Musician Gear & Tech Discussion

I am currently looking for a modeling type devise that I can use into my home mixer for personal practice. I also want something small enough to take to gigs as a backup in case something happens to my live rig. I want something that has amp sims and effects to perhaps use when playing small stages. I have done a significant amount of research and have boiled it down to one of these two. The Sansamp (analog) gear seems to have a good reputation but is lacking some of the features that the Line 6 Amplifi FX 100 (digital)has. any advise would be much appreciated!

Jeff the Line 6 HD500X has been top-of-the-line - at $500 it should be! The FX100 is the latest Line 6, a little more reasonably priced at $300 and offering bluetooth (not sure what you'd wnat to access that way!)
I don't think the Sansamp (Tech 21) has amp modeling. There is also the Digitech RP series - the 500 has 5 switches, the 1000 has 10 switches.

Some people don't like Line 6's modeling sounds but this 5th generation (since they started) has come a long way. I'd tell you to pick up the FX100 at Guitar Center so you can try it at home/practice for a week or two - GC always has a 30 day return policy, one thng they're good for!

jeff, you might want to pick up a Johnson J Station. true, it's 10 or 15 yr old technology but i think it's got great amp and cab sims. and being an old fossilized knob twirling analog dinosaur, i love that you don't have to scroll thru a lot menus to make adjustments. it's super easy to program and tweak patches. i recently picked up a backup unit to my original (that still works fine) for $60 on ebay.

J Station was a great modeler. I believe that the guy who designed it worked for DigiTech before he began his own company. From what I heard he was bought out by the competition and the unit was shelved. I guess that's one way to get rid of the competition. I had two of them I gave one to a "friend" this fall. The "J Clean" was my favorite setting. The only thing I didn't care for was the 9VAC power supply. It had me tied to an electrical outlet. I have seen a few for sale here and there. If the price is right it is a relatively nice unit for studio use.

I ended up replacing them with the Zoom G2.1u and the Zoom G2 units. They were even quieter than the J. Station. And they had a good headphone output and ran for about 8 hours on 4 AA cells. Nice for jamming in the park on a hot summer day. Now I have a Zoom G2.1nu and G2.Nu the newer versions.

This fall I bought the Zoom G3, even better for live use. I use it for all my DAW work. It has a low noise acoustic amp setting that I love, along with two bands of EQ that you can assign without having to use any of the modeling amp or speaker bank functions. Noise level on those are -100db.

I tried a line 6 but I didn't care for it at all. I sold it the first chance that I got. They guy who bought it is happy with it.

Ha ha, Johnson and line 6 were the first to bring modeling to the guitar amp world. Ironically the amp I am currently using and is failing me for personal practice and learning is a Johnson Marquis JM60 I bought it new back in 97. Guys this is old technology. Line 6 has really pushed the limits while Johnson went out of business. The Sansamp does have an amp section emulator. Sansamp has been known to be among the best for almost 2 decades. It doesn't have a tuner or wah/volume pedal. That is why I am leaning toward the Amplifi FX 100, someone asked what the use of the bluetooth is. It gives you access to the parameters via your iphone or ipad, this way you don't have to crawl around on the floor and can remotely change settings. You can also access your itunes and play along with them remotely. Yep I'm ordering the Line 6 FX 100 this week. I'm going to GC to demo it first. I'll keep you posted. Oh and thanks for your valued advise and opinions!

...nuthin' wrong w "old technology" as long as it still gets it done.

Did the owner of that Stingray see you taking pictures of his ride?

nah, i stayed anonymous!

it's funny, when i'm out tooling in the jag i actually have people ask if they could photograph the car.....but when walking around w Bear....it's AMAZING how many people ask if they can photograph him! my wife and i joke that if we started charging people for Bear pics we'd be rich by now.

That car can move that dog?!

That car can move that dog?!

he LOVES motoring...but in the Sienna van, or our Corolla. he is not a fan of the Jag at all...go figure!

Far out Mark, I'm definitely a fan of Bear! Never met a Dog (or guitar) I didn't like! Dogs are my favorite PEOPLE
Any how I pulled the trigger and ordered the Tech 21 Fly Rig 5 it better fits my needs! http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-TEC-FL5 check out the video if you can and let me know your thoughts. Thanks in advance!

Bear has never met anyone he didn't like and likewise the other way around too! he's 140 lbsof goofiness. i'm w you on dogs being the best people!

checked out the Fly. great demo they've put up. i'm a sucker for well thought and great sounding stuff in SMALL pkgs.

ok, i like the tones and i'm a big fan of rotary knobs to make adjustments but damn, those knobs are seriously small and kinda crowded! very reasonable price too.

question....those tones sounded compressed (not overly so....but compressed in a good way) but i didn't see any comp controls there. perhaps the comp was coming elsewhere from something off screen?

i suspect you made a good choice and will be happy w it. let us know what you think after you've spent some time w it. i've had my SansAmp Bass Driver for 15 yrs now and that thing is built like a tank. i don't gig w it much, but i never had one problem w it. hmmmm, i might have to bring it out to the truckstop tonight for some dirt on our rock tunes.

Not completely sure but I think the amp sim is designed to emulate natural tube compression. Tube amps don't need much (if any) compression in a live mix due to tube compression. I ordered it yesterday (Thursday) and dang it will be here tomorrow (Saturday). It's coming from Olive Branch Missouri It has been raining here for like forever or so it seems. I mean GLOOMY as heck here. The weather man said it is suppose to clear up and warm into the 70's yesterday and it is still overcast drizzling and just down right miserable. If it clears out here I'll be sitting in a lawn chair with an adult beverage waiting for the fedex guy tomorrow!

Mr. Haley

Got the glooms bad here too - over a week now.

I'm interested to hear how this gadget works out for you. I'd been thinking about robbing a bank and then replacing my Fender Mustang V head with Orange or Line6. The Fender is a honker and fair to middlin' as a modeler. But I've been wanting a bit more tube-esq sound.

cheers
Talbot

Mr. Haley

Got the glooms bad here too - over a week now.

I'm interested to hear how this gadget works out for you. I'd been thinking about robbing a bank and then replacing my Fender Mustang V head with Orange or Line6. The Fender is a honker and fair to middlin' as a modeler. But I've been wanting a bit more tube-esq sound.

cheers
Talbot

talbot, can i be your wheel man? i've got mad driving skeels and if we use my XKE.....well we'd be practically invisible and blend right in! we'd leave Bear at home of course. then again.....perhaps we might use him as a distraction.