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GMC Forum _ GEAR & PRODUCTION _ What Amp Should I Get?

Posted by: Jim Seekford Sep 7 2013, 11:38 PM

Alright so my gear is really getting quite old and I'm planning on buying a new amp around Xmas. I like tube amps and is like it to have the capability of going band level loud but most of its life will be recording and practicing. Ideally I like recording late at night so I have been using the pre amp out into my FireWire recording preamp into my Mac. So it's making no noise. I wish I could crank it up and mic it but that's not possible.

I have a bunch of equipment that is like to get rid of in its place like cellestion cabinets, pedal boards and older amps.

If you had around $1000 plus what I could sell what would you get?

Posted by: uncguy4321 Sep 8 2013, 02:06 AM

As a noob, I would ask since you cant crank it anyway, why don't you just go the plugin route, like guitar rig 5?

Posted by: Jim Seekford Sep 8 2013, 03:29 AM

QUOTE (uncguy4321 @ Sep 7 2013, 09:06 PM) *
As a noob, I would ask since you cant crank it anyway, why don't you just go the plugin route, like guitar rig 5?

I have used simulated guitar tones from my pedal board but it is not like the sound produced from an amp, very different smile.gif

I guess I should explain what type of music I generally play. I play mostly rock styles, clean to high gain van halen sound.

Posted by: thefireball Sep 8 2013, 05:04 AM

Perhaps a Marshall? smile.gif

Posted by: Todd Simpson Sep 8 2013, 06:32 AM

You mean like this smile.gif

https://soundcloud.com/techniqueswithtodd/vanhalenish-patch-overloud-th2

To be honest, for home recording, you can get pretty much any sound you want out of a good amp sim if you prep the signal properly and design a good patch. I've stopped using amps entirely for home recording as they simply require too much volume to sound good through a mic and I lose too much tone trying to get the signal back in the computer. I've been using OVELROUD TH2 for high gain and SCUFFHAM AMPS plugins for medium gain/clean and I have been getting simply amazing results that would be hard to beat in a home setting with a "real" amp.

UNCGUY has a good point here. But in the end it's up to you smile.gif I have found that typically it's mostly about unfamiliarity with the technology that gets in peoples way. Also, there is a good bit of tweaking needed for most folks, but the good news is I've four threads full of killer presets for the major emulation plugins so you've got a big head start smile.gif

Here is a patch from the SCUFFHAM plugin as well.

https://soundcloud.com/techniqueswithtodd/scuffham-amps-s-gear-plugin-1

actually pretty much every track on my soundcloud account was done with plugins and all the patches are available here for download so if any of these tones fit the bill your in luck smile.gif


https://soundcloud.com/techniqueswithtodd


But if you are set on getting an actual amp, you might look at the"TUBEMEISTER" Hughes and Kettner line they came out with a bit back that has direct out recording and switchable amp loads and such.


http://hughes-and-kettner.com/tubemeister/tubemeister5.html

QUOTE (Jim Seekford @ Sep 7 2013, 10:29 PM) *
I have used simulated guitar tones from my pedal board but it is not like the sound produced from an amp, very different smile.gif

I guess I should explain what type of music I generally play. I play mostly rock styles, clean to high gain van halen sound.

Posted by: PosterBoy Sep 8 2013, 06:40 AM

I don't know what your budget is but I'd look for a decent 50w Plexi style amp, for higher gain just boost with an OD pedal.


In the big bux high end side of things is a 100w Suhr Sl68



or towards the other end of the spectrum (but still out of the high volume manufacturing made in china range)

http://www.ceriatone.com/productSubPages/BSPlexi50Lead/BSPlexi50_Complete.htm


Posted by: verciazghra Sep 8 2013, 08:49 AM

What style of music do you play??? What sound do you need??? BUY AN ORANGE AMP??? or any other amp they all sound like crap compared to Todd's magical TH2 presets!

Posted by: Todd Simpson Sep 8 2013, 09:02 AM

Well thanks!! smile.gif I actually did an "earball guestimation" of the JIM ROOT orange amp that I borrowed from orange for a couple of months. It wasn't scientific, just going back and forth trying to make the patch sound right. I should dig that patch back up!


QUOTE (verciazghra @ Sep 8 2013, 03:49 AM) *
What style of music do you play??? What sound do you need??? BUY AN ORANGE AMP??? or any other amp they all sound like crap compared to Todd's magical TH2 presets!


Posted by: Jim Seekford Sep 8 2013, 09:13 AM



My first amp was a hughes and Kettner half stack, it was a solid state amp but I financed it at 16yrs old and still have the Celestion speakers from that stack today.

Posted by: verciazghra Sep 8 2013, 10:04 AM

QUOTE (Todd Simpson @ Sep 8 2013, 08:02 AM) *
Well thanks!! smile.gif I actually did an "earball guestimation" of the JIM ROOT orange amp that I borrowed from orange for a couple of months. It wasn't scientific, just going back and forth trying to make the patch sound right. I should dig that patch back up!

You should do that man. I'm having a ton of fun with yesterdays backingtrack by the way! Thank you for your inspiration.

The rockverb amp from orange isn't bad at all tho. I love fender twin reverb too, great affordable amp.

Posted by: Caelumamittendum Sep 8 2013, 12:08 PM

The thing with amp simulations is that you probably have to put a bit of time into coming up with your own presets. For me at least the presets that come with the various products usually don't sound good. And it does take a while to get a good sound if you're not quite used to it... or know what you're doing (I don't!).

But if you're going to play with it in a band situation, hmm... then perhaps you're better off looking for an amp. I don't know what $1000+ gets you. Ï had a Laney half stack which I liked. Still have it, just not here in my apartment. It's in my parents' house.

Posted by: Jim Seekford Sep 8 2013, 05:03 PM

QUOTE (Todd Simpson @ Sep 8 2013, 01:32 AM) *
You mean like this smile.gif

https://soundcloud.com/techniqueswithtodd/vanhalenish-patch-overloud-th2

To be honest, for home recording, you can get pretty much any sound you want out of a good amp sim if you prep the signal properly and design a good patch. I've stopped using amps entirely for home recording as they simply require too much volume to sound good through a mic and I lose too much tone trying to get the signal back in the computer. I've been using OVELROUD TH2 for high gain and SCUFFHAM AMPS plugins for medium gain/clean and I have been getting simply amazing results that would be hard to beat in a home setting with a "real" amp.

UNCGUY has a good point here. But in the end it's up to you smile.gif I have found that typically it's mostly about unfamiliarity with the technology that gets in peoples way. Also, there is a good bit of tweaking needed for most folks, but the good news is I've four threads full of killer presets for the major emulation plugins so you've got a big head start smile.gif

Here is a patch from the SCUFFHAM plugin as well.

https://soundcloud.com/techniqueswithtodd/scuffham-amps-s-gear-plugin-1

actually pretty much every track on my soundcloud account was done with plugins and all the patches are available here for download so if any of these tones fit the bill your in luck smile.gif


https://soundcloud.com/techniqueswithtodd


But if you are set on getting an actual amp, you might look at the"TUBEMEISTER" Hughes and Kettner line they came out with a bit back that has direct out recording and switchable amp loads and such.


http://hughes-and-kettner.com/tubemeister/tubemeister5.html


Hey Todd for some reason I did not read your whole post. Thank you for your help, I'm going to look intoyour recommendations.

Posted by: Headbanger Sep 8 2013, 07:48 PM

QUOTE (PosterBoy @ Sep 8 2013, 07:40 AM) *
I don't know what your budget is but I'd look for a decent 50w Plexi style amp, for higher gain just boost with an OD pedal.


In the big bux high end side of things is a 100w Suhr Sl68



Wow...that Pete Thorn is Hell of a player...I've been looking at some of his other stuff on YouTube...awesome. cool.gif

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Sep 8 2013, 10:13 PM

Hi mate! I'm with Todd about this. I think that the best way to record by line at home would be getting an ampe emulator, you can go for the software ones like Guitar Rig, Amplitube or many others, or you can also get a Pod HD500 or any other like Boss GT10. Todd talked many times about a some tricks that you can do to get the best of amp emulators, so I would follow his suggestions.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Sep 9 2013, 09:10 AM

QUOTE (verciazghra @ Sep 8 2013, 05:04 AM) *
You should do that man. I'm having a ton of fun with yesterdays backingtrack by the way! Thank you for your inspiration.

The rockverb amp from orange isn't bad at all tho. I love fender twin reverb too, great affordable amp.



Found it!!! smile.gif There is a soundcloud preview as well. I tried to get the same grindy character as the JIM ROOT TINY TERROR. smile.gif

Here is the link to download the ORANGE patch.

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=46917&view=findpost&p=619354

Don't get me wrong, I LOVED that amp. The Jim Root head is one spiff little hot rod smile.gif But again for home use, to make it sound good I had to really crank it and it was LOOOOOUUUDDDD! smile.gif The patch worked a bit better for night recording.

Here is the video demo I did of the ORANGE JIM ROOT head smile.gif



BTW glad you like the BACKING TRACK smile.gif It will be my next COLLAB!



QUOTE (Caelumamittendum @ Sep 8 2013, 07:08 AM) *
The thing with amp simulations is that you probably have to put a bit of time into coming up with your own presets. For me at least the presets that come with the various products usually don't sound good. And it does take a while to get a good sound if you're not quite used to it... or know what you're doing (I don't!).

But if you're going to play with it in a band situation, hmm... then perhaps you're better off looking for an amp. I don't know what $1000+ gets you. Ï had a Laney half stack which I liked. Still have it, just not here in my apartment. It's in my parents' house.


That's sorta why I mentioned that I've got four threads here on GMC packed with spiff custom presets smile.gif Amplitude, Overloud, Guitar Rig, all free for the downloading in my forum board smile.gif


Here is the OVERLOUD TH1 archive

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=42013&hl=overloud

Here is the OVERLOUD TH2 archive.

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=42250&hl=overloud
Todd





QUOTE (Gabriel Leopardi @ Sep 8 2013, 05:13 PM) *
Hi mate! I'm with Todd about this. I think that the best way to record by line at home would be getting an ampe emulator, you can go for the software ones like Guitar Rig, Amplitube or many others, or you can also get a Pod HD500 or any other like Boss GT10. Todd talked many times about a some tricks that you can do to get the best of amp emulators, so I would follow his suggestions.


You bring up a good point about the POD!! It's the hardware approach to emulators and will emulate not only effects but speaker cabinets and microphones and they are pretty easy to use. Just dial up a preset and bam smile.gif The stock presets are only a starting point, you'll need to download better ones but that's not that hard and then you move them over via usb to the device. You can also use the POD as a recording interface for your guitar smile.gif



Posted by: Darius Wave Sep 9 2013, 12:47 PM

I like to work with plug-ins at home but never ever thought of leaving the real amp playing. I would probably go for some Marshall amp as a good starting, reference point...if we speak about wide range of rock styles. I choose Cornford but I now it's a specific amp and I doesn't work for everyone...a matter of individual preferences. I would recommend it also because of another good reason...You can buy it and sell it without any problems if You decide after quite some time that it's now what You're looking for. Most of modern marshalls are "easy" in case of articulation niuanses. Marshall owns probably the most famous classic rock tones we ever heard. You can find as many bad as good opinions about any model so it's good idea to try by yourself. If I would follow people's advices I woudn't ever had a few amps which I truly liked.

Having similar needs to Yours I would probably go for some little, and simple ( volume, bass, mid ,treb) high class amp with max 20 to 30 Watt power. I would also consider some construction with only 2 tubes in the power amp (cheaper exploration, service etc) for example Orange ad30 is 30 W butit has 4 power tubes...and it's heavy as hell.

Posted by: Jim Seekford Sep 9 2013, 01:49 PM

Alright so I think I'm going to explore this Th2 avenue until I can get that Tubemeister. I'm gonna try and play a few amps before I buy one but on paper the Kettner or orange seems to be the best! Thank you all for your help!

Posted by: Todd Simpson Sep 9 2013, 03:00 PM

You can download TH2 as a demo for free to see what you think smile.gif Here is the link.

http://www.overloud.com/download/request_th2_demo.php

*Keep in mind that the demo version isn't meant for importing custom presets and such. It's just to get a feel for the software.

For Medium Gain stuff, the SCUFFHAM AMPS plugin is very cool and they just released a new version. A two week demo is available and you can install both on the same computer with issues.


http://www.scuffhamamps.com/download

And some GOOD NEWS about the TUBEMEISTER. They are releasing the GRAND MEISTER!!! IT's the same unit but now can be wirelessly controlled with an iPad smile.gif It's got midi support and total recal so you can have wads of presets. It's got some built in FX as well. It's got the best bits of a tube amp and the best bits of a midi controlled digital amp. Should be cool smile.gif Comes out this month here is a preview vid.




QUOTE (Jim Seekford @ Sep 9 2013, 08:49 AM) *
Alright so I think I'm going to explore this Th2 avenue until I can get that Tubemeister. I'm gonna try and play a few amps before I buy one but on paper the Kettner or orange seems to be the best! Thank you all for your help!


Posted by: Slavenko Erazer Sep 9 2013, 03:56 PM

IF u play Ass-Kicking-riff-chugging-ball-breaking metal, than my friends, Jim should only seek for True High Gain Valve Amp.
I would Go for ENGL Screamer 50 W full tube combo.

Posted by: Darius Wave Sep 9 2013, 04:58 PM

I think Jim is rather up for some rock and heavy rock playing as far as I understood smile.gif

Anyway....guys did awesome job with this H&K promo vid smile.gif

Posted by: SpaseMoonkey Sep 9 2013, 05:33 PM

Egnator, that may be another amp to look at. Fantastic cleans all the way to a nice bluesy tone then over to some Ac/Dc sounds. First tube amp I owned. I do believe they have an XLR out for recording.

But I also have to agree with the plug-in route. I use a multi-effect head ( laugh.gif don't think I'd call it a pedal) I love it. I can play it via speakers or headphones and either way I'm happy. That is honestly all that matters.

As always you can demo plug-ins which is great. Tons upon tons of choices, revalver, guitar rig, TH2, ignite amps, and so on. Then you can even add an IR cab to get speaker simulation. Some tweaking and you'd never know it was software doing the work for you.

Can't remember but didn't Meshuggah do use a Cubase VST on the last album? So there ya go even touring bands use that route. cool.gif

Posted by: Jim Seekford Sep 9 2013, 09:36 PM

Hopefully the winds see it to blow that amp my direction. Wow

Posted by: verciazghra Sep 10 2013, 08:41 AM

QUOTE (SpaseMoonkey @ Sep 9 2013, 04:33 PM) *
Egnator, that may be another amp to look at. Fantastic cleans all the way to a nice bluesy tone then over to some Ac/Dc sounds. First tube amp I owned. I do believe they have an XLR out for recording.

But I also have to agree with the plug-in route. I use a multi-effect head ( laugh.gif don't think I'd call it a pedal) I love it. I can play it via speakers or headphones and either way I'm happy. That is honestly all that matters.

As always you can demo plug-ins which is great. Tons upon tons of choices, revalver, guitar rig, TH2, ignite amps, and so on. Then you can even add an IR cab to get speaker simulation. Some tweaking and you'd never know it was software doing the work for you.

Can't remember but didn't Meshuggah do use a Cubase VST on the last album? So there ya go even touring bands use that route. cool.gif

Yes Meshuggah used VST Amp Rack which comes with cubase 6 and 7.

Posted by: Jim Seekford Sep 10 2013, 03:41 PM

Hey Todd do the Th2 presets work with the h&k redbox?

Posted by: Jim Seekford Sep 10 2013, 04:32 PM

Sorry I had redbox misunderstood, I thought it had presets built in.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Sep 10 2013, 11:09 PM

REDBOX is a really spiff Direct Box. So it's for running direct recording out of the head, in to some sort of audio interface then to the computer. TH2 is a plugin/standalone emulator so you can run it by itself or in a DAW like reaper but it's just a piece of software so it requires you get your signal in to the computer before it can process it.

So sadly no.

The two are separate systems entirely. The tubemeisters currently don't have any audio interface in them as far as I know. So you have to come out of the unit in to some sort of audio interface to get in to your computer.

So if you already have an interface, you can just skip the head and use amplitude/overloud/etc. Or you can run through the head first then in to your interface. But doing so defeats the point of using plugins. Plugins allow you to change the settings on your signal AFTER you record. If you record with gain from a head, it's "baked in" to the signal. make sense?

P.S. Just so I don't miss any questions, try to shoot me a PM when you have a question for me in particular smile.gif

QUOTE (Jim Seekford @ Sep 10 2013, 10:41 AM) *
Hey Todd do the Th2 presets work with the h&k redbox?


Posted by: Taka Perry Sep 11 2013, 08:09 AM

If you're willing to venture into the software/emulation world, you will get a lot of flexibility at a relatively low price. I believe Todd is a big user of Overloud TH2, and I'm a big user of another amp sim called Headcase. There's so many sounds you can dial in with these software. smile.gif

Posted by: Jim Seekford Sep 11 2013, 10:47 AM

QUOTE (Taka Perry @ Sep 11 2013, 03:09 AM) *
If you're willing to venture into the software/emulation world, you will get a lot of flexibility at a relatively low price. I believe Todd is a big user of Overloud TH2, and I'm a big user of another amp sim called Headcase. There's so many sounds you can dial in with these software. smile.gif


Thank you ill check it out as well

Posted by: Todd Simpson Sep 11 2013, 07:52 PM

You can install all the demos one after the other and see which you like wink.gif The AMPLITUDE base plugin is free then you can add individual amps/fx and such through the in app store which is handy. Each has a character of it's own smile.gif It does sometimes help to put a tube screamer in front of your recording interface to either drive the signal or turn the tone knob up to tighten up the signal, but as Taka has mentioned before you can approximate this in software as well. You can even STACK plugins so using amplitude as a preamp for TH2 or what not wink.gif Just be careful on your gain staging. I have used one as a clean boost in a given channel strip/track and then the next one for gain. I often use a foot pedal or direct box to drive the preamp but that isn't always neeeded. Experimentation is key smile.gif

Todd

QUOTE (Jim Seekford @ Sep 11 2013, 05:47 AM) *
Thank you ill check it out as well


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