J.R.M.30! Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 Well, no in my opinion. How many of you prefer the Tube amp's effects compared with effects from stompboxes? I generally prefer onboard/amp effects but not too many. You can't get an onboard wah-wah effect so there's the exception. Same with fuzz boxes. I tend to like onboard effects with no stompboxes because using a stompbox drains the sound/tone in my opinion. Digital effects are nice if you want the static, general effect but with say tube reverb you get a clearer more emphasized reverb that's closer to the real thing but not quite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaleb Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 This poll doesn't make any sense! Who uses onboard effects (aside from spring reverb and tube tremolo/vibrato)? Most of us use TUBE amplifiers or bare-bones solidstate jobs with minimal onboard effects (like FirstMeasure). Digital built-in effects are decent for practice (the ones in the Roland Cube amps are nice), but live, I prefer stompboxes and rack gear. Rackmount delay, reverb, and chorus, and volume, tuner, wah, compressor, phaser, flanger, and overdrive/boost on the floor. My distortion comes from the amplifier. I use boost pedals to boost the sound (which is set for an Ace Frehley/Rudolf Schenker amount of distortion) into soaring lead (Gary Moore)/high gain territory. I like my delay, reverb, and chorus to be post-amp for the cleanest operation. The rest is pretty self-explanatory! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RowdyMoon Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 Do like to have reverb on the amp but that's not critical......tuner, overdrive, tremolo on the floor and deley thru fx loop is all I use Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 I prefer using external (true bypass) effects, (delay and a little bit of modulation, and a wah, cuz you gotta have one of them!) Also include a few over drive stomps too, but the no matter how good the pedal is. It can't be the sound of Marshall running hot. And I know this is a little off track.. Digital effects are nice if you want the static, general effect but with say tube reverb you get a clearer more emphasized reverb that's closer to the real thing but not quite. Fender has done a marvelous bit of breaking down these barriers in the Mustang series amps. The Fuse software allows some intricate editing capabilities that go well beyond anything I've seen up till now. The Mustangs also have two flavors of foot switches, a 2 button, and a 4 button, both can be used combined to give the player full control via a 6 button footswitch setup. These buttons can be programed to change amp models, select quick access models, bypass various effects, and engage the tuner (both on the amp, and on the 4 button foot switch.) Rather ingenious! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.R.M.30! Posted June 11, 2012 Author Share Posted June 11, 2012 I've tried Mustang's that have like 50 different pre-sets and didn't care for them because you always had to adjust the volume for each one. The smaller Mustang's aren't to bad I guess for how much you pay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T Bone Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 Where's the option for Analog? Not much into modeling (or posing, as in your other thread). Reverb and or Tremolo on the amp if supplied, the rest on the floor or pedal board, analog over digital 9 times out of 10 (more like 99 out of 100 actually). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 For the last 25 years or so I've plugged straight into my 2x12 amp which has a good old fashioned spring reverb / tremolo section. I usually like a certain amount of reverb - say set to 3 or 4 - prehaps 80% of the time. Of course, some songs are better without any and then again some need a whole tankful. Other than that I just use the chan/vol - master/vol as needs be for the required overall 'feel'. I must admit I do tend to use the guitar tone/vol knobs one hell of a lot. P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 First... I think it's a non-argument about differentiation of volume in built-in amp settings. Even in the old days it was a "given" that you'd need to change volume on different pieces - and functionally that was without much more than tube amp, spring reverb and tube trem. In those days I'd use a tad bit of reverb and a veeeeeery slow and light trem setting that somehow did thicken the tone a bit, especially if a thicker tone was what I was looking for. OTOH, a volume pedal was a really commonly used device in bands, especially on any multi-pickup guitar that didn't have a master volume. The Fender Tele and Jazzmaster allowed one to use one's pinkie to twist the volume while playing. Nowadays I've got a little multi-effect box that basically does for me what the old-style tube amps did - a bit of reverb, chorus and I think boosting the mids. Consider that I use mostly 9s and occasionally 8s on one electric when I'm fingerstyle pickin'. With an AE... playing fingerstyle mostly straight through the board (or mostly a cheapie PA or AE amp with separate mike/guitar controls) with neutral settings depending on the speakers; with a little flatpicking, ditto, but with settings varying depending on the amp/speaker configuration and/or the room acoustics. OTOH, with a single amp setting, just variations in attack on the strings can make incredible change in tone - a factor I think too many current "tone nuts" tend to ignore while collecting increasingly expensive pedals they hope will hit some magic clone of someone else's tone. Then again, I've been accused of being both grouchy and "old" even when I was 19. <sigh> and that was a heck of a long time ago. <grump> m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfpup Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 This poll doesn't make any sense! And he should know! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 I usually use just the amp for distortion and reverb so is something I look for when I buy an amp... Apart from the odd bit of Wha I find I can ususally get enough tones to make me happy just from the amp and guitar settings and as mentioned the way you attack the strings... Oddlly enough I just did a video of a Marshall MG15 HFX which is a solid state mini stack amp.. I go through some of the settings... See what you think.. I think that they are much better than they used to be, not that im saying its up with the creamy tones of a tube amp but its good for jamming and home use... These days to record I usually just plug into my Boss Mini Digital 4 track, which has like a hundred built in effects which I tend to use as its just easier :) (even though ive recently been thinking about getting one of those distortion pedals with a built in tube). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damian Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 I like tube amps, and, I like turtles............ ( And NO..your statement; " An effect is an effect, right ? " is wrong, mistaken, incorrect, null and void, kaput, nadda, wtf, and is in error.......) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Searcy Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 I use what ever it takes. I have all kinds of gear so i don't get hung up on where the sound comes from so long as it's good. I do have a few preferences though. For example I don't have much use for the crappy muffled degraded sound of an analog delay. Give me a choice and I'll take digital every time. I'll pick a pedal with a good buffer over a tone sucking "true bypass" every time I get the choice. Most boutique pedals I wouldn't bother with unless they offer something I haven't seen before and 99.9% of them are just copying the same old crap over and over again. Hell, most of them are just selling BYOC kits with cool paint jobs. So... in short... what ever it takes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 I've tried Mustang's that have like 50 different pre-sets and didn't care for them because you always had to adjust the volume for each one. The smaller Mustang's aren't to bad I guess for how much you pay. annoying for sure, as an "out of the box" sort of thing, but it's an easy fix, regulate the volume, press "save".. done. Really getting past that small nit, these amps are the bomb! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LPguitarman Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 The only amp effect I use is the natural tube distortion. All other effects are stomp boxes. I will not even touch a modeling amp. Too fake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Versatile Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 I hear the general 'au naturelle' preference with a concurrent ear... And would add the superb gigable options built into the Roland Cubes And the rather splendid Fender Deluxe VM And the usable models in the hybrid Vox Valvetronics's... V Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest farnsbarns Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 This poll doesn't make any sense! And he should know! Yep, this makes even less sense than one of Kaleb's polls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stein Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 I think a little knowledge can make life harder just as it can make it easier. And I think the subjest of effects is a good example. As SEARCY says, "whatever works" is what it is. You don't have to know exactly what is in the pedal or the amp to know if it sounds good to you. You don't even have to know why. The time when knowing a little about what you are hearing is helpful if you are LOOKING for a certain sound or a certain quality of sound, so it might be helpful to know where to look or what to try that might actually improve things, but there are so many misconceptions in the world of guitar that following a set of rules as to what is SUPPOSED to be a better sound usually isn't. Distortion and stompboxes is a big one I think. Using distortion built into the amp as opposed to a pedal. There is a big difference in pre-amp tube distortion and power-tube distortion in sound and how it is created. And often times, the "distortion" or gain created is actually the result of transisters in combination with pre-amp tubes to create the sound or "effect". In many cases, a straight transister chip distortion from a pedal is a much more "pure" form of distortion that the switches and knobs on a lot of amps. A lot of times, what ends up happening is a combination of everything according to what works for any given player. Said that to say that I read about a lot of players looking for amps with distortion channels and gian channels and such to be able to ditch the pedals and therefore get a more 'pure' sound or a better sound. But many amps with such features means that when you flick that switch, you are doing the same as stomping on that pedal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaysEpiphone Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 If you change the poll to "out-board effects only" you got my vote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirstMeasure Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 This poll doesn't make any sense! Who uses onboard effects (aside from spring reverb and tube tremolo/vibrato)? Most of us use TUBE amplifiers or bare-bones solidstate jobs with minimal onboard effects (like FirstMeasure). Digital built-in effects are decent for practice (the ones in the Roland Cube amps are nice), but live, I prefer stompboxes and rack gear. Rackmount delay, reverb, and chorus, and volume, tuner, wah, compressor, phaser, flanger, and overdrive/boost on the floor. My distortion comes from the amplifier. I use boost pedals to boost the sound (which is set for an Ace Frehley/Rudolf Schenker amount of distortion) into soaring lead (Gary Moore)/high gain territory. I like my delay, reverb, and chorus to be post-amp for the cleanest operation. The rest is pretty self-explanatory! Thanks for the mention, Kaleb! I use two Fender solid state Stage amps in stereo (or parallel if you prefer), and a handful of pedals. I pretty much use my amps and pedals for many different flavors of overdrive and distortion. Pedals are Tube Screamer, Crybaby, MXR Distortion+, Ibanez Chorus/Flanger, and MXR Stereo Chorus pedal. Then I use the amps reverbs, top amp set to about 3 and bottom set to about 7. I switch on the bottom amps reverb when I need to get spacy and all reverbed out (everything's got the big reverb sound). With that set up I can run one amp clean and one dirty, both clean or both dirty, and any combination of clean, dirty, and pedal. Distortion+ into two clean amps sounds very early 80's metal, but switching my one amp to dirty with the D+ gives a modern metal sound. Doing the same thing with the tube Screamer gives me varying degrees of clasic rock-style overdrive. I'm all about different flavored tones. My typical sound comes from the two amps without pedals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rednefceleb Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Use an amp that has no built-in effects. Then use a minimal chain of effects. My setup is a good example. I have a Fender highly modified Fender Custom Vibrolux Reverb (now a Vibroverb). I prefer amps to not have a "master volume". I employ 2 effects pedals that each contain 2 effects. These are Visual Sound: (1) Jekyll Hyde overdrive -distortion. (2) Visual Sound "H20" analog chorus and sweet delay. I have owned amps with "built-in effects" and believe that the effects have to be outside the amp. I am impressed with the "Voodoo Labs" version of the "Uni-Vibe". There's is called a "Micro Vibe". I am hoping that this version, (photocells & all): will cut thru and be heard. My Visual Sound Analog Chorus gave me more "Vibe Sounds" than the Fulltone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badbluesplayer Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 It's good to get as much tube distortion as you can from the amp, and then maybe add a little extra O.D. or distortion from a pedal. When you take tube distortion from the amp and then you put too much of a different kind of OD or distortion on top of it, sometimes it doesn't sound so good. Pedals are easier to mess with and dial in. So they're more convenient, I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirstMeasure Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 It's good to get as much tube distortion as you can from the amp, and then maybe add a little extra O.D. or distortion from a pedal. When you take tube distortion from the amp and then you put too much of a different kind of OD or distortion on top of it, sometimes it doesn't sound so good. Pedals are easier to mess with and dial in. So they're more convenient, I guess. One of the main reasons I don't care for Tube Amps. You can stack all the distortion and overdrive you want with a solid state, and play at many different volumes with the same results. So much more versatile and forgiving than a tube amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Versatile Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 When carrying stuff is not an issue, I set up variations like this.... Boss ME 70 multi fx, which has stereo outs... Into Laney VC30 valve combo and Roland Cube 80 Sometimes with extra outboard fx like Muff, Metal and various delays A surreal time can be had with one side running reverse echo V Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonzoboy Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 @ JRM30 : You can get amps with on-board wah wahs and that's the Vox Valvetronix series such as the AD120VTH,it has 16 on-board effects and the speed of modulation effects and the operation of the wah setting is available with the optional foot controller which by the way sounds very much like the Holy Grail of wahs-the Vox Clyde McCoy.I always use my onboard effects on the AD120VTH along with the foot controller and external effects.I find that I can pretty well nail Jimi's "House Burning Down"intro with a slow repeat on the amp's echo,the amp's Leslie set on low speed and the outboard RotoChoir Leslie Simulator set on a medium speed and the outboard echo on medium repeat.With a bit of tweaking I can dial in the amount and intensity of the effect I need to recreate the Jimi tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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