Poist-Rock Appreciation Thread

Yeah, no offense dude, but I really hate Marshall MG series amps.
But take into account I usually play with extreme gain settings, and no way is the thin buzzy distortion tone of an MG30DFX gonna cut it for me.
The good Marshall amps unfortunately, cost a crap load of money, and don't sound good until you turn them up about halfway.
You could literally sell it (the MG30), and with a little more money, get something like a PODXT Live, which sound really good direct line in recorded.

Do you mic up your Marshall or something or do you already have a direct recording/amp modelling device?

EDIT: That pedal near the bottom of the pic, a Boss Digital Delay If I'm not mistaken?


Edited by HughesJB4 - June 20 2008 at 21:52

HughesJB4 wrote: EDIT: That pedal near the bottom of the pic, a Boss Digital Delay If I'm not mistaken?

The only problem with direct line-in is that I enjoy using my amp so that I may hear myself play.

I only have one method of amplification and that is my amp.

I need a new amp, and soon. I was actually considering getting a bass one, because I have no low end whatsoever on my current amp.

Chameleon wrote: I need a new amp, and soon. I was actually considering getting a bass one, because I have no low end whatsoever on my current amp.

I have a slight suspicion that Harry might be able to help you out when it comes to amplifiers. 

Yo, Harry. Amps, amirite?

I dunno why Jake, but something about that made me lol.

But anyway, budget dependent, Dylan. Tell me about your moneys amount.
Valve/tube amps amps, solid state, hybrid, Modelling amps, modelling units.
Talk to me, and I shall enlighten you on the more complex matters.

Well first off, obviously money is an object.
You can achieve earth rumbling bass without using a bass amp with a guitar. HEAPS of people have bone crunching low end, with just a guitar amp. Unless you want to play in a Kyuss cover band, I suggest ditching the bass amp idea.
You can basically forget about most valve/tube amps with your budget, but in order for a good valve/tube to sound good you need the power amp tubes to be cooking i.e 50 per cent volume or more. And at that stage you will going deaf anyway.
Pure solid state stuff like your Marshall, bleh. That is enough, so let's leave the solid state stuff out of it.
For your situation and from my own personal experiences, I highly recommend either a Modelling amp, or amp modelling/multi effect pedal.
Vox ADVT 15/30/50, but probably not the 100 watt model, since that might be out of your budget range. I believe you can direct record with these amps, and they will sound a world away better than the Marshall MG. They also have a higher gain brother, the ADVT-XL series, but I'm not sure if they will be too high gain and heavy metal oriented for your taste. The clean channel DOES NOT distort all, one of the cleanest clean channels you can get.
The Roland Cube series, for which I recommend the Cube 20X or 30X, both of which have a "power squeeze" button that allows you to reduce the wattage to enable you to play more quietly at night for example without disturbing the peace.
They do cleans very well, and do high gain as well too, but in my experiences I had to boost the high gain channels with an overdrive pedal to give them more kick for solos (but I play a lot of legato, so I need the uber high gain and compression anyway) for many people the amount of gain on tap is good enough.
They have a built in noise gate, so noise shouldn't be much of a hassle, but if you combine the built in gate with your Boss Pedal, you effectively have double gating and that will make it extremely quiet.
If it happens you have a keyboard amp, or stereo system in which you can plug a guitar into, I would look into the Line 6 PODXT or POD X3/X3 Live.
You will need considerable patience with them to dial in a good tone. You will probably need several weeks, quite literally to completely grasp them and get a good sound.
But once you do get a good sound, you can record direct and away you go.
Advantage of the X3 Series over the XT, is the X3 has USB 2.0 capability.
Last recommendation, if you need a keyboard amp, buy one and get say, a Behringer V-Amp 2, and the keyboard amp/V-amp 2 should easily be within your price range (provided the keyboard amp is not expensive).
No USB capability here, but it does do direct line-in recording.
If you've got more questions, feel free to ask.




Edited by HughesJB4 - June 21 2008 at 14:34

Between 380 to 540 US. I have no real idea of the prices of stuff in Canadian bucks, I just know what stuff costs in USD and AUD.
The ADVT has a 12 inch speaker, so expect it's gonna be at least several kilograms more heavy than your Marshall.
You should have enough for the Vox.
If in absolute doubt, go for the Roland Cube 30X, which I've had more first hand experience with anyway.

The Vox ADVT is among the best sounding amp in it's price range, I've heard amps costing twice as much that sounded less than half is good : cough *Marshall AVT Series* cough.

BUT, BUT BUT BUT BUT, keep in mind the much added  tonal and effects flexibility a Line 6 X3 POD has over any of the suggested amps.