Pedal + speaker sim?

[lcs]

I'm sure this has been done before, I wanted others thoughts on this. I am sick of pod farm and pod tone but cannot afford Axefx or a nice new amp. I was thinking of running maybe a Sansamp or Tonelab SP into my computer via Apogee Uno and using Recabinet as a speaker sim.
I figured the "hardware" distortion may sound better than the plastic-like pod tone and with Recabinet I am turning off the pod speaker simulation anyways.
Any pros or cons to this? Do any professional AE's use anything like this?

Thanks


EDIT: I guess one con would be not having DI tracks to play with after recording like I have when using a pod

 

[guitarguru777]

A solid state distortion pedal isnt gong to do you much, and any good tube pedal will run you about the same as a mini amp in the hundreds of dollar ranges.

Honestly if you dont want to spend a boatload of cash or want good tones until you save up for a decent amp check out all the LePou amp sims and get the Catharsis Fredman Impulses.

 

[TomAwesome]

Tech21 makes some decent stuff, but you should try some other cheap/free software amp sims, too. +1 to LePou's plugins.

 

[lcs]

Problem with most of the plugins is that I have a Mac (sorry left that part out) I have tried Revalver, Overloud and a few other Mac compatable plugins and I didn't really care for them.
The reason I was thinking about Vox Tonelab SE was because it was an inexpensive "tube" pedal. I had also heard a lot of good things about the Sansamp, from their site, they sound good but not directly in the way I would use it.

I guess in theory, using a distortion pedal to Recabinet (or other impulses) is about the same things as running a pod or other amp sim minus cabinet right?

 

[Omega_Void]

A blast from the past:
6505 vs. (?)+Curve Eq

You'll notice the solid-state pedal doesn't "bloom" like the tube preamp, so it sounds flatter and less weighty. Top end is more abrasive on the pedal, but some folks like that. But given some crafty post-eq before the speaker impulse, a pretty decent sound can had like this.

Oh, and I'd personally hesitate to invest in a tube pedal if I hadn't heard it. Tubes can sound as sterile as solid-state if the circuit isn't done right. Don't let the presence of a tube get you thinking it must sound great, you may be disappointed.

 

[lcs]

Great read there Omega, the tone in that thread is pretty good to my ears, a little harsh, but a definite improvement to the pod. Thanks for digging this up.

This would be nice for 'quite' recording too, another reason I don't have an amp at this time.

I may pay a visit to Guitar Center and pick up a solid state to test with. I guess I could always return it (not sure if that is frowned upon here or not)

 

[ahjteam]

I actually went to guitar center yesterday and tried out the boss pedals and the combo NS2 (noise supressor), GE7 (graphic eq) and MT2 (metalzone) or ML2 (metalcore) to the small clean demo amp they had sounded actually pretty bad ass with a Schecter with EMG's and basically does similiar stuff than Santeri's curve eq stuff but with just less precise results. You can always do the same with Behringer pedals and cut the price down to like one third. I think UM300 was the MT2 clone, NR300 is the noise supressor, EQ700 is the graphic equalizer. you can even throw the tubescreamer (boss SD1 or Behringer TO800) in to the mix if you want.

 

[lcs]

I'm pretty sure I have an old Boss distortion pedal in storage that I could use to test this, that will save me from spending at Guitar Center. I guess the ideal setup for this would be:

Guitar > Boss pedal > Apogee Uno > Logic EQ plugin> Recabinet

I assume any EQ will suffice?

 

[The Unavoidable]

Pedals into impulses can work wonders, I've only done it with the HM-2 though. Torture Division do that with a DS-1 and MT-2 and they sound great.

 

[lcs]

I am pumped to give this a try tonight, just have to make it through work here.....

The more I think of it, an amp is really just 3 stages or parts. A preamp, power amp and speaker. The pedal would act as a preamp, eliminate the power amp and the impulses would act as the speaker. Hopefully this has less digital fizzy results...

I guess a preamp pedal would be ideal here, Ill have to look and see if these are still being sold. I know Hughes and Kettner had one a few years ago, but I think it was discontinued.

 

[fin]

I just built a DIY distortion pedal called "Dr Boogey". Was pretty easy to build and has cheap parts. http://gaussmarkov.net/wordpress/circuits/dr-boogey/
It should be a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectum preamp emulator. I reamped Jeff's Rose of Sharyn DIs and I think it turned out pretty good. I used Greg's beta impulse for the clip and hipass at 60hz and lowpass at 12000hz.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2153530/Rose_Boogey.mp3

 

[Omega_Void]

That's got some nice grit. Might put a few J201 on my shopping list...

The Dr Boogey schematic isn't buffered at the output. Adding a source-follower or opamp buffer should reduce noise a bit if you're going straight into low-Z line input.