Do I need another amp or what?

[Mockbel]

Hi guys...

I started a thread last week about playing at low volume and how can I achieve good tone without attenuation of my amp and so.. with a couple of hours dialing the amp and patch level on my GT8 I was able to achieve very nice high gain tone .. I did all this with my Ibanez which is loaded with petrucci high output dimarzios

Yesterday I plugged the strat and the good tone turned into real **** !! Today I plugged my R8 and it was even worse.. I couldn't get any acceptable tone in an hour or something.. I think I need some more time.. the point now is I will need major settings changes with each guitar.. this is annoying !

Started to think about modeling amps.. any recommendations for something at reasonable price? I can't afford a kemper or something at this range ...

Another basic question for those who play multiple styles, do you prefer modeling amp or multiple tube amps?

 

[C_Becker]

Cannot help you with the modeling or your multi-effect, but there are many amps out there that I consider very versatile.

My home rig currently consists of a Blackstar HT1 Metal head going into a Marshall MX212 (V30 + G12T-75). Only pedals are a Bad Monkey, a tuner and a looper, reverb is built into the amp. I can cover a lot of ground with that setup and I can play at TV levels easily.

But 1W can also be quite loud through good speakers

The clean channel on the amp can be driven into a nice crunch tone using the overdrive pedal or high-output pups. Or you can play it clean with some reverb.

The overdrive channel is great for doing the all-out br00talz. You can go from early Metallica (ISF to the left) to Priest (ISF to the right) all the way to modern 7-string sounds.

Only thing that is missing is an EQ, but I'll rectify that with a cheap EQ pedal soon.

Since you already have an 112 cab, check out the small Blackstar heads.
Or the Orange Micro Terror or Micro Dark.

Or, if you don't mind an SS amp, check out the Peavey Bandit, it sounds good and is very versatile.

 

[Mockbel]

When I was buying my Laney I tried the Blackstar ht5 and I preferred the Laney.. I believe it is versatile enough but needs more adjustments and time..
my concern now is that with each guitar I need to have different amp setup !

 

[hbucker]

Look at the Atomic Amplifire modeling amps. They don't have the bells and whistles of the Kempers and Fractals, but they (by my understanding) have a sound that rivals the others with the amps and features they do have. The two models of Atomic Amplifires are also very reasonably priced. If I were to get a modeling unit today, it would be the Amplifire for the very same reasons you describe for yourself.

As for your original question. IMO, If any amp needs to be so finely tuned for a tone with a specific guitar that it sounds that bad with other guitars, either there is something wrong with the way you've got it adjusted, or that is indeed a very specific tone you've achieved. * An exception to this could be: sometimes Strats and LP's with more traditional pickups don't sound that good with high gain patches. Maybe reconcile your Strat and LP to more traditional (classic) gain settings and use the Ibanez for the modern high gain.

Nothing wrong with that, but it sounds like you may have a patch that works well with one guitar and that's it.

Different guitars should sound different through the same amp with the same conventional settings. That's one reason we have more than one guitar. Minor tweaks, here and there might be needed once in a while, but a complete overhaul of your settings really shouldn't be needed (my high gain comments aside). Certainly, with the guitars you describe, one shouldn't sound great while the others sound as terrible as you're describing.

I would never try to talk you out of buying new gear - you're welcome - but maybe try saving that patch on your Boss, and start over with a new patch with less tweaks and effects?


good luck

 

[bulletproof]

I'll say it again....nothing beats a Mesa/Boogie TA-15 for livingroom/bedroom players. Great tones can be had at very reasonable volumes and its no one trick pony,either.

 

[Mockbel]

Additional note guys

I don't use any preamp simulation or distortion from the GT8.. i use it in 4 cable method just for effects so my "tone " is 100% from the Laney amp.

 

[Mockbel]

I'll say it again....nothing beats a Mesa/Boogie TA-15 for livingroom/bedroom players. Great tones can be had at very reasonable volumes and its no one trick pony,either.

It lacks fx loop.. it is a show stopper to me !

 

[hbucker]

It seems strange for one guitar to sound great, and another to sound as bad as you're describing. Not as good is totally expected. Even "not desirable". But the impression I have is that one is great and the others are really terrible. That does sound a little strange.

Hope you find an answer.

 

[disaffected]

Ya, tubes can be a bummer at low volumes. I have a VHT Special 6 Ultra that is my low vol tube solution. It is OK when dialed down to 1/2Watt. I would say cleans are better than overdriven sounds. I also just bought a Boss Katana 50 for practice. This is a much better solution than the VHT. While not a true modeler you can get pretty close to the tube amps you like in a digital package which is good at low vols. I have loaded a few vids for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4SueVfXWMI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74ZdZmEQ8LU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXGeMjaThxU

 

[dpgumby]

Have you tried adjusting the input level on the GT-8? It is a global setting you can use to adjust between guitars with different output pickups. With my Trad (57Classics) I think (from memory) I have it set to something like -12dB to get all the levels in the right ballpark and prevent any clipping. You could try adjusting that to see if you can get the various guitars to balance better.
You could also try the global eq settings. If either of these does the trick then you won't have to make different patches. If they don't, then it's multiple different patches for each guitar, or try something else completely.

 

[Mockbel]

Ya, tubes can be a bummer at low volumes. I have a VHT Special 6 Ultra that is my low vol tube solution. It is OK when dialed down to 1/2Watt. I would say cleans are better than overdriven sounds. I also just bought a Boss Katana 50 for practice. This is a much better solution than the VHT. While not a true modeler you can get pretty close to the tube amps you like in a digital package which is good at low vols. I have loaded a few vids for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4SueVfXWMI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74ZdZmEQ8LU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXGeMjaThxU

Nice.. watched the videos and read some info on the boss katana but i wonder what is the difference between this and the preamps on my boss gt8? I can bypass the preamp on my laney completely and go directly from gt8 to the power amp.. would that be similar to the katana ?

 

[mandobandit]

I have the Katana K50 very good for low volume scalable wattage control from 50 watt to 1/2 a watt

 

[garybaldy]

Additional note guys

I don't use any preamp simulation or distortion from the GT8.. i use it in 4 cable method just for effects so my "tone " is 100% from the Laney amp.

Sorry for going off on a tangent but I (perhaps wrongly) thought that the 4 cable method was for the purpose of using the multifx's distortions into front of amp, and modulations/delays etc thru loop. Which effects do you route to the input and which ones thru the loop?
Also how do you assign different effects on the GT8 to the inputs that you want them to go to?
I have had a GT5 for some while but have yet to experiment fully with it. I'm assuming the principles are the same as the GT8.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Mockbel]

Sorry for going off on a tangent but I (perhaps wrongly) thought that the 4 cable method was for the purpose of using the multifx's distortions into front of amp, and modulations/delays etc thru loop. Which effects do you route to the input and which ones thru the loop?
Also how do you assign different effects on the GT8 to the inputs that you want them to go to?
I have had a GT5 for some while but have yet to experiment fully with it. I'm assuming the principles are the same as the GT8.
Thanks in advance.

Yes you are right.. i use 4 cable method for tbis purpose but i dont use any of gt8 distortions.. i use the amp footswitch to change to distortion channel of the amp

I have wah before amp input and delay/chorus in the loop

 

[bulletproof]

It lacks fx loop.. it is a show stopper to me !

Oh geez,you are one of those guys

Yaaa,no fx loop,however,the damn things can really pull out some great tones. The TA-30 has the loop,but,alas....more volume

 

[ARandall]

Trying to go modern and vintage in one amp is hard. Then doing that all that at low volume (something tube amps tend not to do) - thats probably never going to happen with one amp.

 

[Mockbel]

Trying to go modern and vintage in one amp is hard. Then doing that all that at low volume (something tube amps tend not to do) - thats probably never going to happen with one amp.

So far that's my conclusion as well... at least with the level of effort I plan to give to this matter

I have so many parameters now.. it took me some time to prepare a decent high gain sound with my Ibanez.. with the strat or the R8 i couldn't get same sound and with minor tweaks I couldn't fix it.. seems like i need totally different settings...

The parameters i am talking about are:
Boost, gain, volume, EQ (on the amp)
volume level, patch level, noise gate (on the GT8)
Volume on guitar has a great effect too especially on the strat and the R8 !

 

[lung plunger]

Right now, I'm plugging directly into my modded spitfire clone that has a PPIMV. I think this style of master volume is 'aight....sounds awesome. If thinking about another amp on the cheap, there's a bunch of people doing hammond chassis conversions out there.

 

[ARandall]

For variety, you either need the modeler or a bunch of pedals into a clean foundation neutral enough that will allow the pedals to be their own tone.

Tube amps tend to have a 'tone' based on the tonestack and how the various stages of gain work with each other.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

When I owned a multiFX unit, I had separate patch-groupings set up for my SGs and my Squier Strat. Surely the GT8 has enough storage to allow that?