Should I ditch my half stack and go digital?

If I had to go all digital, I’d keep my favorite one or two tube amps if there was any way to do that at all, and get a reactive load box of some kind so I could run them into the modeler for effects and/or IR’s. Then I’d go for the best digital solution around, something made by Fractal.

If I had to completely move to modeling I’d get a Fractal and some kind of poweramp so I could at least run it into some guitar cabs.

But a complete transition to like VST’s or a profiler or something? Nah I’m not sure I could do that if I had any other option.
 
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VonBonfire said:
I would rather sweat in my woodshed with a hot tube amp than use digital gear. They've ruined everything in this world with harsh sounding digital junk, a tube rig and analog pedals is where I"m making my stand. Join me in this epic battle between good and evil.
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I can't afford tubes, cap jobs, or amp techs anymore, brother.
 
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JohnnyGtar said:
I don't play live anymore. Thinking of ditching my halfstack, maybe I'll keep my combo. Tired of needing cap jobs, tubes, etc. I'm disabled and can't afford that stuff anymore. The thing is, digital sounds so good now and back in the day, I'd have sold my left nut to get some of the sounds that are possible today with digital.

Whaddya think? PS, playing really loud to get the air moving isn't an option where I live.
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It doesn't have to be either or. It can be and.
 
Floyd Eye said:
How often do you need those things ? When I was gigging I took my SVTs to my tech at the most once a year for a check up. Couple hundred bucks. I've had the same tubes in my Brown Deluxe for probably 10 years now. All NOS. The good stuff.
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A hundred bucks is a luxury for me, brother. I'm disabled. Don't get me wrong, I'm not whining about disability...life is good but I be po folk. LOL Both my amps need cap jobs and a full service, plus the tubes are ancient and played hard for years.
 
JohnnyGtar said:
I don't play live anymore. Thinking of ditching my halfstack, maybe I'll keep my combo. Tired of needing cap jobs, tubes, etc. I'm disabled and can't afford that stuff anymore. The thing is, digital sounds so good now and back in the day, I'd have sold my left nut to get some of the sounds that are possible today with digital.

Whaddya think? PS, playing really loud to get the air moving isn't an option where I live.
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I think the opposite. Go digital if gigging because it’s indistinguishable in the mix, where as at home, for me, just doesn’t replace “in room” tones. Additionally, you digital rig will depreciated more the the price of occasional tubes or cap jobs
 
scottosan said:
I think the opposite. Go digital if gigging because it’s indistinguishable in the mix, where as at home, for me, just doesn’t replace “in room” tones. Additionally, you digital rig will depreciated more the the price of occasional tubes or cap jobs
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My money's tight, man. Way tight. Plus, I'm old. LOL
 
JohnnyGtar said:
I don't play live anymore. Thinking of ditching my halfstack, maybe I'll keep my combo. Tired of needing cap jobs, tubes, etc. I'm disabled and can't afford that stuff anymore. The thing is, digital sounds so good now and back in the day, I'd have sold my left nut to get some of the sounds that are possible today with digital.

Whaddya think? PS, playing really loud to get the air moving isn't an option where I live.
Click to expand...

I love both; modelers and tube amps. I bought a Quad Cortex a bit over a year ago and it is incredible how nice it sounds and feels under the fingers. That said I still have a Marshall 1987x and a Bogner XTC101B and I recently bought a Mesa/Boogie MarkIIC++ Reissue (should be arriving soon) and use them with Suhr Reactive Load IR. The tube amps, even when played thru the reactive load and IRs and not moving air, sometimes give that tiny bit of excitement which is, at least for me, missing from digital gear not to mention if getting to move some air with tube amps and cabs. I live in an apartment in a city center where I have a room dedicated to guitar gear so playing loud at home is not an option. Would be wiser to sell the tube gear and enjoy all the possible sounds available in the QC but but but… these are mental side things which might give that tiny extra inspiration when playing even if the digital sounded better in these situations. These times are great to be a guitarist with all the options available for us, right? Good luck with the decision, Johnny! ☺️
 
scottosan said:
You already have amps though right? You can get 8 years on tube playing at home at moderate levels no problem. Re-cap? 30 years under conservative use.
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One is 38 years old and played hard. That one stopped working. The other is 21 years old, played hard and it's tired.
 
I think computer plugins are the way to go; at least for me; no more hardware modelers, my computer rig works great for me...however, have a look at this...

If you want to try digital modeling on the cheap. You'll need iOS or Android and get the free app.

Valeton GP-5:

50 factory presets; 50 user patches
100 effects, can use up to 9 at a time.
SnapTone - lets you load Neural Amp Modeler (NAM) files; comes with 50; can hold up to 80
Up to 20 user IR files
built-in audio interface.

$99 on Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Valeton-GP-5-Compact-Multi-Effects-Processor/dp/B0FFY8Q386


https://www.valeton.net/product/gp-5/



61vrUji8JRL._AC_SX679_.jpg
 
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rsm said:
I think computer plugins are the way to go; at least for me; no more hardware modelers, my computer rig works great for me...however, have a look at this...

If you want to try digital modeling on the cheap. You'll need iOS or Android and get the free app.

Valeton GP-5:

50 factory presets; 50 user patches
100 effects, can use up to 9 at a time.
SnapTone - lets you load Neural Amp Modeler (NAM) files; comes with 50; can hold up to 80
Up to 20 user IR files
built-in audio interface.

$99 on Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Valeton-GP-5-Compact-Multi-Effects-Processor/dp/B0FFY8Q386


https://www.valeton.net/product/gp-5/



61vrUji8JRL._AC_SX679_.jpg
Click to expand...

This was a new one for me, looks interesting.
 
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Jakem said:
This was a new one for me, looks interesting.
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I went looking to see what's out there because of this thread; and to help @JohnnyGtar try digital without breaking the bank, don't sell your amps yet!

I'm set with my computer plugin rig (and my tube amp collection). I'm selling my Helix, and recently sold my FM9 MkII Turbo....

I have a Mooer Prime P2 and S1, but they don't use NAM.

This GP-5 is worth a try at $99, looks promising IMO

 
rsm said:
I went looking to see what's out there because of this thread; and to help @JohnnyGtar try digital without breaking the bank, don't sell your amps yet!

I'm set with my computer plugin rig (and my tube amp collection). I'm selling my Helix, and recently sold my FM9 MkII Turbo....

I have a Mooer Prime P2 and S1, but they don't use NAM.

This GP-5 is worth a try at $99, looks promising IMO

Click to expand...


I have read about those, but it seems like they dont really load NAM. They re-encode it into their own format which loses some quality. You also cant load a separate IR from the amp capture, so you are limited to captures with baked in cabs.
 
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TheGreatGreen said:
If I had to go all digital, I’d keep my favorite one or two tube amps if there was any way to do that at all, and get a reactive load box of some kind so I could run them into the modeler for effects and/or IR’s. Then I’d go for the best digital solution around, something made by Fractal.

If I had to completely move to modeling I’d get a Fractal and some kind of poweramp so I could at least run it into some guitar cabs.

But a complete transition to like VST’s or a profiler or something? Nah I’m not sure I could do that if I had any other option.
Click to expand...

+1000000

This has been the best of both worlds for me. I can't even dream of plugging my Plexi50 into a cab in my apartment, but it still sounds fucking great through a Suhr RL into my AxeFX.

And also, don't skimp on studio monitors. So many people look to replace an amp/cab situation with a modeler, drop $1700+ on the modeler and run it into $200 desktop speakers and inevitably come back with "You guys are fucking crazy if you think this sounds or feels like an amp"
 
RevDrucifer said:
+1000000

This has been the best of both worlds for me. I can't even dream of plugging my Plexi50 into a cab in my apartment, but it still sounds fucking great through a Suhr RL into my AxeFX.

And also, don't skimp on studio monitors. So many people look to replace an amp/cab situation with a modeler, drop $1700+ on the modeler and run it into $200 desktop speakers and inevitably come back with "You guys are fucking crazy if you think this sounds or feels like an amp"
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Yep.

“These studio monitors with 4-inch drivers I found in a dumpster behind the local Walmart don’t sound as good as my two cranked Bogner 4x12 cabs therefore I KNOW that FRFR can never be as good as real cabs” is such an ignorant but all too common take I’ve heard over and over.

Put good time and money into finding a great monitoring setup that works for you and you’ll probably really like the results you get. I like playing through my monitors more than my real cabs these days because I found a set of monitors that works for what I want to hear.
 
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