Neighbor-Friendly Solutions...

zed32

zed32

Re-Attached Member
For my next potential purchase, i think i'm gonna look to improve my guitar tone. the problem is, i work all day until 6PM, and then i usually come home, practice drums for an hour or so, then shower and relax for a while. i think my neighbors already hate me for banging on the drums at the time when most people are getting home from work, so they would probably hate me even more if i started cranking my guitar amp for some recording after 8PM.

so i'm thinking of a couple options here. lately i've just been recording direct into the Firepod and using the SimulAnalog guitar suite plugins (which are OK i guess, better than nothing). what i'd like to do is either get some type of modelling device, OR get a decent reamping box and record my guitars direct when inspiration strikes, then go back and reamp them on the weekend or something, that way i don't have the amp cranked up too long.

so what would you do? as far as modelling, rather than getting a POD, i'm leaning heavily toward the Hughes & Kettner Tubeman guitar box. it might not have a ton of different tones like a POD, but if it can do one tone half-way decent, then i don't see the need for a huge variety. and from what i've heard, the tubeman sounds pretty nice.

...OR...

should i go for the Little Labs Red Eye reamping box and just use my own amp and mic on my weekend time? the only thing about this is that i would have to wait til Sunday to get any real recording done, and even then, i don't always have my weekends free because i have so much other crap to do.

i'm sure reamping would sound better in the end, but the Tubeman might just be more efficient and could allow me to work better with my free time (which is late night on weekdays) while keeping my neighbors from calling the police.


what do you guys think? :o
 
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i guess i forgot to mention that i don't have the capacity to soundproof this place. i don't have the time, money, or desire to do it, plus i don't actually own the building so i'm not going to put up some permanent structures.

but thanks anyway for your insightful post.
 
I don't see the point of a reamping device, if it means you have to wait for the weekend to do real recording.

In your situation a Pod or similar type of unit would seem to be a perfect fit. It would keep things quiet for your neighbors, and you could record your real tracks at any time of day or night.
 
SonicAlbert said:
I don't see the point of a reamping device, if it means you have to wait for the weekend to do real recording.

In your situation a Pod or similar type of unit would seem to be a perfect fit. It would keep things quiet for your neighbors, and you could record your real tracks at any time of day or night.
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well the reason i was thinking of reamping would be to eliminate the fuck-ups during tracking and thus reduce the amount of time spent with the amp cranked up loud. i could record the guitars clean DI and use a plugin amp sim to be able to hear my distortion and stuff while tracking. then once everything's ready, i can just run it all through the amp real quick and re-record everything in less than 30 minutes on a sunday. the problem is i'd have to wait til then to get it all dialed in. so instead of tracking, screwing up, restarting, messing with the amp, restarting, and punching-in for an hour with my amp turned up, i can just run the pre-recorded signal through the amp, adjust it on the fly, and then just hit record and it's good to go.

i thought about getting a POD, but the Tubeman is cheaper... it may be sort of a one-trick pony compared to the POD, but one trick is all i need! i can still use cab impulses with SIR to add other flavors to it if i have to. if the distortion is any less fizzly than the POD, i think it's worth the tradeoff.

i wish i could do a shootout between the PodXT pro and the H&K Tubeman at home...:o
 
Which pod are you talking about? Is the tubeman the H&K three channel thing? At Zzounds.com (first and only placed I looked tbh) the H&K is more expensive than the pods.

I personally like guitar rig; you can buy it with or without the interface pedal, but at $369 with the pedal it seems like a bargain.

Maybe I'm missing something though?
 
Ah, the PodXT Pro. I was looking at the PodXT and PodXT Live.

What do you think about Guitar Rig? I guess it's not as versatile cos you can't use it too easily live...
 
pezking said:
Ah, the PodXT Pro. I was looking at the PodXT and PodXT Live.

What do you think about Guitar Rig? I guess it's not as versatile cos you can't use it too easily live...
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i've haven't personally looked into any software sims because i'd rather do as much "out of the box" as i can, to keep the CPU load lighter. i'm pretty sure something like Guitar Rig would probably take up a lot of resources too. i'd rather have some type of hardware unit for this.
 
It is processor hungry sometimes, but it can create a plethora of awesome sounds. Go with what feels best! Good luck
 
I believe Boss makes some pedal boards that do the sim thing. I say that because I did a gig a while back with a guy using a Boss pedalboard and the effects sounded fantastic.
 
Howzabout an itty bitty single-ended tube amp with one low powered tube into a small speaker? (Something along the lines of a Fender Champion 600, Gibson GA-5, Epiphone Valve Junior, etc.) That can sound good on a recording. Would that be low enough in volume to keep the peace?

Cheers,

Otto
 
Here is your best option :) Check out local laws pertaining to sound. Most towns have a decible level and you might be surprised how loud you can go. Contact your local law enforcement agency and have them check it. In our area (county wide) you can actually throw a party outside and have a live band play as long as you quit at 12 midnightor if no close neighbors and the decibles dont exceed the limit for after hours, you can go all night. I have no close neighbors (Im in the country), so I can go all night.
You also have a second option. Go buy a gun if you dont have one and sit in your front yard with it (clean it, or whatever). Just make sure your neighbors all see you with it. Make them think your crazy and the wont screw with you. :)
 
ofajen said:
Howzabout an itty bitty single-ended tube amp with one low powered tube into a small speaker? (Something along the lines of a Fender Champion 600, Gibson GA-5, Epiphone Valve Junior, etc.) That can sound good on a recording. Would that be low enough in volume to keep the peace?

Cheers,

Otto
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that's exactly what i was thinking. use a small-wattage all-tube amp, like that you can drive it hard for the sound that you want without pissing off the neighbours. I read somewhere that Jimmy Page used a lot of smaller guitar amps for some of the Led Zep recordings.
 
Don't get Guitar Rig. I got it and I don't like it at all. The sound is so cold and sterile and the amp models are nothing like the real thing. At least the amp models of the amps that I actually have aren't. It does cleans alright. Still cold and sterile but they're better than the distortion stuff.

I might not have messed with it enough, though. I don't have a lot of time and I usually need something I can work with quick. But Guitar Rig is a real creativity killer for me. I get so caught up in the tone that I never get any of my ideas out.
 
Myriad_Rocker said:
Don't get Guitar Rig. I got it and I don't like it at all. The sound is so cold and sterile and the amp models are nothing like the real thing. At least the amp models of the amps that I actually have aren't. It does cleans alright. Still cold and sterile but they're better than the distortion stuff.

I might not have messed with it enough, though. I don't have a lot of time and I usually need something I can work with quick. But Guitar Rig is a real creativity killer for me. I get so caught up in the tone that I never get any of my ideas out.
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You're right, there's no substitute for a real amp. I do like to use some free plugins (one called guitar suite) for when I do scratch tracks, or if I'm writing a song late at night. I think guitar rig is cool when you need a particular sound but your setup won't cater for it. Or if you're a commercial studio and a client doesn't have a good amp although perhaps the pods (and similar) are a better alternative, I'm not too sure.

I thought of another thing, but never used it, and that is the Marshall power brake. It attenuates the amplified signal, so you can run your amp at full volume (getting that power tube distortion) but keep the actual volume at the speaker real low. Like I said though never used it although it sounds good in theory... Anyone used it?
 
That Hughes Kettner thing sounds interesting ..... I like the sounds they get out of their stuff .

I have a bunch of modelers including a POD 'cause for years I've wanted to be able to get a good git sound thru a PA since there are gigs where that's what I have to do regardless of how it sounds. I also have a lot af amps so it's been hard since I know what good amps sound like and I totally prefer tube amps to anything solid state or digital.
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IMO, the best sounding, least processed sounding modeler out there is the Rocktron Utopia. It's the first one I've found after trying a lot of them, that didn't sound like doggy-doo to me on live gigs which is the hardest thing for a modeler to pull off.
It doesn't have a bunch of amp models .... it just has 4 different channels: Clean, Texas, British and Mega. The clean channel actually sounds like a real amp ( honest! ), and the dirtier channels ....hmmmm, so far, not quite as real sounding as the clean channel, but I'm dialing it in and it's getting closer; and it still sounds a lot better than the other modelers I've used.
It also has a very nice speaker emulation. I set up my mesa on one side of the room and a PA speaker/system on the other side and by playing with the virtual mic placement/speaker size and the resonance level, it ended up, to my ears, sounding the closest I've ever gotten a modeler to sound like an amp.
The patch access is a bit of a pain but I'm using it live and need to be able to jump around thru the patches as I'm playing . That wouldn't affect you in a recording situation.
And they're cheap ....... $200 thru M.F.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Rocktron-Utopia-G100-Multi-Effects-Pedal?sku=150213
 
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