Behringer VAMP II question

  • Thread starter Thread starter davelivinstone
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davelivinstone

New member
hi guys,
Sorry if this has been asked, but I couldn't find the info when I did a search. On the VAMPII, can you use multi-effects? I mean, if you dial in Tremelo and set the amount of tremelo that you want, can you then dial in echo and dial in the amount that you want and still have the tremelo active? or when you switch the effect that you have chosen, does it de-activate the effect you were just using?

If you can have multiple effects at a time, what is the limit? can you use all of them at the same time? And if you can have multiple effects, are they added to the signal as a chain or in parallel? I mean a guitar with tremelo and echo in parallel, is not the same as a guitar with a tremelo and echo chained. I downloaded the manual, but I can't seem to tell from the manual. I am thinking of buying a VAMPII but there are none available here for me to test.

Thanks,
Dave
 
I dont own a Vamp 2, but I can make some accurate guesses since I own the Genesis 3, you can probably run atleast 5 or 6 effects at the same time. I'm sure there are some effects that you cant use at the same time like the pitch shifter and the harmonizer.
 
Actually, its more limited. You always have reverb separate. Then you have a choice of one more effect. There are a couple of dual effects like compression/chorus, but you can't use tremelo and delay at the same time, etc. On the dual effects you can control each one separately.
 
Thanks so much for the help. I did find other websites that confirmed what Crawdad had said, but I didn't realize that the editing software would enable multiple effects. With the editing software can you choose the order of the effects chain? It's almost a moot point now because I think if I buy, I'll buy a J-station because its S/PDIF could plug directly into my CORE2 soundcard. I do have a lot of pedal effects (Korg AXG1, Ibanez compressor, metal, analog delay, stereo chorus, EH phase shifter, yada yada) so I'm in no hurry.

Does anyone else have opinions as to whether the VAMP II or J-station is better ---keeping in mind that I could connect the J-station directly into the CORE2 digitally?
Thanks,
Dave
 
Dave--hope you are not using a Mac if you want the editor for the V. Its strictly Windows. As for me, I'm never buying another product that tries to offer editing software that isn't Windows/Mac. J-Station pulled the same stunt and when they finally did release their Mac editor, it caused constant freezes when I booted it. Gee thanks, fellas, but no thanks. At least the POD software works cross platform. Not trying to start the old Mac/Windows war all over--just saying how it is.
 
To answer which is better, its pretty subjective. I think there are more usable sounds on the V-Amp, but some of the J-Station sounds are better--especially the clean stuff. I think the J has a better effect setup too. You can run verb, delay and one more from the front panel all simultaneously. The spdif is a nice feature too. The J-Station is metal, the V-amp is plastic, which brought up shielding issues for me. I'd try 'em both and see which you prefer. Heck, just get a little tube amp, a 57 and use your pedals. You probably will get better sounds!
 
Thanks for the help, Crawdad. I mostly play clean sounds now. My metal days are over. You know you can't trust yourself over 30! So the J-Station is looking better and better. The local stores here don't carry either units. I know, I know --it's best to trust your own ears rather than someone elses, but what can you do? I agree with you that stringing the individual pedals really does offer the most flexibility and tonal possibilities, but it's so infuriating that you have to twiddle with all of those knobs anytime you want to change a sound.

My playing has been frustrated since I sold my 1956 Gibson Les Paul last year. I bought a Les Paul Studio and an Ibanez RG470 and some other stuff, but I can't seem to find my sound. I am not a gear snob. Sure the '56 L Paul sounded good, but these guitars sound good too. I just don't know them yet. After playing a guitar for 20 years you know exactly where to turn the knobs to get the sound that you want. Well now I am starting again. I hope this J-station will solve all my problems! (yeah, right!).

Hey Crawdad, Here's a couple of quick questions, please. Am I to understand from your posts that you either have both the VAMP and J-station, or that you have experience with both? Do you have a posting of your music anywhere? I tried to do a search on your name but there was so many posts that I gave up trying to find an example of your work. Please don't be offended, but I just wanted to see if your aesthetic sense was similar to my own ---not that it would be wrong if it weren't----- sorry for the long post. ---Dave
 
---wow Crawdad, found your site. You have some really high quality sounds there. Dave
 
Dave--I'll tell you the truth. I hardly ever use either , though I do own both. I MUCH prefer the sound of a tube amp miced up compared to what I get from these units. If I were doing more stuff where I wanted heavily overdriven sounds, I might grab them more, but I am a fan of clean bordering on overdrive for most of what I do. If I want overdrive I use a Fulldrive II or a Tubescreamer through the amp and adjust the tone controls of the amp until I get what I want. I like the natural compression of tubes and the sound of a real amp driving the speaker. This is what you'll hear on most of my recordings. One instance in which I used the J-Station was on a song called "Our Song". See the MP3 clinic thread "Crawdad Helps A Hillbilly". I played a steel guitar through the J-Station on that one and it turned out pretty good.

If you want killer guitar tracks and you play pretty clean, the ticket is to find a small tube amp that you love the sound of and mic that up with a 57 or a pair of 57s pointed at each other at a 45 degree angle--one pointing directly into the center of the cone and one pointed at the side of the speaker. Mix those together and you have a fat sound that captures the lows, mids and highs.

The modeling amps have uses and I have heard stuff that sounded great with them, but it was almost always marshall emulations and such--hi gain stuff. The modelers do not capture the subtle nuances of tubes and speakers as far as the randomity that occurs physically. Especially with clean tones--they are pretty vanilla in my opinion.

I guess the bottom line is do you really need a modeler or are you after the best you can get for recording. The V-Amp and such are a convenience and have their place, but I am not alone in having the opinion that a real amp miced up is a higher quality way to go.
 
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