Advice on NI Guitar Rig from those who own one.

[ColdAsh]

Looking at spending a few thousand on building a studio to help me write and demo songs. One of the items I'm looking at geting is the Guitar Rig. I currently have a Pod 2 which is nice but from reviews I've read it seems the Guitar Rig is a much more powerfull unit (and better sounding). Im thinking of making this one of my first purchases because I'll be able to play around with it and atleast get some good patches worked out before I get the rest of my stuff.

I downloaded the demo the other day and it just sounded terrible, but I've read enough on it to know that the demo shouldnt be used to judge the final product. So I'd like some feedback from those of you who have the full product.

I know having the foot controler is supposed to make a big difference in sound quality but I have used the preamp from my detal omni studio and also the intrument input on my MindPrint En-voice (not much of a preamp, but it will do for another year or so) and havent been able to get any decent sound from either. The most annoying things was the amount of background humm i seem to be getting. I know theres a gate but it doesnt seem to be much of a gate. I'm woundering if the fact that I've got active pickups (which are totaly unsuitable for my style of music and will be changed with some nice Seymour Duncan Seth Lovers soon.) might contribute to the hum.

I'd love to hear about peoples experiences with the Guitar Rig. Also any recordings you guys have done using the Guitar Rig would be great too.

Finally I'd like to know what you think of it in comparison to the Pod. Id like to be able to use both, but if the Guitar Rig is no better than the Pod ive got (which doesnt seem to be the case from what ive read) then I dont wanna waste my money on one.

Thanks for taking the time to read that all - i look forward to hearing your responses

 

[enferno]

in my expierence, guitar rig is basically a toy. you can't get much of anything useable, other than a handful of nifty clean tones. in my opinion, it's a waste of money.

for the price, you can get a very decent microphone and a great sounding amp and get much better results.

hell, that's what i did. i bought a roland cube 60 and a e609. when paired with a couple stomps, i can basically get my dream tone from anything soft, to crunchy, to that classic rock tone, to hardcore heavy metal.


that's just my 2 cents.

 

[ColdAsh]

Yes I could spend the money fixing up my twin reverb but then I'd still need to save up for a decent enough preamp (got a 57 which would do) and then I'd only be able to play it for about an hour a day if I'm lucky.

Just curious but have you actually bought the guitar rig or are you basing this on what you think the guitar rig will be like?

 

[enferno]

i haven't bought it, but we have a copy at the studio that i intern at. i have spent many hours fiddling around with it and i can even give you some clips if you would like. for the like $400, you can get a decent amp, pre, mic, and almost eve be able to build an amp box, or even macgyver something to keep the sound contained. hell, i used to set up a couple of chairs then throw on like 5 blankets and a down comforter ina tent like state over my amp, and that blocked out a screaming amp into a conversation level hum.

i'm sticking with what almost everyone on here has said, no amp simulator can account for what's going on in the real life. the natural ambiance of a rom, the little quircks of an amp that make it sound good, the air between the speaker and the microphone. all that amp sims are is a bunch of filters thrown together. they always sound fake and lifeless to me. as you said, it's just for demo stuff. you don't have to crank an amp to 11 to make it sound good, especially not solid state amps, for demo work.

 

[ColdAsh]

If I do get it (which i probably will) its gonna cost me about $600 Australian. There is no way in hell i could but new vavles for my amp (which it needs) and get a decent preamp for the same price. And its alot easier to use something like the guitar rig. I know when i used to record guitar I almost always used the pod cause it required less effort, once you've got a decent sound out of it its there for good.
And the main thing is that my set up at the moment is more based around developing songs and demoing them. In a couple of years I plan on borrowing about $20,000 at which point I'm sure I'll be using the real thing for serious recordings.

But I'd love to hear some clips, nothing fancy just clean and a couple of distortions (no metal type distortions thanks )

 

[acidrock]

I'm not as dead set against modelers as enferno,but if you've already got a Pod you'll be wasting your money on Guitar Rig.

 

[ColdAsh]

While the Pod and Line 6 are both amp simulators there does seem to be alot of difference between the two. Such as the user interface, customability and sound. I mean my Pod 2 is quite a few years old and with all things electronic alot can happen and change in a few years. While I have been able to get some nice sounds out of my Pod I seems like I could do alot more with the Guitar Rig.
But not actually owning the retail version of guitar rig i cant say for certain. I'd love to hear from somebody who owns both

 

[Halion]

Mate, it sounds to me like you don't really want advice. You defend every statement that you make, while it's all really a matter of taste. Personally, I wouldn't get a pod or guitar rid either, but I know that especially the pod is a very well regarded tool, especially for writing and quick tracking. All I can say it, if you wanna spend that kind of money to improve your tone, your on the wrong track. If you wanna spend that kinda money to improve your creation processes, it might be smart, but you already have a pod for that. Honestly though, don't expect to get much more out of it then you can get out of your pod. Yes there's more stuff to tinker with, but that doesn't really mean a better tone to me.

 

[RoomV]

I've actually gotten some decent results from GR but NEVER on it's own. I have always used a DI with a clean signal sent to a seperate track and then mixed the final product together. In my mind it's best used as an after thought, not as a rig replacement.

 

[ZoSo58LP]

i personally think it's a pretty fun prog...i got it from my friend, so i sadly don't have the pedal, but i love the tones from the Orange amps and the Vox types. I also love the Whammy effect, which is why i'm currently looking for a cheap, old one. Also, it's probably only good to me because i'm going to college and I don't feel like lugging my amps and stuff up there, this way I only use my PC as my amp!

 

[enferno]

I'm not as dead set against modelers as enferno,but if you've already got a Pod you'll be wasting your money on Guitar Rig.

it's not that i'm dead set against them. i've used them before, for demo stuff or song writing etc. but i'd never use them for a demo that i would be passing out to a bunch of firneds or to get a club gig with.

but as he said, he's just doing demo and songwritings stuff, so quality doesn't seem the issue i suppose

 

[enferno]

Mate, it sounds to me like you don't really want advice. You defend every statement that you make, while it's all really a matter of taste. Personally, I wouldn't get a pod or guitar rid either, but I know that especially the pod is a very well regarded tool, especially for writing and quick tracking. All I can say it, if you wanna spend that kind of money to improve your tone, your on the wrong track. If you wanna spend that kinda money to improve your creation processes, it might be smart, but you already have a pod for that. Honestly though, don't expect to get much more out of it then you can get out of your pod. Yes there's more stuff to tinker with, but that doesn't really mean a better tone to me.

that was exactly the point i was trying to make

 

[ColdAsh]

Yeah I think alot of it comes down to more fun stuff to play around with. I know I wont get the same quality as real recording, but in a few years I'll be set up to do proper recording, for now its more about demoing songs and learning the basics of sound engineering and such

 

[tom18222]

get a line 6 guitarport 100 bucks, and sounds almost the same as the podxt.

 

[ocnor]

I downloaded the demo the other day and it just sounded terrible, but I've read enough on it to know that the demo shouldnt be used to judge the final product

The Demo should sound good and the full version should sound even better. This is not the case with NI Guitar Rig. It just plain sounds terrible. The sounds that you can already get from your POD will blow that piece of crap away. If you want a better sounding unit get a Behringer V-Amp Pro. These units are very inexpensive and to me they have a much better tone than the Line 6 units.
If you want a free software you could try this one.http://www.simulanalog.org/