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Vintage threads from the first ten years

Re: My amp

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4/24/2000 6:50 PM
anonymous	Re: My amp Bruce, honest, I like it clean! I play, I sound good, people like it, they pay me! End of story!

4/25/2000 9:31 AM
Rick Erickson	You are no doubt playing an acoustic guitar? If electric you use no pedals, amp simulator or anything but a pure direct box? It's very difficult to get a decent tone on an electric this way. What kind of music do you do? Is this a single act or a group? Why do you post annonymously? It's hard to take people seriously when they won't identify themselves. RE

4/25/2000 3:01 PM

quote:
"You are no doubt playing an acoustic guitar?"

I hope so! (ha, ha) A clean electric guitar run direct through a PA system is not the best sounding thing in the world. Not the worst but definitely not the best (just my opinion is all).

I do agree with Bruce though. I can understand it in the studio (usually people will re-amp a DI'ed signal or layer it in with other guitar tracks) but for the most part is sounds pretty yucky through a PA system.

Of course if you were in a wedding band where the guitar isn't so prominent and you get paid well...then so be it! (ha,ha)

quote:
"Why do you post annonymously?
It's hard to take people seriously when they won't identify themselves."

I agree with you Rick. Usually people who post without an email address are typically trying to stir up trouble, or so it's been the case recently here.

As a side note I had a fellow bring one of those POD things to the club and run it directly through the PA system....WOW did that sound horrible!!! It's just my opinion of course but it sounded like a buzz saw and the low-end was ungodly.

Trace

4/25/2000 11:18 PM
Brad	I agree that an electric guitar through a PA sounds...anemic, at best. Guy comes into a bar blues jam session with a Strat and a DOD distortion pedal, and plugs straight into the PA. The cockroaches even started heading outside!! The sad thing was, there were old Epi's and Fenders on the stage that people were BEGGING him to use. That was the longest 4 song set I sat through in a long time. Brad

4/26/2000 1:01 AM

Trace;

You ain't kidding about those Pods! I was playing with one a few weeks ago and it may have been me but it seemed like the sound always had a sort of delay mixed in no matter what I did. The various "vintage amp" settings were a joke! Maybe they would have sounded better if I'd never played the real thing. The modern high gain stuff didn't sound too terrible. I've heard a LOT worse from real tube amps. Overall I think it would be kind of a cool effect to use them as little practice preamps running into a small amp. For gigging or serious recording....NEVER.

Would you say that's a fair assessment?

Carl Z

4/27/2000 5:39 PM

quote:
"Would you say that's a fair assessment?"

That's more than fair!! (ha, ha) The POD is nothing more than an outboard version of the Pro Tools plug in called "Amp Farm." That was designed to send DI'ed guitar signals in to be "layered" in with real tones in recordings. A good example if this is the Chris Cornell solo album. Bad Religion used "Amp Farm" exclusively for all the guitar sounds (check out the new album). It's "OK" but not all that hot sounding.

Trace

4/29/2000 12:49 AM

Hi, Carl. I have a POD that I bought a few months
ago to use with my computer recording rig.
I also have a number of "real" amps, mostly
old Fenders, a couple of homebrews, etc.

I couldn't agree more with some of your comments, especially about live use. There just doesn't seem to be a "sweet spot", if you know what I mean.

But I have to disagree somewhat with
your comment on recording. I guess it
depends on what you mean when you say
"serious" recording. If you mean,
would one suggest using it as the main
"guitar engine" for some guitar god's next
defining moment, uh, well, no. But if
you are putting down demos, etc. where you
are going for more of a sketch of a song and
want to get your ideas down before they
float away, it's a nice tool to have in
the bag. I think that's a pretty serious application even though the recordings made
won't likely be heard by many people.
(Unless your name is Pete - har, har.) And when
you just gotta have some heavy duty overdrive
and all you got is a roomful of old Fenders.... boy howdy. Also sounds pretty good thru phones, especially when the wife is sawing the logs.

I know that falls short of the frenzied ad copy,
and some of the reviews (e. g. Electronic Musician)
but it would have to be some kind of miracle to live up to that stuff. Considering that it cost about what a low-end condenser mic goes for, I don't regret buying it. I already have enough cheap mics. : )

Best regards, Steve F.

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