Advice on Guitar amp modeling tech

[Renegade]

The popular options seem to be Behringer V-amp and Line 6 Pod. I've tried out the pod at a friends and it seemed pretty good but since the pod seems to cost alot more, I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Some folks swear by the Line 6. What kind of a sound do you want, exactly? If you want variety, that's not a bad way to go. I stick with a Hughes and Kettner ATTAX pre-amp. Excellent distortion.

[Rendclaw]

Whats the most amount of money you;re willing to spend?

 

I have a Crate GT65, and I'm happy with it, though I might start buying stompboxes...

[Neil-o-Mac]

Quick info on the two to help you make yer mind up...

 

V-AMP

 

Pros - Cheap. Good distortion sounds. Cheap. Comes with patch up/down footswitch and bag. Cheap. Did I mention cheap?

 

Cons - Plastic casing, no on-off switch, clean sounds are average at best.

 

POD

 

Pros - Good all-round sounds, sturdy metal casing, strong user base (lots of patches to download on-line), XT version can interface with the Variax and the Guitarport & Rifftracker software.

 

Cons - expensive, floorboard is extra if you want to gig it.

 

Both are very good devices for home recording without causing a breach of the peace due to your Marshall stack being cranked up to 11.

[Renegade]

Thanks for the info guys.

What kind of a sound do you want, exactly

Nothing specific, that's why I'm looking for gear that can provide a good range of sounds.

Whats the most amount of money you're willing to spend?

I guess I'm flexible, but I would prefer something cheaper if it has roughly the same quality in sound.

V-AMP

 

Pros - Cheap. Good distortion sounds. Cheap. Comes with patch up/down footswitch and bag. Cheap. Did I mention cheap?

 

Cons - Plastic casing, no on-off switch, clean sounds are average at best.

Everything about that sounds great besides the clean sounds issue, and as you said it's a hell of a lot cheaper than the pod.

 

POD

 

Pros - Good all-round sounds, sturdy metal casing, strong user base (lots of patches to download on-line), XT version can interface with the Variax and the Guitarport & Rifftracker software.

 

Cons - expensive, floorboard is extra if you want to gig it.

How much of a downgrade would it be to use the 2.0 version?

[Neil-o-Mac]

How much of a downgrade would it be to use the 2.0 version?

 

Hmm, 2.0 has less features, but it'll do most of the stuff most guitarists would need - clean sounds, distorted sounds, in-between sounds (another area the V-Amp is a bit lacking in- it's at its best either full clean or fat distortion, not great for Stevie Ray Vaughan sorta sounds). If you're not bothered about digital Variax connections, blended amp sims, Guitarport and whatnot, the Pod 2.0 would be pretty good and probably a hell of a lot cheaper than the XT.

 

If you want to hear some V-Amp sounds, head over to http://www.soundclick.com/delusi0n and have a listen to my recordings - all the guitars on them were done on a mark 1 V-Amp direct to either my PC or my old 8-track digital recorder.

[Renegade]

I'm probably going to get a V-amp 2 this week then. Just one question, I've heard that the pedal that comes with it has some delay, is this true?

[Neil-o-Mac]

It depends - the patch change can take a half second to kick in if the two patches are on different amp & speaker models. If you run the same speaker models on two consecutive patches, the changeover delay will be smaller. Are you planning on using the V-Amp live, like? Into an amp or straight into the PA?

[Renegade]

Update I got the v-amp 2, but since the manual sucks I have no idea how to change drive/cabinet/reverb etc levels using the A/B/C/D/E keys. Because using the arrow keys just changes the bank number.

 

EDIT: nevermind, found it