Hey, all! Didn't really see an existing relevant thread so decided to start one. Any other guitar players out there on TKP? Would love a place to not necessarily talk music/bands you're listening to since we already have that. But a space to talk about guitar, gear, pedals, amps, gigs you're playing and your live setup, home recording, etc. I watch a ton of Beato, Thorn, and Pedal Show on YouTube and have been tinkering a lot lately with my setup.
Feel free to share what you're doing/working on and what gear you're playing. I'll give comments on my current rig here shortly.
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So for guitars, I've got quite a menagerie. I have three Strats (one American, one Standard/Mexican, and an Yngwie), then on the humbucker side I've got an HH Tele, Gibson SG, and Les Paul Studio. I've customized the black Les Paul over the years with gold speed knobs, crème pickup mounting brackets, crème pick guard, crème pickup switch.
My main amp rig is a Marshall JCM 2000 TSL 100. Love this amp, can't express that enough. Recently I retubed and rebiased with some NOS Mullard tubes and wow, unreal difference in tone. I run my pedalboard which is now a Boss ME 80 multieffects through the effects loop rather than in front. A lot of people poo poo multieffects but man, for the cash, the ME 80 is so good and versatile. I also have another board with stomp boxes that I use as well. Got a blackout effectors twosome fuzz, small clone chorus (Nirvana!), a compressor which is versatile, and a few other random things. I also have a Black Russian Big Muff which I love but it isn't playing nicely on my board lately (interferes with other pedals and splatty). But sounds phenomenal in isolation.
You are the only other person I know who has a Marshall JCM200 - I have the TSL 602. Bought it when I was a sophomore at VT and never lived in a place where I could really turn it up, then pretty much stopped playing so I don't think I've ever given it air.
I have a little Fender Frontman 15R too. That one I was able to play a bit more. Still didn't use it much before I stopped playing.
On the guitar side, I have a Takamine 6 string acoustic and a 1999 American Strat. Changed the stock pickups for Fender Lace Sensors (Red on the bridge, Blue in the middle, and Gold at the neck). The little I did play it through the Marshall is sounded amazing, if I remember correctly.
Only pedal I have is a Boss Equalizer.
Great topic, BTW
I also have:
- A Djebme, but I have no rhythm
- A kalimba, where I learned to play Redemption Song poorly one time
- A triangle, where I also tried to play Redemption Song before realize it was a percussion instrument
I played one live gig in a kazoo band once.
LOL, I also have a kalimba. My daughter bought me - are you ready for this? - an electric kalimba for Christmas. I have not amped it up yet, but it should be fun. I imagine I am the only one on the board to have one.
I also have a dulcimer. I imagine I am the only one on the board to have one of those also. Eventually I will probably learn how to play it. Once I do, I may buy an electric one.
So I absolutely love the TSL. Have the TSL 100 head and 1960A 4x12 cab. It absolutely rocks but will blow your ears off if just practicing/bedroom type levels. However, I recently acquired a Bugera PS-1 Power Soak and man I absolutely love it. Was skeptical at first considering the low price compared to other attenuators, but watched several reviews and everyone seemed to love it. Can now get really cranked tube tones at reasonable volumes. Unbelievable value for $50.
My buddy I jam with was like why do you need an attenuator for a master volume style amp, but that overdriven power amp section is so crucial to the Marshall sound. Sounds magical once you start opening up the volume.
Bass here.
I have three Birdsong custom short scales (http://www.birdsongguitars.com/): "Corto 2" (twin soap bar) in mesquite; "Cbass" (precision) in pecan; and "Fusion" (guitar humbucker neck pickup) in walnut. I have a TH500 amp
and Aguilar 4x10 but we play almost exclusively thru FOH. I use a QSC K10.2 as a floor monitor feeding from my board.
Current pedal chain is Edison Tube>Eventide PitchFactor (-1, -2, and a couple of effects)>MXR Chorus/Flanger>Fender Downtown Express>Aguilar Tone Hammer w/ XLR out to the mixer and 1/4" out to the QSC.
On stage I keep one bass tuned to E standard and the other in Eb standard. Guitarist does the same with tuning. He uses two MM EVH guitars thru a Neural DSP Quad Cortex.
Eb standard tuning for the win! I find myself lately playing in that tuning more often than not.
The Quad Cortex has been intriguing me. Pete Thorn seems to really love it and his demos on it are pretty awesome.
The tunings are dictated more by what the vocalists want than how the song was originally recorded. Two thirds of our 80's format band (male lead) is Eb, 1/3 of our 4 piece format (female lead) is. And I can down tune one or two clicks with the pitch factor (I try to avoid that if at all possible); usually no more than a couple songs in a gig.
Guitarist has gone thru a series of eventides (I think he had 3 on his board when I met him) w/ a miced amp; then he went to a Fractal (which was a pain in the ass and still sounded a bit artificial...the eventides sounded better to me) with direct feed to the board; now the quad cortex. He really likes the quad and it sounds great...very, very hard to tell it is digital. He spends hours/days on it but I'm going to say he has 6-8 settings he's worked out to cover what we do. He gets some jaw dropping reactions from the crowd.
Edit: Scenes with the blue EVH in this video (listen thru decent headphones) have a very familiar sound
https://www.google.com/search?q=pete+thorn+quad+cortex+video&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS721US722&oq=pete+thorn+quad+cortex+video&aqs=chrome..69i57.9030j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:a342030a,vid:eEeKgAUtc8E
edit: one of our lead singers (as of 2 nights ago) also now uses a quad cortex for vocal effects.
I have a few guitars mainly acoustic. I mainly strum my Alvarez Regent. It's inexpensive but I feel it plays and sounds better than the Taylor's and Gibson's I have tinkered with. I also have a Madeira that my uncle recently gave me which needs to be set up since it hasn't been played since the 80's when my grandfather was alive and playing.
On the electric side, I play my 1961 Gretsch 6118 double anniversary that was also my grandfather's. Generally play flat wounds and I run it into my 150 watt '81 Music Man 210-HD. Unfortunately, the power supply went out on it a while back and I am looking to get it repaired. For pedals, I run an early '80s Pro Co Rat, Dana Electro Cool cat and a Boss DD-3 delay. Super basic set up. I play more rhythm than lead anyway so other than the distortion pedal, the other are just for playing around.
My playing has been on the back burner for sometime due to kids and career. Just started getting back into it recently.
Love Alvarez acoustics. I have always found they play well. I've got a Fender acoustic which I love but any Alvarez I've picked up always feels good.
I'm a big fan of the Rat! What is your signal chain with that, do you just run it straight into a clean amp for your dirt sound? Had a Rat years ago that somehow I ended up giving to a friend and regret it.
I just run it straight through. I couldn't tell you anything about pre-amps or anything electric other than the gear I have. Pretty much been a rhythm acoustic player since my days at tech in the mid-late 90's. I love my rat though.
I'm a big Strat fan myself, and for more than 20 years I almost exclusively played an Olympic white American Standard Strat that I bought in Houston in 1997. I bought that guitar because I thought that was the specific Strat that Jimi Hendrix played, and only a few years later did I learn that Hendrix played literally dozens of different guitars. Although the vast majority of his guitars were Strats, so I got that right at least lol. (Jimi's Guitars)
A couple of years ago I decided life was too short to play just one type of guitar, so I bought an Epiphone Les Paul Standard 60s in 2021 and an Epiphone Casino Coupe hollow body this summer. I'd love to have a "real" Les Paul, but I can't really rationalize spending ~$2-3K on a guitar, and the Epiphones actually both turned out to be surprisingly nice quality for the price. I kind of want a "metal guitar" for my next guitar, and right now I'm considering getting either a Flying V, an Explorer or a Jackson Warrior.
I usually play out of a 50-watt Ampeg Reverberocket R-212R, and the only pedals I generally use are a Boss compression/sustain pedal and a Crybaby Wah. I really only use the pedals as a boost, although the CS pedal adds a nice bit of texture to almost any tone.
Rick Beato is great, I also really like Paul Davids and recently have watched a bunch of Music Is Win videos. I'm not much of a gear-head (translation: not very tech savvy). I'm more into music history, and song breakdowns focusing on theory and technique, which I guess pretty much describes Beato's channel.
I hate how expensive Gibsons are too, but Epis are great for the money for sure. I bought my SG years ago and the Les Paul was gifted to me by a friend which to this day I still am grateful for. I have noticed in playing Studios vs other models that some of the hardware is a bit basic, which I've worked to customize over the years. I too love Strats and feel like I'm constantly going between the Fender sound and the Gibson sound. They both have their place. I've found strats to be the best guitar for pedals. The single coil pickups just respond so well to anything you put in front of it. But when I just want that roar I grab the Gibson. Pickups obviously way hotter but you lose some nuance and sensitivity. But I'm a big fan of just playing constantly on a dirty channel on the amp and rocking the volume knob on the guitar for cleaner and gainey sounds.
My main instrument (technically still a guitar) is my Beard squareneck dobro. Custom build that my wife bought for me about 4 years ago and I absolutely love it. Flamed maple body with an amber sunburst finish and power coated black coverplate.
My main 'standard' guitar is my Eastman E6-OM acoustic. Have had it for about 10 years now and I love how it feels to play. The shop I bought it from in San Diego had a bunch of higher end stuff that I directly A/B compared it to when I bought, and while there are definitely things much better out there, I had to jump to about the $1300 range with Taylor/Martin to get something that sounded and played as nice as an $800 Eastman. Mainly strumming in my church band with this one and then bluegrass/flatpicking at home.
I don't play electric much, but I have an Epiphone ES-339 Pro that I love. Vox Pathfinder practice amp is the only amp I have since I don't gig or play with others.
Edit to add a photo of my Beard:
That's a nice looking dobro.
Thanks! I love it. It's a night and day difference playing a high-end custom over the $200 Regal I started on. Sometimes I don't feel like I'm nearly good enough to deserve such a nice guitar, but I'll still play the hell out of it.
My time has come.
My main guitar is a Fender Fat Strat that I've played for about 20 years. All the benefits of a classic mid single coil or neck/mid combo with a beefy bridge humbucker. The first electric I played was a buddy's Epiphone Les Paul and I loved the sound but I couldn't get away from my love for Fender, so best of both worlds.
My amp is a Marshall 65W Valvestate. Basically tube sound with solid-state drive. 12" speaker. Fantastic reverb and overdrive.
I have a variety of pedals, basically two lines that I switch between. I was fairly obsessed with Hendrix in high school so I have all of his classic effects - Dunlop Crybaby with the modified Hendrix chip, Fuzz Face, Roger Mayer Octavia, and a Dunlop Uni-Vibe with foot pedal. I have another set of pedals with more standard/typical pedals - DOD flanger, Danelectro Pepperoni Phaser, Dan-Echo, Vox wah, and Boss compression/noise cancellation. I also have a Danelectro Sitar Swami just for fun but I don't use it much.
I have two acoustics, a pretty typical Yamaha 6-string and a Takamine 12-string that I've also had for around 20 years. Can't beat the sound of a 12-string, especially when knocking out something like "Over the Hills and Far Away."
I'm almost exclusively an acoustic player. I have two Taylors. My 410 LE is my main guitar. It has rosewood back and sides and a solid spruce top, a classic fingerstyle dreadnought. My other is a 414. It has ovangkol back and sides with a solid spruce top. They're both beautiful guitars, and I love playing them. I also own a Takamine 12-string, but I don't play it hardly at all. I have an old, cheap Squier Strat that was my first electric guitar. I got more into folk music and the singer/songwriter genre pretty early on, so I never played much electric. I mostly use it now for recording.
As such, I'm not big on effects. I use a Boss AD-8 when performing. It gives me some basic reverb if I need that. Otherwise, the Expression System usually gives me great tone. The AD-8 also offers a tuner with a mute function that comes in handy live.
All yall getting up-legs in this thread.
So when I played often I had a Fender Squier Stagemaster and I ran it through a pedalboard of 5 Boss pedals (the Blues Driver BD-2 pedal was my favorite by a mile). I had a Fender Super 112 Amp that I miss dearly. During my Nashville daze I got lucky enough to play in a band that used a Marshall stack that I didn't have to pay for.
Once I got out of that life I slowly sold and pared down everything and now all I own is an Applause acoustic/electric AA14-7 and the first guitar I ever owned (acoustic Applause). Unfortunately both spend more time hanging on the wall instead of in my hands.
I play a lot of different genres...
Electric:
Gibson SG
Franken- Supro Clermont (Gibson burstbucker 3 and 57 classic pickups, bigsby b-12)
Airline DLX
Grestch pro jet
American Strat with Texas specials
Samick Valley Arts Strat
Old teisco del Rey with Rye Cooder pickups
Kalamazoo lap steel
Schecter Model T bass
Acoustic
Henderson D18
Henderson OOO42
Gibson LG1
Gibson L0
Kalamazoo KG31
Kalamazoo KG11
Kalamazoo Mandolin
Gretsch metal body resonator
Lyon & Healy Parlor Guitar (around 1911)
Kay S9 Swingmaster upright bass
Gibson Style U Harp guitar
Concertone tenor banjo.
Probably missed one or two in that list.
I use an Audio Technica ATM350 or Pro 35 for the upright. Sing into an AKG D5, most of the time. Never liked how much I have to eat SM58's.
Amps:
I mostly play a Silverface Champ. If I need more volume, or clean/dirt in combination, I run a Peavey Delta Blues 15". I don't really like effects. If I do use a pedal, Most of my use is a Boss Blues Driver. Occasionally use a crybaby wah. I have a Danelectro slap echo, a boss loop station, a flanger, and a boss tuner.
For the bass, I run an old Peavey Mark III through a 2x10 cab. If I need to fill a bigger room, I add on a 15".
So....
Bass, mainly. I played an Aria Matsumoku bass for years (even at 117 South Main!),-still use it, but also a Michael Kelly 5 string acoustic, and my baby- 1966 P-bass (its butter). Just got a cheap-y jazz bass for Christmas.
I play through a 4 x 10 ampeg cab with a 15" Peavy underneath for any thing bigger. I run through a Sunn 300T. For home, practice, I use a Blackstar 250.
I will change to acoustic for solo, duo though a Bose tower (sound is fantastic for small places) with a Takamine NV 360, or my older Washburn Jumbo.
I have two electrics: a Rick Laguna (all Walnut, piezo bridge pup) and an Epiphone Sheraton re-issue.
I've been looking for a bass pre-amp. (Darkglass' sound great, but I'd like a more vintage tube sound.) Any suggestions are appreciated.
I've had both the sansamp programmable bass driver and paradriver; and I'm currently running the Fender Downtown and Aggie Tone Hammer in sequence. All 4 of them are good, just depends on what you are going for (paradriver is by far the most versatile, would also do well with an acoustic, but it is also very sensitive to adjust).
I also have an Edison Tube (https://www.nightowl.industries/edison-preamp), a boutique pedal that is literally an old vacuum tube, for a little warmth at the front of the signal chain (there is a video with a bass on the website). It is actually a cool little pedal and I mention it because it might do exactly what you want (vintage tube sound)...I have an older version (like the one on the bass video) without the boost switch.
Thanks for the info.
I've tried Sansamp and not quite what I'm looking for.
Edison looks interesting, but doesn't have a DI XLR out capacity.
I'm thinking Two note Le Bass pedal might be the closest.
I'd LOVE to get a Shift-Line Olympic pedal, but apparently its a Russian company and seems its been unavailable since Ukraine....
yeah, Edison is just a tube...no EQ, no DI...it will give you a little, or a lot. Put it in front of a solid state amp and voila!
fwiw, that shift-line sounds great! maybe someday...
Some impressive rigs here. I've been on a journey the past two years upgrading my rig which has been a ton of fun. For years I exclusively played the first electric guitar and first tube amp I ever got, a Fender Highway One Stratocaster and Tweed Blues Jr, plus a collection of pedals that was mostly just whatever I thought to buy over a number of years.
Nowadays I play a Novo Serus J with Wolfetone P90s into a Dr Z Cure. The amp was tricky to find because I've never connected with the Vox/Marshall distortion sound, but I absolutely need a master volume to practice at home while still getting crunch from the amp. The cure is 90% exactly what I want, so now I'm experimenting with different speakers to get it just right. The Novo is hands down the best guitar I've ever played, the neck is an unreal level of smooth, the body is ultra resonant, and the sustain (which I used to think was a silly thing to covet) has made a believer out of me. I also have a D'Angelico Semi-hollow Bedford which I love and am planning to convert to my open-G guitar.
Pedals-wise I was a minimalist for a long time, but these days I am forever one away from nailing down the rig, but atm I have:
October Audio Fuzz - Caroline Hawaiian Pizza - Keeley Super Phat - Dunlop Echoplex Preamp - Boss Trem - Caroline Somersault Modulator - MXR Carbon a copy - GFI Skylar Reverb - Source Audio True Spring (which I use mostly for the harmonic trem, I was against reverb for a long time but am coming to appreciate it)
I also have a Caroline Phaser + October Audio Witch Finger gain device that I am planning to integrate but still learning the pedals.
By the way, people need to share what they're playing with these rigs! I play in an indie-rock power trio with some songwritery influences (LIYL Dinosaur Jr, White Stripes, Screaming Females, John Moreland)
Never heard of Novo axes before....
Now I want! The Novo Serus P2 is a work of art.
Thats the issue: I played with about the same equipment for YEARS, but now I'm succumbing to temptation and starting to buy stuff.
However, I'm still far behind others. My across the street neighbor has about 40+ guitars....
Ohh, and classic to alt rock. (But my 'steady gig' is contemporary Christian every Sunday...some GREAT players that got old/jobs/family like me. I say 'I play lots of whole notes....')
our bands play 70's, 80's (more than anything), 90's, and sometimes more current rock and pop rock, and sometimes a little current "country" (not classic country). We feature an outstanding guitarist (not me) and two excellent singers (also not me). Probably more notable for what we don't play especially here in Northeast Florida; no southern rock and almost no blues. Our tag line..."the songs you love, that no one else plays"
This is seriously the kind of bar band I like to go see.
The people that like us, really like us.
But we also get the occasional "you mean y'all don't do any Skynyrd?"
As long as you play both kinds of music,,,, country and western.
Been meaning to circle back here for stuff I play. I cut my teeth on the classics like Zep, Sabbath, Hendrix, etc. when I first started playing in middle school. Gradually got more into punk and a lot of the indie/alternative stuff (Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr. as you mention, Melvins, etc.) And of course the classic 70s British punk stuff. So I grew up in Lexington where bands like Baroness and Valkyrie come from, all those guys went to my high school just several years older. There was a really cool little hardcore/metal scene when I was a teenager. Baroness and Valkyrie used to play shows around town at the Skatepark and other little venues when they were just getting started which is crazy thinking back. I still have CD copies of both bands' very first rough demos. So those were huge influences on us musicians in high school. Got big into Mastodon, Kylesa, Torche, stuff like that.
Now I've kind of melded all of those styles together a bit in finding my own thing. I really love Drive By Truckers and Jason Isbell, also groups like Lucero with that dirty rock/alt country type sound. I've always loved Slash's playing and tone and listen to everything he's been involved in over the years.
Wow. How many of you played in bar bands at Tech? List them below in a reply. I'm curious whether I've ever seen you perform while I was there.
I fall into the category of more money than talent and my playing has dropped off significantly over the last year or two but I have a Taylor 714, LP Studio, Ibanez AG75 Hollowbody, a Ibanez RX170, an Epiphone Special and a Washburn acoustic.
Funny thing is, I hate playing through a real amp because of the volume (and the amp I have is Fender Super-Champ XD) so I tend to play through a Boss IR200, various VOX headphone amps or ampsims on my computer. I have a handful of pedals, but nothing really remarkable other than IR200.
I play mostly acoustic, though.
I play 7-8 gigs a month. I have used Hamers for years. I currently use 4 Hamers: two Studio Customs and two Artist Korinas.
I go thru amps far more often than guitars. I am a Marshall plexi guy but they are expensive and not versatile enough for my needs. I currently use a THD Type O, which is essentially a 50 watt plexi, with a couple of drive pedals in the front and delay/modulation in the effects loop.
Love the Plexis. What kind of drives do you use in front to boost? Big fan of the Tubescreamer or Boss SD-1 in front of a crunchy Marshall. I basically set my TSL where I can get JCM 800 tone on the crunch channel and plexi style if I roll off a little gain, use the lead channel for a bit more compression volume and gain for a boost.
My drive pedals are an EH Soul Food, which is a Klon clone, and a Lawrence Petross Sixty8 Drive, which is a very good plexi voiced drive.
Happy New Year!
Weather gave us a break last night
Jason and Theodora on Purple Rain...bar owner cut Rob's guitar solo : (
https://m.facebook.com/100039690591549/videos/borrillosvery-fun-nye-slan...
Nice sound! I see that Quad Cortex there, really great guitar tone for Purple Rain.
The Quad Cortex is fascinating. I'd love to play with one just to see what it can do.
i have one now
He gets great tone on all of his setups, there's no drop off when he switches.
Jason was also singing thru one.
I suspect this is the same setup
https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%21AKNYqwVRiKI3DQk&cid=C523BCDEEDE760...
This is great! Purple Rain is a fantastic song, both guitar-wise and overall. That first chord of the song (which the internet tells me is an inverted Bbsus4) is unmistakable, in the same way that the first chord of A Hard Day's Night (blang!!!) totally announces the song. Your guitarist is nailing that flangy tone, and the five seconds of the solo that the owner didn't cut out sounded spot on too.
What are some other songs you guys play? I'm a child of the 80s, and while my guitar influences tend more to classic rock and blues, "80s music" is probably my favorite genre to listen to. About 3 or 4 years ago, I finally threw off my deeply-ingrained guitar snobbery with the epiphany that guitar parts don't have to be virtuoso to be awesome. After that I started listening to songs in the car or at work and saying, "I'm gonna go home and learn that song tonight!" Suddenly I found myself learning the main riff to Rock Rock Til You Drop, playing the power chords on Down Under, and even my guilty pleasure: the jangly but unbelievably catchy lick on Girls Just Want to Have Fun. :-)
yes, crowd usually reacts instantly to Purple Rain
80's songs on NYE included: Living on a Prayer; Twilight Zone; Streets Have No Name; Sunglasses at Night; Sister Christian; Jump; Just Like Heaven; Rebel Yell; Separate Ways; Purple Rain; You Give Love a Bad Name; Our Lips Are Sealed; Working For the Weekend; Pride; Funkytown; Hungry Like the Wolf; Home Sweet Home; Panama; Talk Dirty to Me; No More Tears; Photograph; Let's Go Crazy
We also do White Wedding, Lovin' Every Minute of It; Don't You Forget About Me; Fire Woman; Stone in Love; Good Times Roll; Tainted Love; Easy Come Easy Go; Voices Carry; Kickstart My Heart; Coming of Age; Sweet Dreams; Dead or Alive; Dance the Night Away; Your Love; It's My Life; Close My Eyes Forever; Round and Round; Here I Go Again; Run Like Hell; Rockin' in the Free World...
Otherwise...More than a Feeling; Peace of Mind; Rock Candy (my favorite that we do, we kill it, no crowd reaction, we do it again anyway because it's fun, lol); Rock and Roll Fantasy; Heartbreaker; I Want You to Want Me; The Chain; Times Like These; Everlong; Zombie; Bring Me to Life; Brass in Pocket; Authority Song; Rooster; Plush; Listen to the Music; Baba O'Riley; Won't Get Fooled Again...
A wee bit of country-ish...Girl Crush, Here for the Party, She's Country; Kerosene...
I know I'm forgetting a good bit but you get the idea...and we push two formats; 4 members (more diverse set list) and 6 members (80's only). NYE is the only time we split the lead vocals down the middle
If anyone hasn't seen these, here's a couple of YouTube videos I've watched in the past year or so testing some aspects of guitar tones. I don't 100% agree with the conclusions from either video, but they are both pretty cool experiments. The one about where tone comes from in a guitar particularly blew me away.
Rick Beato testing string gauge
Where Does Tone Come From in an Electric Guitar
I've played with Ernie Ball Power Slinky strings (11-48 gauge) on my Strat for years, because Stevie Ray Vaughan was my hero and I though heavier strings sounded fuller. Beato's video made me question that somewhat, although they did all their tests using humbuckers (they used a Les Paul). I'd like to see the same experiments with single coils, p90s, etc. Besides, I actually like the tension of 11s for bends and vibrato.
I had seen the Beato video but not this other one, this is really interesting. I thought Beato had some good points, but generally I think you should play at the lightest gauge you can for the tuning(s) you generally play in for tuning stability. I pretty much use 10-46s now and play a lot in Eb standard and drop C# and get great tuning stability with that gauge. If I played in D standard or drop C primarily, which I have a bunch in the past, I would definitely use 11-48s.
I do think thicker strings can sound a bit flubby, but too light and you compromise a ton of tuning stability, especially if you play with a lot of bends and vibrato or a really heavy pick attack. I do agree with the second video that pickups and pickup height have a load of influence in your initial tone. It would be great to see Beato's video with single coils as you mention because I imagine there would be some difference.
I've also found that how you EQ your amp, the amount of gain you play with, and what pedals you have in front of your amp play a large role too. When I first started playing I always had the bass far too high and played with too much gain. Really pushing the mids and playing with a bit of restraint on your gain makes a ton of difference I have found over the years. Too much gain and bass can sound so fizzy. Also many pedals suck a ton of your tone away, even if true bypass you start to lose some high end in your tone if you don't buffer your signal with an EQ or buffer pedal. I try to keep the majority of effects in the loop when I can.
I played power slinkys for the same reason you did - SRV. But he also had really strong hands and I do not, so I stepped down to super slinkys eventually.
I always played Ernie Ball, got big into D'Addario strings for a while but find myself going back to the Ernie Ball slinkys as of late. I generally keep 9-42s on my strats and 10-46s on my Gibson/humbucker guitars. I have a love/hate relationship with Strats. I love the single coil tone and how they sound on the neck pickup for bluesy stuff, but changing string gauge on a strat is like a total rebuild job. Have to reset the trem bridge, the saddles, reintonate. Very delicate balance of variables on a strat and if off you will struggle getting tuning stability.
My guitar has probably been out of tune for 15 years so I'd call that stable /s
I put a heavier Elixirs on my acoustic and even though its a cheap guitar it still sounds pretty nice
So for any big Marshall amp people like me, here is a video from Pete Thorn really diving into preamp vs power amp distortion and how they work together to make that distinct Marshall sound. You can sort of play around with this if you have a master volume style tube amp and simulate a plexi by cranking up your volume knob and using the gain as your volume.
Also Pete and Dave Friedman of Friedman Amps did this unbelievable deep dive into EVH and his original "Brown Sound." Really makes me appreciate EVH for the true innovator he was, much like Hendrix before him. He took currently existing stuff in the 70s and made a sound that was more than the sum of its parts. It sounds distinctly 70s but you can almost hear it reaching forward to a sound that wouldn't really become prevalent for another decade. I really dig that 70s hard rock/proto metal sound from early Van Halen, Deep Purple, Sabbath etc. Fantastic deep dive video here into EVH.
No bigger Marshall guy than Hetfield, who switched to Axe FFX several years ago. That's how good modeling and impulse response technology are today.
Modeling and IRs are truly insane today. You can pull some amazing tones with a computer. I'm still a sucker for that tube sound, crackling glass and hot smell when they warm up. But alas, video killed the radio star.
That is my one issue with the modelers. I'm a drummer, crappy guitarist- but I run sound for decent sized clubs on the side.. my one issue with the even the Axe FFX is when guys try to use tape compression to mimic the tube sound of a fender twin or marshall or Mesa Triple rec... it comes off as throated. Some signed/bigger bands I have mixed will give me both dry and wet signals - which is great- Rush did that the moment they took their real cabinets off stage.
Ok resurrecting this thread. Guitar nerds - I have this tube Marshall amp and I want to boost it in the front with a mid humped OD. Ideally something like an SD-1 which I have (don't like the tube screamer that much) or maybe a Klon-style boost. But damnit, when I put pedals in front of my Marshall, don't know if it's just me or not but I can hear the tone suck from stuff in front. If I run direct in and put timing based stuff like delay through the loop, it sounds amazing. But anything in the front I hear a noticeable difference in tone quality. I might just need to take the SD-1 off the board and run it solo in front (have a lot of effects on the board.).
Have you tried what its like using the effects loop? Also I have a Fulltone Full Drive that pushes my Marshall in all the right ways.
Have experimented some with an overdrive/boost in the loop and I do like it. But it's more of a somewhat colored volume boost coming after the amp's gain section than through the front. I love the SD-1 hitting the front of the amp because I really love the added mids, gain, and compression it adds (really gives the amp more bite). But again hate running a full board through the front because of the loss of tone IMO. Think I'll probably experiment a bit more with it in the loop as you mention though.
In August, my Eventide Pitchfactor died (again) and our guitarist/sound guru finally talked me into ditching my entire board and taking the Quad Cortex plunge. His guitar sounds amazing thru the QC but I wasn't convinced it could do that with a bass. I was wrong; never been happier with a result. I have presets for each of my basses feeding into an array of optional digital effects, in a classic stomp box format. Does it sound as pure as a classic amp/cab? Maybe not, but I don't think many people can tell the difference.
Looking to get a new (used) amp and have settled on a few Fenders since I'm mainly interested in the clean channels - someone talk me out of buying a slightly beat up, but working perfectly, Fender Twin Custom 15. I absolutely do not need a 65lb, 85W amp for my basement, but I played it the other day and holy hell it sounds amazing with the 15" amp even at low levels. And because the tolex is beat up it's at a great price.
Also looking at a Hot Rod Deluxe iii and a '75 Champ. Haven't had a chance to play the Champ yet but from reviews it sounds like it'd be a great little 6W amp, but it would sacrifice an on-board spring reverb which means investing in a better reverb pedal than what i've got.
I have a silverface champ. It sounds good when the volume is full blast, with the right guitars. The speaker doesn't seem to like my preferred volume.
I have a peavey with a 15" speaker. As long as the tone controls are there, you can clear up any muddies you might get from the larger speaker. I've produced some solid tones from mine. Can't speak specifically to a fender, but don't let people scare you away from a 15.
Yea, that's my biggest concern with the champ. while I don't necessarily play super loud at home, I'm worried I might run into some headroom issues here and there and that it may be too small for the few gigs I do play.
I was very surprised at how good the 15 sounded when I only had the volume on 3. I cranked it up to about 6 at the store but was only sitting about 2 feet away from it and didn't want to bust an ear drum haha I'm seriously considering it. Worst part is just that I know I'll have to get it down into the basement at home.
I have a Hot Rod Deluxe III and the clean tone is amazing. Sounds great on a variety of guitars. However, it's way too much amp for a house player unless your neighbors live far away. I can't go past 3 or 4 on amp volume and have to keep guitar volume below 5. In true Spinal Tap fashion, this thing goes to 12. Unfortunately I know I'm not getting the best tube tone out of this amp at lower volumes.
Yea, unfortunately it doesn't seem like there's really anything in the 15-20W range that is full tube until you get up to a Princeton reverb, which is about double my price range right now. I think whatever I'll do, I'll need to get an attenuator.
I'm not much of a gear expert at all, but have you considered something like a Fender Blues Junior? It's a 15W tube amp, and it's relatively cheap new at $750.
I've played an Ampeg 212 Reverberocket almost exclusively for 25 years. I absolutely love it, but it's also a big, luggy 50W amp. This fall I decided I wanted a small 1x12 or 1x10 tube amp, and started checking out Marshalls and Fenders because, well, I felt like I should own a Marshall or Fender. I went up to Guitar Center 3 different times and tested out the Marshall DSL20 and the Fender Blues Junior. I LOVED both of them.
I went with the Marshall just because I wanted to be able to get that saturated distortion, and I'm a pedal minimalist who likes to get distortion from the amp. I envisioned using the Marshall specifically to play heavy metal, or Led Zeppelin or Jimi Hendrix. Weirdly, my favorite tones from the Marshall have been playing with my Strat straight into the Classic Gain channel (the Marshall equivalent of "clean"). I've actually been able to create sort of an early-Beatles thumpy Rickenbacker sound, which is definitely not what I expected when I bought the amp.
But I was so impressed with the Blues Junior that I decided I will 100% buy a Fender Tube amp in the next year or so. Here's a YouTube video of Rhett Shull talking about the Blues Junior
Edit - that Rhett Shull video above is with a '57 Tweed Deluxe, not a Blues Junior. I got it confused with THIS VIDEO he did.
Honestly, I had written them off because I'd like to have on board spring reverb, but it looks like they do - it's the Pro Jr that doesn't. I didn't realize they weren't the same amp.. my local shop has a nice used tweed one for $450. Definitely might have to go check that out this weekend!
Awesome! The one I played on the floor at Guitar Center was used, and I think it was $479. For a 15W amp it got pretty damn loud. I wanted to see how loud I had to play it to get it to break up, and even at Guitar Center I wasn't that comfortable playing so loud lol. The only "con" I had with it was even at high volumes it didn't distort like the Marshall, or my Ampeg.
But that's not really what Fenders do, and man, that clean tone was like someone had poured liquid happiness into the amp. That's why I decided that, even though I went with the Marshall this time, I eventually must own a Fender tube amp.
I also really love the amp distortion of Marshalls and their derivatives, but I have also really gotten into the Fender clean tone as a pedal platform lately. Some really great overdrive pedals out there and they are perfect for a great base tone for gain stacking and effects in general. But love both approaches for sure - nothing quite like a cranked Marshall for gain tones.
Figured I'd circle back on this - I ended up trading for a Tweed Blues Jr. about a week and a half ago and I really like it so far! I've been playing with the settings a bit and found that if you max the Master Volume and use the Volume knob as a MV, you're able to get some nice breakup at non-deafening levels. Pairing it with a 10-band EQ has gotten some really good clean tones out of it.
I did have an issue with some hum and a hiss that I got sorted out pretty easily. I found a video on youtube about the hum (apparently it's common in the Blues Jr) and its just interference where a wire crosses one of the tube ribbons, so moving the ribbon slightly fixes the issue. The hiss turned out to be a loose tube, but I've also ordered a 12AY7 to try in the V1 slot too and see what that does. I'm a tinkerer so I'm sure i'll mess with it more and swap the speaker or something down the line, but I'm happy with it for now!
Great to hear! I was wondering what you ended up getting, if anything.
This is possibly the most tube-ampy thing I've ever heard. That's what gives them their character.
Yea! It's been great so far. Also about 10 lbs lighter than the old amp which is nice. I lost an effects loop, a DI output, and a second/gain channel, but I never used any of them anyways so I'm not worried about it.
It looks like there are a ton of cheap mods for these things too, but I'm not very familiar/comfortable with anything electrical beyond basic stuff like swapping pickups, so I doubt I'll poke around in there too much. Probably safer to just stay away from the capacitor voltage haha
I have a Hot Rod Deluxe as well and can second this - loud as all get out. I have been reading a lot online that most people complain about the sudden onset of volume and it being overly loud even at 2-3. Have seen some people online swapping the V1 preamp tube out for a 12AY7 instead of the standard 12AX7 (basically a lower gain variant). I think I may try that if I can get my hands on one of those tubes, seems to make the volume a lot more reasonable and usable. Also you should try plugging into input two - it's several dB lower than 1 and should give you better practice volume level.
Have also seen some people get a little volume switch with two inputs that plug into both the effects loop send and return jacks and use that as a "master volume" of sorts so they can crank the amp level a bit more. Haven't personally tried it yet. There's an entire episode of that Pedal Show where they just try different methods to making the Hot Rod volume more manageable.
Where is everyone ordering tubes from these days? My go to years ago was euro tubes. But, prices are just insane. Tube kits are more than some of my amps are worth.
I've gotten some decent pricing on some of the common preamp tubes (JJ and EHX 12AX7/12AY7) off Amazon, surprisingly. Otherwise, I think The Tube Store is the go-to now. They have gotten pricey though - I just paid $35 for a single JJ 12AY7.
Not to open a can of worms, but buy a Fractal and be done with it!!
buy a quad cortex and be done with it
Buy a Delorian and be done with it.
I dabbled in modeling amps in the 2000's. Owned one setup. I've played a fractal since. In the time between, I went back to tube amps and found two that make me sound like me.
The fractal was a huge improvement over the old line 6 and others. But it still just didn't make me happy.
My former roommate has one and loves it. And it is a drastic improvement over the Mesa he was using (the most stale sounding thing ever).
I'm weird about gear. I don't use a lot, if any, pedals. When I want a change in sound, most of the time that's a guitar change. Obviously, there are effects that can't address, and I use those. But pedals for gain and the like, I generally skip.
Most people buy a Mesa amp and expect some huge metal crunch sound. Ironically Mesa is more known for their "clean" tones. You need to let that amp sing- especially the tube ones. Don't put a 50 dollar boss pedal in front of that sound. That's the mistake people make. Comparing anything Line 6- including the Helix- to Fractal is a joke/insult IMO- there is no comparison. Line 6 has always been junk.
Agree here. I find Mesa gain channels to be a bit muddy for my tastes, prefer the Marshall style British crunch/upper mid frequency thing they have going on. Sounds more natural to me. But Mesa clean is sublime - American amp makers nailed clean/pedal platform tone.
I know this is a gear thread, so I don't want to hijack it into a who's-your-favorite-guitarist thread. But I came across this the other day, and it struck me that Hendrix is getting this incredible tone here with what looks like just his guitar, amps and 3 pedals. I'm not even sure what the 3rd pedal on his left is, he's pretty much just using the wah and fuzz pedal.
The people that tell you there are no differences in a squire and fender custom shop and no differences in Epiphone and les paul customs are idiots. Hendrix gets that tone from the guitar itself- the wood, the neck, the way it was made. Its why Kirk Hammett paid 7 figures for "greeny" etc. There is absolutely a difference in the wood quality and build that affect the tone. Play a custom shop strat with no pedals and then play the same thing on a mexican squire and tell me you don't hear a difference. the secret is in the guitar itself.
Vox Wah into original Dallas Arbiter Fuzz face into cranked Marshall 1959 model Super Leads (plexis) all daisy-chained together. I think the pedal on the other side is just a spare wah. It's amazing the tone that guitarists in the 60s and in particular Jimi discovered by the necessity of just having to play louder and louder for bigger venues (PA systems weren't what they are now and amps weren't mic'ed up, so you just had to be loud to be heard). Putting a fuzz or overdrive into a cranked Marshall leads to amazing sounds for sure. I feel like once PA systems evolved and more and more guys became bedroom guitarists, it became a race to recreate those cranked tones at bedroom volumes. Modelers and attenuators come extremely close and sound great, but nothing quite like the cranked tube amp sound.
I love what Local H said when asked about their tone. "We find the tone we like, and then just turn it all the way up, literally". lol. Also a great story about the Big Muff pedal used on Siamese Dream by the Smashing Pumpkins. Corgan loved the tone so much in the space where it was mixed, but he knew it would kill the cymbals living in that same space. He asked Chamberlain if he cared, and Jimmy said- no it sounds killer, fuck the cymbals. lol. If you listen to that album, you hear very little distinctive crash cymbals on most of the songs due to the Big Muff.
Ah I couldn't make it out the other day, but it does look like he has two other pedals after the fuzz. Hard to make out but looks like after the fuzz face he's got a Roger Mayer octavia fuzz pedal that he used on a few songs, and after that looks like the original UniVox UniVibe (sounds like he kicks that on during the first solo in the video). Actually think he kicks on the octavia later in the solo, makes that kind of nasally sounding tone.
What do you guys think of this?:
Gibson Les Paul Modern Lite
I have an Epiphone Les Paul and I'd love to have a real Gibson. My main resistance is the price (obviously) and also the weight of the Les Pauls. It's the only guitar I have that I need a padded strap for. Seems like Gibson is trying to address both issues here.
I'd be curious about neck dive. Probably not anymore of an issue than with a Les Paul special with a flat body. It doesn't mention a maple cap. So, I assume they've just carved the mahogany. Not a big deal, unless you buy into the wood making it sound like a Les Paul.
They've done it a favor and not used 490's at the bridge. I'm not a fan of 490's.
I love a burstbucker 3 and 57 classic combo. But, that's not readily available anymore.
Attention TKP guitarists: anyone in the Roanoke/Lynchburg/Cville areas know of a good amp tech? My Fender Hot Rod deluxe sounds like trash when I hit the standby switch now - unbearable hum and the tone is harsh when you play. I took out the tubes and checked them and seems to not be the issue. My suspicion is one or more of the filter caps, which I've read online are sooner or later an issue for Hot Rods. Since you have to have the amp hot in order to test these things, I'd rather not electrocute myself and send it to a pro to diagnose. Any recommendations?
Also hats off to the Brits - I have a 22 year old Marshall amp that has been through a beating, lugged around, and all it's needed is a fresh set of tubes. Fender quality has gone downhill. Have a 12ish year old Hot Rod and caps or other electronics are already going bad.
[This was meant as a reply to VTJ12 above] :D
Any chance it just needs a good cleaning? My ~30-year-old Ampeg Reverberocket 212 occasionally gets testy if I don't play it enough. It's my main amp, but I've also bought a Vox and Marshall in the last year, so every once in a while the Ampeg gets a bit neglected and takes it out on me.
I've had it start clipping (not sure if that's the right word, it's basically enormous and random volume/distortion swells) when I would move certain volume and/or gain knobs. Recently it sounded good on the OD channel, but was super buggy on the clean channel.
Each time I've had it do this I opened the back and sprayed it with compressed air, and probably more importantly gave it a good, thorough cleaning with DeoxIT or another electrical cleaner. I make sure I spray cleaner liberally on all the switches and plugs, as well as pull off the knobs and spray and rotate the potentiometers.
Thanks so much for the detailed reply. Unfortunately I've tried almost all of that. I have played the amp often and it started randomly like the drop of a hat. I opened the back and looked - nothing obvious. I took each tube out and tested, the tubes are ok ( a bit worn but nothing causing the hum/noise issue).
I took the whole back off and inspected. I could probably do it if I had a multimeter handy but this level of electronics is giving me pause. Lot of voltage at play here.
Wow...I recently just went and added one of these to my board. Wow...
I always thought a reverb pedal was kind of silly, but no. This is tremendous.
Although in this demo, I hate the settings they have for the shimmer effect. If you turn the tone down to around 9/10 o'clock it sounds so much better.
Just picked up a few new pedals - a Boss RV-500, a Boss DD-3, and the Hudson Broadcast AP (which I absolutely love). Still working my way through everything that the RV-500 offers but so far it's great!
That being said, I now have a few pedals I'm getting rid of and listing on Reverb if anyone is looking... Keeley Caverns V2, Big Muff Pi with Tone Wicker, Flamma Ekoverb, Sonicake Warped Dimension, and a Nobels ODR-1 mini.
Nice setup!
Is that a VOX amp I see next to your pedal board?
Yea! I had a Blues Jr but traded it for a Vox AC15 last year and it's such a big step up, imo.
I have an AC15 and I love mine too. It just has so much character and range, and basically everything sounds great coming out of it. I bought the AC15 last spring, and then last September I also bought a Blues Junior because I thought I also really needed a Fender tube amp. After playing the Blues Junior for a few weeks, I had the revelation that the Fender didn't do anything that the Vox didn't do better. IMO the AC15 has a better clean tone, much better gain, and I prefer the reverb on it as well.
I used to have a misconception that Vox amps were just good for sparkly clean tones (Beatles, U2, etc.) but I was totally wrong. When I tried it out at Guitar Center last year I fell in love with the Top Boost channel within seconds.
One of my favorite guitar-related YouTube channels is Psionic Audio, even though I only understand about 50% of the technical amplifier aspects he talks about. But he raves about how well designed and built the AC15s and AC30s are, especially for their reasonable price point.
Psionic Audio - VOX AC15
Pretty much the same revelation I had. Haha I borrowed a friends AC15 and his electric a few years ago for a gig because at the time I only had acoustic instruments, and I loved it then. I bought the blues jr about 2 years ago when I was getting back into electric and it was good, but always had something about it I wasn't wild about. Sold it and bought this AC15 (for a STEAL from a guy moving to NYC who wasn't going to have room. Got it with the original tags still on it for $350) and never looked back.
I pretty much only play top boost! I love it. Just wish I could turn it up more, but I'm usually playing late at night when the baby is asleep and I'm sure as hell not trying to wake her up. Haha
Yeah Vox tones are really sweet. To me they're perfect if you like that really chime-like top end and clarity of American clean tones like Fender but also the warm gain and midrange when you crank them a little bit that you get from the British amps (Marshall, Vox). I play a lot of Country/Americana type stuff the last few years and I have been experimenting with Vox sounds for country instead of the traditional Fender clean. Brad Paisley I think is a big proponent of Vox-style amps and his chicken pickin' tones sound phenomenal.
I also have dabbled into the world of modeling a bit more this year and picked up a Tonex One for $180. Have to say it has been phenomenal and sounds almost indistinguishable to me from the real deal, especially since it has speaker simulation and impulse response built in, so sounds like a mic'ed up amp and can blend different speakers/cabs/mics to your preference. Has been fun playing around with so many different amp tones right at my fingertips. Have also been dabbling big time with Dumble-style amp models with fantastic tones.
I picked up a gibson falcon ga-19rvt amp a while back. I've never seen an amp so determined to stay clean. If I turn on the reverb tank, it breaks up. But, otherwise, it has to be full volume to do much of anything.
I'm still trying to find a pedal combination that works. A JHS screamer definitely wasn't right. I have this strange feeling that a blues driver is going to be it.
Definitely can't go wrong with the Blues Driver if you want a nice full range overdrive with no mid hump like a screamer-style pedal. I also really love the Nobels ODR-1 for a nice, full range natural overdrive pedal. I stack a Boss SD-1 (which is basically a cousin to the tube screamer but a bit more aggressive) into the front of the ODR-1 to use as my main lead/solo tone. Really like the mid hump for leads. I basically use the ODR-1 always on for breakup and play with the guitar volume knob to clean it up more if I need to. Sounds like you've got a decent amount of headroom on that amp if you have to crank it to get any breakup, so stacking some ODs could be fun.
But yeah a screamer-style pedal generally doesn't sound good at all into a totally clean amp. It works well with an edge of breakup amp or stacked in front of other ODs. My Boss SD-1 actually also sounds great in front of a totally dirty amp set with the pedal at low gain and higher volume as a dirty boost of sorts. Tightens up the bass and gives it a more aggressive edge.
I actually tried to run the screamer at low boost, high volume at a gig. Needed to do something in a pinch. In the end, I screwed up with an a/b switch and ran the wrong amp anyway. Soooo, it didn't matter.
I hadn't bought tubes in a bit... good lord things have gotten expensive. This little thing takes 7 tubes too. I can remember cringing to replace the tubes in my old Delta Blues for $60-$70. Replacing everything in this Falcon just cost $300. Retubing the delta isn't even worth it.
With the advancement of digital processing, amp modeling, impulse response, etc. Unless you are playing stadiums and can actually push a cabinet to its saturation point- i.e. the reason to play a tube amp- An Axe FFX or Helix and in ear monitors is the way to go. by far. A modeled Marshall Jubilee through a decent PA is not discernable to the cabinet/amp combo to the naked ear for example. Now, they are expensive- but you can literally download/load any tone known to man- even your own from your cabinet if you choose. No brainer. Save you money in the long run vs. tubes and pedals.
this ^^^^ difference might be the tiniest bit more discernible for bass but if you are playing thru FOH they are just too easy to use and the quality of the sound is outstanding.
Woop woop, yall! Back from the dead!
Guitarists out there, please tell me what your rig is. Let's talk tone. Don't care if its metal, country, R&B, n()() metal, whatever. I know there are some guitar people here.
I am big into some durrrty country tones lately. First off, if you don't follow Andy Wood on the social media sites, you should. That guy can pick a chicken and then some. I'm lately playing into my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe (really spikey treble I know) or just going into a power amp using the Tonex. Andy has also got me running my Marshall clean (wtf?!?) but yeah with a few good boosts in front, I smell what he's stepping in (nice mid hump aggressive tone, the Fender tone sounds a little sterile in comparison.)
(Uncle Ben Eller there on bass)
Andy is phenomenal - if you haven't seen it, his cover of AIC's Rooster is pretty damn good. And his Gearbox from Wampler is a great double sided OD/Dist pedal
Andy has become my favorite guitarist as of late. He is unbelievably good and love his sound. Really big fan.
Yeah the Gearbox is super cool. I really love his Signature Suhr T guitar too with the coil splitting feature on the humbuckers.
I really like the tone of the bass on this one.
yeah, me too!
I have a Vox AC15 that I love, but have started playing in my church band and they are strictly digital, so no amps allowed. I'm looking to pickup an amp sim but can't afford to splurge on a Helix, Fractal, etc. right now. I'm looking at a ToneX One, used UA Ruby, used Strymon Iridium, or used Walrus ASC1 as I can get them all for about $250 or under. Does anyone have a preference on any of those? I know the ToneX probably gives the most options but I don't know how I feel about having to change out IRs and think I would prefer something a little more plug-and-play. I also toyed with the idea of a Boss IR-2, but have heard mixed reviews on them.
Boss makes a stomp pedal thats basically a modeler now. Could be an option - they have a couple flavors.
Boss Modulator
I have this exact model for modulation effects. I love it, so many pedals in one and it sounds fantastic. You can set up to four presets and call them up via the footswitch.
Also the uni-vibe has a little hidden trick. If you crank the level knob, it turns into a univibe/fuzz effect.
I have the ToneX One, and for the price, it's a fantastic amp sim. It comes preloaded with a ton of good models and you can download thousands upon thousands on the ToneNet software it comes with. Most of the models come with a speaker sim and IR preselected but you can change and tweak it to your liking on the software (can change the mic sim/virtual positioning on the speaker/speaker and cab configuration). I would highly recommend - I've been using it playing gigs now for about a year and it is so nice being able to just take my guitar and board and run straight into the PA. Everyone thinks it sounds fantastic too.
I'm using a Fender Deluxe model and a Two Rock (Dumble style clone) amp model most frequently on it right now. It takes a little bit to get to know how to use the interface but once you get the hang of the knobs its pretty simple. I think you can store up to 20 amp models on the pedal at a time, and you can put two at a time in an A/B switch mode. Has a built in noise gate, compressor, and reverb. Highly recommend it if you're going all digital at that price point.