Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: hamfist on May 13, 2009, 09:45:02 AM
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Picking up a Digitech GSP1101 and it's associated Control2 footpedal controller this evening ! I've only heard good things about them, so I'm quite excited.
Not quite an Axe FX, but possibly the next best thing.
It's also cheap enough that I can sell it on without a loss if it's not my cup of tea.
Anyone got any opinions or experience of them ?
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One question - why? Thought your rig was spot on as it is?
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One question - why? Thought your rig was spot on as it is?
Yup, not much good for late night recording though. I'm getting back into a songwriting and recording phase.
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It's also cheap enough that I can sell it on without a loss if it's not my cup of tea.
Surely cheaper is a loss because it's lower than what you bought it for.
Unless you mean a loss of please, for lack of a better word.
Look forward to a review, just to keep in track with the topic :P
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I heard very good things about it. The dedicated foot controller is also a real plus, relatively cheap for what it does.
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One question - why? Thought your rig was spot on as it is?
Yup, not much good for late night recording though. I'm getting back into a songwriting and recording phase.
Ah ha! Gotcha!
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oooo!!!!! let us know how it sounds! i was looking at this one too.
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Wow, this things good !! Full report to come when I've had a bit more time with it. Might even become my main gig rig.
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Wow, this things good !! Full report to come when I've had a bit more time with it. Might even become my main gig rig.
:o :o
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Wow, this things good !! Full report to come when I've had a bit more time with it. Might even become my main gig rig.
You mean play it direct to FOH? :o
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Wow, this things good !! Full report to come when I've had a bit more time with it. Might even become my main gig rig.
You mean play it direct to FOH? :o
Probably not.
At the moment, I like the tones better through the FX return of my amp into a 2x12 with greenbacks, better than going direct into my computer.
However, there's a lot of tweaking still to be done. Wish I was better at it. I'm particularly cr@p at getting the EQ right with modellers. Real amps seem to be much easier to dial in .... I suppose it's because there are so many less options to fiddle with.
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Does it have a computer tweaking program..sometimes easier to do than using the one on the unit
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Does it have a computer tweaking program..sometimes easier to do than using the one on the unit
Yes it does, very easy to use.
In fact, I have to say that the interface of the whole unit is very intuitive and dead easy to use. I think I only had to refer to the manual once, for one thing. Pretty much as easy as programming a tonelab really.
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yeah never had a problem with the tonelab...orig pod xt(before upgrade)was a git to get right sound
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some more news about the gsp?
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some more news about the gsp?
OK, since I last spoke on the matter I've rehearsed with the band, had a LOUD gig on sat night, and played at church, so I have given it a pretty good going over.
Overall impression at this point is that I'm not "Blown away" by it, but am still impressed with the unit.
FUnctionality, usability and flexibility whilst playing live are soooooo much better than my pedalboard, so that is definately very much appreciated !
As for the tones, it's a mix of great and merely good. I've got my lower gain tones (not clean, just low break up)sounding beautiful, my plexi crunch-type tone is very good, but there's still a slightly "plasticky" frequency that I need to find and cut a little bit.
Classic rock crunch rhythm tone is very good. My solo tones are the best I've ever had, although still need tweaking to get the EQ perfect.
Which brings me to the point that I find with all modellers, that it does take a lot more effort to get the EQ of all sounds completely right. Tube amps and pedals seem to be so much more instant to get thje right EQ.
It is also a huge joy to have quiet at all points in between my playing. Noise reduction on modellers is THE BEST !!
I also bought a 31-band stereo EQ to go with the GSP, and I think that it was a good buy for me. THe global EQ required for the sat night gig, and then at church at low volume were very different, and I found it much easier to tweak and be able to visualise it on the 31 band graphic, as opposed to the GSP's internal global post EQ. Others, who are more switched on EQ-wise would I'm sure be very happy simply using the GSP's own EQ.
I've decided that I may well need to experiment a bit with speakers, as I found the higher gain sounds a bit "mushy" at high volume. Currently using Greenbacks, so that's not a huge surprise. I think a couple of G12K-100's may well be the way to go. It would be nice to only need one 2x12 for a gig as well. With greenbacks I need two cabs, as I don't really trust two 25W greenbacks with a 50W tube amp running at about 7 on the MV.
So, ultimately, I still need to tweak my patches, but I really like the unit, and I find it cuts through a band mix just fine.
WIth the outboard 31 band EQ, I also have a very powerful tone-shaping tool, to help me adjust for different venues, and listening environments. (All those little Red LED's look fantastic on stage too !).
Does it sound exactly like a load of top quality tube amps, all running at their optimal settings - of course not. But it's easily close enough for me. And I'm really appreciative of the ease of use and tonal flexibility that a modeller gives me.
I only really use about 4 basic tones, but the ease of use of adding different FX and volume levels to those is a real pleasure with the GSP and Control2 foot controller.
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interesting thoughts hamfist - thanks alot!
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Yeah it takes a lot of tweaking time, even more if you go direct to FRFR. But you also learn a lot about EQing and what works solo or in group context and what doesn't.
I realise that most of the times I was sitting bad in the mix on gigs due to too much bass and treble. I found the right frequencies now for that Marshall Cut: 125-150Hz and 1,800-2,000hz are usually where I find the sweet spots for a slight boost that gives me that special something (and takes the very deep bass and very spiking treble down a notch from the total mix).
Usually now I dial in my sound as I would have and then add 1-1.5dB on a shelving EQ around those areas and then it works in the mix in that Marshall way.
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Yeah it takes a lot of tweaking time, even more if you go direct to FRFR. But you also learn a lot about EQing and what works solo or in group context and what doesn't.
I realise that most of the times I was sitting bad in the mix on gigs due to too much bass and treble. I found the right frequencies now for that Marshall Cut: 125-150Hz and 1,800-2,000hz are usually where I find the sweet spots for a slight boost that gives me that special something (and takes the very deep bass and very spiking treble down a notch from the total mix).
Usually now I dial in my sound as I would have and then add 1-1.5dB on a shelving EQ around those areas and then it works in the mix in that Marshall way.
Interesting thoughts on EQ Hunter. Like yourself I've been adding a couple of dB at 1800Hz for more of a Marshall cut.
I generally boost most models with post EQ at about 100Hz too. Maybe I should up that frequency a little to 125Hz. Although I do a hard Hi pass at about 75Hz which hopefully guards against too much sub-bass boominess.
I'll try moving that bass boost frequency around and see what I find.
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What is your HiPass slope? I find 12dB/Oct good, then I move the frequency by taste, or I use the transformer LoFreq in the amp model for this, usually I do it as well between 50Hz and 100Hz.
The slope or Q of the filters has obviously a big influence, and if the LoCut is too steep, it can sound thin.
The 125-150 and 1800-2000 I found by analysing some marshall clips I had and found on the web, using a graphic analyser in logic. And they seem to work if you have the basic, crunchy tone to mould with.
It can be a curse, but it can be fun, too :o)
How are the cab sims in the Digitech? Can you upload IRs, too?
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The Behringer EQ's hi pass filter's slope is set fixed at 18 dB/oct.
For me the cab sims are simply OK, not a weakness but definately not a strength either. Hence I have liked the unit played through a decent guitar cab much better than using the cab sims through a good FRFR monitor. However, I know a lot of other folks on the web like it a lot through FRFR.
IR = Impulse Responses ? Can't upload anything like that for it. Remember, it's not an Axe FX !