New Bedroom Amp And Effects Setup Options

[yoncopin]

When I was a teenager I had one guitar, my Gibson SG Special, but now as an adult have been blessed with enough income to buy and try a number of guitars. I never had the opportunity to try different necks and pickups, body styles and all the variety the guitar world offers. Since my return to guitar playing I've been able to buy and sell a number of used guitars, without losing much money on the exchange. I've settled on a few which fit my desired feel and tone, and I've learned a ton about guitar setup, maintenance, and modifications.

At this point, my guitars are set and I want to turn my attention to the amp and effects side. I discussed this briefly on the Helix thread, but I've thought about it a lot since then. First, I am a bedroom player and have no desire to play live or anywhere but my home "studio" jamming, practicing, and recording. I have small children so low volume is a priority and currently play through my Pod HD500X and a pair of Yamaha HS5 monitors. This is a great setup and I've spent a lot of time learning and crafting virtual tones with the infinite number of choices the Pod provides.

This year I'd like to take it to the next level and would really appreciate some feedback on the different options I've researched. My goal is to continue exploring, learning and tinkering, much like my search with the instruments themselves. In the end, this is all just for my own personal enjoyment and motivation, I really try to "earn" new gear purchases and resist the temptation of shiny things. I have some gear I can sell to help pay for something new.

AMP & PEDALS
I used to have a 1978 100W Marshall Super Lead and a variety of pedals, it was good for rocking out loud with friends but as I got older and moved into the house it was totally unusable because of the volume. I sold it and all the pedals, bought a Pod X3, and have been modelling ever since for the convenience and flexibility. With all those sounds available, over time I've found I only use a small range, my tonal take on Hendrix through Megadeth is mostly covered by a JCM800 or 5150 style amp and a handful of effects.

Since selling my tube amp a lot has changed, specifically the Two Notes Torpedo series and cabinet IRs. For me, it seems like today a small 15-50 watt tube amp is a viable choice again with something like a Torpedo Live. Appealing used options are the Marshall DSL15H, JVM205H, Peavey 6505MH and the Orange Tiny/Dark Terror.
PROS: The real deal
CONS: Cost, flexibility, home studio clutter, no patch save/recall, still modelling the cabinet, additional purchase of a Torpedo unit

A second choice in this category is to build my own tube amp and pedals. I am an engineer and work with another hobbyist amp builder. I have absolute confidence it is a project I could handle. Kits exist at varying degrees of difficulty and I have a personal resource to help with issues that may arise. The Plexi 18w or a JCM800 50w clone is probably what I'd attempt.
*Same pros/cons as buying a tube amp above. The lack of immediate usability is a plus and minus, it's something to keep me busy for a long time, but it won't replace my Pod anytime soon
PROS: DIY pride, invaluable knowledge, total control, unique
CONS: Most expensive, messy, will take a lot of time away from my actual playing

KEMPER / HELIX / AXEFX
In this corner, all of my research points to the Kemper now. I thought the Helix was the right choice, but the Kemper seems more flexible and as real as a modeller(profiler) gets, I also like the desktop unit vs floorboard. The AxeFX just seems like a really expensive Helix. This would continue with the success I've been having with modellers. I still have lots to learn about crafting tones and the infinite possibilities with modellers allows easy experimentation.
PROS: The "cheapest", low clutter, convenient, variety, primary focus on playing
CONS: ???

After writing this all down, I think I've answered my own question, but I hope some of you have read this novel and are willing to give me some feedback. I think just writing this all down has been really helpful.

TL;DR The same tired question... should I get a small tube amp and pedals, or a top of the line modeller?

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This post has been edited by yoncopin: Feb 3 2016, 06:58 PM

[Gabriel Leopardi]

Hi mate, I've read everything and there are many interesting things here.

The decision can be hard but based on the possible options that you've shared here I would go for Kemper. You'll get more versatility regarding amps and fxs, you can build you own tones, you can practice with headphones, you can record directly to your computer without the need of extra cabinet, mics or room treatment, so I can imagine only cons about this device.

Building your own amp sounds like a great experience and I would do it by the way, but without hurry since you'll be proud with it. However I don't think that you'll use a real amp too much at you home if you get a kemper.

So you know my vote now.

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[Mertay]

We have this topic with Phil66 https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...t=0&start=0

Its long but nicely detailed as how he switched from a processor (which is used as a soundcard too) to all analog. After discussing in a different thread he bought a peavey valveking and got pretty good tones out of it mic.ed or using the included cab. sim. . You can message him if you have questions on home usage, his experiences are fresh and spent good time with his gear.

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This post has been edited by Mertay: Feb 3 2016, 08:40 PM

[Phil66]

It's a really hard call Brian, if you're anything like me, you'll be on a constant quest for something you haven't got

Read the thread Mertay gave if you have the time, it covers lots of things and you may decide to take a more basic route. If you have any questions post them here and I'll do my best to answer with my experience.

For me, pedals are out of the question except for something like the Hotbird as it is nice and big and sits on the desk nicely with all of its knobs to twiddle. Pedals are messy in a home studio, and no patch recall etc. But a nice analogue drive pedal going into a multi fx works well, and also into a valve head with an emulated output so you can add effects like delay as it goes into the DAW or even use plugins.
The Peavey Valveking 20MH is great for this.

Cheers and good luck.

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[Todd Simpson]

Very well said In a home studio, pedals are tempting as you can build as you go and just keep adding pedals. But they do have limitiations. No recall, one setting per pedal, etc. Having a really nice overdrive to use as a preamp or as an overdrive is a good idea That and a hardware noise gate like the new TC ELECRTONIC SENTRY are two pedals I'd suggest For most other things, plugins and multi fx units can cover more ground per dollar imho.

Todd

It's a really hard call Brian, if you're anything like me, you'll be on a constant quest for something you haven't got

Read the thread Mertay gave if you have the time, it covers lots of things and you may decide to take a more basic route. If you have any questions post them here and I'll do my best to answer with my experience.

For me, pedals are out of the question except for something like the Hotbird as it is nice and big and sits on the desk nicely with all of its knobs to twiddle. Pedals are messy in a home studio, and no patch recall etc. But a nice analogue drive pedal going into a multi fx works well, and also into a valve head with an emulated output so you can add effects like delay as it goes into the DAW or even use plugins.
The Peavey Valveking 20MH is great for this.

Cheers and good luck.

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[yoncopin]

I think all signs are pointing to the Kemper as the right solution for me as a player. It was the conclusion I arrived at too, and a lot of opinions I respect here seem to agree. The Kemper is very likely in my future when I've finished budgeting for it. The Peavey Valveking was on my short list of heads as well, I think you got a great amp Phil.

That said, I've continued to look at building my own gear. I'd like to have something within the guitar hobby to let my brain chew on when I can't play and it's doing the trick. In just a few days I've made a lot of progress on understanding pedal, preamp and poweramp designs. I've found design software (when daisy-chained together) that should allow me to do experiments with virtual circuit designs and be able to feed dry guitar signals into them to get a simulated sound out. When I've arrived at something I like I can bring it out to the physical domain and build an actual device. That is super exciting!!! Right now I'm thinking the first project may be an analog overdrive based on an existing amp's preamp section. Maybe I'll make another thread when I've made progress if others are interested.

Thanks all!

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[Todd Simpson]

The Kemper is a great choice It will work with external gear like pedals as well so don't worry about that. I have two pedal boards that I use with my 11 rack and an external preamp in the fx loop. So you can always add your own gear and add on to the kemper.

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