pod xt? amplitube? guitar rig? i need advice quickly :)

[ugo]

while additional options are being mentioned, im surprised no one has brought up the adrenalinn yet.

[DuX]

What's your flavour Cap'n - heavy distortion or mellow distortion? I use as much distortion as I can and I think 99% of plugins just don't sound very good at these settings, except for Saro IMO I really like this little plug but unfortunately it's not very versatile. For heavy distortion, do you think PODXT Pro is worth it? or would you rather go with Amplitube2? I haven't heard Amplitube 2, yet, just 1 and I didn't like it much.

Cheers!

You and I agree a lot about music things. Sometimes I'll look at your posts and think "yeah I could have said that".

FWIW I sold my PodXT and got AT2. Happy happy happy.
http://www.ele4music.com/music/at2_heavy_rock.mp3

Thanks man, that's really the best compliment one can get, at KVR at least. Something in line with that famous Jack Nicholson's from "As good as it gets": "You make me wanna be a better man". I'll have to take a look at your posts, too .

[tomg]

Thanks man, that's really the best compliment one can get, at KVR at least. Something in line with that famous Jack Nicholson's from "As good as it gets": "You make me wanna be a better man". I'll have to take a look at your posts, too .

Maybe not. A lot of people around here think I'm an opinionated asshole. Of course they're right but I try to be a helpful opinionated asshole.

[idrisguitar]

you guys keep swaying me back forth, on one hand its seems to be the thing for me, but some people say its not,

basically im looking for choice in effect and a good clean one, is the pod xt better than programs like GR and amplitube for that?

[DuX]

Actually I think I'm an egotistic opinionated arsehole, too, and I think people think that, too .

But somewhere deep inside, I'm really a good person, wishing no harm to anybody, and I'm trying to be as helpful as I can, too. It's probably this "internet forum thing" to blame. Everyone acts a bit weird here.

This Adrenalinn doesn't look too...errr sturdy? It's got plastic outputs and "smallish/flimsish" pots . However, it kinda sounds good, AFAICT from the quicktime heavy compressed video.

So does anybody have any experiences with Vox? Vox Tonelab in particular, there's a new LE version out. Looks promising to me. It's a real tubey in there guys, and it glows! [it's got SPDIF too]

Cheers!

[aMUSEd]

I've tried them all and I liked Vox Tonelab the best (I tried the bigger model with the foot pedal) - really lovely sound.

[idrisguitar]

i should have done this before but im stupid

please listen to one of these tracks, and tell me which out of guitar rig, amplitube or POD wil allow me to ceate a sound like this the best?

www.myspace.com/texasband

i would really appreciate your input

[Teksonik]

i should have done this before but im stupid

please listen to one of these tracks, and tell me which out of guitar rig, amplitube or POD wil allow me to ceate a sound like this the best?

www.myspace.com/texasband

i would really appreciate your input

I only listened to 30 seconds or so of " A Poor Man's Memory" and I'm listening to "The Long Spring" as I type and I'd have to say save you money, download SimulAnalog's guitar suite, some freeware reverbs, compressors, chorus etc and go direct into your Host's mixer. Nothing I heard in those two songs requires very complicated amp sim/modeling.

http://www.simulanalog.org/ Try the Fender Twin and Marshall JCM900 (If you haven't already )

[tomg]

i should have done this before but im stupid

please listen to one of these tracks, and tell me which out of guitar rig, amplitube or POD wil allow me to ceate a sound like this the best?

www.myspace.com/texasband

i would really appreciate your input

Oh... ok. Sounds like a tele/super reverb thing. A pod and a tele could do most of that easy. I didn't listen to it all but I think you'd still be safe. YMMV naturally.

[ugo]

This Adrenalinn doesn't look too...errr sturdy? It's got plastic outputs and "smallish/flimsish" pots . However, it kinda sounds good, AFAICT from the quicktime heavy compressed video.

the build quality on the adrenalinn is the same as what is on dave smith's evolver desktop. i havent read any complaints about the jacks on either breaking on people. i own and evolver and a friend as the adrenalinn, and neither seems like the sort of thing that would break all that easily to me. i know live environments can get nasty (depending on the band and the gig), but i can at least say that i certainly dont see an adrenalinn ever having problems in the studio. (unless you have a habit of stepping on jacks and dropping things.) also, take a look at the jacks on most hardware synths...the majority of them are plastic.

as far as the pots go, at least the ones on the evolver (which i think are the same), the shafts are plastic. again, that is admittedly not optimal, but you'd be surprised how many pot shafts out there are not metal. (pull the model or effect knobs off of a pod xt and you'll see another plastic shaft pot.) once again, i dont see them has being anything that would cause a problem in a studio and probably not live either, unless you're excessively rough with your gear.

the knobs are small, but that is for space reasons. larger knobs does not equate to a higher quality pot inside. they are certainly not so tiny that they are hard to use.

i have A/B'd the pod xt against the adrenalinn before. the pod sounds like a good, and very versatile digital amp. the adrenalinn was by far the most real/tube/analog sounding of the two. it had a richness, texture and depth in its tone that simply does not exist on the pod. it really impressed me and i will probably pick one up someday.

btw, i've got guitar rig too, since it came with komplete 4. its fun and useful, but as far as realism goes, it cant hold a candle to the pod or an adrenalinn yet.

anyway, the original poster mentioned wanting something that sounded very close to a fender twin, with light overdrive, and perhaps some top boost, with lots of effect options, especially with delays. the adrenalinn fits that bill very well, including (if not especially) in the effects department.

im not saying its the perfect solution for everyone, but i do think its worth it for the original poster to take a look at it, considering the requirements that were listed.

[DuX]

Thanks for the Adrenalinn II tip then, it just looks fragile in comparison to say Vox. I will have to have a listen somehow though. Well, I'm not in a rush of buying POD/Tonelab/Adrenalinn yet, it just happened that I was making this song and got really pissed off at how nothing sounded like I wanted it to sound except for Saro [and Simulanalog suite which I forgot to mention]. Incredible freeware, but both aren't that versatile. Then I thought, hey wouldn't it be nice to have a dedicated distortion machine, also?

Looking at the specs/features POD wins it so far for me, but looking at the hi-gain distortion which doesn't sound hursh [yea I know, sounds stupid to say that ], I have a hunch Tonelab or Adrenalinn would be better for that.

That tube... if PODXT had a real tube in there, I wouldn't think too much. You can flame me as much as you like but tube is tube and DSP is DSP.

However, as I said, I shall give it a listen first time in a shop . It's probably best that way because I don't need it for Blues or Jazz for instance.

Cheers!

[TTonicMajor]

I would recommend that you download the demo's of Guitar Rig 2 and Amplitube 2 and see for yourself.
Unfortunately Line 6 has no demo available.

In short, what I have found after playing with Line 6, GR2 and AT2 is:

1) Line 6's day has passed and their models are not up to their competition. They lack clarity and definition compared to AT2 and ridiculously lack the effects and flexibility of GR2.

2) AT2 simply has the best models available for purchase today. IK has dropped the dongle and put their efforts into creating something special that you simply have to try out while sitting next to a tube amp to appreciate. Go ahead you Tube bigots! Give it a try

3) GR2 has cracked the door on some really interesting blurring between synth and guitar. The amp models are not up to that of IK but I don't thing that is what NI was aiming for

I just wouldn't toss any money at Line 6 right now. They just re-released POD 2.0 with a floorboard for goodness sakes! I feel for the newbie that gets tricked into buying the FloorPod. Line 6 needs to innovate as their sound is really dated.

TTonicMajor

[bduffy]

I don't know, it's a tough call. I really don't think Line6 sounds "dated" or anything; I'm getting great sounds of all types for my record. I think you have to find a good match for your guitar, and the POD works well with my Mexican Strat. I suspect the better your setup, the better some of these sims sound as well. You know the techs at these companies weren't testing these on a $199 Cort "special" and a bookshelf stereo!

One last thing for getting a POD pedal: no CPU at all.

And I gotta say I love AT2, but for some reason the input is noisier than other amp sims. Not sure why.

[DuX]

Well, this is one too many times I hear good things about AT2. I have to give it a "hear", although no CPU and real buttons on PODXT Pro/Tonelab/Adrenalinn are soooo tempting for a quid or two more [ok PODXT Pro costs more but not so much more ]. I demoed GR2 and it's a definite no-no for me, maybe for some guitar player, not "distortion player" like me . When I think of it, I like Saro and Simulanalog very much, maybe DSP programming finally matured?

I'm gonna download the AT2 demo if there's one.

bduffy what do you mean AT2's input is noisier? it's a plugin... you mean they emulate noise, too, and it's a bit too noisy for your taste?

Cheers!

[DuX]

"The AmpliTube2 demo is fully functional for a grace period of 10 days. After 10 days the demo will expire. After having installed the demo, when using AmpliTube 2, always click CANCEL on the Authorization Wizard. This is because this Demo cannot be Authorized, and will emit a small noise, from time to time, once the 10-day trial period has expired."

That's what I'm talking about, give me some time to see how it works without any BS. This IK Multimedia people are really pals. I mean for the price they're asking, they have to be . I can have a PODXT Pro for almost 600E and AT2 is 330E.

Downloading.

Hope it's worth it.