Amp Emulators

[raulduke]

Need you guys help!

Anyone got any recommendations on good amp modeller units for not too much £ (ie. not Kemper type stuff)?

I've tried to keep up with playing on electric, but with a 6 week old baby, turning on my amp is:

A. Usually only possible when babies asleep.

B. Usually results in me being told off by Mr's as I will wake the baby (note even when I'm playing at really low volume) 

I've got Guitar Rig on my laptop, but I'm looking for something a bit more immediate.

Is a POD still the go to for this kind of thing?

[wgc]

Can totally relate, but wouldn't trade the dad thing for the world.

The Johnson jstation is a bit dated but you can pick them up cheap. Had the ability to go way deeper for editing than the pods of same era.

Haven't checked the more recent pods so can't comment on those.

Another cool option I've been playing with is "bias" for iPhone or iPad. Cool for learning tunes or use with garage band. Cant beat the price.

[jimilee]

For this type situation, I'd go with whatever you you like. I have an amp with a headphone jack, I've built a headphone amp with a 2 channel mixer both from tagboard. I have a Scarlett that unplug in to my computer.  Just whatever is easiest price wise, space wise and size wise.


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[matmosphere]

Feel your pain man. I think I barely played for a few years when our kids were born. It's actually why I got into building pedals. At least then I got to have a guitar adjacent hobby.

Best advice I can give is to invest enough that you get something worth having. Might end up being the new normal for a while.

I take that back, the ACTUAL best advice is to have fun with the little one. Kids pretty much rule.

[Muadzin]

Plenty of cheap amp emulators to be had, good ones however depend on how anal you are about your tone. Personally I think for playing at home a Pod HD is good enough, and 2nd hand ones can be had for a good price. Especially now that Helix is out. The only downside in my opinion is that it lacks a separate volume control for its headphone output. If it has one I haven't found it yet. This means you have to use the overall volume control. Which is not something I find desirable when I also have to use it in a live situation. On the plus side the overall volume control is a big plus compared to the Pod XT, in which you had to adjust the volume in every preset. Which meant you could be playing nicely to a finely tuned preset through your headphone, then you switch to another preset and BAM, your ears start to bleed.

The thing with Line6 though is that if you're going to do some on the fly editing it's best to connect it to a laptop and use the editing software for the unit as I think Line6 editing software is very good and intuitive to use. Way way easier and quicker then using the actual Pod interface. I also have an Axe-FX and for ease of use the Line6 software beats the one from Fractal. But then again if you're going to hook up the Pod to a computer you might as well stick with Guitar Rig.

[gordo]

On the cheap, I agree with the J-Station.  It's the sleeper of the emulator ilk.  That said, the original Line6 POD is good as well at sounding like an amp thru headphones, and the better the headphones the more convincing.  There's a bunch of disconnect between hearing a roaring Mesa Rectifier in your ears but not getting the physical feedback.  You get over it.

[drolo]

Had the same situation when our kid was born 4 years ago (how time flies ...)
I bought a Yamaha THR10 and it has been my workstation every evening since. Great for recording directly over USB.

[mrclean77]

I grabbed a Blackstar Fly to put on my bench for testing, but I have used it a good bit for headphone jamming and for playing along w the mp3 input. For the cost, I was super-duper surprised at how it does as an amp and may be one of the first amps I've played in a long time (not given many a chance in a while) that has on-board effects that aren't 'fried dog doo' bad.

[culturejam]

I bought a Yamaha THR10 and it has been my workstation every evening since. Great for recording directly over USB.

Second vote for the THR10. Very realistic amp models, headhphone jack, and USB out for direct recording. Also, there are effect parameters that you can only change over USB and the computer interface (like some aspects of the delay and reverb effects).

But, when you can actually unplug, it sounds very good despite the tiny speakers.

[raulduke]

Thanks for the comments guys!

The Yamaha THR-10 is looking like a real winner.

Plus it looks cool 

[drolo]

you can also find the cheaper THR5 which is also smaller if you can live with the few options it has less (i don't remember the actual differences )

[solderfumes]

Are you averse to smartphone/tablet apps?  I quite like Amplitube on my iPhone, and use an iRig Pro to connect my guitar.

[nzCdog]

I built this: http://www.aikenamps.com/index.php/designing-a-reactive-speaker-load-emulator
And then use this:

So I can use existing my 'real' amp and pedalboard rig running through the reactive load and IR cabinets.  Headphones out or line/bal etc.  Sounds really good

[playpunk]

I built this: http://www.aikenamps.com/index.php/designing-a-reactive-speaker-load-emulator
And then use this:

So I can use existing my 'real' amp and pedalboard rig running through the reactive load and IR cabinets.  Headphones out or line/bal etc.  Sounds really good

Is this simple circuit what suhr charges $400 for?!?!?!?


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[nzCdog]

Is this simple circuit what suhr charges $400 for?!?!?!?

I'm not suhr about that to be honest... prolly a few more bells and whistles, but the concept is likely similar

I had a hard time finding the inductors, ended up getting RF power chokes and removing the ferrites.  It sounds and feels better than a plain old resistor did.  There are free IR cabs out there, I like the free Ownhammers the best. 

This Pangaea thing is pretty cool for bedroom jamming etc, I have used it to DI my amp live when using IEM on a silent stage also.  It's mono in, stereo out & and truncates the IR files to 20ms... so not usable for reverbs etc. I haven't used more recent modelling gear, but used to be a modelling geek back in the early days.  Absolutely kills the early stuff like Vetta and PodxT.  TBH sounds better than if I had miked the actual amp myself