RichCI Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 I was dropping off my Strat for service and saw a busted up Guitar Port box in the clearance pile for $70 and figured "why not?" so I bought it. I've been looking for some easy way to record riffs and song ideas so it seemed like a good idea even if it sounded just okay. Begin Harmony Central style review... I've messed with it for only a couple of hours so far but I'm impressed! I'm a die hard tube and analog guy so I don't say that lightly. Okay, it's not quite the same as a cranked up tube amp but I was surprised with just how good it really does sound... and for seventy bucks! It's got a bunch of amp, speaker cab and effects models plus microphone selection, angle and placement. For a gear **** like me, it's like a cheap way to feed my habit by infinitely tweaking the crap out of everything. Good thing my girlfriend is pretty patient as she heard God knows how many open A chords while I tweaked away (eventually, I did have to use headphones though). Worth noting is that I have fairly decent speakers on my computer - 5.1 surround Altec Lansing - so I don't know how impressive it would be if using some small freebie set that came with the computer or built in laptop speakers. My favorite amps so far are the AC30 and jumpered plexi, favorite cab is - by far - the 2x12 AC30 (or it's called something similar to that). A couple of weird points: - Couldn't get a sound out of it using just the Line 6 hardware plugged into USB until I plugged the included 1/8" stereo cable from the headphone output of the hardware and back into the auxiliary input of my sound card. - Plugging headphones directly into the Line 6 hardware sounded like crap. Plugging headphones into the headphones jack of my speakers sound MUCH better and closer to what I was hearing over the speakers. - Getting some cutting out in my headphones (didn't notice when using speakers) on the right channel. Sometimes tweaking a control on the amp software fixed the issue. Very strange. So, there you have it. A tube snob is impressed with modeling. Go figure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AXE® Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 Welcome to the 21st Century.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveinspain Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 Cool... I just got an Egnator Rebel 20 not long ago. Great amp!! The sound is wonderful, clean as clean can be and dirty sweet as needed... Only problem is the Rebel 20 has no built in FX but it does have a FX loop in the back of the head. I plugged my Line 6 Pocket Pod in the FX loop and my Rebel 20 just got even cooler For a long time all I had was my mixing board and studio monitors to plug into. I got the Pocket Pod just to have some sort of guitar related FX. Now that little Pod sounds great combined with my amp. I've just been using a clean setting with a little delay and some reverb on the Pocket Pod so as to let the sound of my amp shine threw and it does shine... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichCI Posted April 1, 2009 Author Share Posted April 1, 2009 Welcome to the 21st Century.... Yeah, yeah, yeah... :) I'll tell you what though, if the technology gets to the point where it sounds and feels exactly like a good tube amp... screw tubes and bigass transformers; I'll travel light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveinspain Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 Yeah' date=' yeah, yeah... I'll tell you what though, if the technology gets to the point where it sounds and feels exactly like a good tube amp... screw tubes and bigass transformers; I'll travel light. [/quote'] Thats what DJs did when the technology in CD players got to the point of feeling and sounding as good as a turntable. Two bags of vinyl records weighs a ton and is not that many songs... One folder of CDs holds thousands more tunes and doesn't weigh anything... Now CDs are being replaced by a USB key so all your tunes are on a USB key that hangs around your neck when it's not plugged into your computer port... I know it's two different worlds but I see a similar evolution.... sort of Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AXE® Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 Okay here's a little scenario, You have a great tube amp,which we all know tube power is the reigning king of tone. Then you mic it, the signal immediately becomes the control of a completely different power source through the PA system. Which is a solid state power supply and tweaked at the sound board producing the front of house sound. Unless you're playing your tube amp solo with out reinforced assistance why not make things easy on yourself and carry a smaller more manageable initial power point ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Mick Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 When I had to stop playing out live (Health reasons) I bought a Vox Tonelab LE and it is very impressive. It uses a 12ax7 for the output not pre amp thats all modeling. I can dial in a Marshall nice and gritty than back off on the guitar volume and it cleans up very smooth and nice like the real deal. Plus it has a huge array of vintage stomp box's and they all sound pretty good. Technology sure has come a long way since the days of kicking my Digitec GT 21's pedal board of the stage in a fit of rage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocketman Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 Thank you Rich! Now I love a tube amp just like any other person and I've played a load of them in my time. But when I played the Line 6 Vetta II it just blew me away. It may not model a tube amp exactly but it's darn close. More importantly it's got everything but the kitchen sink in it, including nearly every effect in the world. So for me I decided to go with versatility over that true tube sound. Trust me this is a huge change for me. Even though I'm a rocket scientist I tend to hate technology gizmos (I only got a cell phone a few months ago). So selling me on modeling amps was not an easy task but I'm a true believer now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elessar820 Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 I had one but now I'm using a Toneport GX1. Same thing, but it has an XLR input. I like using Riffworks and Gearbox. I bought the Triple Pack for it so I have a bunch of models now. The only thing I don't like about Rifftracker is the limited use of drums. I feel like I've written some pretty good riffs (in my opinion at least), but I can never find a drum program that fits it. So they go unused. The ones there make me want to play fast and sometimes it sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thundergod Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 Congrats on your find Rich! Just like Dave, I have been using that pocket pod wonder in the FX loop... and it sounds great, the only thing I dont like is the inability to turn the preamp models off, and I feel they color the amp's tone too much (Dave if you figured how to do that please tell me), but all in all it's a great tool... I can see why most people preffer recording through line6 hardware-software instead of doing it with the real thing, you cut costs down to way less than half and end up with a product (CD, recording, demo) that is a little more than half as good as the real thing and takes minutes to set up and when you are done you can take it home (as opposed to having to spend hours or days trying different stacks and heavy as hell tube combos that you can't take home after you finish recording, and probably can't have on stage) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Mick Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 The Tonelabe LE can be used for FX only if you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichCI Posted April 1, 2009 Author Share Posted April 1, 2009 Okay, Modelheads, I have a question - Can I buy other software, like the Peavey Revalver MK III, and use it with Guitar Port? If so, are there any hoops I have to jump through to get it all working together? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AXE® Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 Okay' date=' Modelheads, I have a question - Can I buy other software, like the Peavey Revalver MK III, and use it with Guitar Port? If so, are there any hoops I have to jump through to get it all working together? [/quote'] I don't know. I wouldn't own such crap ...:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichCI Posted April 1, 2009 Author Share Posted April 1, 2009 I'm not looking to model Peavey amps specifically. The Revalver got some great reviews and is infinitely more flexible than the GearBox software that comes with GuitarPort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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