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Re: Amp sims
Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2022 8:42 am
by marqueemoon
burpgun wrote: ↑Thu Feb 10, 2022 6:44 am
I moved to NYC 23 years ago and had to give up playing through amps while at home and recording a long time ago. I've been through all the sim stuff. Started with the Line 6 kidney bean things for bass and guitar, moved on to IK Multimedia's Fender and Ampeg packages, and am now on a Tech 21 VT analog pedal for bass and a Blonde for guitar. Nothing against all the digital stuff, I'm looking for very specific sounds and have found that the Tech 21 stuff, for recording work, gives me exactly what I need.
Try to forget all the cork sniffing stuff. Whatever signal chain gets you the tone you need is the right signal chain. The options available to us for home recording now are amazing.
I’m using a Blonde + Neunaber Iconoclast connected balanced and set for subtle stereo. It’s pretty solid.
Where I notice the shortcomings a little is when doubling parts using similar sounds.
My dream addition to my setup at the moment is an Audio Kitchen Fake Plastic Trees, but it’s kind of an absurd amount of money for a pedal.
Re: Amp sims
Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2022 11:43 am
by burpgun
marqueemoon wrote: ↑Thu Feb 10, 2022 8:42 am
burpgun wrote: ↑Thu Feb 10, 2022 6:44 am
I moved to NYC 23 years ago and had to give up playing through amps while at home and recording a long time ago. I've been through all the sim stuff. Started with the Line 6 kidney bean things for bass and guitar, moved on to IK Multimedia's Fender and Ampeg packages, and am now on a Tech 21 VT analog pedal for bass and a Blonde for guitar. Nothing against all the digital stuff, I'm looking for very specific sounds and have found that the Tech 21 stuff, for recording work, gives me exactly what I need.
Try to forget all the cork sniffing stuff. Whatever signal chain gets you the tone you need is the right signal chain. The options available to us for home recording now are amazing.
I’m using a Blonde + Neunaber Iconoclast connected balanced and set for subtle stereo. It’s pretty solid.
Where I notice the shortcomings a little is when doubling parts using similar sounds.
My dream addition to my setup at the moment is an Audio Kitchen Fake Plastic Trees, but it’s kind of an absurd amount of money for a pedal.
I'm curious, why do you use the speaker sim along with the Blonde? My understanding is the Blonde emulates that too, but I guess the Neunaber gives you more options?
Re: Amp sims
Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2022 1:35 pm
by marqueemoon
burpgun wrote: ↑Thu Feb 10, 2022 11:43 am
marqueemoon wrote: ↑Thu Feb 10, 2022 8:42 am
burpgun wrote: ↑Thu Feb 10, 2022 6:44 am
I moved to NYC 23 years ago and had to give up playing through amps while at home and recording a long time ago. I've been through all the sim stuff. Started with the Line 6 kidney bean things for bass and guitar, moved on to IK Multimedia's Fender and Ampeg packages, and am now on a Tech 21 VT analog pedal for bass and a Blonde for guitar. Nothing against all the digital stuff, I'm looking for very specific sounds and have found that the Tech 21 stuff, for recording work, gives me exactly what I need.
Try to forget all the cork sniffing stuff. Whatever signal chain gets you the tone you need is the right signal chain. The options available to us for home recording now are amazing.
I’m using a Blonde + Neunaber Iconoclast connected balanced and set for subtle stereo. It’s pretty solid.
Where I notice the shortcomings a little is when doubling parts using similar sounds.
My dream addition to my setup at the moment is an Audio Kitchen Fake Plastic Trees, but it’s kind of an absurd amount of money for a pedal.
I'm curious, why do you use the speaker sim along with the Blonde? My understanding is the Blonde emulates that too, but I guess the Neunaber gives you more options?
The onboard cab emulation in the Blonde doesn’t do it for me. It’s just a little flat sounding and more like a closed back cab. On the version I have it’s bypassable, so I leave it bypassed and use the Iconoclast for that job.
On the Iconoclast I took a “Fender” preset and tweaked it to my liking in the software.
The other nice aspect of the Iconoclast is you can pair it with any dirt pedal as a preamp. Some work better than others in that role. The shocker for me was some fuzzes sound fantastic straight in.
Re: Amp sims
Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2022 2:11 pm
by burpgun
marqueemoon wrote: ↑Thu Feb 10, 2022 1:35 pm
burpgun wrote: ↑Thu Feb 10, 2022 11:43 am
marqueemoon wrote: ↑Thu Feb 10, 2022 8:42 am
I’m using a Blonde + Neunaber Iconoclast connected balanced and set for subtle stereo. It’s pretty solid.
Where I notice the shortcomings a little is when doubling parts using similar sounds.
My dream addition to my setup at the moment is an Audio Kitchen Fake Plastic Trees, but it’s kind of an absurd amount of money for a pedal.
I'm curious, why do you use the speaker sim along with the Blonde? My understanding is the Blonde emulates that too, but I guess the Neunaber gives you more options?
The onboard cab emulation in the Blonde doesn’t do it for me. It’s just a little flat sounding and more like a closed back cab. On the version I have it’s bypassable, so I leave it bypassed and use the Iconoclast for that job.
On the Iconoclast I took a “Fender” preset and tweaked it to my liking in the software.
The other nice aspect of the Iconoclast is you can pair it with any dirt pedal as a preamp. Some work better than others in that role. The shocker for me was some fuzzes sound fantastic straight in.
Interesting. I'll note it was a revelation to me to learn the guy from the Raveonettes plugs his guitar into a preamp and then straight into the board, and he gets some good sounds! I love amps, but man, micing them and going through all of that isn't always the best way.
Anyway, now I've got GAS for this Neunaber!
Re: Amp sims
Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2022 5:48 pm
by marqueemoon
burpgun wrote: ↑Thu Feb 10, 2022 2:11 pm
I love amps, but man, micing them and going through all of that isn't always the best way.
I squeeze in working on recording when I can and usually that means when everyone has gone to bed.
If there are minor sonic drawbacks they are more than offset by actually being able to record when I have ideas and available time.
Re: Amp sims
Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2022 11:21 pm
by øøøøøøø
I’d say when using fuzz I’m DI (no sim) more often then I use an amp.
DI just works great for fuzz
Re: Amp sims
Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2022 4:37 am
by soggy mittens
If a song calls for some seriously loud speaker to pickup interaction then who are we to deny that? It can't be replicated in my understanding and It gets the results like nothing else. I can think of songs I've done that I could get away with using (analog pedal) sims the quieter ones but far more of them that I wouldn't get the intended result with with out sheer volume/interaction.
Re: Amp sims
Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2022 6:57 am
by marqueemoon
øøøøøøø wrote: ↑Thu Feb 10, 2022 11:21 pm
I’d say when using fuzz I’m DI (no sim) more often then I use an amp.
DI just works great for fuzz
Going to give this a shot next time.
Re: Amp sims
Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2022 9:54 am
by cpeck
Some initial tracking went mostly well; ran into some Helix “squirrels” which sent me into the depths of a 4000+ page TGP thread. Trying the Ox Box and the Suhr reactive load next week.
Re: Amp sims
Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2022 10:37 am
by mackerelmint
burpgun wrote: ↑Thu Feb 10, 2022 6:44 am
I moved to NYC 23 years ago and had to give up playing through amps while at home and recording a long time ago. I've been through all the sim stuff. Started with the Line 6 kidney bean things for bass and guitar, moved on to IK Multimedia's Fender and Ampeg packages, and am now on a Tech 21 VT analog pedal for bass and a Blonde for guitar. Nothing against all the digital stuff, I'm looking for very specific sounds and have found that the Tech 21 stuff, for recording work, gives me exactly what I need.
Try to forget all the cork sniffing stuff. Whatever signal chain gets you the tone you need is the right signal chain. The options available to us for home recording now are amazing.
Yeah, well said. All of it.
The Tech 21 character pedals are fantastic pieces of gear, and the many cheap clones are pretty much just as good. These are what I use all around and are definitely what I prefer for when I bother to record stuff. I do prefer the sound, but more importantly it's the immediacy of having some physical gizmo there to dial a sound in rather than using a mouse on a screen that does it for me. There was a couple of years when I kept trying to like Guitar Rig, but having that many options was kind of a burden, on top of the lack of tactile control.
Re: Amp sims
Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2022 11:38 am
by burpgun
mackerelmint wrote: ↑Mon Feb 14, 2022 10:37 am
burpgun wrote: ↑Thu Feb 10, 2022 6:44 am
I moved to NYC 23 years ago and had to give up playing through amps while at home and recording a long time ago. I've been through all the sim stuff. Started with the Line 6 kidney bean things for bass and guitar, moved on to IK Multimedia's Fender and Ampeg packages, and am now on a Tech 21 VT analog pedal for bass and a Blonde for guitar. Nothing against all the digital stuff, I'm looking for very specific sounds and have found that the Tech 21 stuff, for recording work, gives me exactly what I need.
Try to forget all the cork sniffing stuff. Whatever signal chain gets you the tone you need is the right signal chain. The options available to us for home recording now are amazing.
Yeah, well said. All of it.
The Tech 21 character pedals are fantastic pieces of gear, and the many cheap clones are pretty much just as good. These are what I use all around and are definitely what I prefer for when I bother to record stuff. I do prefer the sound, but more importantly it's the immediacy of having some physical gizmo there to dial a sound in rather than using a mouse on a screen that does it for me. There was a couple of years when I kept trying to like Guitar Rig, but having that many options was kind of a burden, on top of the lack of tactile control.
The only thing I miss about software sims was moving "virtual" mics around, because it did have a noticeable impact on the sound. But in the end, a simply, reliable set up beats everything, you can get so much out of those Tech 21 pedals. I've got a bass and guitar board and each ends on a Tech21 pedal before it hit an audio interface. It's a solid package and it took me a lot of years to settle on it. If I fired up my 4-track it would even work pretty well in that context too.
Re: Amp sims
Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2022 12:34 pm
by marqueemoon
My drummer who in his late 40’s is 4 tracking for the 1st time. I found him a Joyo AC Tone on Craigslist for $20.
I played with it bit with and without the Iconoclast. My take is it sounds best set a little dirtier than I usually want to hear a Vox-esque sound.
Re: Amp sims
Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2022 2:33 am
by cpeck
Rented an Ox Box on the weekend — initial results are very pleasing. Something very satisfying about using my own amps with 3-6 knobs.
Re: Amp sims
Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2022 2:24 am
by sessylU
I have my dream amp, but I record using Amplitube. The sounds available are much, much better than what I could manage with my cheap mics in my living room in the middle of a city.
One warning (not really a warning, just something to note) is that most sims will be trying to simulate the sound of the amp once it's been recorded. This is different to the sound of that amp in the room with you. I think a lot of people get turned off because they might choose a familiar amp in a sim and it doesn't match their experience of being in the room with the real thing. That's not the intended use.
Re: Amp sims
Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2022 1:21 pm
by Dok
sessylU wrote: ↑Thu Mar 17, 2022 2:24 am
I have my dream amp, but I record using Amplitube. The sounds available are much, much better than what I could manage with my cheap mics in my living room in the middle of a city.
Okay but have you tried using a Beyerdynamic m160?
