Scoring Central

(08-22-2021, 02:50 AM)Nayrb Wrote: [ -> ]I remember trying Peavey's Revalver plugin a while back, and it was intense. I seem to remember it being pretty awesome for heavy tones. Not sure what happened to it, really. I feel like Peavey makes awesome stuff, then gets bowled over by somehow bigger names in the industry and no one ever hears about their stuff again. I mean, who better to model the 5150 than the makers of the 5150? But you're right, other makers just don't seem to get it quite right in the modelling realm, though what they do is still pretty cool. I think it's usually a combination of things like power amps, cab sims, and such. I don't think any "in the box" option is representative of what it can do without some tweaking and such. Every really good rig of that type has all been put together by the same guy, and it's usually a sort of erudite Frankenstein setup. One day I'll pick my favorite and copy it and see how it goes.

Revalver is still around! I even have it installed, and it has a custom shop thing just like Amplitube, though I would hesitate to buy anything for a piece of software that doesn't appear to have been updated since 2016. Revalver was in fact the first software amp sim I ever used back in 2002. My latency was off the charts on the system I had back then, live playing was out of the question, but I monitored through a real amp while recording the second output of the preamp I was using (Zoom Valve DSP 9150) and added a nice cab with Revalver.

You're right, Peavey's always been kind of an underdog when it comes to software. Probably because they're more devoted to the hardware side of things and Revalver has never gotten the attention and development funding it needs to compete with the offerings from more software-centric brands.

I picked up a Behringer TM300 from Facebook Marketplace for the princely sum of around €/$15 and I love it! It has three amp models (Fender/Marshall/Mesa), three mic positions (more like eq curves, since it does not have cab simulation no matter what various internet reviews might claim) and three modes for each amp (clean/high gain/hot). I don't particularly care for either Fender or Mesa amps, I got this for the gnarly Marshall tones which it delivers in droves. Whether we're talking classic Rush, Van Halen or eighties Metallica, this little thing's got you covered. You could potentially use this pedal for playing everything from sixties twang to noughties nu-metal I guess, though I personally have no interest in the other two amp models.



Here's a few quick & dirty examples of the various British tones you can get out of it. This is straight out of my pedal board with just a splash of delay and a Marshall speaker cab added in Reaper. The final bit has a tube screamer clone in front, driving the TM300 a little harder, which yields a wicked lead tone. With some tweaks I would seriously consider using this for recording. It certainly sounds and plays more like a Marshall than any software amp sims I have.

So in other words, I recommend it. Definitely the perfect pedal for getting more varied tones out of a limited practice amp.

OK, so a ton of things have happened on the guitar gear front since I posted this five months ago.



I have gotten a number of really great deals on used stuff and have upgraded basically everything. I still have the Behringer pedals kicking around (as evident from the photo) and I have no intention of getting rid of them. They sound great but feel unreliable in terms of build quality and longevity, so when interesting pedals have shown up for only marginally higher sums* over the months, I've grabbed them. I now have a box of leftover pedals that I didn't like, which can probably be resold for the same amount I got them for so no skin off my back.

I've also purchased a Boss Katana 50 MKII and a Marshall Valvestate 2000 AVT50. My modded Line 6 Spider amp will be donated to a friend of mine, along with the tiny speaker cabs. I also gave my old Peavey Express amp away; I haven't used it in years and it was just sitting around taking up valuable space in my home studio. As for the new amps, I'm really impressed with the Katana. Super easy to use, yet if you hook it up with USB you have a whole world of additional options to explore. The AVT50 on the other hand is very traditional, very limited in its scope (in a good way!), and I got it because I simply wanted a Marshall for classic crunchy rock tones. I don't love it for general playing and I couldn't imagine using it as my main amp. Still, it has something, some rough elusive quality that I feel modeling amps can't quite capture.

Let's see where I'm at another five or six months down the line

* OK, the Boss DD-7 was significantly more expensive than any Behringer -- or the rest of the pedals on my board for that matter. But more advanced delay pedals are inherently pricey. Still got a really good deal on it.

(01-21-2022, 09:25 PM)Mattias Westlund Wrote: [ -> ]OK, so a ton of things have happened on the guitar gear front since I posted this five months ago.

My brother has one of those Marshalls, and I used it for several years. I has a nice tone, for sure, but I agree about it not being a main amp. The Katana is something I want to look into if I ever have a proper living space again. I'm so bad with dialing in tones that I can't seem to get the raging Marshall sound no matter what I do. It always sounds crackly and weak with a lot of humming and hissing between notes. I always wind up using something else.

(01-24-2022, 02:50 PM)Nayrb Wrote: [ -> ]My brother has one of those Marshalls, and I used it for several years. I has a nice tone, for sure, but I agree about it not being a main amp.

It's plainly and unpologetically a classic Marshall amp (albeit a hybrid tube/SS one), and you sort of have to take the good with the bad. I love it for jamming along to Rush songs or working out riffs and chord progressions with a chord-friendly crunch sound. For leads or other high-gain applications it has a bit too much of that fizzy "bee in a tin can" thing going on.

Then again, the preamp tube in mine has been in there for 21 years and I should probably replace it.

(01-24-2022, 02:50 PM)Nayrb Wrote: [ -> ]The Katana is something I want to look into if I ever have a proper living space again. I'm so bad with dialing in tones that I can't seem to get the raging Marshall sound no matter what I do. It always sounds crackly and weak with a lot of humming and hissing between notes. I always wind up using something else.

I definitely recommend it. The Katana 50 MKII is cheap and cheerful, sounds great overall and has a TON of config options if you dig into the software. I got mine used for around $170. Thanks to the selectable output levels (5W/25W/50W) it can go from whisper quiet practice amp to rehersal/gigging levels at the flick of a switch.

My only complaint is that it's voiced a little weirdly. It's very midrangey and lacks somewhat in the bass and high end. Not a big deal for me since I mostly use it as a pedal platform and I can compensate with the eq/tone controls on whatever pedals I'm using, but it something to watch out for. Try before buy.