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Post by premiumplus (Dave) on May 16, 2023 14:40:47 GMT -7
I'm tired of lugging my pedalboard and amp to band practice, so I have decided to give digital another whirl. It's always left me underwhelmed, and I just hated everything I ever got. But I picked up a HeadRush MX5 last week and I'll be darned if it doesn't scratch an itch. I spent some time with it this afternoon and put together a "Rig" for practice tonight. I'm going to run the MX5 into the Power Input jack of an old Boss Katana 1x12 combo that I've got, and I have it sounding kind of decent. I spent a long time switching back and forth between my Z28 MKII and the digital rig, and using a parametric EQ I got it sounding fairly good.
And then it hit me; can't I just take an IR snapshot of the Z28 and load it into the MX5? I know it will accept IR files, so I'm going to try to do something with it when I get home from rehearsal tonight.
Does anybody have experience with this? I'd sure like to learn a little more about the technology. In the meantime, I'm looking very forward to getting my new 35th Anniversary Carmen Ghia. There's nothing that will replace a great tube amp for me! But I don't mind cheating a little to save my back.
Oh, and it would be cool if I could use just the effects part of this little box in front of a tube amp. I have a Line 6 HX Effects that I'm going to sell. I like the time delay effects and other stuff, but I can't get into their overdrives and distortions. So I'm hoping that the HeadRush will work for that too.
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Post by adam on May 16, 2023 17:16:07 GMT -7
I'd say try it and see how it works. I've had a couple setups over the years that I thought sounded really good until brought it into a band situation and then it was just missing everything I like about playing guitar. You won't know until you try it out for real.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention to just leave an amp and pedalboard at practice. Not like you don't have a few of those. Or even leave a cab and carry around a Ghia head or something. Maybe the new Ghia combo will hit a sweet spot of practical and fun.
Lastly, maybe just put together a real small pedalboard with no more than 4 pedals. You really just need one good sound and then maybe something to boost that one sound.
And remember, the journey is the fun part. Like say you got that tonex pedal, profiled something, and let's say that was the bomb. So you reached tonal nirvana with nothing else to explore... well, that's just no fun and the journey is over. It would be like you won the game and don't want to play it anymore.
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Post by RickJames on May 16, 2023 17:52:18 GMT -7
Analog…….
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Post by premiumplus (Dave) on May 16, 2023 18:42:56 GMT -7
I tried it out tonight at practice and it sounded ok, but we had no drums or bass tonight. It's going to be fun but there's nothing like a great tube amp (or two). Like Joe Walsh says, I'm An Analog Man...and it's gonna take a huge leap to get me away from glowing tube filaments and real knobs to turn!
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Post by pcns on May 17, 2023 13:05:41 GMT -7
these always sound okay when you are playing by yourself. I never seem to be able to get a tone that sounds right or feels right in a band mix.
I hope this works out for you Dave although it's a shame you a house full of wonderful amps and pedals.
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Post by headshrinker (Marc) on May 17, 2023 13:42:16 GMT -7
I'm thinking we've lost our old buddy Dave and he's been replaced by his AI created pod replica.
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Post by premiumplus (Dave) on May 17, 2023 14:39:13 GMT -7
Don't worry, guys. I'm never giving up my Z tube amps and analog gear. It's still lightyears ahead of digital!
I'm just looking for a lightweight thing I can take to band practice. It's fun.
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Post by RickJames on May 17, 2023 15:32:03 GMT -7
a ZAmp, an analog delay, and a Wah pedal …..done deal
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Post by purpletele on May 17, 2023 18:22:09 GMT -7
Don't worry, guys. I'm never giving up my Z tube amps and analog gear. It's still lightyears ahead of digital! I'm just looking for a lightweight thing I can take to band practice. It's fun. You know what they say, once you go digital you never ___________ fill in the blank
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Post by Russell B on May 18, 2023 7:47:46 GMT -7
I use a couple of digital devices. I use a Line 6 M5 for the Whammy effect. The greatest thing I use is a Two Note Cab simulator. It allows me to go direct while still using my Z-Lux or Cute. I have a UA Ox Box for this too, but the Two Notes is much smaller. Steve Stevens (Billy Idol) is using the Two Notes simulator now.
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Post by doctorice on May 19, 2023 8:55:22 GMT -7
Don't worry, guys. I'm never giving up my Z tube amps and analog gear. It's still lightyears ahead of digital! I'm just looking for a lightweight thing I can take to band practice. It's fun. You might try a Strymon Iridium as the amp "replacement". Put it on a pedalboard as the last thing in the chain, then right into the PA. Note: I have used the Iridium for recording, never for a live performance, so buyer beware.
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Post by Norrin Radd on May 22, 2023 11:20:47 GMT -7
Don't worry, guys. I'm never giving up my Z tube amps and analog gear. It's still lightyears ahead of digital! I'm just looking for a lightweight thing I can take to band practice. It's fun. You might try a Strymon Iridium as the amp "replacement". Put it on a pedalboard as the last thing in the chain, then right into the PA. Note: I have used the Iridium for recording, never for a live performance, so buyer beware. You ever use the headphones out on the Iridium? Curious as to how it works for practice purposes.
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Post by adam on May 22, 2023 17:31:59 GMT -7
Some outside thought from a touring band who were using modelers and switched to amps. Sort of fits in here.
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Post by doctorice on May 23, 2023 13:22:53 GMT -7
You might try a Strymon Iridium as the amp "replacement". Put it on a pedalboard as the last thing in the chain, then right into the PA. Note: I have used the Iridium for recording, never for a live performance, so buyer beware. You ever use the headphones out on the Iridium? Curious as to how it works for practice purposes. It works fine for that. The Level knob serves as the headphone volume control. Sound quality is good. It's pricey if you only intend to use it this way. I'm sure there are less expensive alternatives. Of course, it has other uses
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Post by daddyelmis (Greg) on May 23, 2023 13:39:11 GMT -7
Some outside thought from a touring band who were using modelers and switched to amps. Sort of fits in here. Great clip, Adam. Thanks. I found it interesting the tech spends first part of the interview talking about all the problems of using amps. I’m using a Kemper a lot these days because hauling 3 amps (even though they are killer Z amps) has just gotten to be too much. Really, though, the issue is volume (as their tech says) - we play “joints” and fighting volume has gotten to be a real pain with clubs. Unless I use the Powerstation I really can’t drive the amps to the sweet spot without complaints.
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Post by premiumplus (Dave) on May 23, 2023 19:20:30 GMT -7
I'm having a real hard time trying to get a great clean and great drive tone out of this thing...I had a gig tonight and used my trusty Maz 18 MKII NR and pedal board. I love analog! Digital is such a chore for me, I really like looking at the tone stack on an amp and knowing what's happening. I can't do that with digital, at least with my digital skill set as it is. I've been going in circles with EQs and Drive settings. I find myself chasing my tail and coming back around to where I started.
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Post by j4gitr (John) on May 24, 2023 4:11:00 GMT -7
I tried a rack Mount multi-effects unit in the late 80’s or early 90’s, that cured me of the digital itch. I did buy that early line 6 pod when it came out because I thought it might be a cool practice toy. I’m too old and simple to explore that avenue again. I have a friend who has good luck with a Kemper. Ain’t going there either. Has anyone tried a DSM & Humboldt Simplifier (reg or dlx)? Its claim is the analog nature of the product. Purchasers on Sweetwater seem to like it. I’ve been considering it for church and for mixing in a little electric guitar when my wife and I perform as a duo. www.simplifieramp.com/simplifier-dlx-1
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Post by adam on May 24, 2023 6:03:38 GMT -7
Great clip, Adam. Thanks. I found it interesting the tech spends first part of the interview talking about all the problems of using amps. I’m using a Kemper a lot these days because hauling 3 amps (even though they are killer Z amps) has just gotten to be too much. Really, though, the issue is volume (as their tech says) - we play “joints” and fighting volume has gotten to be a real pain with clubs. Unless I use the Powerstation I really can’t drive the amps to the sweet spot without complaints. I "think" some of getting the amp to where it reacts the best isn't just the amp, but the speakers actually starting to do something as well as that wonderful organic sustain that starts coming from the guitar. 3 amps, yeah, that's a lot to deal with. Powerstation another thing to carry, wire, worry about, and possibly fail. The blazing amps offstage in the video - for the price of 1 of those Royer mics they could have bought 2 captor x's and completely solved the volume problem and still sound very good, if not better, and more consistent. They could also leave the amps close and not run a mile of cable to the amps. They are on in-ears anyway. To the captor x, I think that thing works great and has a lot of possibilities. If you are silent stage, it's small enough to put on your pedalboard, and you could leave an amp head by your pedal board. If not silent, you could use one output to foh and the other to small small powered monitor and completely control how loud your are. Or, if you have something like a blazing 100 watt non master amp, the attenuator will tame that thing to drummer volume, and the attenuator sounds great. You have no control of the volume from the attenuator, but that could work depending on the amp and situation. But particularly if you are silent and on ears, it's a super cool tool that can be used in a variety of ways.
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Post by GuitarZ on May 30, 2023 12:06:19 GMT -7
I just ordered a Strymon Iridium. I've been wanting an easy to carry backup to my Ghia and/or a lightweight option for rehearsals.
I had a Quilter Superblock UK for a short time. I was less than impressed when I first tried it which was with headphones. But, when I plugged it into a speaker, it sounded and felt real good. I then tried the straight output with some speaker IRs and also found it to be good. It was then I realized that their speaker modeling wasn't digital or IR based. Also, I realized a good speaker IR really helps an amp emulator sound good.
So, the Iridium's speaker model is IR based. I'm expecting good results. We'll see.
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Post by premiumplus (Dave) on May 30, 2023 17:02:14 GMT -7
I finally got it to where it's going to help me out. There are a couple of nice drives, the DOD 250 and the Blues Driver work well. I'm using only the effects. A master volume pedal at the end, drives in front, and a good chorus and tremolo fill it out. If I want I can put another expression pedal with it and have an offboard wah, or just put a wah in front of the thing. I ended up ditching all the presets and just set up one pedal board. So it'll be cool for rehearsing but it's gonna be all tube amps for gigs.
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