I was being facetious with the "EMGs + POD" thing. I do enjoy EMGs for some tones, but with a POD most pickups and guitars sound pretty decent.

Alternatively, instead of a multieffect you could probably swing a Marshall DSL combo if youre patient and frequent ebay/craigslist. Youd get a pretty rocking tone from that and if you were to save up a bit more after and get an OD pedal (which wouldnt have to be that much, Digitechs Bad Monkey is pretty good and goes for about $40 I believe), youd be in some pretty damn heavy territory.

The axe-fx computer interface thing is also coming out sometime soon, and from what I have heard it might even be in your price range. You'll need a decent PC/mac too though

IMHO....get a ADA-MP1 off ebay - pretty high gain, good eq; should still sound pretty good with a SS amp. See them fairly frequently in the states for not too much moola.
Sound pretty good going directly into a decent PC sound card, although obviously much better through valve power amp/quad/miked.

As others have mentioned, pickups will make a difference too if you can afford them

[swervedriver]

I guess this topic is as good as any (don't feel like making a new one), but I'm also looking for a little upgrade to my effects pedal, which currently is a Boss ME-50. Say what you will about the unit, but it serves me extremely well in what I'm able to get out of it through my Peavey Bandit 112. I'm just beginning to feel a bit limited by its layout, having only 3 stomp buttons, so for many songs I have to use an external foot switch to get to all my presets which aren't all on the same bank. There's also a few milliseconds of silence when switching between some patches which I'd like to eliminate, though I'm not sure whether there's any multi-fx solution for that problem.

Anyway, this question is sort of inspired by what I just read on Dev's twitter, saying the Digitech RP 1000 looks like a nice unit. After a bit of reading I'd have to agree with that statement, but there's a lot of competition. Many people seem to raving about the Line6 stuff like the X3 Live which also seems great. Then there's also the possibility of going with a pedal board + a rack unit, such as the X3 Pro (the rack version of the Live, and then some) or various TC Electronic rack units (like their G-Major series). I was wondering if there are people reading this post with more insight into all these gadgets (as mine is fairly limited) and would be willing to share some of that insight here. Please resp.. I mean, any comments will be appreciated.


Fortunately I have the luxury of having a unit I'm quite satisfied with my sound already while I can take the time to make this decision.

It all really comes back to $$$

Floor based all in one, or, rack gear; which is modular you could say.

That patch change issue would only be fixed by a software update, if there are any for your unit. I used a Digitech GNX3000 which has the same problem. There was supposed to be a patch released to fix it but (as usual) Digitech just released a completely new range of units. Live it would be useless unless you had plenty of time to change from one patch to another in your songs.

I got myself a Rocktron Expression a few weeks back, same sort of thing as the TC gear. I prefer the rack idea over all in one. You have the option to swap and change, and if something failed well your not up for a whole new unit.

I dont know what the hell I'm talking about and need to go to bed

In the end its $$ and personal pref.

When it comes to gear selection its all about the intended purpose is what I have found.

For example I have a Mesa DC-5 head going to a 4x12 mesa cab loaded with Eminence Texas heat 150w speakers wired in parallel. It is freaking massive sound with heaps of gain. Live, this thing is a monster that will cut through a mix and rip your head off. (Pepper Keenan is a devout user) but when I started recording I found throwing a sm57 in front of this thing just didn't capture the 'magic'. So I tried a ton of different mic's and placement to try and get it....to no avail. Long story short, to get the massive metal sound I was looking for recorded I ended up using an Orange Tiny Terror running through an Orange 2x12 mic'd with a 57 off-axis. This little guy was only $400 and its only 15w compared with the Mesa's 50w!!! But the sound was incredible recorded.

Moral: Figure out what your intended use is for your gear before selecting it. Even most metal bands don't record with the same rig they use live.

Moral: Figure out what your intended use is for your gear before selecting it. Even most metal bands don't record with the same rig they use live.

That's been said! =)

For bass, at least, my bass and the bass pod xt live do the job, live (playing direct into line) and studio (recording with the usb thing).

It might be feasible to hook your guitar up with some nice EMGs.

Now youve gone and done it! If AlucardXIX reads that your in for it

Haha, I'm by no means a EMG fanboy, but they are capable of making a crap guitar sound 'METAL ' without spending big bucks on a new guitar. I still love my Gibson LP Classic stock pick ups.

you could slap some emgs on a tennis racket and itd be able to make it sound "metal" ahaha!

im not a huge fan of emgs, ive got the typical 81/85 setup on 2 of my jacksons, i guess theyre fail safe but thats the problem with active pickups IMO, theyre so powerful i feel you lose the tone of the actual GUITAR... may as well buy a squire and fit them LOLOLOL jks

im currently LOVING the stock PH-R on my Amott cap sig SICK =D

I wish my 8 string didnt have EMGs =/ I want Lundgrens in it.

well you could do what i do, download the demo of peavey revalver, whiich has no time limit you just cant save your settings, go to radio shack, get an adapter so you can plug your guitar into your computer, and away you go. I always get the tone i want, but i use logic pros equalizer so that may change things a bit.

well you could do what i do, download the demo of peavey revalver, whiich has no time limit you just cant save your settings, go to radio shack, get an adapter so you can plug your guitar into your computer, and away you go. I always get the tone i want, but i use logic pros equalizer so that may change things a bit.

How do you mean plug your guitar into your computar? Do you mean directly from guitar into the computer, or do you use something else, such as a toneport, or Pod, or mixer of some description?

Been strugglingw ith this for a day or two.

well you could do what i do, download the demo of peavey revalver, whiich has no time limit you just cant save your settings, go to radio shack, get an adapter so you can plug your guitar into your computer, and away you go. I always get the tone i want, but i use logic pros equalizer so that may change things a bit.

Or try VST's like Nick Crow's 7170/8505, Soloc or Dirthead and some cab emulator like Aradaz cab simulator. They amaze me and make me sad, since they sound pretty ace out-of-the-box, while I never knew how to make such cool sounds from my POD, which I paid monies for

How do you mean plug your guitar into your computar? Do you mean directly from guitar into the computer, or do you use something else, such as a toneport, or Pod, or mixer of some description?

Plugging it in directly (into the line-in) should do. You'll also need ASIO drivers for low latency processing - if you have decent soundcard they should be included, if not and you have only stock, built-in soundcard in your computer then still you can install asio4all and have low latencies with them.

Note - advice above is windows compatible, no idea about ASIO on macs.

hmmm the tone holy grail is very subjective, and as mentioned a great tone live can be difficult to capture. I think you can get a decent tone out of most things as long as you're patient enough and it is not utter crap. If you need to spend thousands on buying a decent mike to capture the sound you hearing, you're already blown your budget....

I use a bill lawrence l500-l pickup. nice clean as well as dirty which is important to me.

In my case I am using an maudio firewire audiophile soundcard. To get the mic inputs I then had to get a decent mixer/mic preamp in my price range. I ended up going for a presonus bluetube, and a shure sm57 to caputure it. Then I realised that my room is emphasising certain frequencies which in turn changes what the mic "hears".... it can be a very long-winded (and costly) saga

this is one of the advantages of direct-in gear. no room acoustics to deal with, and doesn't bother anyone else does it sound as good? well, I don't think it does personally, but a lot of artists who have very good tones (messhugah/fear factory etc) swear by pods. The axefx also has a pretty impressive following.

I have also had pretty good results out of going from my boss mt-2 metal zone into my sound card. But alas, I like feedback too much.... much to the dismay of my family

rig #1:
Ibanez Rg570 with bill lawrence l500-l humbucker
Ada mp-1 preamp
Marshall 9005 Power amp
no name quad with unknown 4x12 setup (hey it works, and I'm too lazy to plug in my randall)
shure sm-57 or behringer c1 condensor (don't laugh - sounds good for $60!)
presonus bluetube preamp
maudio firewire audiophile (because I run both PC/mac)

I can post sound clips if anyone cares. pretty much all of the above has been sourced on ebay

also look at the cheapy line6 usb sound cards (tone port?) - they can give a pretty decent sound (don't kill me) and will not break the piggy bank

Do yourself a real favour and skip EMG's and head over to BKP instead.
you'll never get 'Tone' from an active pickup, you'll only get well, the EMG sound.

Contact BKP, they're very friendly, and explain what guitar you have (woods etc) and what sound you want. you won't be let down.
Plus they make the best pickup covers ever.

Cheap ampwise, I'm kinda in the same boat and I'm looking to get myself a HD-500

my 2cc