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Thoughts On Modeling Amps?


Tim37

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Well i have a good tube amp and i am happy with it but i have been itching for something new and i have been lookin real hard at modeling amps the new fender mustangs seem pretty nice. but i havent event ever had or played with a modeling amp and i was just wanting yall opinions on them. They seem to all get the same mixed reviews either people say they sound sterile or they say they sound great. since for the most part this forum is pretty liberal on this kind of stuff and yall will give it a fair shake i was just wanting to know what yall think of them? modeling amps in general and if you have a sugestion through that in there too but please im on a serous budget here.

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I've got one of them Vox Valvetronic ones and it works great... as a dust collector.

I think that if you find a sound you like within the seemingly endless tone possibilities you're alright. But what I've found is that once you find a sound you like, you'll stick with that sound. Which begs the question - why get an amp that has 1000's of tones just to stick with one?

Maybe if you're recording it might be good to have a small one around to get a particular sound.

It all comes down to whether or not you like the sound coming out of the black box.

Cheers

B

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thanks guys

i have actualy looked at the vox valvetronic. and wes from what i have read the tech 21 trademark 60 is the end solid state blues amp but its a litttle out of my league but i think may be able to get ahold of a trademark 30 used it just may take me a little more saving up.

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Oh, forgot to mention that the Vox has a known gremlin with the way that the valve seats in (or doesn't, as the case may be). I have to pick mine up a couple of inches and give it a thud into the ground to get the thing to work most times.

It went back to the factory once and they said that it was fine. I brought it home, pluged in and same problem. That's when I found out that anger and brute force solved the problem.

Many of the Valvetronics have been returned because of this (info comes from a friend who owns a music store).

B

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No Tim,this is the one I mean

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/RPM/

That is what I have..it is just a preamp and you can match it with any power amp and an EQ in a rack and you should be able to get 10 times as much out of it as a Line 6 or anything similar..and unlike those others,it is fairly transparent..meaning you can hear the natural tone of the guitar(as much as you ever can)

But You really need the footswitch that is made for it...and you still are only likely to find a few tones that you will like personally..but it has Marshall,Mesa Triple rec,etc all built in...If you had a good tube power amp I think you would be in Heaven..at least more so than with mos other modeling amps.

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Yeah i knew what you where talking about but a whole rack set up is some thing that i can neither aford or need. but the TM series amps are supposed to be based on the sansamps.

thanks for the heads up on the Vox buter i will scratch it off my list.

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Well i have a good tube amp and i am happy with it but i have been itching for something new and i have been lookin real hard at modeling amps the new fender mustangs seem pretty nice. but i havent event ever had or played with a modeling amp and i was just wanting yall opinions on them. They seem to all get the same mixed reviews either people say they sound sterile or they say they sound great. since for the most part this forum is pretty liberal on this kind of stuff and yall will give it a fair shake i was just wanting to know what yall think of them? modeling amps in general and if you have a sugestion through that in there too but please im on a serous budget here.

Behringer don't make the VAmpire any more but if you can find one second hand, snap it up

20suc6u.jpg

Great amp tones, all the effects including harmonizer and a tuner in one box. 45 watts, great for practising in the house but if you hook it up to a 2 x 12 speaker cabinet heaps of power for studio practice. You could easily play smaller gigs with it.

But if you want something even gruntier, try out a combo like this

i3b53q.jpg

And try feeding the modeler/effects unit into the preamp rather than the effects return (yes there is an effects loop in that JCM 800) why miss out on all that 12AX7 goodness?

I haven't tried the Vox out, let us know how you go :D

Edited by Muzz
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thanks guys

i have actualy looked at the vox valvetronic. and wes from what i have read the tech 21 trademark 60 is the end solid state blues amp but its a litttle out of my league but i think may be able to get ahold of a trademark 30 used it just may take me a little more saving up.

The trademark series are neither a modelling amp or a blues amp, they are, however, a really great sounding solidstate amp.

As far as modelling devices go, I've never played one that impressed me...except for the Axe FX

But those are out of most peoples budget..

What exactly do you want from a modeller?

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I have a Vox Valvetronix and I really like it. Some of the models don't sound exactly like the real thing, but if you gave me Hendrix's guitar, map and pedalboard, I still wouldn't sound like him, so it's close enough for me.

Never had an issue with it (no valve seating issues), other than the fact that my bro nicked my 30 Watt version and replaced it with his 15 Watt one. I've ran out of space in my house so I'm going to sell the 15 Watt one and buy a very small amp that can fit on my bookcase instead. I'll upgrade again once I get a bigger house.

All in all, I'm very happy with the amp......... but take that with a pinch of salt as I really am terrible on a guitar.

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What exactly do you want from a modeller?

good question i guess i should have put that in the original post. i am wanting a small solid state amp that sounds decent all the analoge ones i have found do a ok job at cleans and high gain but i tend to play more blues, country type stuff so im wanting somethign with some mild break up and well solid state amps dont tend to do that. i want somethign that i can just flip a switch on and its ready to go. theres a lot of times where i will have a few minutes befor work or somthing to kill and i dont like firing up my tube amp for 5 min or somthing, also i work second shift a lot and by the time i get off work at 11 and go home take a shower and eat its 12 or so and i dont want to wake up the neighbors. but i want something that sounds decent at lower volumes.

i went to the local music shop and played some both analog and modeling amps orange, roland, and fender was all he had the orange of coarse had the typical over the top gain, fender analog was what i expected agian too much gian plus very thin sounding, the rolands sounded good so did the fender dec amps i also played around with the mustang modeling amps, the bigger one i didnt like but the smaller one with the 8" speaker actualy sounded good and its about 100 bucks. i will try to make it up to GC and play the vox and a few others befor jumping in but im really digging on the fender mustang it has like 7 basic models and i find 4 of them very usable for me.

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Axe FX are sweet. For the reasonable cost and general simplicity in use, I am currently using a Line 6 Pod X3 PRO rack mounted modeller. I've a bunch of bass patches I've been tweaking for around a year now, and I'm very happy with them. The ability to configure patches as dual tones or two separately channelled tones is a seller for me too. Records straight into SONAR with the option of re-amping too. Can't say I've really used or considered anything else as my immediate needs are met.

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the pods are cool but im really digging the fender mustang at first i saw it through it on here and had dissmissed it after a few post and some research on the vox amps. but after playing with it it seemed cool plus i got two options around here the small shop or GC and i couldnt hardly hear any of the amps i pluged in to there got so disgusted i just left. i think im going back to my local guy and picking up the fender. btw one of the cool things about it early in the post someone mentioned that most people find a settting and stick with it well with the mustang you can reprogram the settings to what ever you want so you could in theory make them all the same and assighn diffent effects to each setting. plus it didn't sound too bad i wouldnt ever try a side by side agianst my working dog but i think it will be fine for a late night practice amp.

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I use a Line 6 Pod X3 Pro, and really like it for the versatility, but the AES/EBU output seems tweaky. It's my main bass rig and my 'sometimes' guitar rig. If I had the cash, I'd definitely go for a Fractal Audio Axe FX.

Yeah the Fractal Audio Axe FX is fantastic if you're a guitarist, but as a bassist it seems very featureless. Just a SVT model? Bleh. I really love the GK, Eden and SVT models in dual tone on the X3 Pro. Really nice to work with two models to build a composite tone.

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btw though i would update i got the fender mustang i and im very happy with it its a great sounding amp for 100 bucks i wouldn't want to try and compare it head to head with a real amp (i mean one of the models programed in) but it does the job and i like the fact that i can reprogram channels that i dont use to ones i will use.

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I have a Line6 Vetta and I love it. I use a couple of great amp sounds, and all the stomp boxes I could want are built in too.

I've never used any of the factory presets, I just start with an amp without any effects.

One of the best purchases I have ever made.

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I have a Line6 Vetta and I love it. I use a couple of great amp sounds, and all the stomp boxes I could want are built in too.

I've never used any of the factory presets, I just start with an amp without any effects.

One of the best purchases I have ever made.

Yep they are great and so convenient to have everything in one box.

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