Wondering if BBI's guitar contingent could help me out with a replacement amp issue I've been having.
Long story short, I'm trying to replace my "middle tier" amp, basically my recording/bedroom amp. I've already got a cool little Valvetronix for the living room and a Dual Rec and Marshall 1960tv with greenbacks at the practice space, so I'm covered on the "small practice amp" and "live music" portion of things, but I cannot figure out what the hell to do for the "bedroom recording" portion of things, and I haven't worked at a guitar shop since 2013 so I'm pretty out of date on the available tech.
The amp I had that occupied this space was a 10 year old line 6 Spider Valve (not the super low end spiders that you typically see - this one was fully tube with the poweramp and preamps designed by Bogner).
It was really heavy for a 1x12 and not very space efficient, but it had solid onboard effects for when I didn't want to pull out pedals, and more importantly, an XLR out, Line out, and, being a combo, a load connected at all times.
So essentially when I was demoing or working on electronic music, I had the XLR out go directly into my interface.
This was great, because when I play rock music, I'm using a lot of scooped mids metal-type distortion with hi gain and clarity (which the modeling and the pre-amp together covered reasonably well), but when I'm making electronic music, I want a really clean signal since I'm either recording chords to convert to midi or place the actual audio in a song (additionally, it's not like the things I was demoing had no cleans at all -- I could get good enough rock cleans to actually leave them in songs and not have to re-record them in our practice space).
The tube pre-amp added warmth, the modeling and preamp was solid enough that the gain sounded good, and I never had to worry about having a cab or cab simulator hooked up since the speakers were connected at all times and provided a load, even if I was just playing it in bypass to get the signal to my interface.
The amp broke when I was moving, and I've been looking for a replacement, but it feels like this thing was a unicorn.
There seems to be some good solid state options like the Boss Katanas, but I can't help but wonder if I'm missing out by not having any tubes at all. On the other hand, all the actual small tube amps I've been considering (Hughes and Kettner tubemeister mostly) are gonna require a cab, which I don't want to spend extra money on for no reason, and obviously don't have an XLR or line out.
I was almost set on the Yamaha THR desktop tube amps, since they are technically combos, but now I'm unsure if line out is going to work well for going straight into a DAW as opposed to XLR.
So from there, I was like "well, I don't really need any audio output from whatever I'm plugging my guitar into anyway, might as well get some sort of multi effect processor/modeler that I can just plug straight in the DAW" -- thing is, the stuff I'm seeing, like the Line 6 POD hd500s and the boss GTs, are the EXACT SAME THINGS I was selling in 2013 at the EXACT SAME PRICE.
So now I'm at a total loss, constantly changing my mind every day between the Yamaha, a processor/modeling foot-pedal style unit, or just getting a cheap solid state. Plus, it seems that nothing except the processor units have XLR.
Everything seems to have USB these days, but I've never used it before, don't have a lot of USB ports open given the fact they're used by hard drives, interface, midi controllers, and keyboard/mouse, plus using USB to go into a DAW just doesn't really intuitively make sense to my brain.
Beyond that, my use case is a pretty specific niche. I literally don't need a practice amp or a real rig, I have both of those covered.
Does anyone have any experience or advice for where to start? I'm so out of the game right now that I don't know where to start looking beyond what I've found, and can't find any good comparisons online -- PLUS, with covid, I can't even go try stuff out myself (one of the reasons that I was strongly considering the Yamaha - at least I'd played it).
any advice would be welcome! I'd prefer for this to be lightweight as opposed to a heavy combo, and would like to keep it under $600, though I would be willing to spend up to $800 on it.
If you have the $$$ check out Hughes & Ketner's Grandmeister 40. It is a tube amp you can record off of, has a ton of settings, and has adjustable amperages. You can blare it at 40, bring it down to 20, 5 or 1 amps if desired. Lower amps means you can push the amp more when practicing without killing your family or neighbors.
I am not good enough yet...I played on and off in my teens and twenties but just took it up again (COVID-19 time waster) and am enjoying playing, learning, having fun, etc. Happy with my Schecter and THR-10X (high gain) for mostly metal fun. I ordered a Charvel just so I don't have to tune up and down all the time but I am not quite there yet for the H&K. Once I can justify it, along with a 2x12 celestion cab, that would be my amp of choice for studio type work.
Tons of great demos on Youtube. This is my favorite one (see link). It can do ANYTHING.
Great Demo - H&K Grandmeister Deluxe 40 - ( New Window )
If you have the $$$ check out Hughes & Ketner's Grandmeister 40. It is a tube amp you can record off of, has a ton of settings, and has adjustable amperages. You can blare it at 40, bring it down to 20, 5 or 1 amps if desired. Lower amps means you can push the amp more when practicing without killing your family or neighbors.
I am not good enough yet...I played on and off in my teens and twenties but just took it up again (COVID-19 time waster) and am enjoying playing, learning, having fun, etc. Happy with my Schecter and THR-10X (high gain) for mostly metal fun. I ordered a Charvel just so I don't have to tune up and down all the time but I am not quite there yet for the H&K. Once I can justify it, along with a 2x12 celestion cab, that would be my amp of choice for studio type work.
Tons of great demos on Youtube. This is my favorite one (see link). It can do ANYTHING. Great Demo - H&K Grandmeister Deluxe 40 - ( New Window )
Love the Grandmeister (and all H+K actually), but I'm really trying to avoid buying a cab for whatever I get. At this point in my life, I won't be touring ever again, so I have no problem leaving the dual rec in our space for practice and moving it out for whatever random show we're playing. I feel like buying a cab is going to just eat up more $$ for something that won't be used too often, since even if I'm playing along to a song, it would be coming out of my studio monitors since my interface is the audiocard for everything on that computer. Your setup sounds sweet though, Schecters feel great to play. Guessing you've got EMGs in there based on everything else you mentioned? Sounds liek a great metal setup.
I REALLY wanted the THRx, but apparently the stopped making it. I guess the THRIIs that came out have those models built in, but you have to use an app to switch between the regular, THRc, and THRx modeling engines (there are 11 presets on the THR2 though) -- I wish guitar companies would stop trying to shove bluetooth, apps, and USB into anything that isn't a traditional amp.
I don't stray too far from the Fender amps, there is a Hot Rod Deluxe on craigs down here for $300, and a little Champ Amp for $150.
For Research purposes only.... - ( New Window )
The Charvel will have SD's...I like playing a lot of 80's and 90's metal and the Shecter will be my Nu Metal/Metalcore downtuned guitar (Drop C is about as low as I go now...drop B I think I would need 12 -54's for it to feel normal to me)and I'll keep the Charvel at standard or tuned down a half a step most of the time.
Link - ( New Window )
The Charvel will have SD's...I like playing a lot of 80's and 90's metal and the Shecter will be my Nu Metal/Metalcore downtuned guitar (Drop C is about as low as I go now...drop B I think I would need 12 -54's for it to feel normal to me)and I'll keep the Charvel at standard or tuned down a half a step most of the time.
Then I heard a local band whose guitar player had an amazing tone that covered the spectrum. I talked with him between sets and he running direct through the board using a Fractal AX8. Historically, I am a huge tubes guy and never bought into the amp modeling thing but I found an AX8 on Reverb and bought it.
I have never looked back. It is absolutely incredible both live and direct into DAW via XLR. The sounds you can get and the set ups/possibilities are endless.
The AX8 is discontinued but you can get them online for $1100 range. Check out the vids on Youtube.
Then I heard a local band whose guitar player had an amazing tone that covered the spectrum. I talked with him between sets and he running direct through the board using a Fractal AX8. Historically, I am a huge tubes guy and never bought into the amp modeling thing but I found an AX8 on Reverb and bought it.
I have never looked back. It is absolutely incredible both live and direct into DAW via XLR. The sounds you can get and the set ups/possibilities are endless.
The AX8 is discontinued but you can get them online for $1100 range. Check out the vids on Youtube.
People love them.
Sweetwater page - ( New Window )
Depending upon the type of music you play, I would highly recommend an older Fender. They don't make them like they used to.
Just picked up a Fishman Loudbox BT mini at Sweetwater along with Mic/stand for 370. They still have the deal going on.
It's literally one of my favorite pieces of gear I have ever bought.
I'm also wondering if I'm putting too much emphasis on an XLR out. Wondering how much a balanced signal really matters, and if a line out would just suffice.
And it is made by one of the top handmade amp makers in the biz.
Link - ( New Window )