Guitar Equiment

Hylian

Member
Nov 22, 2001
2,589
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Berlin
Hey, I wanted to ask if anyone could sugest me some decent guitar equipment.

So far, I've been using a damn awful guitar amp. I'm buying a decent Marshall Amp and Preamp (sugestions on models would be welcome - also, does anyone know the url for Marshall's website?), but I have no idea about what Effect Processor to get.

I'm looking for rack stuff, with decent quality. I'm going to be recording soon, so I don't really want an effect pedal from Zoom.

Anyway, some people have sugested me to get some effect processor from Roland/BOSS, but I've also had sugestions for some Line6 equipment. What would any of you sugest me to get (and why - what are the pros/cons of that equipment).

About my type of sound. Well, you can say that I listen to nearly anything in the Metal genre. My favorite band is without any doubt Children Of Bodom (specially the first 2 cds). But I'm also a huge fan of other bands, from Black Metal to Melodic Metal Bands, such as Stratovarius, Sonata Arctica or Nightwish.

I want something that gives me a lot of freedom. I want to have an agressive, yet melodic sound.

Thanks in Advance!
 
I think the Line6 equipment you are referring to is POD.

I myself don't have any experience on those, but there's few loonies lurking around here (you know who you are. ;)) who can probably give you all the information you ever need to know about POD.


As for Marshall sites, try www.marshallamps.com (official site) and www.marshallarts.org (user maintained site)
 
Hey, thanks for replying, and for the link to Marshall's website.

Well, the person who sugested Line6 to me was Jani Liimatainen, from Sonata Arctica, and I also noticed that Kamelot used Line6 as well, so I decided to check it out.

Anyone, to you "loonies", whoever you are. Could you give me a couple of tips here? :)
 
Hey, thanks again! :)

There's one detail I forgot to mention, that is rather important. I play both Lead and Rhythm, but mainly lead guitar (with a LOT of shreding). This is surely important for picking the correct equipment.
 
Boss GT-3, hands down. You can do anything with it. And to record, well you don't really need a conventional guitar amp. My old amp is now acting as a powerful subwoofer for my audio system :) I never really liked conventional guitar amps anyway... with all of your sound coming from one place. The GT-3's output is stereo, i have it connected to my main PC's sound card (which acts as a sampler) and my stereo amp blows this into full surround, along with all other audio sources i have connected to my computers ...... awesome sound!!!

well my current config is moreso designed for recording, than for jamming/rehearsing. I'm not in any band, haven't been for years, so....
 
Yeah, the BOSS GT-3 was my initial choice, before I decided to go for rack stuff. It does have a lot of great functions, but it doesn't seem to give you the same freedom you can achieve with some rack processors.
 
Line6 has a lot of great stuff. They have digital amp modelers (thePOD), which is AWESOME for recording. You can also use it as an 'effect' source through any amplifiers clean channel to simulate a whole bunch of different amps.

However they also make 'real' amplifiers, which I believe include some of the same circuitry as the POD.

What amp to get depends totally on what your looking for. If you want equipment for live performances and your looking for 1 or 2 particular sound (i.e. a good dirty and clean sound), I'd look into some of the amps your favorite axemen are using. If you want something more versatile but perhaps not exactly the dirty or clean sound your looking for, check out the Line6 or Johnson stuff. I own the POD and its fantastic for recording, and my guitarist owns a Johnson amp (Line6 competition) and gets some stellar sounds from it. Everything from Maidenish crunch to a guitar synth sound that would make you drool...

Check out all the appropriate web sites and make a decision based on your needs and your funds...
 
Hey, thanks for the tips!

How does POD handle live gigs? I noticed on Sonata Arctica that it sounds AWSOME on the album, but when playing live, it doesn't really sound the same. Though it could have been due to the place from where I was standing, that's what seemed to me.

And one other question. I noticed on your user title that you're a vocalist and guitarist. On what band(s) do you play?

Also, could you give me the url to Johnson's website?
 
Lets see if I can answer these correctly...

The POD was designed for use as an amp modeler in the digital domain. In other words, no amps are used at all, just the POD straight into your recording device (or headphones). They do have it set up to connect to a real amplifier by allowing you to turn off the cabinet simulation feature. Whether you turn it off, or keep it on, by running the POD through a 'real' amplifier, the sound is going to change - even if its slightly. I can fully imagine not being able to get the same sound with the POD live as you can get when recording. However if you run it through a similar setup to that which your modeling (i.e. a Duel Rectifier sound pumped through a Marshall stack) you should be able to get it real close....

Johnsons web site it www.johnson-amp.com

I've been a guitarist/vocalist for around 20 years now. About 2 years ago I decided to concentrate solely on vocals - since there are a ba-zillion guitarists, 99% of whom are better then me. Also, there are not that many singers, so I figured my odds would be better. I was right, since not soon after that I landed a gig with a band called Exxplorer (by auditioning over the net :) ), and 2 months later found myself in the studio. You can hear clips from that session at:

http://www.monmouth.com/~elavolpe/Exxplorer/samples/default.htm

These songs are supposed to be bonus tracks on the re-release of Exxplorer's debut CD in Europe. That was 'supposed' to happen last April. Finally the record company informed us today that they had legal problems with thier distributor, and will be releasing the CD in January 2002. We'll see...

Glad to see some new blood on the site... good luck!

Oh, and recently I joined a metal/rock local cover band to keep my chops up, since I live 3.5 hours away from the rest of the guys in Exxplorer...
 
Yeah, it'd be a damn good option.

Anyway, I won't be buying the Effect processor now, just next year. I will be buying the preamp and amp soon though, so I'd like some sugestions for those as well if possible.
 
Ok, now I've understood how POD works. seems like a pretty useful setup, I'll have to test it out! Is POD good at synth functions. Like on Rhapsody. Luca Turilli uses quite a lot of them on some parts, making his guitar sound somewhat close to a violin. Can POD also do that?

Well, and another thing that might be useful for me when picking the setup to use is - how much does POD cost? :lol:

Anyway, thanks for the warm welcome here!
I first checked this board out since I'm a pretty frequent poster at Sinergy's forum, and that forum will be moving here within a few days.

Also, I'm going to be moderating Skyfire's official forum. I'm placing it here! :)

As for Exxplorer - I'm going to download those songs to check them out! :)
 
The POD does not do synth type stuff. It is a guitar amp/effect modeler only. So you can mix and match vintage heads and vintage cabinets, and then apply your typical effects to that.. such as delay, reverb, chorus, flange, etc. etc.
 
Mmmmm, first of all, I play something like Children Of Bodom with my band, with lots of solos... I dont't like very much digital amps, i prefere tube ones... In the studio I have used a Peavey 5150 120Watt Tube Head, with a big rack of compressors, equalizer and reverb and the sounds was wonderful, something like Alexi Laiho's sound... Personally I hate Marshall... I don't like that amps' sound...
Try the Laney VH100R Head (the Paul Gilbert one) or the Carvin Legacy (Steve Vai Model)... they aren't so much expensive and they rocks hard! Also Mesa Boogie is a must but it's very expensive... You also can try some Preamps, but not Rocktron ones... they are nu-metal oriented by myself... I don't like that sounds... eheh
Good Playing!
:D :D :D