Let's build a $1,200 - $1,500 Guitar Rig

G

GreasyBoy

Veteran XX
I'm going to start my guitar rig soon, and since I play a wide range and don't have much money to spend I need to get the most bang for my buck. I play everything from older metal like 80's Metallica to punk like Butthole Surfers or Circle Jerks to blues Clapton/SRV to softer ambient/super-processed like Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins. I am not a shredder. I do play lead, slower melodic stuff along the lines of Gilmour except not as good but primarily rhythm.

I need an amp/modeling and effects floor and/or rack. Hardware only. I've been using Amplitube for 4 years now but I need a rig sans computer for gigging. 2x10, 2x12 or 4x10.

I'd just like to hear how some others would spend the money and experiences with some gear. Am I really going to be happy with a Line 6 Vetta or Spider Valve, or do I wait and get a Fractal & 50w THD Flexi-50?
 
Why would you need both the Fractal and the THD head? Doesn't the Fractal offer all the preamp you need? I would think that the axeFX and a power amp/powered speaker would suffice and be more affordable.
 
OtisPAB said:
Why would you need both the Fractal and the THD head? Doesn't the Fractal offer all the preamp you need? I would think that the axeFX and a power amp/powered speaker would suffice and be more affordable.
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I was being facetious but that should have said OR not &.

I got to use an AxeFX for two months and it was a very cool gadget, but I think I'd have to be a guitarist only to justify that expense. The guy who bought it got it for $2,500 but couldn't figure it out/wasn't good at getting tones he wanted so he let me borrow it.

And I've been talking to Paul Leary from BHS and he's been using a THD Flexi and is in love with the thing/thinks I should get one since I told him I used to have an old JCM800 50w that I had to sell about 15 years ago. I haven't been able to find another for a reasonable price in good condition, he says the Flexi-50 will make me happy. He has more money than I do.

I played the Line6 Vetta and the tones may not be as good as the Fractal to the guitar wizard, but it sounded pretty good to me. Even the Line6 Spider IV with a GT-10 sounded great for around $1k.
 
Have you considered putting together a pedal board with something like a Deville 2x12? I suppose it depends on your perspective and how techy you want to get but I prefer a solid, basic tube amp and a pedal board (with individual pedals) over programming some modeling software. The Fractal may be the exception to this but I haven't worked with it extensively. $600 on an amp and $600 on pedals could go reasonably far and really allow you to fine tune your tone. I have 3 distortion pedals, a chorus/flange, delay, tuner, wah, and volume pedal on my board and can cover a pretty wide range.
 
I have two rigs, one for each band I play in. The metal band gets an all-tube Mesa MIDI rig with a TriAxis and a Quadraverb. The wife's rock band gets a Rivera head with some simple pedals in the FX loop.

If you need to do a whole range of sounds like you say, a modeler of some sort is in order. You named the top of the line out of both price tiers (a Spider Valve/Vetta or a Fractal rig), so it comes down to money. You're not going to get into a THD head for under $2k new, though.

If you can get the AxeFX cheaply, just pair that with a Hot Rod Deville (4x10), and you have a nice, flexible rig with all the models and effects you'll need.

Barring that, use the same Deville with a Line6 pedal of some sort, either a Pod XT/X3 Live or their new HD series.

(psst....I have a Pod XT Live for sale...$200)
 
Go Mesa if you can, but I think that may be a bit out of your price range. Traynor amps are pretty tough to beat for the price. I use a YCS90 2x12 combo and love it, it has some great features. You can pick one up for about $900 new, then spend the rest on fx.
 
AniMisM said:
Traynor amps
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This is kinda what I had hoped for when I made the thread. Stuff kinda off the beaten path that may not be as well known/popular that people have had good results with. For the most part, I top shelf stuff is top shelf/expensive for a reason but there are exceptions, and of course we're dealing with music which is subjective on so many levels its ridiculous.

May someone can answer this question since this doesn't make sense to me...Line 6 Amps & Pedals. The POD HD 500 has the same modeling stuff as say the Spider VI Combos, but the amp does/doesn't have FX? Or they both have all the same stuff and you use their FBV shortboard controller with the amp and not a POD pedal?
 
Yea, either you buy an amp with built-in fx and use a basic board like the FBV (no sound module) to switch the fx and control other parameters in the amp, or you buy a multi-fx pedalboard and use it through a clean amp.

Those "all-in-one" type setups can be good for beginners, but you'll soon find you want more versatility. Focus on getting a solid amp that sounds great on it's own with nice clean tones and good crunch. All tube, no solid state, no fx processing crap, just preamp and power amp, and basic eq. Then start collecting the individual pedals that you need. The good thing about doing it this way is you're building off the raw, fundamental sound of your guitar and amp. You can mix and match pedals until you develop your tones the way you want them, and the results are infinitely better. Of course, this is all just my opinion. If you research professional rigs though, you'll find this is what a lot of people do. The other pro route being rack mounted fx units with a MIDI switcher board, which is a bit more complicated. To each their own!
 
I switch between 3 main sounds: clean, crunch, solo. I use effects for little spots (delay on a solo, etc), or for a particular song, but it's not like I really need 256 presets to play a 12-song set.

I think finding a quality clean and crunch sound is the most important thing. Everything else is sort of gravy.
 
Minstrel said:
Fender Cyber twin
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FUCK

NO

i've owned (in order) a crate 15 watter, a marshall avt275, a cyber twin head, a fender prosonic head, a twin reverb reissue, a 68 bassman i had modded, and now a tonemaster head i'm about to mod

the cyber twin was by far the worst one of any of those amps, bar none. what a pile of fucking dogshit.
 
Dude.

Don't mod a tonemaster. You need something else out of it, put a pedal in front of it. Don't ruin the amp for the next owner. :(
 
old_skul said:
Dude.

Don't mod a tonemaster. You need something else out of it, put a pedal in front of it. Don't ruin the amp for the next owner. :(
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Yeah, that's horrible.

With so many options available today to change tone, aggressiveness, power output, there's really no reason to devalue a nice amp.
 
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I'm not really concerned about 'ruining' a nice amp, because it's not what i want it to sound like. i don't plan on selling it either because it's pretty damn close to the sound in my head.

i'm not a collector, i'm a player. i want it to sound like i know it can, because it's a great platform. it's point to point, so it can always be reverted back to what it was before. the OT and PT will be kept, and so will the board. even the impedance switch on the back will stay.

also, i hate pedals with a passion. i only use a delay unit, univibe, wah and sd-1.
 
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