modeller recommendation - special requirments

[gwEm]

hi everyone,

the default modeller recommendation here is the vox tonelab - and for good reason. however in this case its going to end up being too big. let me explain a bit more:

i've been using the same sansamp gt2 pedal for 6 years or more... its a good size, its never failed me, and it sounds good. recently though i've become a bit put off my the way it makes everything sound a bit samey, its also a bit harsh sounding.

so i'm thinking about something new, it doesn't need to be flexible, or have masses of effects - a boosted/modded master volume jcm800 tone will be enough for all of my music. the sound should have some balls to it. it should clean up perfectly when i roll down the volume. it should be bullet proof reliable - capable of being thrown around in gig bags, knocked against concerete floors etc. it should be pedal size, maximum double pedal size. i'm not interested in using it as a booster, or as a distortion - i'm just interested in a great direct tone. i want the character of the guitar i'm playing to come through in the sound. powerful eqs (hopefully 3 band) would be more than benifical - something like a marshall split reverb jcm800 or jcm900 has. single channel is fine.

options i'm considering, but know nothing about are:

award session jd
pocket pod
v-stack first act classic
marshall drp-1
sansamp character 'british'
blackstar ht dist

of course i'm open to other suggestions. has anyone tried one of these? any words at all say about them?

thanks!

[38thBeatle]

Well as I read this I was thinking of the Sansamp "Character" pedals.  Like you, I have used a GT2 for many a year-great product.

[hamfist]

The Blackstar HT Dist and HT Dual pedals both have a superb direct tone from their cab-emulated outputs. Also have 3-band EQ plus ISF control (which gives you even more tonal flexibility). The Blackstars can do fantastic JCM800/900 and 2000 tones IMO.

Here's acouple of clips I did, recording direct of an HT Dual I did a while ago.
First, a fairly highish gain clip - http://www.box.net/shared/static/tc4is2nu87.mp3

Then a clip of a highish gain tone, showing how well it cleans up with just the guitar volume knob, again recorded direct - http://www.box.net/shared/static/27pv06cl09.mp3

[gwEm]

hamfist: thanks! those clips do sound pretty good! (maybe partly from the tasteful reverb you added) i was looking into the ISF control, and it appears sort of like a parametric control. do you think these valve based pedals would stand a bit of abuse? the level of gain your clips is more than enough for my needs - i usually set my sound to a bit under this sort of amount.

38th: the character pedals look great from the spec and guitarist magazine review... have you tried one yourself? if so, do you think they solve the problems i have with the gt2 - imposing a bit too much pedal character on the guitar sound, and not really 100% satisfying cleans when rolling the volume down? the gt2 is probably the piece of music gear which i use the most, the sheer reliability of it and decent sound still impresses me. many times i smashed it accidently, or some joker spilt their drink over it, and it still did the gig.

[viking]

+1 for what Hamfist said.HT-Dual are awesome.About the" abuse",i would be careful with their power supply (transformer),it's their weak-spot..

[38thBeatle]

No gwEm I haven't yet tried though I have listened to many clips. With Sansamp's build quality and reputation I am thinking that it will worth a try out when I get the chance. For me it'd be the Fender one I'd be interested but that Vox jobby looks pretty good too.

[hamfist]

hamfist: thanks! those clips do sound pretty good! (maybe partly from the tasteful reverb you added) i was looking into the ISF control, and it appears sort of like a parametric control. do you think these valve based pedals would stand a bit of abuse? the level of gain your clips is more than enough for my needs - i usually set my sound to a bit under this sort of amount.

The lower gain tones are equally as tasty. With those clips I was merely trying to show the higher gain end of things.
  As for the potential abuse you could give the pedal without it dying - I'm really not sure.  The metal casing would certainly survive a nuclear explosion, but I think the internals have yet to prove themselves over the test of time.  I certainly have heard not one single reliability horror story about them over the interweb yet, and they've been out for over a year now, and have been quite popular in this country at least.  But any valve-based circuit is always going to be a little bit more delicate than a purely SS circuit. Valves are inherently a bit more delicate than resitors and capacitors, FET's etc.
   For me, the jury is still out on the pedal's reliability, but things are definately looking good so far.

[Twinfan]

I'd like to second the HT-Dual suggestion.  I've just been dabbling with mine - guitar/HT-Dual/soundacrd/Audacity and there are some great tones available.  The only downside is that they don't really let the charcter of your guitar shine though.  As a simple, no messing tool they are superb though.

I'd say the pedal would take plenty of abuse too.

[Will]

What did you go with in the end?

[sgmypod]

Twin fan have you tried ht-dual, palmer, soundcard.....the biggest letdown of the dual is supposed to be the emulation output

[Twinfan]

Twinfan have you tried ht-dual, palmer, soundcard.....the biggest letdown of the dual is supposed to be the emulation output

Yep, I have done.  It works better as the emulated out lacks treble and sparkle, it's really fat and dark.  And I like fat and dark.  You could probably EQ it better with an outboard mixer though if you have one.  My comment re. the lack of guitar transparency still applies though, everything sounds the same.

[offtopic]

My new recording rig is:

Modded Little Rock -> Palmer PDI-09 -> Soundcard -> Audacity

Sounds much more natural, more flexible, and works really well.  I'll have to get some clips done after I've picked up my new 1x12 from Martin tonight.  A lack of space in my office makes using a 2x12 or 4x12 a nightmare!

[/offtopic]

[gwEm]

What did you go with in the end?

Actually I got a really great ebay bargain on a Vox ToneLab(!). It will be too big for live I know, but I can use it at home and compare with my SansAmp GT2. It will tide me over until I can try a SansAmp character series at some point.

I'll write something about how it turns out when it arrives.

[sgmypod]

is it the tonelab desctop or se

[gwEm]

the desktop

[sgmypod]

cool not a bad little box...have tried all three..have the le