibly loud. It seemed to both sound and feel like a proper valve amp. It wasn't 100% perfect but it was VERY close as well as being astonishingly compact, taking up no more space than a couple of pedals. This made me start to think that if this unit could be this good, how much better would it be with more processing power?
I still couldn't afford an Axe-FX but I did come across the Atomic AmpliFire and again, decided to take a chance. Wow!!! I'd been impressed with the AMP1 but this was on a whole new level with a good range of amp models that were highly convincing and the same could be said of the onboard effects. I still needed a power amp unless I always intended to use the PA so I decided to just use my AMP1 for that purpose. This had a couple of advantages:
- I had a built-in backup
- It was very small so I could house both the AmpliFire and the AMP1 on my pedalboard giving me a very light and portable rig.
I've used this rig live and at home, with both giving superb results. It sounds great at either gig or home volume levels and allows me listen through headphones if I want to play late at night without annoying the neighbours. It gives me an impressive range of high quality amp sounds that are as close to the quality of a valve amp as I ever thought possible. As much as I loved my old valve amps, I have absolutely no intention at all of going back to a conventional valve amp.The reason I like the Helix a lot more is the user interface, it's simpler and the LCD above each pedal and main display are really good and lead a very transparent playing experience. The Helix has less in depth parameter controls that the Axe-FX and I see this as a distinct advantage as it leads to less rabbit hole tweaking and more playing. It has enough to allow some deeper editing but it's not so deep as to be confusing and is a more 'pedal' type experience rather than what at times seems like a 'synth' type tweaking experience on the Axe-FX. For example Adjusting the Wow/Flutter on the tape delay is one control slider on the Helix, I honestly don't know where to start on the Axe-FX.
Some people may love this deep level editing ability but it does require some understanding and being a bit dim I found it confusing. The people that love this deep level of control may see the Helix as limited and toy like, but I like simple, just like the pedals I used to use.
For example here is a comparison of the Tape Delay parameters on both:
Helix, 1 page of parameters:
Axe-FX/AX8, 6 pages of parameters:
That's why I'm so excited about the new Headrush floor unit...it seems to have all the advantages of the Eleven modelling (upgraded for modern times, it would appear) but fixes all the problems. The only one that's not confirmed fixed is the spillover, but with quad-core DSP available I can't imagine they'll have left it off the list.
http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/93662/akai-new-headrush-looks-like-a-helix-best-thread-version/p1
It's come a long way since my old Behringer V-Amp 2! I've never managed to get a sound or feel I'm truly happy with using software like Amplitube though which makes me skeptical, just don't have that same "3D" sound and feel. It's like playing a recorded and processed version of the amp rather than a real one.
That said, you need to get your expectations right when using any of them. What they give you is the sound of a mic'd up amp. The touch feel and dynamics is all there but if you are yearning for the sound your ear hears direct from a speaker you might be dissapointed.
Get your head around that and the possibilities offered by modelling are extreme. If lost all my gear and could only buy 1 thing back? It would be my helix.