Amplitude & GuitarRig Vs. Vamp2 & Pod2

[guitarzan]

@guitarzan

I just noticed you have your reverb before the chorus. I wonder if that introduces some unnatural weirdness to the final sound or if it thickens it in a pleasant way. I've been putting verb last and actually post final compression/limiting.

I have the chorus set real light (rate, depth, and mix at or below 1) and the "SPREAD" is on. I use it as a stereo enhancer basically.

What I'm trying to emulate there is what I accomplished in the past using a BOSS Digital Dimension pedal with the speed turned all the way down. I'd put that after my spring reverb rack unit and it would create a great 3D AudioHallucinogenic vibe!

I wish someone would model those Dimension pedals - the Digital Dimension sounds cheesey digital when used as a normal chorus, but as a stereo creator/enhancer it's like magic!

[chrishurley]

[already covered... nothing more to see here] :)

[Cap'n Spanky]

I'd like to recommend the Damage Control products (Womanizer, Demonizer, etc). They are all analog guitar preamps, but they work extremely well for direct recording.

http://www.damagecontrolusa.com/products.htm

IMHO, all digital amp simulators cause digital smearing and suffer from a lack of dynamics. I got tired of that digital-fizzy / digital-smearing sound I've heard on so many recordings made with modelers. They can suck life out of a song.

For these reasons, I really really wanted to get away from digital modeling, but I loved the convenience of recording direct. I did a lot of research and felt that the Womanizer was my best option. I'm no tone guru, but the Womanizer has given me what I've been looking for and obviously...I'm very happy.

It has natural tube overdrive, just like a quality tube amp. Lots of tonal possibilities with the pre and post EQs. The opto compressor is great.

It's not as convenient as a modeler where you can tweak it and then store your sounds. In that sense, it's just like a real amp. There are no presets and the pots don't have numbers or any marks to note your settings, which would be nice. But I don't think it's hard to tweak. Also, there's no reverb, delay, chorus, etc. I tried running the direct out of the Womanizer into the line-in on the back of my PODxt Pro. I turned off all the amps and cabs and just use the POD's reverbs and delays. This works great!

Like I said, I'm no tone guru, but I'm very pleased with it. I'm probably going to get a Demonizer, too.

[chrishurley]

both a demonizer and womanizer? You must be rich! :) I'm interested, but the price of admission is a little steep for me.

[Cap'n Spanky]

Yes, I'm filthy rich

They have a couple of new units out that run about $199. I don't think there's much difference in the audio quality and the knobs have notches so you can write down your settings. I haven't heard them though.

[guitarzan]

@guitarzan

I just noticed you have your reverb before the chorus. I wonder if that introduces some unnatural weirdness to the final sound or if it thickens it in a pleasant way. I've been putting verb last and actually post final compression/limiting.

I have the chorus set real light (rate, depth, and mix at or below 1) and the "SPREAD" is on. I use it as a stereo enhancer basically.

What I'm trying to emulate there is what I accomplished in the past using a BOSS Digital Dimension pedal with the speed turned all the way down. I'd put that after my spring reverb rack unit and it would create a great 3D AudioHallucinogenic vibe!

I wish someone would model those Dimension pedals - the Digital Dimension sounds cheesey digital when used as a normal chorus, but as a stereo creator/enhancer it's like magic!

I never really answered the question, did I? I don't hear any weird artifacts because of the chorus, but I did make some hurried soundclips for zeoy (he requested them earlier in this thread) and I didn't have the noisegate set right so I tried the noise reduction in Audacity and ended up with a bunch of flanger sounding crap on there. I suppose it could have been indirectly because of the chorus now that you mention it - but I won't be using noise reduction anymore so it shouldn't be a problem.

I should have prepared that screenshot better - the chorus isn't really needed (I like it there, though) and the limiter is mostly just there to drive my headphones better. Other than that I consider the whole setup to be a single amp sim.