What people don’t talk about enough is consistency. With a direct option you sound roughly the same at every venue. I’m in a covers band at the mercy of the house sound guy, and once I found him with a mic on the baffle instead of the cab. Going direct makes a 1 minute sound check doable and the audience has a good time. For me that’s worth the compromise.
When we were doing it this way (e-drums, direct in bass, keys and guitar) I really liked having the FOH sound in the wedges so we knew exactly what the audience was listening to
Totally agree! I wish the Iridium was out when I was in a cover band for this exact reason. Also, if you need to mimic a part on a record it really helps to be able to dial in your effects at practice and know it'll be reproducible live. That was always a challenge for me.
@@scottm3775 I’ve tried many. I used the iridium in front of my pedal board for a while but for now I’m using a FM3. I think it takes pedals better and I can use its effects for those random songs when you need a one off type of effect.
I also think it is worth mentioning that, for some of us, this isn’t about compromise. I’ve personally never found the magic that you guys feel when playing tube amps loud. So, for me, this gear is just making it easier to do what I’ve always wanted to.
I don't use it live, but I have to say the simplifier has made my apartment dwelling guitar playing experience much, much happier. You can ride the volume knob into the front with satisfying results, and it responds extremely well to OD pedals. I would also recommend running a stereo reverb in the loop.
The one thing you guys seem to miss when talking about direct sounds is their role as recording solution, not a live one. Aside from quiet stages / worship, both historically (prince, nile rodgers, beatles, david bowie, pink floyd, led zeppelin) and in modern times these are tools in the studio more so than the stage. How come no discussion of Dan's home recording rig with the iso room where there is no interaction either, thats the better comparison. but again my bias is I am coming from a production side of things not a band musician playing shows.
I agree. I also want more talk about the outputs these things have for running into an interface, or for using as in place of an interface. I'm looking for something that will sound better than the amp sims in my DAW but which I don't have to mic like a real amp.
Or maybe that is another episode showing the use of the Attenuator/ direct out that can be achieved with like TwoNotes stuff. Surprised the Cab M wasn’t in this…
I think what gets partially lost comparing the FRFR sound to the amp in the room is the pedal options aren’t just emulating a speaker and cab, they’re emulating a speaker and cab through a mic. A more direct tonal comparison would be pedal option vs miced cab in another room. I play with the iridium using iems with a cranked mix. I don’t feel the air against my legs, my my ear drums are certainly feeling the tone 😊 Loved the episode. Cheers!
Yep, thats exactly it with the FRFR cab. Its not gonna act like a normal cab, when you've put the signal coming into it through a cab simulator (because its not a cab simulator, its a mic'ed cab response). You'll never get the experience that you get from sitting in a room with a cranked amp, but you'll sure get just as good a tone in the mix (if not better live due to the reliability of the response).
You are SO right--it was an unfair comparison, and miking up the Fender from the other room and playing it through that (SMALL!) FRFR would have been a proper comparison. I love these guys and have gleaned so much useful information from their show! That being said, I felt like Dan had already made up his mind that he wasn't going to like any of the offerings. At least Mick kind of gave the Humboldt some grace. If you want to hear what the Simplifier can sound like, go and watch the Captain and Danish Pete give it a review on Andertons. You can see that Pete is truly surprised at the sounds he is getting out of the Simplifier, as well as hear comments on how much more "immediate" the feel is compared to the digital offerings.
During and after lockdown I sold off my amp as it was too loud for my room & had no where to take it. Replaced with an HX Stomp, put it on my pedalboard and honestly, it's made practice and setup for gigs a whole lot easier. Perfect for a part-time player that occasionally plays live.
I use my HX stomp for simple home recording. Just run my pedal board into it and choose the amp I want, plus any additional effects. It really does work great for this and sounds good enough. That being said, I still prefer to play through my amps and do so most of the time
@@bechela1 definitely, if a good amp is available & allowed to be cranked up you can't beat that! Another great thing with the Stomp is even then, you can use it as a multi-effects pedal so it can just stay on the pedalboard.
@@eksuy8085 Yep. That's the way I'm using it. Not quite in love with everything about it, but it's too practical for me to think about parting with it.
I sold my amps and am now fully on the HX Stomp as my amp modeler; honestly, I don't see my self ever buying an amp again unless I just have money to blow to build a rehearsal space.
@@Upside_Down_Guitar_Guy if I was not fortunate enough to be able to afford some nice tube amps, I may do the same. The stomps amps sound pretty darn good, and on the recording or live setting, I don’t think the audience could even tell the difference. However, when I plug into my plexi, turn it up, and strike a big e chord, i feel something special. The stomp cannot replicate the feeling of being in the room with an amp, at least not yet.
In my experience, when you turn down even real amps to the volumes that thousands of bedroom players like myself have to abide by on a daily basis, the differences between amps and modeling is minimal. Actually, a well dialed in direct rig sounds better to me than a tube amp that is barely breathing. The best of both worlds is an amp through a load box. Thanks for this episode and covering all that …even though Dan is trying to be a good sport! LOL
The only time I don’t agree with that is when you’re talking about a tube amp 5 watts or less. As a pure practice amp, especially some of the newer ones with built in attenuators work extremely well at low volumes. But if your main amp is say a 50 watt (like me) and you run it at one or two it’s just not doing anything
I think you’re probably right Johnathan. Mick here. Little modellers are soooooo satisfying at home. Which is why I can’t use em - it completely kills my loud playing when I get back to it!
Agreed with everything you said except the load box part. The sonic attributes of mic’d cab “in a room” are yet to be replicated, IMO. That’s not to say it’s superior to a load box, but it’s a unique flavor.
@@zerohourdrift I've got a Fryette Power Station and I agree with Johnathan here. If I turn the volume down on the Fryette with any of my tube amps, eventually the sound will be pretty mediocre and it gets to a point where you start to wonder why you have all this expensive gear when you could just use a Yamaha THR10 or something for similar results. The wattage of the tube amp does not matter here at all. To me the 50W amps usually sound better than 5 watters even turned down whether from a master volume or with an attenuator. Beefy transformers etc do matter. For most people playing at home I think a good digital modeler like a Line6 HX Stomp or Fractal FM3 through a good set of studio monitors is the best value for money. Good attenuators and loadboxes are expensive and nowhere near as versatile or compact.
I am on min 16, and right away I should mention, my direct approach uses the Iridium a little differently; guitar -> Origin Effects Revival Drive Custom (power amp mode) -> Volante -> UA Reverberator -> Iridium with ‘amp sim’ permanently off! Iridium has no latency to worry about, and since I am using it only as cab-sim, the no-effects-loop problem does not exist. The key here is obviously the Revival Drive which does an excellent job of emulating an entire guitar amp typology. Iridium brings to the table full stereo 24bit 96kHz resolution for 500 milliseconds of speaker cabinet impulse responses… And I gotta tell you, I have great, inspiring tone! I prefer this solution to cheaper tube amps FOR SURE. Although I am underutilizing the rather expensive Iridium, I think it is worth it since it combines negligible latency with highest fidelity IRs. On the other hand, I am using the Revival Drive to its full capacity, and arguably in its most useful power amp mode. Finally, when a dip switch is engaged, the Revival Drive can be used in conjunction with its either Brit or US preamps even when the pedal is turned OFF. This opens up a lot of possibilities for using different combinations of other pedals on my board. Or I could always turn the Revival Drive on, but set it as a low gain/low limiting pedal platform type amp simulation. All analog!
I've used a Simplifier as my primary rig for a year or so. I do think it sounds great and takes pedals well. Also, just FYI, the effects loop works well (the signal can get very hot) and is after the power amp sim. Some of the little things about it amaze me. First, the master is before the power amp. So, it's not just a volume control. If you want to emulate a NMV amp, you have to turn it all the way up. Also, the resonance control affects amplifier damping factor...which is to say that it affects how the amplifier reacts to an impedance curve similar to an output transformer being plugged into a speaker cab. So...to get what you want out of it, you'd need to turn the resonance control up decently far and run the master all the way up...some amount of the bloom can come back when you do that. You also have to do that to make the tube types actually sound different from each other. After that, assuming your pedals can take the level, you can do a post-amp wet/dry setup using the 2 cab sims (dry signal goes to the Right one if nothing is plugged into the right return)....so you just go send > wet effects > left return. Then Left cab sim is wet and Right cab sim is dry. And with the switches on the back, you've got balanced out for wet and dry and either another balanced pair of wet/dry or a mono sum of wet+dry. The thing is INSANELY powerful. I impulse bought an FM3 that came in today, and I'm having fun playing with it. But apart from it having some very nice sounding effects that I don't own pedals of...I'm not convinced it's better, just a different way of doing basically the same things.
I've got the Simplifier, but I find that it doesn't take overdrive, distortion and fuzz pedals well. I don't usually use lots of gain, but with the three above, it sounds very DI. Overdrive, distortion and fuzz sound broken, for lack of a better word. Should I try to push the master on the Simplifier to the max, as you wrote? You got any tips for me to try out? I want to sell it, but I would like to keep it if I could get the sound right.
@@nedim_guitar Try turning the mic position if you can hear the difference. It has to really significant in opposite positions. If it sounds the same you have the cab sim bypassed or your unit might be broken.
@@hbo001 It wasn't a problem, I could hear the difference on different mic positions. I've seen a demo of the DLX, in which they used some pedals. That one also sounded kinda bad. It just doesn't take gain pedals well. The only setting I found that worked for my MXR GT-OD and my ProCo RAT with not too much gain on was AC Brit with the 6L6 tube and 1x12 cab. The bigger cabs sound too thick, really unrealistic. The American sounds flat and boring, and the MS Brit sounds awful, with farty gain. Don't try using fuzz on it, but distortion and even overdrive don't work well on it. So I sold it. 🤷
@@nedim_guitar Interesting. I have put a Big Muff clone on a breadboard recently to try it with the Simplifier. Apart from higher noise level I had no issue to dial a tone I like. My goal is to create a mix ready tone while playing live with backing tracks of my favorite bands. Quite the opposite from the guys in the vid. Just to add I am using programmable EQ before the mix. The best thing, I can only recommend.
Before watching let me just say thank you. This is the episode I've been waiting for. As a dad with kids, a full time job and more on my plate, playing through my amps is almost never possible.
In my experience, playing direct can actually be more inspiring than using an amp. Don’t get me wrong, on some gigs I play an Esquire straight into a cranked non-master volume tube amp, but I play with an artist named Bayleigh Cheek and on her gig I play guitar, synth, and keys. I need all sorts of Radiohead inspired textures and HX Stomp allows me to do stuff otherwise impossible or terribly cost-prohibitive to engineer. Also works great for vocalists like her- with a softer, warmer voice that can run into dicey sound problems in club gigs. I don’t run direct for everything, but on a gig like hers where I need experimental sounds and no stage sound so she can hear herself, direct is incredibly liberating and inspiring. It’s all about a good playback system though, and it tends to sound like a miced or recorded guitar rather than live-in-room
Confession: Some of my best moments of inspiration came while being plugged straight into an interface, playing around in my DAW, running monitor out into a set of huge Yamaha 15” Powered cabs. Love my tube amps, but I don’t always want to sound “like everyone else”. BTW, massive Radiohead fan, here. 🤓
Whoooa! I didn't think I'd see you here in the comments looking at this a year later old pal! You've always had sage gear advice and this is no different.
2 things made me happy about this episode: 1. Its mere existence. I know you gents don't much care for the subject, but for those of us who have much maligned "church gigs," it really is helpful to have your clever ears, fingers, and minds exploring possible solutions to our problem. 2. I spent half an hour of good fun looping over and jamming with that little ascending riff Mick plays right at 30:50. It sounds familiar, but I can't place it. Whatever the origin, it gave me some fun exercise before work today! Thanks for always bringing entertainment and information to our minds and ears! Cheers from Buffalo, NY USA
28:25 couldn't agree with Dan more! I have the Simplifier and love it, like really, really love it and I use it for a specific purpose which it excels at. I use it for streaming my noodling on the internet, also for rehearsals at home because it has an Aux in. For me it really is a hard-to-replace tool. Just to speak on playing loud, I had a really interesting experience the other week at a gig (metal gig for clarification). First band was using an older Marshall in a 4x12 - sounded ok. Second band used a Marshal JCM800 into his 4x12 - sounded a bit better. Next up was me with a Quilter Overdrive 200 and, being a bit cheeky, plugged into both of their 4x12 cabs as they were side by side. Sounded big, sounded good - guitarist from the first band was checking it out and was blown away at how big it sounded (hear that a lot about the Quilter). Fourth band used Helix and sounded meh, nothing impressive. Fifth band used little Mooer GE pedals into EXH 44 Magnums into the 4x12 cabs and sounded bloody awesome, like proper good because they'd taken the time to dial in the settings and get good sounds. So in conclusion the gear is one thing, but learning how to get the absolute best out of whatever you're using is the single most important part of a good sound. I think it's also worth mentioning that not all guitarists know the difference between a good sound and "that'll do", obviously that's subjective, but their focus is on writing or performing rather than being a tone junky. Also at 47:40 you're making me happy with that sound!!! haha that was amazing.
I feel that this video showed the honest strengths and weaknesses of both the techologies and reviewers, so made this a highly sincere and useful review. Many reviewers would not allow their vulnerabilities to come out so clearly, and here that truly adds useful context to their perspectives. Subscribed!
I wonder how much of this comes down to our accustomed means of experiencing music? Today, the predominant end-user experience of music is through earbuds or a TV soundbar. If that's all you've ever known...? Likewise the opposite. I grew up performing live, taking in live performances, and we always had a serious air-moving stereo system at home. Hearing Josh Smith through a chunk of plastic in my ear is worlds apart from being pulverized by him in person. I prefer the latter, but I can see where it would be alien to others.
I appreciate you guys acknowledging that this is a reality for some of us. Because of circumstances, I can’t get a live amp at the moment. During the pandemic I had to sell my Supro and I regret it, but you know, lack of consistent gigging means I had to let it go for other things. These direct in solutions aren’t the best but they help in the mean time until gigs start getting going and I can earn the funds to get another. All that just to say, sometimes it’s out of necessity. And then you want what you have to be sound good. Oh well
I'm with you guys and am biased too. I'm sure you can get these boxes to sound very good and understand how practical they are, but as well as hearing the amp I can actually feel it. Maybe I'm on the way to becoming obsolete but part of playing the guitar is my relationship with the amp.
Brilliant video. I run thru a Boss CS-3 - Boss DS-2- EH-4600 Analog Small Clone Chorus - Joyo PreAmp House - [in the loop] Joyo “Aquarius” Delay - Joyo “Atmosphere” Reverb and then into my mixer / audio interface or FOH or to a FRFR PA Speaker or external amplifier. I love that I have options. I can go out to my Boss Katana or Vox Amplifier like i did last century. or i can go direct to the FOH. I play thru a Ibanez AF75D and a Gold Top Les Paul.
Really happy y’all did this video as it’s a common issue for me and why I switched over to Fractal years ago. Would love to see a V2 of this where you use a preamp pedal into an IR loader like the Cab M+ or something along those lines. Great playing and info as always guys!!!
I have a Simplifier DLX and it's definitely not something where you just turn it in with everything at twelve and you're good to go. It's very "twitchy" and can react very well to changes in input volume, but I feel overall that it's a box that can get you to maybe 75% or 80% of the tone you want, and that won't be enough for a lot of guitarists. One thing I will say: because you can run two amps simultaneously on the Deluxe it does mean that you can dial in some of the complexity that is missing from these boxes in general.
@@tripledistilled2822 It's got so much crammed into such a small space and I think that the reverbs are really well implemented. I can run it into a little monitor speaker and get really nice practice amp tones so I'd never dissuade someone from getting one. But, it sure is expensive, so definitely try it out before buying if you possibly can.
It's one of the few pedals/tools that I've bought in the past two years that really drives me crazy. I keep thinking there has to be some really amp-like tones in there, I just can't find them. What are you running yours into?
@@f33fifofum It's a Roland Cube Lite Monitor: literally just a £100 active speaker but it has plenty of volume and bass extension for a bedroom guitarist. That said I've got a Katana II head in the same room and it's much easier to use. FWIW the best results I've had have been dialling in the Vox voice (on Crunch) and the Fender voice (on clean) with my guitar volume turned quarter of the way and a flat boost in front of the DLX. That gives you a lot of input gain range into fairly clean circuits and you can blend as needed. I made a nice utility voice on my Zoia so that I could blend the two voices using a foot controller. But at the point you've got one or two boxes, a foot controller and stereo cables to a speaker you have to wonder whether you've lost the simplicity of the Simplifier.
To me the Tech 21 analog solutions still beat most digital offerings- at this point I have quite a few of both. There are ways to make all newer options sound amazing but it requires throwing out any old school amp approach to these boxes. I’d also recommend using a laptop solution like Nembrini or Plugin Alliance…unless one has optimal mic’ing at a gig these will often sound superior to the real thing. Of course, those are not pedals!! :). Thanks for the video!
I used to run a Sansamp Fly Rig 5 into an Iconoclast for a few years. The sounds were great, and with a few dirt pedals in front I could play anything from Fender cleans to heavy af. The only reason I don't use it any more is because I bought an HX Stomp.
I have the sansamp gt2, i like it for distortions. But when I tried to use it as a preamp / base tone and put dirt pedals in front of it, i couldnt get a good sound.
I use Joyo character pedals for direct (currently the AC Tone). Because it is cheap, adequately cleans up the super muddy sound of my guitar through the church speakers and gives enough of the chimey amp character to give me a decent tone. Not perfect but no complaints in the mix.
I've used the ac tone in church it was good and cheap but a bit too much high end for the cleans so I switched to the JDX direct box to warm it up it sounded more natural like a fender
I use the Joyo California Sound into a JVC boom box. It sounds amazing through a PA. Doesn't move as much air as a real amp, but it's a decent cheap pedal that does double duty as a direct device and distortion pedal.
I think a great compromise for any of us is having a box like the Simplifier AND an amp on stage. I struggle with my sound through a wedge and I feel that in-ears take away my connection with the room. If I can get a comfortable stage volume for me, and send a more consistent sound to FOH by sending them a DI, that feels like a worthwhile compromise where all parties are happy
I'm really liking the DSM & Humboldt Simplifier. I use it to be able to rehearse with headphones when I'm not able to play a loud tube amp and then I also use it to record with directly into my DAW - so easy and sounds great. You might not be able to mic your amp or just want to do a quick recording session. I can nothing but recommend it. Awesome vid, guys! Cheers
Hey there, I have a question for you. You seem to know about the connectivity of the Simplifier. I am steuggling to connect it to the effects loop of my amp. It is stereo, but when I connect both 1/4 outputs, there is no sound.... Do you connect to an amp at all? Thanks!
I recently picked up the MKII version of the Simplifier. It's the real deal! As a tube amp guy, this is the direct solution I've been after. Awesome product from DSM Humbolt!!
For an affordable option, Joyo pedals like the “American Sound” or “British Sound” are really cheap and sound surprisingly good. I use them for silent recording.
The American sound pedal feels very anemic to me when I plug it in directly, but as an overdrive pedal it's spectacular. I think I'm more in the "it's not quite there for me yet" camp when it comes to direct sounds
Those pedals into a MOOER RADAR worked great for me, still do. Captor X is doing it better though these days, but I still use my older toys too. I clearly have no taste though cos I still like my old Flextone ... 🙄 I prefer valves but I don't moan if I have to use something else ...
Great to know my old time tested approach beats modern pedals. I run my pedal board into an Award Sessions JD-10 for cleans and an original SansAmp for Marshall/Mesa tones. The secret is a parametric EQ after the modelers to cut frequencies with surgical precision. I cut lows sub 120hz, mids around 600hz and highs around 7-12k to cut fizz. Then I feed it into a Mooer Radar cab sim. I’ve recorded and gigged happily for years. I only added the Mooer recently. I can’t imagine using a wedge like you though. I’m always in stereo in IEM’s or headphones. The front of house tone at sound checks always sounds great though. My direct rig and amp rig sound nearly identical when recorded.
How I use my hx stomp is run it directly into the power section of my tube amp. That way it helps me get a cranked amp sound with an actual guitar speaker but also allows me to do it a a lower volume. Hx stomp also accepts external pedals well. Works great! I think digital modeling works well in achieving the tone but cannot replace the feel of a tube power section and speaker cabinet in a room. And as you guys mention the feed back loop with speaker and guitar. This has been somewhat of a solution and the best of both worlds for me.👍😀
really enjoyed this! as someone who gets yelled at my church to turn down this has given me a lot to think about. I also approached the simplifer take. Many people say the simplified has a "DI" sound to it and I never understood. seeing you guys try to make a tone from a DI puts it in perspective. would you guys ever try the deluxe version to see if it compares?
You guys need to review the ACS1. 100% the best amp modeler out there. And for us people with young children asleep when they play the headphone out is a god send. No they will never feel like an amp, but they are getting very close
Thanks gents! For me it is like that: the band got back together and - direct it is. I tried Kemper, Kemper with pedals, Helix, Helix with pedals. Sounds good and feels wrong. Once everybody is cooking, I felt lost. Next stop Maiden D with IR loader - much better! But at the end - Bluguitar Amp1 Mercury with BluBox and pedals is what I ended up with. Not missing anything and probably the whole mix sounds much better than before with loud amps. Oh - and of course switching with the G2 and a MIDI mapper is really really versatile.
So are you using your Blug Amp 1 as an amp for a speaker on stage, or as a direct out. The reason I ask is because I'm in the exact same boat. We're putting our band back together after 4 years apart and things have changed. Everyone wants to go Direct to cut down on weight and to get rid of stage volume. I totally get that. I also own a Blug amp 1 but never really gave it a chance. I don't know what the "mercury" is but I'm all ears. I'd love any help you could provide me. Maybe shoot me a picture of your set up. I'd LOVE to see it if you have a moment to help someone you don't know. My cell number is 803-977-0899. Thanks in advance. John
I started off going direct about 18 years ago using an Award Session JD10. These days I have a pedalboard based around a Tech 21 Fly Rig. I send XLR signal to the desk and the quarter inch output into the receive input of my Boss Katana for monitoring purposes. It sounds great and I have also had great results with a similar set up using a Radial JDX Direct Drive. Occasionally use the Radial JDX for playing electric guitar at open mics and it's a quick and easy solution that works well.
I have watched so many reviews on the simplifier and you guys are the first to show/say to the audience what it is being plugged into. Thanks for letting me know these are meant for FRFR speakers. I’m in the market for an amp and can’t seem to decide what way to go these days so the simplifier caught my attention. Very informative and helpful video. You guys are the best! Much love! Cheers from the other side of the pond!
Guys, thanks a lot for making an episode about direct options event though they're not your preference. It's very useful to us appartment bedroom guitarists. It's also very useful for multi instruments looping setups.
Great great episode. I have the dlx and one thing to note, as with the regular simplifier, is it does allow you the best of both worlds - direct to FOH sounds/silent practice & recording, but also trs out simultaneously to your amps on stage (with power amp/cab bypassed). Run your wet effects in the fx loop and you can treat it as a great preamp pedal on stage (for feel) with the added direct out options for FOH (for ease and efficiency).
I created a rig using multiple Tech 21 character pedals with a blender. I needed a headphone rig for my room, and these worked out very well. I can mix and match with different amp types, and I didn’t want low-end digital. I added the blender cause of the blended live amps used on this channel.
I'm with you guys. This whole idea of going direct with your guitar in the P.A. although realistic for many musicians out there, it's not realistic for the artist who's looking for a unique tone, as an inspiration to push things forward. In times of a pandemic, I also thought of getting a pedal like that in order to record in my little studio BUT I haven't recorded anything so far and my Blues Junior and VOX amps are an INCOMPARABLE listening experience that constantly give me inspiration to write new riffs. I also want to play guitar loud at midnight with my headphones but for that kind of fun I'm not expecting anything more than my custom Logic VST's who are actually fine.
I know that it’s not nearly an actual tube amp, but when you run the iridium through Charlie Fox’s Diso+ box it has a nice Jensen transformer that gives it a much better feel. It made it go from sounding a bit “papery” sounding to more like an actual amp through frfr speakers. It’s worth a shot.
Great advice. A little bit of transformer distortion warms up direct sounds like nothing else. I always run through an 1176 clone before my interface at home
Absolutely the same experience on my part. Also, an LA2A style compressor after drives does help the Iridium to further sound really like an amp on a small scale which is great for recording.👏🏻👋🏼
@@loganpayne6086 yeah man, I have a 3 month old at home so busting out my hot rod deluxe isn’t an option at the moment. But through some good studio headphones or the jbl at my church it gets pretty darn close. I did get the matchless v2 ir pack from york audio and that bumped it up even still
@@esmoroglu that’s an interesting idea, I have a walrus deep six that I run right after my volume mini, would it be a good idea to run the walrus comp like you’re saying??
I love you guys, you're incredibly informative and entertaining. Mick's Strat guide has been a revelation to a G man for nearly 40 years, and Dan's buffer guide was splendid and has helped me set my son's board up beautifully. That said I've been doing monitors/FRFR for about a decade now and no, its never. Ever. Ever going to compare to 100dB amp-in-the-room =and nothing else playing at the same time=. Its not really meant for three-piece roots rock either. OTOH if you're turning up at a festival promoting a more complex album, then taking an XLR or two out of your rig and monitoring in IEMs or wedges is much better. Inspiration doesn't just come from your own sound - it comes from the interactions with everyone else, and being able to properly hear everyone more than makes up. Also the ringing in my ears from too many gigs competing with the drummer's china cymbal and snare drum isn't something I'd wish on anyone. Its great to feel your trousers flap in front of a Marshall stack, but hearing damage is not worth it.
I also would love for you guys to do a reverse blindfold video like you’ve done before where you go through a ton of different amps and direct things and let people see if we can tell the difference/identify the sounds. Something of a way to test if we can semi-objectively hear the difference in feel/mood of the players
I’m with you guys, it’s harder for me to be inspired by direct tones. Not to say other people might not prefer it. But a tube amp works with the frequencies of the guitar from the start and has a completely different attack and feel
The SansAmp GT2 is still the king of Guitar AMP DI in my book. Lots of very different and usable sounds to choose from. No digital latency. And it plays super well with pedals at all stages of the signal chain. I am currently running the following setup. And no modeler i have tried gets close. [Guitar] -> [Tuner] -> [SD-1] -> [NS-2] -> [GT2] -> [TC Corona (Stereo)] => [TC Flashback 2 (Stereo)] =>[TC Hall of Fame 2 (Stereo)] => [Mixer] =>[ PA/Monitors/Headphones]
The best sound I've found so far with headphones is guitar > amp > torpedo cab m + > suhr reactive load. I'd be very curious what Dan and Mick think of that. I know it doesn't allow to ditch the amp, but you could use a very small, very portable amp. It seems to me like pedals don't capture the interaction between the amp and the speaker well. Maybe that's the missing ingredient ? Really enjoyed this testing video. Thank you TPS!
I'm SOOO glad you guys mentioned the "church crowd." However, I do think that most of the "church crowd" get generalized as being all clean and delay. However, the variety of songs I play in church are more suited to the rock sounds I here on your channel most of the time. As a note, I tend to have to listen to these podcasts and vlogs for some inspiration and then have to translate that to whatever song I'm playing in church. My church is in the states and we, generally, only play worship music that has been recently released (albeit we are choosey about the lyrical content). I would love one of your videos to be dedicated to some new church music, effects, amps (we use amps in our church as well as digital) and maybe something like a - great pedals to use for an "on-the-go" or fly board for covering a range of music from clean to rock, but with a focus on modern worship songs. Maybe covering budget and higher end and showing that you don't need a spaceship pedalboard....but you COULD have a spaceship if you wanted. Anyway just offering some suggestions. I love you guys...One of the best guitar shows...I am a fan.
Iridium does well with an IR upgrade, from York Audio, specifically… The Mid control changes it from Tweed-Brownface-Blackface as you lower it. It didn’t seem like it was touched much,
You really need to try to get Dweezil Zappa on the show some day. He did the first few Zappa plays Zappa tours using tons of pedals, amps and rack units to capture Frank's sound before moving to the Fractal (and pedals). He also mixes in direct guitar signal into the sound to capture some of the original album sounds. The missing ingredient was that raw recording console sound. He would have some really good insights on this topic, especial as a big touring show that needs to create sounds from 30+ years of recordings.
The thing is experience. I'm a drummer that's just taken up guitar. I got the acs1 because I live with others and I want to play when I want and not bother them. Even a tiny, low watt amp is too loud. I've done the work to gather the other pedals that play nice. You need a preamp style pedal to give it a tube amp like feel with the gain down on the amp sim. The Benson preamp works great. Having reverb and delay tuned just right makes it really work.
Would love to see this done with the amp mic'd in a different room and coming out of the same PA speaker (aka how we experience them live from the audience perspective) with the modelers. Would the amp still be better?
Exactly this. An audience member isn’t going to hear what the guitarist loves to hear, sadly. I would like to see their reaction when they play and experience in real time what audiences listen to. I think it’d be a huge eye opener. This purist mentality about tube amps can be extremely exhausting. I think tube/valve amps may possess a magic that some can really distinguish immediately, but the reality is, no one who’s actually listening will experience that. There has to be a distinction when they refer to the guitarists ability to crank an amp all the way and experience what it can do to you personally, and then what the average person actually experiences during a live gig
I've been using the DSM Simplifier for about a year now, and it meets my gig needs perfectly. I have a FSR Princeton Reverb (with the 12" Greenback) that I haven't used on stage since getting the Simplifier. We have a silent stage setup and it works great for the small venues we play.
When you tried the Filament into the Iconoclast (which to be fair isn't great), the bass on filament was on zero and you both went' ooh, yes, that's what's wrong with direct sounds'! When you tried it with the amp you immediately turned the bass up and the treble down and suddenly it's all 'ah there it is, tone'. I mean I know you're both up front about your personal bias and that's appreciated, but c'mon! There were a whole bunch of tones that sounded great. I reckon half the problem is you've got a not-great 2-way PA speaker which just will not sound like a guitar amp in the room. Kudos for trying this stuff out and being upfront about your biases - only you know what it sounds like it the room there, but hearing the recordings on youtube, a LOT of this sounded pretty fine and not problematic in a professional context. There's a possibility here of only giving advice to guys who hear their amps behind them in small venues, but those who play on larger stages, quiet stages, or in the studio, who have to deal with guitar tones coming out of PA boxes, headphones and studio monitors, get the picture that the tech doesn't really work well. Thanks for giving it a shot again.
This is such a great video. I play mainly in churches and if/when I could I use a Fender Deluxe reverb or Hot Rod Deluxe with clean settings but it's usually backstage in an iso box and mic'd. That is if the venue has an iso box. Most of them run a clean stage and I have to run front of house. I was using a Boss ME-80 to help with this but I missed having my full board with me and the versatility and settings that I've dialed in on it. I tried the Iridium because so many people I know use it and create IR's for it. I just never liked it. I could never get it to sound how I wanted no matter what IR I uploaded or how long I spent trying to dial it in. Then the Simplifier came out. Got one and love it! I love how it's analog and I can change the settings on the fly to fit any venue and with any size band. I usually keep it on MS Brit, 2x12 and 6L6's with mic position slightly off center and run in stereo to the front of house. Now I'm able to use my board anywhere. Plus I'm able to practice at home with kids and no disturbing neighbors because of the headphone and aux inputs. I will always prefer an amp for feedback and sound but the Simplifier has really surprised me. Plus we are usually playing with IEM's so I always choose what I'm hearing and the Simplifier has so far given me a solid sound everywhere I've used it.
Love that you are biting the bullet and doing this. Love even more that you can't hide your feelings about it. "Help you deal with this if it is something your are facing" (like a deadly disease) ;-)
In all seriousness, being able to record amps in a home studio is a privilege few have. I have been quite happy doing sessions for people with Bias FX software. Sounds and feels great, can't tell the difference in a track. But if I am going to play live, I am going to use and amp dammit.
That compressor really brought things to life. When your playing with an amp there’s so much tube sag and stuff going on with the transformer adding sustain and harmonic content. The compressor brings some of that out front. In the same token it really requires an intelligent device to add in that gain when you hit it hard but with a wide degree of separation between loud and quiet. The iridium has that ability to let the quiet be clean but it’s digital in nature so there is some signal processing uncanny valley stuff going on.
One thing I’ve noticed about the direct solutions I’ve tried is how the pedals handle the massive amounts of signal that hits them. Example: dial in a nice full clean tone (Iridium) , then step on a compressed, healthy lead drive with delay and verb and it just can’t take it as well as an amp. It fizzes out so I have to dial back the gain on Iridium and now the clean tone is dead. Change guitars and the same thing all over again. Amps are more versatile for tone and fingers, just not for sound guys. I have found a usable set of tones with Iridium that I A/B’d to match a micd Morgan MVP23 but it IS NOT THE SAME TO PLAY. I’m considering a whether going to a load box setup (stereo) would be worth it. Lastly the best setup I’ve used was Iridium to FOH w/in ears plus my amp quietly set in the wings pointed at me. No crazy stage volume, clarity of the note in my IEMs and then body of my guitar tone from the amp.
I have the same exact problem with the simplifer deluxe. Soon as I hit some stomp boxes, doesn't sound very good. Good by itself though I find and a cool silent practice tool.
@@CBGypsy03 Yup! I had that pedal and sold it bc of that. I was so hopeful for the Simplifier bc of the design/functions of the pedal. But so far, only the Iridium can handle large amounts of gain and/or wet effects. End of the day, nothing beats a real amp :/
I have gigged cranked tube amps for decades now. The only thing I have found that works direct with my existing effects is the Tsakalis MultiCab mk3. If I use it with my ThorpyFx Gunshot as the preamp stacked with a good boost for extra dirt, I can do a gig with no amp and smile while I listen to the tone. It is a no frills solution that works great for old school cranked amp tones. I highly recommend it.
I am so so confused why we limit the scope here and entirely miss what in my experience is the ampless path that will blow these options out of the water! Did we consider running, for example, a Kinglsey Maiden into a Page into a cab sim? I know you guys absolutely love these tube circuit pre pedals… they appear on the show many times. Why why why are not in this convo!?? They’re pedals … they fit on a board. They have the circuits and tubes we love. How about an AMT ss20 for a different flavor? How about an Effectrode Blackbird or my personal current favorite, a Two Notes Le Clean? A Tubesteader, a Victory, the list is growing all the time… Digital and purely solid state pres are super cool in their own fashion but **not** the ampless path that is going to get that sonic depth and subtlety and harmonic richness and responsiveness that ABs w a mic’d amp. An expanding myriad of pedals are out there that don’t simulate … they are the actual component parts of the boutique amps we love. Load your board with a pedal array that gives you an incredible range of vintage tones (Dumble, Fender, Marshall etc pre circuits) and flavors in combos that would actually be very hard to accomplish with 1 lugged in amp. I think if you explored this route, we’d be seeing the usual fuzzy happy smiling faces and “farrr outs” that we’ve come to love and expect!
We did discuss it, and maybe we should have put one on there. We decided to keep it a little more accessible, fearing the ‘sure if you’ve got the cash for Kingsley’ moans that would surely have ensued. But you’;re right, one proper valve pre on here would have been good. Never the less… I don’t think it would mitigate the lack of what we think is the most important bit: power tubes, transformer and speakers and cabs. Ie, volume with the kind of harmonics, resonances and all that that define electric guitar tone as we know it. Maybe we can try it down the line. But I really don’t think it there would be any significant water or blowing. A bit nicer for sure.
@@ThatPedalShow hear ya on the price point for Kingsleys …But they’re of course not more than the amps themselves yea? But more importantly, Le Clean and many others are less $ than Iridium or the Simplifier. And frankly they er um fry em like eggs.
That the Kinglsey-Maiden option was missing, was also the first thing I was thinking about at the beginning of this video. I wish I could hear your opinion on this too. I think it would be very important and relevant to this topic.
I got rid of my tube amp for space purposes and not to irritate the fam. I opted for the iconoclast and it is INCREDIBLE. Send any amp-like or transparent drive/preamp and an eq through it, and you can have any amp you want
I had an Iridium for a couple of weeks and couldn't get along with it. I ended up just getting a Two Notes Torpedo Captor X and loading it with IRs of the actual speakers I use in my amps and then just running the amps into that. Couldn't be happier. The best part is that you can run it silent if you want or use the onboard attenuator to run the speaker in the amp at a lower volume to give you a bit of feedback while still getting the direct IR sound at the desk.
Ah man, this brings back memories. As a teenager /budding guitar player in the early 80s, I had a Rockman that I really liked. Could do the Boston sound (which was a big influence on me), as well as Def Lepard, and if rumor is to be believed, ZZ Top Eliminator tones. Whether through the headphones or into a Rivera designed Fender Concert amp (which I still regret selling to this day, highly underated), it just seemed to get some fun tones for me.
It's funny. After all their tweaking and a/b-ing, I thought the Rockman sounded so much better. Boston, Def Leppard and ZZ Top also sound so much better than anything I hear today. Now I'm gassing for a Rockman. Maybe I'll find one. Wish me luck. I wonder if I'll have to sell my house to get it.
Tom Shultz understood the signal path, the correct frequency's,and most of all were they lived in the frequency spectrum when recording which was all done in the XP100 rack mount,this is something never explained when just stomping on pedals,otherwise you will end up with Mudd in the mix,these are basic principals now 40years old but why it sounded so good,as it was in the correct order for recording, this is really what Dan & Mick need to address,as many of there subscribers are home studio producers did you see Dan's face when the Rockman was connected, it hit is sweet spot too, he knows. good luck in finding a unit they are out there I have one not to crazy in price.
I hope Dan and Mick learn something by your comments on the frequency spectrum and important issue which they never comment on, maybe they not know as they never consider when recording or even on stage,but Tom Schultz was a genius who pioneered Tones and how they worked together in a mix
Yes, it’s reality to more and more people. And like you said Mick, it’s amazing how quickly we adapt to a sound. (And they won’t allow the Mesa at nice volume.) 🤣Thanks for doing this again. It’s very interesting and helpful.
I have spent hours this week "researching" these amp-less options just to wake up today to my favorite pedal show doing an episode on it! The algorithm is too strong!
Thanks guys for an honest open minded thoughts process for those of us who are either self inflicted or otherwise trapped with rules. I’m currently admits a new pedalboard trying to balance the non and pro DSP side of things with the option of adding an amp. I will fail… but I will try! I think the comment below about the bedroom player and turning real amps down nails the issue perfectly. Thanks!
Great show as ever guys. I personally think the "problem" with this DI/digital technology is that they are "modelling" valve gear. To me it makes no sense to have a new technology then simply emulate something which already exists. So instead, I wish people approached this technology getting completely new sounds. Instead of trying to compensate for its deficiencies in physical experience, feel, it could be used in a way that really leaned into its strengths. It is crying out for someone to come along and be incredibly creative with this stuff and reinvent the guitar as an instrument.... Which is happening to a degree in metal and neo-soul but almost no other styles. We need a new guitar icon to step forward so that companies can begin to move away from making "modelling" devices and make something incredible new and commercially successful. As a final point...all this come from a guy who plugs straight into an old pro reverb! So I'm the one to talk!!
I agree with all of this, Mick here. I don’t know about ‘need’, but certainly for music to move forwards, you’re absolutely right! Personally I have close to zero interest in it doing that because all the music and sounds I love are past. I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to sound anywhere near as good as that. So horses for courses, but I TOTALLY agree with you that using this stuff to try and sound like what it isn’t, is folly. Cheers!
It's not an entirely new sound but the Boss GT series has had a 'natural clean' preamp in it for years which takes this kind of approach. It's a good all round clean and dirty preamp but isn't based on anything in particular as far as I know.
Yes totally agree with this. The only reason for these companies to try to emulate old gear is to sell units to us idiots who are chasing tones we will never achieve because we are not the original players of those rigs. Much better to use digital to find something new that is unique for you as a player.
Agreed. It's a lack of imagination, why we are so obsessed with using new tech to replicate our beloved, nostalgic tones of old. In a way, it's a kind of ideological problem - this idea that we've reached the End of History and that all that's needed is to "tweak" existing forms. As Slavoj Zizek said on the Matrix "blue pill/red pill" binary - "I want a third pill". This applies to art as well as politics.
I have a Tech21 GT-2, Tech21 Flyrig5 1st generation and second generation and have been going direct for years. I treat them like amps by putting compression, distortion etc on the front end and simulate an effects loop by putting delay, reverb, eq etc at the output although the Flyrigs have both reverb and delay. For myself I don't care for blowing my ears out with the levels required to get the full sound out of a tube amp so these fit my needs really well. Looking forward to getting a Simplifier DLX soon, that should be interesting!
I was really surprised by the Iconoclast. I wonder how it would sound after a tube/valve preamp like a Kingsley Maiden. I also wonder what your opinion on these devices would be if you played them through some loud FRFR speakers so you are in your normal 100-105dB range.
Tony - I have a Iconoclast after my Kingsley Harlot...It sounds GREAT! And the touch response is similar to a Tube amp! I noticed the settings that Mick was using doesn't really get the best affect they were trying looking for. I believe the Iconoclast was unfairly represented and NOT presented in it's best light in this video. ~Al Smith
As a father of two under two and living in an apartment; the simplifier changed my life. As much as I love cranking my Orange, the simplifier is truly so close to the real thing. Sometimes when I want to move some air, I'll use the fx send from the simplifier to the return of my terror stamp going into my 2x10 cab. Just an absolute marvel of engineering for so many different applications
Playing guitar and feeling the response of a guitars interaction with an amp while playing it and being in the room with the amp or even PA direct is completely different experience than listening to guitar on a recording or even on TH-cam. That said it’s hard for an demonstration of this sort to translate on this medium. I would suggest people who want to try to go this direction try out a few different options themselves and see what will work for them or if it even can. The guys do an incredible job of demoing these different options but maybe this particular show could of used a guest player who uses this type of setup regularly.
Apologies if this has been said elsewhere here, but for the bedroom players here, I’ve gotten good results for headphone use with the Strymon BigSky at the end of my chain with the cab speaker emulator switch on. Great clean tones and it handles my Mad Professor Simble and Sweet Honey Overdrive deluxe and delays very well. My pedals go into the BigSky (stereo in and out) then into Boss RC-5 looper and then into my Behringer audio interface mostly for volume control. I can power the Behringer directly into my power strip or quickly move the usb cable to my laptop for recording. Since I’m not interested in trying to match the tones of a classic amp, this has worked great for me. I hope this helps others. Cheers Dan and Mick! I’ve learned so much from you both. - Tim
IMHO none of these solutions will ever replace a tube amp loud enough to move air and inspire your playing. But in the right context such as a quiet worship stage with iems they give you a fighting chance to at least be a little comfortable with your sound. I have an iso cabinet but don't even use it anymore.....why bother! All of the availability player to amp interaction is still taken away so it makes no sense to fight it. I can't be me but I put the effort out to be the best I can be under the circumstances!
I was also tempted to try Simplifier/Iridium because my amps were quite heavy and was tired of carrying them. For a while I played whatever amps the venues had but that lead to some unpleasant surprises :). After a couple of tests, I wasn't convinced by these amp sims (I do find Simplifier quite good) and now I'm using a small and light 15W tube amp. It turns out that I'm a big fan of small/medium one channel valve amps. I do have a NUX Solid Studio for home recording which is decent and I'll keep using it. It simulates a power amp and cabinets and has many speakers and mics to choose. It goes into my amp's fx return, so I can use it's preamp and my pedals.
I have to say that I'm really proud of those two elders. You guys are my guitar heros but my guitar tone is 100% digital. It's easier to dial, easier to program, cheaper than analog, more reliable, easier to update and upgrade, more satisfying in home recording situation and much more fun for me in most time when I'm able to use guitar. I'm watching your videos and collect some analog stuff, it definitely has a soul and sounds different but... Try to convince my wife to cranck up my 20w tube head in small apartment... try to setup baritone wet/dry/wet setup with full analog signal path in your living room... I'm so happy that you made this video, I don't know how to put it into words. I hope you have a wonderful week. Stay safe and be well my friend!
Funnily enough, watched this while assembling my own ampless miniboard (it's the future whether we like it or not... 🤔). I feel like if you're going to A/B against a hot rod deluxe, you should also be fair by A/B-ing carrying a combo or an ampless board up 2 flights of stairs to fit onto a 5×8' stage while a white vested landlord looks at you side wise.. Great vid as ever lads.
I recently started running a direct rig in the studio and have been quite happy with the results. It's basically my pedalboard (with great sounding OD and distortion pedals i.e. Angry Charlie) into an analog preamp pedal - Custom Electronics Ethos Clean II, then into a Two Notes Cab M+ speaker (and power amp) sim... then out into times based effects or DI into the mic pre (with the reverb + delay in my DAW sends). It definitely takes a little bit of experimentation and tweaking to find the "sweet spot" of each unit in the signal chain, but once you're dialed in the results are sonically very satisfying and actually quite responsive. I think one thing that is sometimes over looked is having good Power Amp simulation in some of the cab sim pedals. The Two Notes has this and it really makes a big difference tonally and even feel wise. Some of the better plugin manufacturers like Neural DSP have also incorporated this along with mic choice and placement options and the results can be significantly better and much more enjoyable to play through. Just my Two Notes :) Cheers guys, thanks for the episode.
I am so happy you are “introducing” the Iconoclast to the greater public. Waking from a dream and working on an idea with headphones is how I use it. Explore it’s dual channel inputs, wet-dry, etc.
The conclusion I've come to is the electric guitar is a loud instrument. Like a trumpet they're almost impossible to play quietly. They were originally invented because acoustic guitars weren't loud enough. Music is about resonance. For at home playing, for me, a small acoustic is going to give you the resonance you need. A solid body guitar is going to need a lot more volume to get it to resonate. Just my thoughts....
Louder is objectively more gooder. Smallest amp I used back in the 80s and 90s was 75W all valve. We didn't even think about it, it was just understood that we were playing Rock n Roll, therefore we were playing loud music. If you want to disagree, you'll have to speak up. I'm deaf in one ear...
Really, all of these options sound great. It’s a matter of your music and your situation, any of these options can sound fantastic if you play fantastic and tweak your sound to your style and playing!
Very true you won't get the amp feel without a wedge monitor. I've tried direct using a loud stage monitor wedge but then re thought that and thought what's the point? just use an amp and be happy
I like to place echo, reverb, tremolo, and Leslie-sim pedals AFTER my Iridium; the results are akin to either placing them in an amp's effects-loop or post amp/cab/mic as has often been done in countless studio recordings. Usually, I prefer that to putting echo, 'verb, trem, etc. in front of the Iridium; but, it ultimately depends on the pedals and the desired sound- for example, I place my Strymon El Capistan after my Iridium, but I would put a Catalinbread Belle Epoch or Belle Epoch Deluxe in front of the Iridium. Or, for sounds like Neil Young's on the 'Live Rust' album, I might put a reverb in front of the Iridium.
Play a G chord slowly on just about any valve amp, at a volume that will be heard 6 houses down, and the vibrations combined with the air being pushed touches your soul. Hard to get that experience with solid state stuff, but I am most grateful for a 300 dollar pedal that can allow me to practice many different amp sounds housed within a tiny box!! Good stuff....thanks for the deep dive :)
I'd wonder if you would get more of the feel just by turning up the speaker, as its in amp position. Also, I was wondering about similar, tube based solutions like the Victory V4 or Kingsley preamp pedals. Maybe you cant just use an all in one box
You just reminded me that I once owned a Rockman Mk2B picked up in LA when they first came out. Once I got back to London I wanted to ask a question about the stereo reverb. Luckily I hadn't chucked out all the paperwork in the USA. I found a printed piece of paper with the Rockman name on it. Called it and spoke directly to Tom Scholze... Those were the days - it cost me just under $150.00 (used are now c.$450.00). I mainly used it for rehearsing - it sounded good through a 5Kw stereo pa system. Finally chucked it out after it got wet and the batteries leaked. Pete.
Thank for doing this guys, it is mighty useful for those of us who gig in smaller venues than we'd like. Love a big old amp, but these kind of solutions make sense in smaller rooms.
I bought a DSM Simplifier and the knobs fell off and the switches went crooked. I returned it and bought Iridium and happy ever since. Best decision on maaa life!
I currently use an ampless rig that works very well for the types of venues that are currently available for gigs in my region of the U. S. In fact, it works so well that I may never go back to carrying guitar amps again. Playing in a three piece classic rock cover band and achieving a full band sound with vocal harmonies demands a lot from each performer. To gain every edge I can, I use an array of 12 to 14 effects pedals including overdrives, time based effects, and an organ synthesizer to create pleasing and familiar tones and sounds for our audiences. I've tried a number of IR based amp simulators and devices which did not work well for me. Now I use a Radial Direct Drive, which is a high quality direct box with built in amp simulation options that are solid state circuits, not IR based technology, which has caused me problems in a live environment. I mix our shows from stage with a compact digital mixer and I send two aux mixes to my two channel powered wedge. One is my monitor mix of the band, EQ'd specifically to eliminate mic feedback through my wedge at a given venue. The other is just my guitar. I do this to eliminate the changes to my guitar tone that EQing for vocal mic feedback causes. The arrangement has proven very effective and is much easier logistically speaking. As a result, I now carry less heavy gear, mics, stands, and cables. Setup and teardown times are reduced and shows are less physically demanding. As far as sound quality, there is not that much of a difference since I don't use tube amplifiers anyway. I've prefered solid state amps, set clean, for decades for many reasons, letting my pedals do the work. My ampless rig combined with a powered wedge sounds like a guitar amp in the mix and from my wedge at my mic position. I wish I would've went ampless years ago. I highly recommend it.
![Building A Pedalboard For Paul Davids [The Most Complex I've Ever Done?]](/img/n.gif)
What people don’t talk about enough is consistency. With a direct option you sound roughly the same at every venue. I’m in a covers band at the mercy of the house sound guy, and once I found him with a mic on the baffle instead of the cab. Going direct makes a 1 minute sound check doable and the audience has a good time. For me that’s worth the compromise.
When we were doing it this way (e-drums, direct in bass, keys and guitar) I really liked having the FOH sound in the wedges so we knew exactly what the audience was listening to
Totally agree! I wish the Iridium was out when I was in a cover band for this exact reason. Also, if you need to mimic a part on a record it really helps to be able to dial in your effects at practice and know it'll be reproducible live. That was always a challenge for me.
Good point. What method do you use direct?
@@scottm3775 I’ve tried many. I used the iridium in front of my pedal board for a while but for now I’m using a FM3. I think it takes pedals better and I can use its effects for those random songs when you need a one off type of effect.
@@LongGrassStudios Hi. Thanks greatly for letting me know!
I also think it is worth mentioning that, for some of us, this isn’t about compromise. I’ve personally never found the magic that you guys feel when playing tube amps loud. So, for me, this gear is just making it easier to do what I’ve always wanted to.
That’s a really great point Robert, thank you. Just underlines the whole subjectivity of it all. It’s all good as long as you’re enjoying it!
I don't use it live, but I have to say the simplifier has made my apartment dwelling guitar playing experience much, much happier. You can ride the volume knob into the front with satisfying results, and it responds extremely well to OD pedals. I would also recommend running a stereo reverb in the loop.
The one thing you guys seem to miss when talking about direct sounds is their role as recording solution, not a live one. Aside from quiet stages / worship, both historically (prince, nile rodgers, beatles, david bowie, pink floyd, led zeppelin) and in modern times these are tools in the studio more so than the stage. How come no discussion of Dan's home recording rig with the iso room where there is no interaction either, thats the better comparison. but again my bias is I am coming from a production side of things not a band musician playing shows.
Great question in my book
I second this second question.
I agree. I also want more talk about the outputs these things have for running into an interface, or for using as in place of an interface. I'm looking for something that will sound better than the amp sims in my DAW but which I don't have to mic like a real amp.
They're historically biased against solutions that will save you money.
Or maybe that is another episode showing the use of the Attenuator/ direct out that can be achieved with like TwoNotes stuff. Surprised the Cab M wasn’t in this…
I think what gets partially lost comparing the FRFR sound to the amp in the room is the pedal options aren’t just emulating a speaker and cab, they’re emulating a speaker and cab through a mic. A more direct tonal comparison would be pedal option vs miced cab in another room.
I play with the iridium using iems with a cranked mix. I don’t feel the air against my legs, my my ear drums are certainly feeling the tone 😊
Loved the episode. Cheers!
Yep, thats exactly it with the FRFR cab. Its not gonna act like a normal cab, when you've put the signal coming into it through a cab simulator (because its not a cab simulator, its a mic'ed cab response). You'll never get the experience that you get from sitting in a room with a cranked amp, but you'll sure get just as good a tone in the mix (if not better live due to the reliability of the response).
You are SO right--it was an unfair comparison, and miking up the Fender from the other room and playing it through that (SMALL!) FRFR would have been a proper comparison. I love these guys and have gleaned so much useful information from their show! That being said, I felt like Dan had already made up his mind that he wasn't going to like any of the offerings. At least Mick kind of gave the Humboldt some grace. If you want to hear what the Simplifier can sound like, go and watch the Captain and Danish Pete give it a review on Andertons. You can see that Pete is truly surprised at the sounds he is getting out of the Simplifier, as well as hear comments on how much more "immediate" the feel is compared to the digital offerings.
During and after lockdown I sold off my amp as it was too loud for my room & had no where to take it. Replaced with an HX Stomp, put it on my pedalboard and honestly, it's made practice and setup for gigs a whole lot easier. Perfect for a part-time player that occasionally plays live.
I use my HX stomp for simple home recording. Just run my pedal board into it and choose the amp I want, plus any additional effects. It really does work great for this and sounds good enough. That being said, I still prefer to play through my amps and do so most of the time
@@bechela1 definitely, if a good amp is available & allowed to be cranked up you can't beat that! Another great thing with the Stomp is even then, you can use it as a multi-effects pedal so it can just stay on the pedalboard.
@@eksuy8085 Yep. That's the way I'm using it. Not quite in love with everything about it, but it's too practical for me to think about parting with it.
I sold my amps and am now fully on the HX Stomp as my amp modeler; honestly, I don't see my self ever buying an amp again unless I just have money to blow to build a rehearsal space.
@@Upside_Down_Guitar_Guy if I was not fortunate enough to be able to afford some nice tube amps, I may do the same. The stomps amps sound pretty darn good, and on the recording or live setting, I don’t think the audience could even tell the difference. However, when I plug into my plexi, turn it up, and strike a big e chord, i feel something special. The stomp cannot replicate the feeling of being in the room with an amp, at least not yet.
In my experience, when you turn down even real amps to the volumes that thousands of bedroom players like myself have to abide by on a daily basis, the differences between amps and modeling is minimal. Actually, a well dialed in direct rig sounds better to me than a tube amp that is barely breathing. The best of both worlds is an amp through a load box. Thanks for this episode and covering all that …even though Dan is trying to be a good sport! LOL
The only time I don’t agree with that is when you’re talking about a tube amp 5 watts or less. As a pure practice amp, especially some of the newer ones with built in attenuators work extremely well at low volumes. But if your main amp is say a 50 watt (like me) and you run it at one or two it’s just not doing anything
I think you’re probably right Johnathan. Mick here. Little modellers are soooooo satisfying at home. Which is why I can’t use em - it completely kills my loud playing when I get back to it!
I paid $300,000 for a house just to be able to turn up the volume past 2
Agreed with everything you said except the load box part. The sonic attributes of mic’d cab “in a room” are yet to be replicated, IMO. That’s not to say it’s superior to a load box, but it’s a unique flavor.
@@zerohourdrift I've got a Fryette Power Station and I agree with Johnathan here. If I turn the volume down on the Fryette with any of my tube amps, eventually the sound will be pretty mediocre and it gets to a point where you start to wonder why you have all this expensive gear when you could just use a Yamaha THR10 or something for similar results. The wattage of the tube amp does not matter here at all. To me the 50W amps usually sound better than 5 watters even turned down whether from a master volume or with an attenuator. Beefy transformers etc do matter.
For most people playing at home I think a good digital modeler like a Line6 HX Stomp or Fractal FM3 through a good set of studio monitors is the best value for money. Good attenuators and loadboxes are expensive and nowhere near as versatile or compact.
I am on min 16, and right away I should mention, my direct approach uses the Iridium a little differently; guitar -> Origin Effects Revival Drive Custom (power amp mode) -> Volante -> UA Reverberator -> Iridium with ‘amp sim’ permanently off!
Iridium has no latency to worry about, and since I am using it only as cab-sim, the no-effects-loop problem does not exist. The key here is obviously the Revival Drive which does an excellent job of emulating an entire guitar amp typology. Iridium brings to the table full stereo 24bit 96kHz resolution for 500 milliseconds of speaker cabinet impulse responses… And I gotta tell you, I have great, inspiring tone! I prefer this solution to cheaper tube amps FOR SURE.
Although I am underutilizing the rather expensive Iridium, I think it is worth it since it combines negligible latency with highest fidelity IRs. On the other hand, I am using the Revival Drive to its full capacity, and arguably in its most useful power amp mode. Finally, when a dip switch is engaged, the Revival Drive can be used in conjunction with its either Brit or US preamps even when the pedal is turned OFF. This opens up a lot of possibilities for using different combinations of other pedals on my board. Or I could always turn the Revival Drive on, but set it as a low gain/low limiting pedal platform type amp simulation. All analog!
Nice dude. You may have pushed me towards purchasing the Iridium.
I was thinking the same thing with a Revival Drive. I have also seen people putting all we effects after the Iridium.
I've used a Simplifier as my primary rig for a year or so. I do think it sounds great and takes pedals well. Also, just FYI, the effects loop works well (the signal can get very hot) and is after the power amp sim.
Some of the little things about it amaze me. First, the master is before the power amp. So, it's not just a volume control. If you want to emulate a NMV amp, you have to turn it all the way up. Also, the resonance control affects amplifier damping factor...which is to say that it affects how the amplifier reacts to an impedance curve similar to an output transformer being plugged into a speaker cab. So...to get what you want out of it, you'd need to turn the resonance control up decently far and run the master all the way up...some amount of the bloom can come back when you do that. You also have to do that to make the tube types actually sound different from each other. After that, assuming your pedals can take the level, you can do a post-amp wet/dry setup using the 2 cab sims (dry signal goes to the Right one if nothing is plugged into the right return)....so you just go send > wet effects > left return. Then Left cab sim is wet and Right cab sim is dry. And with the switches on the back, you've got balanced out for wet and dry and either another balanced pair of wet/dry or a mono sum of wet+dry.
The thing is INSANELY powerful.
I impulse bought an FM3 that came in today, and I'm having fun playing with it. But apart from it having some very nice sounding effects that I don't own pedals of...I'm not convinced it's better, just a different way of doing basically the same things.
I've got the Simplifier, but I find that it doesn't take overdrive, distortion and fuzz pedals well. I don't usually use lots of gain, but with the three above, it sounds very DI. Overdrive, distortion and fuzz sound broken, for lack of a better word.
Should I try to push the master on the Simplifier to the max, as you wrote? You got any tips for me to try out? I want to sell it, but I would like to keep it if I could get the sound right.
@@nedim_guitar Try turning the mic position if you can hear the difference. It has to really significant in opposite positions. If it sounds the same you have the cab sim bypassed or your unit might be broken.
@@hbo001 It wasn't a problem, I could hear the difference on different mic positions. I've seen a demo of the DLX, in which they used some pedals. That one also sounded kinda bad. It just doesn't take gain pedals well. The only setting I found that worked for my MXR GT-OD and my ProCo RAT with not too much gain on was AC Brit with the 6L6 tube and 1x12 cab. The bigger cabs sound too thick, really unrealistic. The American sounds flat and boring, and the MS Brit sounds awful, with farty gain. Don't try using fuzz on it, but distortion and even overdrive don't work well on it. So I sold it. 🤷
@@nedim_guitar Interesting. I have put a Big Muff clone on a breadboard recently to try it with the Simplifier. Apart from higher noise level I had no issue to dial a tone I like. My goal is to create a mix ready tone while playing live with backing tracks of my favorite bands. Quite the opposite from the guys in the vid. Just to add I am using programmable EQ before the mix. The best thing, I can only recommend.
@@hbo001 That IS interesting. 🤔 EQ didn't help me, I can tell you that. Maybe there was something wrong with my unit. 🤷
Before watching let me just say thank you. This is the episode I've been waiting for. As a dad with kids, a full time job and more on my plate, playing through my amps is almost never possible.
In my experience, playing direct can actually be more inspiring than using an amp. Don’t get me wrong, on some gigs I play an Esquire straight into a cranked non-master volume tube amp, but I play with an artist named Bayleigh Cheek and on her gig I play guitar, synth, and keys. I need all sorts of Radiohead inspired textures and HX Stomp allows me to do stuff otherwise impossible or terribly cost-prohibitive to engineer. Also works great for vocalists like her- with a softer, warmer voice that can run into dicey sound problems in club gigs. I don’t run direct for everything, but on a gig like hers where I need experimental sounds and no stage sound so she can hear herself, direct is incredibly liberating and inspiring. It’s all about a good playback system though, and it tends to sound like a miced or recorded guitar rather than live-in-room
Confession: Some of my best moments of inspiration came while being plugged straight into an interface, playing around in my DAW, running monitor out into a set of huge Yamaha 15” Powered cabs. Love my tube amps, but I don’t always want to sound “like everyone else”. BTW, massive Radiohead fan, here. 🤓
Whoooa! I didn't think I'd see you here in the comments looking at this a year later old pal!
You've always had sage gear advice and this is no different.
@@robertmaxwell5022 Hey bud!! seriously miss playing with you man!
@@jakestewartmusic same!!!
2 things made me happy about this episode:
1. Its mere existence. I know you gents don't much care for the subject, but for those of us who have much maligned "church gigs," it really is helpful to have your clever ears, fingers, and minds exploring possible solutions to our problem.
2. I spent half an hour of good fun looping over and jamming with that little ascending riff Mick plays right at 30:50. It sounds familiar, but I can't place it. Whatever the origin, it gave me some fun exercise before work today!
Thanks for always bringing entertainment and information to our minds and ears!
Cheers from Buffalo, NY USA
28:25 couldn't agree with Dan more! I have the Simplifier and love it, like really, really love it and I use it for a specific purpose which it excels at. I use it for streaming my noodling on the internet, also for rehearsals at home because it has an Aux in. For me it really is a hard-to-replace tool.
Just to speak on playing loud, I had a really interesting experience the other week at a gig (metal gig for clarification). First band was using an older Marshall in a 4x12 - sounded ok. Second band used a Marshal JCM800 into his 4x12 - sounded a bit better. Next up was me with a Quilter Overdrive 200 and, being a bit cheeky, plugged into both of their 4x12 cabs as they were side by side. Sounded big, sounded good - guitarist from the first band was checking it out and was blown away at how big it sounded (hear that a lot about the Quilter). Fourth band used Helix and sounded meh, nothing impressive. Fifth band used little Mooer GE pedals into EXH 44 Magnums into the 4x12 cabs and sounded bloody awesome, like proper good because they'd taken the time to dial in the settings and get good sounds. So in conclusion the gear is one thing, but learning how to get the absolute best out of whatever you're using is the single most important part of a good sound. I think it's also worth mentioning that not all guitarists know the difference between a good sound and "that'll do", obviously that's subjective, but their focus is on writing or performing rather than being a tone junky.
Also at 47:40 you're making me happy with that sound!!! haha that was amazing.
I feel that this video showed the honest strengths and weaknesses of both the techologies and reviewers, so made this a highly sincere and useful review. Many reviewers would not allow their vulnerabilities to come out so clearly, and here that truly adds useful context to their perspectives. Subscribed!
I wonder how much of this comes down to our accustomed means of experiencing music? Today, the predominant end-user experience of music is through earbuds or a TV soundbar. If that's all you've ever known...? Likewise the opposite. I grew up performing live, taking in live performances, and we always had a serious air-moving stereo system at home. Hearing Josh Smith through a chunk of plastic in my ear is worlds apart from being pulverized by him in person. I prefer the latter, but I can see where it would be alien to others.
Woah, that is incredibly interesting!
I appreciate you guys acknowledging that this is a reality for some of us. Because of circumstances, I can’t get a live amp at the moment. During the pandemic I had to sell my Supro and I regret it, but you know, lack of consistent gigging means I had to let it go for other things. These direct in solutions aren’t the best but they help in the mean time until gigs start getting going and I can earn the funds to get another. All that just to say, sometimes it’s out of necessity. And then you want what you have to be sound good. Oh well
I'm with you guys and am biased too. I'm sure you can get these boxes to sound very good and understand how practical they are, but as well as hearing the amp I can actually feel it. Maybe I'm on the way to becoming obsolete but part of playing the guitar is my relationship with the amp.
Brilliant video. I run thru a Boss CS-3 - Boss DS-2- EH-4600 Analog Small Clone Chorus - Joyo PreAmp House - [in the loop] Joyo “Aquarius” Delay - Joyo “Atmosphere” Reverb and then into my mixer / audio interface or FOH or to a FRFR PA Speaker or external amplifier. I love that I have options. I can go out to my Boss Katana or Vox Amplifier like i did last century. or i can go direct to the FOH. I play thru a Ibanez AF75D and a Gold Top Les Paul.
Really happy y’all did this video as it’s a common issue for me and why I switched over to Fractal years ago. Would love to see a V2 of this where you use a preamp pedal into an IR loader like the Cab M+ or something along those lines. Great playing and info as always guys!!!
I have a Simplifier DLX and it's definitely not something where you just turn it in with everything at twelve and you're good to go. It's very "twitchy" and can react very well to changes in input volume, but I feel overall that it's a box that can get you to maybe 75% or 80% of the tone you want, and that won't be enough for a lot of guitarists.
One thing I will say: because you can run two amps simultaneously on the Deluxe it does mean that you can dial in some of the complexity that is missing from these boxes in general.
That's very interesting because it is precisely the thing I have thought of getting. I like the simplicity.
@@tripledistilled2822 It's got so much crammed into such a small space and I think that the reverbs are really well implemented. I can run it into a little monitor speaker and get really nice practice amp tones so I'd never dissuade someone from getting one. But, it sure is expensive, so definitely try it out before buying if you possibly can.
It's one of the few pedals/tools that I've bought in the past two years that really drives me crazy. I keep thinking there has to be some really amp-like tones in there, I just can't find them. What are you running yours into?
@@f33fifofum It's a Roland Cube Lite Monitor: literally just a £100 active speaker but it has plenty of volume and bass extension for a bedroom guitarist. That said I've got a Katana II head in the same room and it's much easier to use. FWIW the best results I've had have been dialling in the Vox voice (on Crunch) and the Fender voice (on clean) with my guitar volume turned quarter of the way and a flat boost in front of the DLX. That gives you a lot of input gain range into fairly clean circuits and you can blend as needed. I made a nice utility voice on my Zoia so that I could blend the two voices using a foot controller. But at the point you've got one or two boxes, a foot controller and stereo cables to a speaker you have to wonder whether you've lost the simplicity of the Simplifier.
Would love to see Dan en Mick reviewing the deluxe the way they like to do wet dry (dual mono) with their Amps...should be killer!
To me the Tech 21 analog solutions still beat most digital offerings- at this point I have quite a few of both. There are ways to make all newer options sound amazing but it requires throwing out any old school amp approach to these boxes. I’d also recommend using a laptop solution like Nembrini or Plugin Alliance…unless one has optimal mic’ing at a gig these will often sound superior to the real thing. Of course, those are not pedals!! :). Thanks for the video!
I used to run a Sansamp Fly Rig 5 into an Iconoclast for a few years. The sounds were great, and with a few dirt pedals in front I could play anything from Fender cleans to heavy af. The only reason I don't use it any more is because I bought an HX Stomp.
I have the sansamp gt2, i like it for distortions. But when I tried to use it as a preamp / base tone and put dirt pedals in front of it, i couldnt get a good sound.
I use Tech 21 and love it
Props to Dan for being open minded on this topic. I love you, sir. All the way from Florida, USA.
I use Joyo character pedals for direct (currently the AC Tone). Because it is cheap, adequately cleans up the super muddy sound of my guitar through the church speakers and gives enough of the chimey amp character to give me a decent tone. Not perfect but no complaints in the mix.
I've used the ac tone in church it was good and cheap but a bit too much high end for the cleans so I switched to the JDX direct box to warm it up it sounded more natural like a fender
You have the right attitude it's never gonna be perfect but it sounds good in the mix. To get through the day
So the Joyo character pedals are basically amp replacements?
@@lewisbeeman they're ok poor mans amp don't expect a real vox ac30 sound it's a facsimile
I use the Joyo California Sound into a JVC boom box. It sounds amazing through a PA. Doesn't move as much air as a real amp, but it's a decent cheap pedal that does double duty as a direct device and distortion pedal.
I think a great compromise for any of us is having a box like the Simplifier AND an amp on stage. I struggle with my sound through a wedge and I feel that in-ears take away my connection with the room. If I can get a comfortable stage volume for me, and send a more consistent sound to FOH by sending them a DI, that feels like a worthwhile compromise where all parties are happy
I'm really liking the DSM & Humboldt Simplifier. I use it to be able to rehearse with headphones when I'm not able to play a loud tube amp and then I also use it to record with directly into my DAW - so easy and sounds great. You might not be able to mic your amp or just want to do a quick recording session. I can nothing but recommend it. Awesome vid, guys! Cheers
Hey there, I have a question for you. You seem to know about the connectivity of the Simplifier. I am steuggling to connect it to the effects loop of my amp. It is stereo, but when I connect both 1/4 outputs, there is no sound.... Do you connect to an amp at all? Thanks!
I recently picked up the MKII version of the Simplifier. It's the real deal! As a tube amp guy, this is the direct solution I've been after. Awesome product from DSM Humbolt!!
For an affordable option, Joyo pedals like the “American Sound” or “British Sound” are really cheap and sound surprisingly good. I use them for silent recording.
Same. I have a headphone amp/mixer after the Joyos. Works really well.
+1
I have the american sound. It sounds great into an guitar amp too. I think of it as an always on drive pedal that can go direct if needed to.
The American sound pedal feels very anemic to me when I plug it in directly, but as an overdrive pedal it's spectacular. I think I'm more in the "it's not quite there for me yet" camp when it comes to direct sounds
Those pedals into a MOOER RADAR worked great for me, still do.
Captor X is doing it better though these days, but I still use my older toys too.
I clearly have no taste though cos I still like my old Flextone ... 🙄
I prefer valves but I don't moan if I have to use something else ...
Great to know my old time tested approach beats modern pedals. I run my pedal board into an Award Sessions JD-10 for cleans and an original SansAmp for Marshall/Mesa tones. The secret is a parametric EQ after the modelers to cut frequencies with surgical precision. I cut lows sub 120hz, mids around 600hz and highs around 7-12k to cut fizz. Then I feed it into a Mooer Radar cab sim.
I’ve recorded and gigged happily for years. I only added the Mooer recently. I can’t imagine using a wedge like you though. I’m always in stereo in IEM’s or headphones. The front of house tone at sound checks always sounds great though. My direct rig and amp rig sound nearly identical when recorded.
How I use my hx stomp is run it directly into the power section of my tube amp. That way it helps me get a cranked amp sound with an actual guitar speaker but also allows me to do it a a lower volume. Hx stomp also accepts external pedals well. Works great! I think digital modeling works well in achieving the tone but cannot replace the feel of a tube power section and speaker cabinet in a room. And as you guys mention the feed back loop with speaker and guitar. This has been somewhat of a solution and the best of both worlds for me.👍😀
Nice!
PS. Forgot to mention you need to set the hx stomp’s outputs to line level to hit the power section properly.
Completely agree!
really enjoyed this! as someone who gets yelled at my church to turn down this has given me a lot to think about. I also approached the simplifer take. Many people say the simplified has a "DI" sound to it and I never understood. seeing you guys try to make a tone from a DI puts it in perspective. would you guys ever try the deluxe version to see if it compares?
You guys need to review the ACS1. 100% the best amp modeler out there. And for us people with young children asleep when they play the headphone out is a god send.
No they will never feel like an amp, but they are getting very close
Thru studio monitors with enough volume, the ACS 1 sure can come very close to the real thing. Especially after the major firmware update.
I think the Simplifier with a reverb added is much better than the ACS1.
I’m not super up on amps and models (though my ears aren’t too bad), but I’m really really happy with my ACS1 through decent headphones.
The dB meter doesn’t lie - this TPS was dramatically quieter in-room than your usual affairs. Perhaps that’s the reason for the disconnect?
I agree, but I bet if that direct speaker was kicking out 105 db they’d be wincing pretty hard!
Thanks gents! For me it is like that: the band got back together and - direct it is. I tried Kemper, Kemper with pedals, Helix, Helix with pedals. Sounds good and feels wrong. Once everybody is cooking, I felt lost. Next stop Maiden D with IR loader - much better! But at the end - Bluguitar Amp1 Mercury with BluBox and pedals is what I ended up with. Not missing anything and probably the whole mix sounds much better than before with loud amps. Oh - and of course switching with the G2 and a MIDI mapper is really really versatile.
So are you using your Blug Amp 1 as an amp for a speaker on stage, or as a direct out. The reason I ask is because I'm in the exact same boat. We're putting our band back together after 4 years apart and things have changed. Everyone wants to go Direct to cut down on weight and to get rid of stage volume. I totally get that. I also own a Blug amp 1 but never really gave it a chance. I don't know what the "mercury" is but I'm all ears. I'd love any help you could provide me. Maybe shoot me a picture of your set up. I'd LOVE to see it if you have a moment to help someone you don't know. My cell number is 803-977-0899. Thanks in advance. John
I love that it’s March and I’m watching this for the first time. Thanks for the content!
I started off going direct about 18 years ago using an Award Session JD10. These days I have a pedalboard based around a Tech 21 Fly Rig. I send XLR signal to the desk and the quarter inch output into the receive input of my Boss Katana for monitoring purposes. It sounds great and I have also had great results with a similar set up using a Radial JDX Direct Drive. Occasionally use the Radial JDX for playing electric guitar at open mics and it's a quick and easy solution that works well.
I have watched so many reviews on the simplifier and you guys are the first to show/say to the audience what it is being plugged into. Thanks for letting me know these are meant for FRFR speakers. I’m in the market for an amp and can’t seem to decide what way to go these days so the simplifier caught my attention. Very informative and helpful video. You guys are the best! Much love! Cheers from the other side of the pond!
Guys, thanks a lot for making an episode about direct options event though they're not your preference. It's very useful to us appartment bedroom guitarists. It's also very useful for multi instruments looping setups.
Great great episode. I have the dlx and one thing to note, as with the regular simplifier, is it does allow you the best of both worlds - direct to FOH sounds/silent practice & recording, but also trs out simultaneously to your amps on stage (with power amp/cab bypassed). Run your wet effects in the fx loop and you can treat it as a great preamp pedal on stage (for feel) with the added direct out options for FOH (for ease and efficiency).
I created a rig using multiple Tech 21 character pedals with a blender. I needed a headphone rig for my room, and these worked out very well. I can mix and match with different amp types, and I didn’t want low-end digital. I added the blender cause of the blended live amps used on this channel.
I'm with you guys. This whole idea of going direct with your guitar in the P.A. although realistic for many musicians out there, it's not realistic for the artist who's looking for a unique tone, as an inspiration to push things forward. In times of a pandemic, I also thought of getting a pedal like that in order to record in my little studio BUT I haven't recorded anything so far and my Blues Junior and VOX amps are an INCOMPARABLE listening experience that constantly give me inspiration to write new riffs. I also want to play guitar loud at midnight with my headphones but for that kind of fun I'm not expecting anything more than my custom Logic VST's who are actually fine.
I know that it’s not nearly an actual tube amp, but when you run the iridium through Charlie Fox’s Diso+ box it has a nice Jensen transformer that gives it a much better feel. It made it go from sounding a bit “papery” sounding to more like an actual amp through frfr speakers. It’s worth a shot.
Couldn't agree more. I have a friend that does this and it's truly astonishing. He literally hasn't played though his amp since.
Great advice. A little bit of transformer distortion warms up direct sounds like nothing else. I always run through an 1176 clone before my interface at home
Absolutely the same experience on my part. Also, an LA2A style compressor after drives does help the Iridium to further sound really like an amp on a small scale which is great for recording.👏🏻👋🏼
@@loganpayne6086 yeah man, I have a 3 month old at home so busting out my hot rod deluxe isn’t an option at the moment. But through some good studio headphones or the jbl at my church it gets pretty darn close. I did get the matchless v2 ir pack from york audio and that bumped it up even still
@@esmoroglu that’s an interesting idea, I have a walrus deep six that I run right after my volume mini, would it be a good idea to run the walrus comp like you’re saying??
Good video with great perspective. The Rockman segment was fun! It was used on loads of stuff (Rush, Satriani, Def L).
I love you guys, you're incredibly informative and entertaining. Mick's Strat guide has been a revelation to a G man for nearly 40 years, and Dan's buffer guide was splendid and has helped me set my son's board up beautifully.
That said I've been doing monitors/FRFR for about a decade now and no, its never. Ever. Ever going to compare to 100dB amp-in-the-room =and nothing else playing at the same time=. Its not really meant for three-piece roots rock either.
OTOH if you're turning up at a festival promoting a more complex album, then taking an XLR or two out of your rig and monitoring in IEMs or wedges is much better. Inspiration doesn't just come from your own sound - it comes from the interactions with everyone else, and being able to properly hear everyone more than makes up.
Also the ringing in my ears from too many gigs competing with the drummer's china cymbal and snare drum isn't something I'd wish on anyone. Its great to feel your trousers flap in front of a Marshall stack, but hearing damage is not worth it.
"Inspiration doesn't just come from your own sound - it comes from the interactions with everyone else"
This is so true. Great point!
Daniel... I think your playing at the end, pretty much sums up the whole story. Thanks chaps.
I also would love for you guys to do a reverse blindfold video like you’ve done before where you go through a ton of different amps and direct things and let people see if we can tell the difference/identify the sounds. Something of a way to test if we can semi-objectively hear the difference in feel/mood of the players
I’m with you guys, it’s harder for me to be inspired by direct tones. Not to say other people might not prefer it. But a tube amp works with the frequencies of the guitar from the start and has a completely different attack and feel
The SansAmp GT2 is still the king of Guitar AMP DI in my book.
Lots of very different and usable sounds to choose from.
No digital latency.
And it plays super well with pedals at all stages of the signal chain.
I am currently running the following setup. And no modeler i have tried gets close.
[Guitar] -> [Tuner] -> [SD-1] -> [NS-2] -> [GT2] -> [TC Corona (Stereo)] => [TC Flashback 2 (Stereo)] =>[TC Hall of Fame 2 (Stereo)] => [Mixer] =>[ PA/Monitors/Headphones]
I'd definitely be analogue if the gun to my head was forcing me to go direct. Mick here. Cheers!
Thanks for sharing your signal chain!
I used to run one into a Hughes & Kettner Red Box DI and found it really useable. TS9 and Prince of Tone sounded great into it.
@@ThatPedalShow (imagining a sound tech who has snapped and holding a gun to my head forcing me to choose between an analog or digital DI …)
Tech 21 doesn't get enough love in my opinion. Love their products.
The best sound I've found so far with headphones is guitar > amp > torpedo cab m + > suhr reactive load. I'd be very curious what Dan and Mick think of that. I know it doesn't allow to ditch the amp, but you could use a very small, very portable amp.
It seems to me like pedals don't capture the interaction between the amp and the speaker well. Maybe that's the missing ingredient ?
Really enjoyed this testing video. Thank you TPS!
the iridium clean tone was amazing when I tested it out in the store and better than anything I tried. I wish it had the fx loop which is lacking .
It doesn’t really need an FX loop. Just put your wet effects after it….
@@ThatPedalShow will it still be working in stereo with the wet effects after it?
@@CBilly7 if the effects after it are stereo in & out, then yes
I'm SOOO glad you guys mentioned the "church crowd." However, I do think that most of the "church crowd" get generalized as being all clean and delay. However, the variety of songs I play in church are more suited to the rock sounds I here on your channel most of the time.
As a note, I tend to have to listen to these podcasts and vlogs for some inspiration and then have to translate that to whatever song I'm playing in church. My church is in the states and we, generally, only play worship music that has been recently released (albeit we are choosey about the lyrical content).
I would love one of your videos to be dedicated to some new church music, effects, amps (we use amps in our church as well as digital) and maybe something like a - great pedals to use for an "on-the-go" or fly board for covering a range of music from clean to rock, but with a focus on modern worship songs. Maybe covering budget and higher end and showing that you don't need a spaceship pedalboard....but you COULD have a spaceship if you wanted. Anyway just offering some suggestions. I love you guys...One of the best guitar shows...I am a fan.
Dan: “Consider this!” . Simply brilliant.
I was laughing so hard at that 😂
Iridium does well with an IR upgrade, from York Audio, specifically… The Mid control changes it from Tweed-Brownface-Blackface as you lower it. It didn’t seem like it was touched much,
You really need to try to get Dweezil Zappa on the show some day. He did the first few Zappa plays Zappa tours using tons of pedals, amps and rack units to capture Frank's sound before moving to the Fractal (and pedals). He also mixes in direct guitar signal into the sound to capture some of the original album sounds. The missing ingredient was that raw recording console sound. He would have some really good insights on this topic, especial as a big touring show that needs to create sounds from 30+ years of recordings.
The thing is experience. I'm a drummer that's just taken up guitar. I got the acs1 because I live with others and I want to play when I want and not bother them. Even a tiny, low watt amp is too loud. I've done the work to gather the other pedals that play nice. You need a preamp style pedal to give it a tube amp like feel with the gain down on the amp sim. The Benson preamp works great. Having reverb and delay tuned just right makes it really work.
Would love to see this done with the amp mic'd in a different room and coming out of the same PA speaker (aka how we experience them live from the audience perspective) with the modelers. Would the amp still be better?
Exactly this. An audience member isn’t going to hear what the guitarist loves to hear, sadly. I would like to see their reaction when they play and experience in real time what audiences listen to. I think it’d be a huge eye opener. This purist mentality about tube amps can be extremely exhausting. I think tube/valve amps may possess a magic that some can really distinguish immediately, but the reality is, no one who’s actually listening will experience that. There has to be a distinction when they refer to the guitarists ability to crank an amp all the way and experience what it can do to you personally, and then what the average person actually experiences during a live gig
This video made me realise how much I value seeing an enthusiastic and happy Dan every week!
I've been using the DSM Simplifier for about a year now, and it meets my gig needs perfectly. I have a FSR Princeton Reverb (with the 12" Greenback) that I haven't used on stage since getting the Simplifier. We have a silent stage setup and it works great for the small venues we play.
What is a silent stage?
When you tried the Filament into the Iconoclast (which to be fair isn't great), the bass on filament was on zero and you both went' ooh, yes, that's what's wrong with direct sounds'! When you tried it with the amp you immediately turned the bass up and the treble down and suddenly it's all 'ah there it is, tone'. I mean I know you're both up front about your personal bias and that's appreciated, but c'mon! There were a whole bunch of tones that sounded great. I reckon half the problem is you've got a not-great 2-way PA speaker which just will not sound like a guitar amp in the room. Kudos for trying this stuff out and being upfront about your biases - only you know what it sounds like it the room there, but hearing the recordings on youtube, a LOT of this sounded pretty fine and not problematic in a professional context. There's a possibility here of only giving advice to guys who hear their amps behind them in small venues, but those who play on larger stages, quiet stages, or in the studio, who have to deal with guitar tones coming out of PA boxes, headphones and studio monitors, get the picture that the tech doesn't really work well. Thanks for giving it a shot again.
I wish you guys could try a Tech 21 Fly RIg 5v2 into a Strymon Big Sky with the Cab Filter on direct. It's so much better.
This is such a great video. I play mainly in churches and if/when I could I use a Fender Deluxe reverb or Hot Rod Deluxe with clean settings but it's usually backstage in an iso box and mic'd. That is if the venue has an iso box. Most of them run a clean stage and I have to run front of house. I was using a Boss ME-80 to help with this but I missed having my full board with me and the versatility and settings that I've dialed in on it. I tried the Iridium because so many people I know use it and create IR's for it. I just never liked it. I could never get it to sound how I wanted no matter what IR I uploaded or how long I spent trying to dial it in. Then the Simplifier came out. Got one and love it! I love how it's analog and I can change the settings on the fly to fit any venue and with any size band. I usually keep it on MS Brit, 2x12 and 6L6's with mic position slightly off center and run in stereo to the front of house. Now I'm able to use my board anywhere. Plus I'm able to practice at home with kids and no disturbing neighbors because of the headphone and aux inputs. I will always prefer an amp for feedback and sound but the Simplifier has really surprised me. Plus we are usually playing with IEM's so I always choose what I'm hearing and the Simplifier has so far given me a solid sound everywhere I've used it.
Love that you are biting the bullet and doing this. Love even more that you can't hide your feelings about it. "Help you deal with this if it is something your are facing" (like a deadly disease) ;-)
With all my heart, I feel that's exactly what it is. Mick here. Like social media. It's a cancer.
@@ThatPedalShow LOL
In all seriousness, being able to record amps in a home studio is a privilege few have. I have been quite happy doing sessions for people with Bias FX software. Sounds and feels great, can't tell the difference in a track. But if I am going to play live, I am going to use and amp dammit.
@@ThatPedalShow are you actually comparing doing this video to cancer? Bit poor taste surely?
That compressor really brought things to life. When your playing with an amp there’s so much tube sag and stuff going on with the transformer adding sustain and harmonic content. The compressor brings some of that out front. In the same token it really requires an intelligent device to add in that gain when you hit it hard but with a wide degree of separation between loud and quiet. The iridium has that ability to let the quiet be clean but it’s digital in nature so there is some signal processing uncanny valley stuff going on.
One thing I’ve noticed about the direct solutions I’ve tried is how the pedals handle the massive amounts of signal that hits them. Example: dial in a nice full clean tone (Iridium) , then step on a compressed, healthy lead drive with delay and verb and it just can’t take it as well as an amp. It fizzes out so I have to dial back the gain on Iridium and now the clean tone is dead. Change guitars and the same thing all over again. Amps are more versatile for tone and fingers, just not for sound guys.
I have found a usable set of tones with Iridium that I A/B’d to match a micd Morgan MVP23 but it IS NOT THE SAME TO PLAY. I’m considering a whether going to a load box setup (stereo) would be worth it.
Lastly the best setup I’ve used was Iridium to FOH w/in ears plus my amp quietly set in the wings pointed at me. No crazy stage volume, clarity of the note in my IEMs and then body of my guitar tone from the amp.
I have the same exact problem with the simplifer deluxe. Soon as I hit some stomp boxes, doesn't sound very good. Good by itself though I find and a cool silent practice tool.
@@CBGypsy03 Yup! I had that pedal and sold it bc of that. I was so hopeful for the Simplifier bc of the design/functions of the pedal. But so far, only the Iridium can handle large amounts of gain and/or wet effects. End of the day, nothing beats a real amp :/
I have gigged cranked tube amps for decades now. The only thing I have found that works direct with my existing effects is the Tsakalis MultiCab mk3. If I use it with my ThorpyFx Gunshot as the preamp stacked with a good boost for extra dirt, I can do a gig with no amp and smile while I listen to the tone. It is a no frills solution that works great for old school cranked amp tones. I highly recommend it.
I am so so confused why we limit the scope here and entirely miss what in my experience is the ampless path that will blow these options out of the water! Did we consider running, for example, a Kinglsey Maiden into a Page into a cab sim? I know you guys absolutely love these tube circuit pre pedals… they appear on the show many times. Why why why are not in this convo!?? They’re pedals … they fit on a board. They have the circuits and tubes we love.
How about an AMT ss20 for a different flavor? How about an Effectrode Blackbird or my personal current favorite, a Two Notes Le Clean? A Tubesteader, a Victory, the list is growing all the time…
Digital and purely solid state pres are super cool in their own fashion but **not** the ampless path that is going to get that sonic depth and subtlety and harmonic richness and responsiveness that ABs w a mic’d amp. An expanding myriad of pedals are out there that don’t simulate … they are the actual component parts of the boutique amps we love. Load your board with a pedal array that gives you an incredible range of vintage tones (Dumble, Fender, Marshall etc pre circuits) and flavors in combos that would actually be very hard to accomplish with 1 lugged in amp. I think if you explored this route, we’d be seeing the usual fuzzy happy smiling faces and “farrr outs” that we’ve come to love and expect!
We did discuss it, and maybe we should have put one on there. We decided to keep it a little more accessible, fearing the ‘sure if you’ve got the cash for Kingsley’ moans that would surely have ensued. But you’;re right, one proper valve pre on here would have been good. Never the less… I don’t think it would mitigate the lack of what we think is the most important bit: power tubes, transformer and speakers and cabs. Ie, volume with the kind of harmonics, resonances and all that that define electric guitar tone as we know it. Maybe we can try it down the line. But I really don’t think it there would be any significant water or blowing. A bit nicer for sure.
@@ThatPedalShow hear ya on the price point for Kingsleys …But they’re of course not more than the amps themselves yea? But more importantly, Le Clean and many others are less $ than Iridium or the Simplifier. And frankly they er um fry em like eggs.
That the Kinglsey-Maiden option was missing, was also the first thing I was thinking about at the beginning of this video. I wish I could hear your opinion on this too. I think it would be very important and relevant to this topic.
I got rid of my tube amp for space purposes and not to irritate the fam. I opted for the iconoclast and it is INCREDIBLE. Send any amp-like or transparent drive/preamp and an eq through it, and you can have any amp you want
When Mick first mentions Helix it is like the walls of TPS are about to implode.
Do they mention Fractal at all?
@@Push-Pull yes, they do
I had an Iridium for a couple of weeks and couldn't get along with it. I ended up just getting a Two Notes Torpedo Captor X and loading it with IRs of the actual speakers I use in my amps and then just running the amps into that. Couldn't be happier. The best part is that you can run it silent if you want or use the onboard attenuator to run the speaker in the amp at a lower volume to give you a bit of feedback while still getting the direct IR sound at the desk.
Ah man, this brings back memories. As a teenager /budding guitar player in the early 80s, I had a Rockman that I really liked. Could do the Boston sound (which was a big influence on me), as well as Def Lepard, and if rumor is to be believed, ZZ Top Eliminator tones. Whether through the headphones or into a Rivera designed Fender Concert amp (which I still regret selling to this day, highly underated), it just seemed to get some fun tones for me.
It's funny. After all their tweaking and a/b-ing, I thought the Rockman sounded so much better. Boston, Def Leppard and ZZ Top also sound so much better than anything I hear today. Now I'm gassing for a Rockman. Maybe I'll find one. Wish me luck. I wonder if I'll have to sell my house to get it.
What a brilliant combination I had two played them in stereo
Tom Shultz understood the signal path, the correct frequency's,and most of all were they lived in the frequency spectrum when recording which was all done in the XP100 rack mount,this is something never explained when just stomping on pedals,otherwise you will end up with Mudd in the mix,these are basic principals now 40years old but why it sounded so good,as it was in the correct order for recording, this is really what Dan & Mick need to address,as many of there subscribers are home studio producers did you see Dan's face when the Rockman was connected, it hit is sweet spot too, he knows.
good luck in finding a unit they are out there I have one not to crazy in price.
@@stephenfell4338 yeah I noticed that on Dan's face too, he loved it like (for him) a guilty pleasure.
I hope Dan and Mick learn something by your comments on the frequency spectrum and important issue which they never comment on, maybe they not know as they never consider when recording or even on stage,but Tom Schultz was a genius who pioneered Tones and how they worked together in a mix
Yes, it’s reality to more and more people. And like you said Mick, it’s amazing how quickly we adapt to a sound. (And they won’t allow the Mesa at nice volume.) 🤣Thanks for doing this again. It’s very interesting and helpful.
I have spent hours this week "researching" these amp-less options just to wake up today to my favorite pedal show doing an episode on it! The algorithm is too strong!
Same 😁
Thanks guys for an honest open minded thoughts process for those of us who are either self inflicted or otherwise trapped with rules. I’m currently admits a new pedalboard trying to balance the non and pro DSP side of things with the option of adding an amp. I will fail… but I will try! I think the comment below about the bedroom player and turning real amps down nails the issue perfectly. Thanks!
Great show as ever guys. I personally think the "problem" with this DI/digital technology is that they are "modelling" valve gear. To me it makes no sense to have a new technology then simply emulate something which already exists.
So instead, I wish people approached this technology getting completely new sounds. Instead of trying to compensate for its deficiencies in physical experience, feel, it could be used in a way that really leaned into its strengths.
It is crying out for someone to come along and be incredibly creative with this stuff and reinvent the guitar as an instrument.... Which is happening to a degree in metal and neo-soul but almost no other styles.
We need a new guitar icon to step forward so that companies can begin to move away from making "modelling" devices and make something incredible new and commercially successful.
As a final point...all this come from a guy who plugs straight into an old pro reverb! So I'm the one to talk!!
I agree with all of this, Mick here. I don’t know about ‘need’, but certainly for music to move forwards, you’re absolutely right! Personally I have close to zero interest in it doing that because all the music and sounds I love are past. I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to sound anywhere near as good as that. So horses for courses, but I TOTALLY agree with you that using this stuff to try and sound like what it isn’t, is folly. Cheers!
It's not an entirely new sound but the Boss GT series has had a 'natural clean' preamp in it for years which takes this kind of approach. It's a good all round clean and dirty preamp but isn't based on anything in particular as far as I know.
Yes totally agree with this. The only reason for these companies to try to emulate old gear is to sell units to us idiots who are chasing tones we will never achieve because we are not the original players of those rigs. Much better to use digital to find something new that is unique for you as a player.
Agreed. It's a lack of imagination, why we are so obsessed with using new tech to replicate our beloved, nostalgic tones of old. In a way, it's a kind of ideological problem - this idea that we've reached the End of History and that all that's needed is to "tweak" existing forms.
As Slavoj Zizek said on the Matrix "blue pill/red pill" binary - "I want a third pill".
This applies to art as well as politics.
I have a Tech21 GT-2, Tech21 Flyrig5 1st generation and second generation and have been going direct for years. I treat them like amps by putting compression, distortion etc on the front end and simulate an effects loop by putting delay, reverb, eq etc at the output although the Flyrigs have both reverb and delay. For myself I don't care for blowing my ears out with the levels required to get the full sound out of a tube amp so these fit my needs really well. Looking forward to getting a Simplifier DLX soon, that should be interesting!
I was really surprised by the Iconoclast. I wonder how it would sound after a tube/valve preamp like a Kingsley Maiden.
I also wonder what your opinion on these devices would be if you played them through some loud FRFR speakers so you are in your normal 100-105dB range.
Tony - I have a Iconoclast after my Kingsley Harlot...It sounds GREAT! And the touch response is similar to a Tube amp! I noticed the settings that Mick was using doesn't really get the best affect they were trying looking for. I believe the Iconoclast was unfairly represented and NOT presented in it's best light in this video. ~Al Smith
As a father of two under two and living in an apartment; the simplifier changed my life. As much as I love cranking my Orange, the simplifier is truly so close to the real thing. Sometimes when I want to move some air, I'll use the fx send from the simplifier to the return of my terror stamp going into my 2x10 cab. Just an absolute marvel of engineering for so many different applications
Playing guitar and feeling the response of a guitars interaction with an amp while playing it and being in the room with the amp or even PA direct is completely different experience than listening to guitar on a recording or even on TH-cam. That said it’s hard for an demonstration of this sort to translate on this medium. I would suggest people who want to try to go this direction try out a few different options themselves and see what will work for them or if it even can. The guys do an incredible job of demoing these different options but maybe this particular show could of used a guest player who uses this type of setup regularly.
Apologies if this has been said elsewhere here, but for the bedroom players here, I’ve gotten good results for headphone use with the Strymon BigSky at the end of my chain with the cab speaker emulator switch on. Great clean tones and it handles my Mad Professor Simble and Sweet Honey Overdrive deluxe and delays very well. My pedals go into the BigSky (stereo in and out) then into Boss RC-5 looper and then into my Behringer audio interface mostly for volume control. I can power the Behringer directly into my power strip or quickly move the usb cable to my laptop for recording. Since I’m not interested in trying to match the tones of a classic amp, this has worked great for me. I hope this helps others. Cheers Dan and Mick! I’ve learned so much from you both. - Tim
IMHO none of these solutions will ever replace a tube amp loud enough to move air and inspire your playing. But in the right context such as a quiet worship stage with iems they give you a fighting chance to at least be a little comfortable with your sound. I have an iso cabinet but don't even use it anymore.....why bother! All of the availability player to amp interaction is still taken away
so it makes no sense to fight it.
I can't be me but I put the effort out to be the best I can be under the circumstances!
Warms my heart every time I see the Nobles ODR-1 on your board, I love that pedal
Dan, Mick, there´s still a field you didn´t cover: Direct tones with TUBE preamps :-) Yes, they exist :-)
AMT!
I was also tempted to try Simplifier/Iridium because my amps were quite heavy and was tired of carrying them. For a while I played whatever amps the venues had but that lead to some unpleasant surprises :).
After a couple of tests, I wasn't convinced by these amp sims (I do find Simplifier quite good) and now I'm using a small and light 15W tube amp. It turns out that I'm a big fan of small/medium one channel valve amps.
I do have a NUX Solid Studio for home recording which is decent and I'll keep using it. It simulates a power amp and cabinets and has many speakers and mics to choose. It goes into my amp's fx return, so I can use it's preamp and my pedals.
Adding a compressor in the effects loop of the simplifier takes away the "DI" sound and adds the compression of tube amps
Does that mean it sounds better? Every video I've seen about the simplifier, it sounds very digital, very brittle.
I have to say that I'm really proud of those two elders. You guys are my guitar heros but my guitar tone is 100% digital.
It's easier to dial, easier to program, cheaper than analog, more reliable, easier to update and upgrade, more satisfying in home recording situation and much more fun for me in most time when I'm able to use guitar.
I'm watching your videos and collect some analog stuff, it definitely has a soul and sounds different but... Try to convince my wife to cranck up my 20w tube head in small apartment... try to setup baritone wet/dry/wet setup with full analog signal path in your living room... I'm so happy that you made this video, I don't know how to put it into words. I hope you have a wonderful week. Stay safe and be well my friend!
Funnily enough, watched this while assembling my own ampless miniboard (it's the future whether we like it or not... 🤔).
I feel like if you're going to A/B against a hot rod deluxe, you should also be fair by A/B-ing carrying a combo or an ampless board up 2 flights of stairs to fit onto a 5×8' stage while a white vested landlord looks at you side wise..
Great vid as ever lads.
I recently started running a direct rig in the studio and have been quite happy with the results. It's basically my pedalboard (with great sounding OD and distortion pedals i.e. Angry Charlie) into an analog preamp pedal - Custom Electronics Ethos Clean II, then into a Two Notes Cab M+ speaker (and power amp) sim... then out into times based effects or DI into the mic pre (with the reverb + delay in my DAW sends).
It definitely takes a little bit of experimentation and tweaking to find the "sweet spot" of each unit in the signal chain, but once you're dialed in the results are sonically very satisfying and actually quite responsive. I think one thing that is sometimes over looked is having good Power Amp simulation in some of the cab sim pedals. The Two Notes has this and it really makes a big difference tonally and even feel wise. Some of the better plugin manufacturers like Neural DSP have also incorporated this along with mic choice and placement options and the results can be significantly better and much more enjoyable to play through. Just my Two Notes :) Cheers guys, thanks for the episode.
I would have loved to see this with the Boss IR-200 featured instead of the Iridium; I feel like you guys have covered the Iridium already.
I am so happy you are “introducing” the Iconoclast to the greater public. Waking from a dream and working on an idea with headphones is how I use it. Explore it’s dual channel inputs, wet-dry, etc.
The conclusion I've come to is the electric guitar is a loud instrument. Like a trumpet they're almost impossible to play quietly. They were originally invented because acoustic guitars weren't loud enough. Music is about resonance. For at home playing, for me, a small acoustic is going to give you the resonance you need. A solid body guitar is going to need a lot more volume to get it to resonate. Just my thoughts....
Yes, this. All this.
I think you might be right.
Yes! It's so true and fundamental and you will write more songs probably.
Louder is objectively more gooder. Smallest amp I used back in the 80s and 90s was 75W all valve. We didn't even think about it, it was just understood that we were playing Rock n Roll, therefore we were playing loud music.
If you want to disagree, you'll have to speak up. I'm deaf in one ear...
Really, all of these options sound great. It’s a matter of your music and your situation, any of these options can sound fantastic if you play fantastic and tweak your sound to your style and playing!
The lack of harmonic feedback without a loud amp is like driving a car with a CVT. You’re right. Disconnect and no feel.
Yep. 100 per cent right, for the kinds of guitar sounds we like anyway. No harmonics, 2D and very, very tiring. Cheers!
thats about sums it up
Very true you won't get the amp feel without a wedge monitor. I've tried direct using a loud stage monitor wedge but then re thought that and thought what's the point? just use an amp and be happy
That's what a feedback pedal is for
I love my 57 champ, 57 custom deluxe and deluxe reverb. I ditched the Helix floor, so much happier .
I like to place echo, reverb, tremolo, and Leslie-sim pedals AFTER my Iridium; the results are akin to either placing them in an amp's effects-loop or post amp/cab/mic as has often been done in countless studio recordings. Usually, I prefer that to putting echo, 'verb, trem, etc. in front of the Iridium; but, it ultimately depends on the pedals and the desired sound- for example, I place my Strymon El Capistan after my Iridium, but I would put a Catalinbread Belle Epoch or Belle Epoch Deluxe in front of the Iridium. Or, for sounds like Neil Young's on the 'Live Rust' album, I might put a reverb in front of the Iridium.
"If you were a better guitarist..." Yeah, well the converse is also true. I can play through anything and sound like an utter hack. :D
Play a G chord slowly on just about any valve amp, at a volume that will be heard 6 houses down, and the vibrations combined with the air being pushed touches your soul. Hard to get that experience with solid state stuff, but I am most grateful for a 300 dollar pedal that can allow me to practice many different amp sounds housed within a tiny box!! Good stuff....thanks for the deep dive :)
I'd wonder if you would get more of the feel just by turning up the speaker, as its in amp position. Also, I was wondering about similar, tube based solutions like the Victory V4 or Kingsley preamp pedals. Maybe you cant just use an all in one box
You just reminded me that I once owned a Rockman Mk2B picked up in LA when they first came out. Once I got back to London I wanted to ask a question about the stereo reverb. Luckily I hadn't chucked out all the paperwork in the USA. I found a printed piece of paper with the Rockman name on it. Called it and spoke directly to Tom Scholze...
Those were the days - it cost me just under $150.00 (used are now c.$450.00). I mainly used it for rehearsing - it sounded good through a 5Kw stereo pa system. Finally chucked it out after it got wet and the batteries leaked. Pete.
No way! Sooo cool!
Thank for doing this guys, it is mighty useful for those of us who gig in smaller venues than we'd like. Love a big old amp, but these kind of solutions make sense in smaller rooms.
I bought a DSM Simplifier and the knobs fell off and the switches went crooked. I returned it and bought Iridium and happy ever since. Best decision on maaa life!
Mick is a pleasure to listen to. Dan too, I'm referring more to style. They both know their stuff as far as tone and technology.
I currently use an ampless rig that works very well for the types of venues that are currently available for gigs in my region of the U. S. In fact, it works so well that I may never go back to carrying guitar amps again.
Playing in a three piece classic rock cover band and achieving a full band sound with vocal harmonies demands a lot from each performer. To gain every edge I can, I use an array of 12 to 14 effects pedals including overdrives, time based effects, and an organ synthesizer to create pleasing and familiar tones and sounds for our audiences.
I've tried a number of IR based amp simulators and devices which did not work well for me. Now I use a Radial Direct Drive, which is a high quality direct box with built in amp simulation options that are solid state circuits, not IR based technology, which has caused me problems in a live environment.
I mix our shows from stage with a compact digital mixer and I send two aux mixes to my two channel powered wedge. One is my monitor mix of the band, EQ'd specifically to eliminate mic feedback through my wedge at a given venue. The other is just my guitar. I do this to eliminate the changes to my guitar tone that EQing for vocal mic feedback causes. The arrangement has proven very effective and is much easier logistically speaking.
As a result, I now carry less heavy gear, mics, stands, and cables. Setup and teardown times are reduced and shows are less physically demanding.
As far as sound quality, there is not that much of a difference since I don't use tube amplifiers anyway. I've prefered solid state amps, set clean, for decades for many reasons, letting my pedals do the work.
My ampless rig combined with a powered wedge sounds like a guitar amp in the mix and from my wedge at my mic position.
I wish I would've went ampless years ago. I highly recommend it.