Making the best out of amp sim

[spioraid]

Before long I'll be recording a guitarist with the following rig:

Schecter C1 Artist/Ibanez S320 w/emg81 at the bridge - zoom G9.2tt FX board - Jimi Hendrix Wah Pedal - Peavey ValveKing 112

He'll be using the FX board solely, never uses the the amp without the board. He's tweeked a few good sounds from the board, but the distortion is seriously lacking some body and presence when it comes through the amp. Obviously the answer to a better sound is get some real gear, but what would you all recommend to get a meatier, richer and not as "amp sim" sound from the rig?

I can post impulses later on once I get them recorded.

Cheers.

 

[hoehlentroll]

get rev3

 

[TomAwesome]

So he has a Valve King, but he uses the Zoom for distortion? The VK doesn't exactly have the most amazing distortion out there, but it's definitely workable, and I'm sure it sounds better than the Zoom. Were you going to be recording direct or micing the cab? If the latter, try to get him to agree to using the VK's distortion. In any case, if you can get a tone with at least a good basic character, you can tweak "meat" and "presence" and such in the DAW. That's kind of a silly way to run a rig, though, IMO. If he's going to do that, he should get a dedicated power amp.

 

[greyskull]

throw the zoom off a cliff

 

[PostMortem1666]

all the valvekings i have heard didnt sound thin and lacked body. +1 to what tomawesome said about using the amps distortion.

 

[spioraid]

So he has a Valve King, but he uses the Zoom for distortion? The VK doesn't exactly have the most amazing distortion out there, but it's definitely workable, and I'm sure it sounds better than the Zoom. Were you going to be recording direct or micing the cab? If the latter, try to get him to agree to using the VK's distortion. In any case, if you can get a tone with at least a good basic character, you can tweak "meat" and "presence" and such in the DAW. That's kind of a silly way to run a rig, though, IMO. If he's going to do that, he should get a dedicated power amp.

Anything to be honest. I was even considering doing both the cab/mic and direct and mixing to the two to try and get something workable. I'll see what I can do with the VK's distortion however.

throw the zoom off a cliff

Haha, without a doubt. I've worked with this same model before and I just for the life of me not get anything good out of it, even with the on board 12ax7s.

 

[Sloan]

Dude, ask everyone you know with a badass amp if you can use it.
Trade studio time or even pay for it.

I've heard a few Valvekings live and I really don't like them. Could be the speakers/cabs though.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Zoom pedals blow serious donkey dick.

 

[-J-]

I say have hime plug his guitar straight into peavey. crank it and mic it. two takes, for 100% L and R.

have him do 2 more runs, but only capture the clean direct signal and run that through an amp sim (like the JCM900 sim or MK II or III with guitarhack's cab impulses). these'll be the 60% L and R.

combine all in the mix and bammo, wall of guitars. even if the peavey sound totally blows, the live-ness of it will come through, and the bawls of the jcm900 sim should save it.

 

[spioraid]

I say have hime plug his guitar straight into peavey. crank it and mic it. two takes, for 100% L and R.

have him do 2 more runs, but only capture the clean direct signal and run that through an amp sim (like the JCM900 sim or MK II or III with guitarhack's cab impulses). these'll be the 60% L and R.

combine all in the mix and bammo, wall of guitars. even if the peavey sound totally blows, the live-ness of it will come through, and the bawls of the jcm900 sim should save it.

That's exactly the thought process I had, I just wasn't sure how exactly to go about it. Thank you! It's much appreciated.

I really wish I had the $ to get my own guitar rig set up in the studio, but that comes after the studio drumset I'm afraid.

 

[-J-]

That's exactly the thought process I had, I just wasn't sure how exactly to go about it. Thank you! It's much appreciated.

I really wish I had the $ to get my own guitar rig set up in the studio, but that comes after the studio drumset I'm afraid.

good luck! if it doesn't work, you'll have a lot of tracks to play with.