Post short clips of your current overdrive tones!

The Yeti is fantastic, get the lunchbox version which is a bit easier to control in home volume and you won’t regret it!

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Been out of town for a bit, but I have some listening to do here!

bought Mercurial Spark a few years back thinking id finally jump into the amp sims world etc. Very disappointing. for me nothing but huge massive noise no matter what I tried. I figured maybe my laptop was too weak. Ok, so I bought a new lenovo laptop with I7, tons of ram etc. Nope, still sucked badly.

How any1 can use it is beyond me.

Later on I bought the Slate everything bundle when i was trying to learn how to mix. I unknowingly got the s-gear stuff. I had never even heard of it so i didnt pay it much mind. Then when I tried it I was pleasantly surprised as it sounded great and was pretty easy to get working etc.

So I guess im smart enough and my equipment is good enough to run s-gear, but not good enough for Mercurial. Same dude, same laptop…one works one doesnt

Here’s your Erotomania DI re-amped through an Axe-Fx III using the Petrucci Rig preset and the “Learning to Lead” scene.

The Petrucci Rig preset is included in the Axe-Fx and that particular scene is modeled after his tone on the Images and Words song Learning to Live.

I probably should’ve used a few more scenes (clean and rythm too) but couldn’t be arsed :stuck_out_tongue:

Think you sound great here!

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What are you using for an interface?

focusrite 2i4 2nd gen

also have used Audio Assault stuff and IIRC whatever the Waves stuff is called…GTR?

All of them have “worked” ok but so far I have always had latency of some sort. Dunno if it can be measured but it can be felt

the Mercuriall was the only one that just literally wasnt even close to being usable. Almost plain white noise no matter what. I saw ONE honest reviewer online who mentioned it. So im not sure what people r using to get around the noise but I tried it on 2 different laptops and just a huge waste of my time

anyway, no biggie because I wont touch it again.

but in general I have been disappointed in the whole amp sim thing. I guess im just not hip enough to make them work right.

2 bad because im in a quiet apt so how am i going to get a tone from my 6505+ combo?? not gonna happen lol.

is it any wonder why im not that inspired to record more?

I ALMOST pulled the trigger on a Babyface pro about a year ago but I held off. if I thought it would improve my recordings id do it. I just dont have the heart to go thru another 100 hours or so of tension and disappointment trying to get sims to work correctly. lifes too short

Yeah, that should be good enough to give you decent results. Hmm. Odd.

I haven’t experimented significantly with VST modelers, but I have an extremely clean input (Apogee Ensemble with a dedicated guitar DI channel) and my experience is similar to yours - I can get some great recorded sounds this way, easily good enough for a record, but there’s a slight latency when playing even with my buffer settings awfully low, more to the point where you feel it more than hear it but it’s there. And, because a modeler is supposed to give you a great recorded tone rather than sound and feel like standing in front of a half stack, between that and the latency they’re just not that much fun to play through. It works in a pinch if I need to demo something silently, but given the choice I’ll always rather throw a mic or two in front of my cab.

6505s definitely need to move some air to sound their best… Have you tried one of the mini ones? I’ve heard REALLY good things.

If you’re using wifi for your internet on whatever computer you’re using, I find turning it off can help. I used to have AWFUL issues with my (also Focusrite) DI box and modeler until I learned that one simple trick, audio engineers hate him!

Context: I’m using guitarix with JACK on a Thinkpad running Ubuntu, so YMMV.

Also keep in mind that the latency just from sound travel time when you’re playing through an amp is already (2/300 = 1/60th of a second or so?), so another 5ms shouldn’t be that noticeable.

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yeah. when I got my Lenovo lappy i went thru all of this for a few months. Essentially trying to turn myself into some half assed computer engineer when really all i want to do is be able to record the skills I have worked hard to build.

but yeah i deffo turn off wifi altogether when trying to record

this is sort of the one thing that stops me in my tracks…sitting here thinking of the straight uphill, into the wind, in quicksand, hurdles that would have to be overcome to release an album. Has nothing to do with writing, playing, or singing

Latency is a deal breaker for me. Anything about 5ms is a no-no. I’m around 3ms round trip on the babyface pro with USB 2. The thing is these DAW based effects are processor heavy, that means the laptops need to be cool so that there is zero throttling, the moment they throttle it’s game over.

Was just listening to Michal Brits profile website for Kemper, the reason I sold my kemper is because s-gear of all things gave it a run for it’s money, the kemper would also develop a noticeable latency on some patches. So far nothing has changed, my recordings with the overdrive pedals still matches if not betters the kemper stuff.

The more I think about it, the less I want to invest in computer based gear, better to get the right 100 watt head and one of the two top attenuators/loadbox/IR gizmos, the power station 2 and the wazza amp expender. This kind of solution is both tonally satisfying and practical for the most part. I tried really hard not to get seduced by any more flippant gizmos, I cave badly replacing my BEOD with a karen and budi, I don’t like to think those two pedals cost almost half as much as a Ceriatone big amp.

Yeah the Yeti has been on my gunsight for a while now, I was hoping for a little more I’d get a nice clean channel in there too. Thus the AH 100 Deluxe was a strong contender. That and a PS2 I’d be a happy camper for two decades at least. Another 1x12 cab with a speaker of choice to go with my existing 1x12 cab and I’m done. In theory at least :smiley:

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Oh, I just plug into my amp and mic up. No contest - sure, a modeler can work in a pinch, but I’ve got an absolutely killer signalchain, an amazing amp, some really nice mics that I’m comfortable worthing with, and some really great mic pres and EQs. If I can’t get a great guitar tone out of the rig I’m running then it’s 100% my fault. :rofl:

Honestly, once you start going, it’s surprisingly easy. Break them down into small, finite tasks, start chipping away at them, and you;ll be there before you know it. Even if you outsource the mixing and mastering to someone else - it’s not nearly as daunting as it seems. Trust me, I’ve done a couple now. :smiley:

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Had another shot at creating an overdrive tone for a Vinnie Moore song, this one is called “Check it Out” and is a bit more bluesy than his neoclassical stuff. It’s a practice recording so there are plenty of mistakes for your enjoyment, I hope to clean it up enough to record a cover soon :slight_smile:

I am away from home so I used a cheap Squier strat (neck pickup) into a vox IO interface. For plugins I used mercuriall ss11-x tube preamp → ignite TPA-1 (a free tube power amp) → ignite NadIR (IR loader where I blended two free VOX AC30 cabs from Seacow Cabs) → Mercurall Chorus. Here’s a few screenshots of the presets. I think the sound is not too bad considering the very cheap guitar!



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Great playing man

20char

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Excellent playin bro; you playing is way better than the guitar for sure. Can you put some reverb on it with the wet bright . Killin it bro, keep going. Great track too.

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