Rambling story about my recent guitar gear evolution

[Digital Larry]

A couple years back, I did a test to see which would win:
- Laney L5 Studio
- Headrush MX-5
- Mesa Boogie 5:25 Express with a Two Notes Captor-X and Line6 HXFX.

I still have the Headrush and the Laney. The Mesa didn't make it. Too complicated to deal with! This is what I'm learning after so many years. I get vastly more done with a limited setup.

Recently the MX-5 was going to get pressed into MIDI control, but it turns out that MIDI appears to be dead on this unit! I had not tested it before, and it's way out of warranty. So I tracked down the replacement board, which is about half the cost of a completely new unit. There's one ribbon cable I can't figure out how to reattach. I'm waiting for the guy to tell me how it's done. Otherwise the whole shooting match is worthless.

So in the meantime, I went and bought a TC G-Major 2 rack effects unit to go with the Laney. I also have a Nektar Pacer MIDI footswitch that has been sitting idle since I bought it a year or two ago. I got it set up so that one relay in the TC switches channels on the Laney, and the other relay does record/overdub via the footswitch input on a Boss RC-5 stereo looper. Did you know that the Boss RC-5 looper supports about 30 MIDI commands, but Record/Overdub is not among them? Many forehead slaps later! I actually have two presets on the Pacer, one which assigns the 6 main switches to block on/off on the G-Major, and the other one is for enhanced looper control. The Laney's FX loop goes to the TC, then stereo out to the looper. One side of the looper goes to the Laney's FX return while the other goes to an IR pedal. So I am combining the fixed (probably analog) speaker sim in the amp with the adjustable one in the pedal. It makes for some interesting stereo sounds.

Then this morning I thought I'd try out the Neural Amp Modeler plugin. I finally got that working but it's not an approach that works for me - having to have a ton of profiles to cover EQ and gain settings - argh. Audition much? Help! It sounded pretty good and latency wasn't upsetting.

I sat in front of the computer and played some riffs right into Ableton and it wasn't that bad. Generally I have steered clear of doing that, preferring to use a looper pedal, then transfer loops to the DAW. Maybe I'll try it and see if this would actually work for me. It would certainly remove a few steps compared to using a looper.

So then I went to Neural DSP and checked out some of their plugins. That is starting to look really interesting to me, to have just one or two amp choices and you dial them in to make them sound how you want them to sound. The Tone King one sounded great. I'm not really into super high gain, though I'd probably like another one that is a bit further up the gain mountain.

The end (for now)

DL

 

[Digital Larry]

I wound up also trying Amplitube 5 but finally bought the Neural DSP Archetype Rabea and Archetype Cory Wong which were on sale at the end of April. The Cory Wong lets you get truly really clean sounds. The Rabea has a monophonic synth with arpeggiator - I can see using that ONCE on a track, but I might as well. Then, yesterday I "fixed" my Headrush modeler. It pains me to say this, but you know those little MIDI adapters, 5 pin DIN to 1/8"? Did you know there were two polarities of that thing, "A" and "B"? And I guess when Sweetwater boxed up the demo unit to send me, they sent the wrong one? Well, at least it works, I might as well keep it. The ability to use it with the Nektar Pacer MIDI pedal (on the floor) while the MX-5 stays on the desktop for fiddling is very nice.

Well, now I arguably have "too much". I'll see how things settle down.

I also have an SY-1 synth pedal and an MS-50G, and the RC-5 looper is probably going to wind up over there for a "synth loop station".

 

[teletail]

I’ve bought and sold three Mesa Boogie amps. I admire people who can use them, but I’m a plug and play guy.

 

[stratoman1]

With Mesa amps, I have a Rectoverb 25 and a MarkV 25, I found that a separate eq and passive attenuator in the loop make a huge difference. Mesas like getting pushed to get THAT sound. I live in a condo so I had to find a way to keep the hordes off my doorstep

For the eq, I had the Recto first. I just couldn't tame the mids with the on-board controls. Got it the best I could then ended up buying an eq pedal and set it in the classic Mesa V. A little fine tuning and that was it. And did pretty much the same with the Mark V. Got it as good as good as possible , then a little extra external eq and yeah, there it was

 

[Digital Larry]

Miraculously, the MX-5 has returned to action and MIDI now works. I like this combination quite a bit, mostly as a looper workstation. I'm probably going to sell my Boss RC-5 looper now. Still keeping the Laney, and it's not like I can sell the plugins anyway! Did some recording yesterday, may even complete a tune this year! (Last year was not good in that regard).

 

[Lou Tencodpees]

I can't even remember the name of the only Boogie I've owned. I want to say .50 Caliber(?). Single 12"/50 watt combo, lower end I believe. It was loud and unextraordinary. I recall the first Boogie I heard way back, the guitarist in a former bandmate's band got one and it just sounded horrible, I mean really bad. After about the 3rd gig he must have figured it out because suddenly it sounded excellent. I can see how they're not for everyone.

 

[Alex_C]

The Laney L5S sounds phenomenal. It is the only 5 watt amp that I've heard that sounds like a big amp. I'm seeking a second amp to compliment it, the Peavy 6505 MH is my likely choice although the Wangs HD-15 is realy attractive, hand wired, SLO sounds @ $750

 

[Festofish]

I missed out on an SOB. I’d still like to find one.

 

[Texsunburst59]

Here are my 2 MKIIC+ amps , and my MKIIC head .

They don’t get too much playing time and reside in my home studio.

They’re way to valuable to play out, and even if I wanted to sell them, I would never ship them.

 

[Refugee]

I can't even remember the name of the only Boogie I've owned. I want to say .50 Caliber(?). Single 12"/50 watt combo, lower end I believe. It was loud and unextraordinary. I recall the first Boogie I heard way back, the guitarist in a former bandmate's band got one and it just sounded horrible, I mean really bad. After about the 3rd gig he must have figured it out because suddenly it sounded excellent. I can see how they're not for everyone.

All he did to make it sound good was turn down the bass knob on the tonestack. Almost every Boogie owner goes through this. Especially the Mark series. Always run your low at 2 or below. You are not the bass player, you are the guitar player. Using lots of low end is where the volume wars happen.