Quote: admiralbob77As to posting unaffected signal tracks, I don’t think I’d do that. If I may offer a blunt, personal, and possibly not even correct opinion: a lot of people (including not a few guitar players) do not know how to coax good tones from a guitar. I try to take care of that, so the remixer doesn’t have to.
lol - vocalist could say exactly the same thing. :-)

When I uploaded vocal tracks, I often upload two versions: one with basic FX chain to make it easier for less experienced remixers and one totally dry one so more ambitious and/or experienced remixers can do more.

That being said, wet vs. dry isn’t as simple as all or nothing. For example, posting a guitar track with the crunch/dirt/overdrive/distortion/fuzz already in the signal chain doesn’t limit remixing flexibility as much as posting one with reverb, delay, chorus, tremolo, phase, etc. already in. For example changing the tempo (BPM) of a track can become problematic in some circumstances with those effects already in. And pitch shifting can get even messier. Both, tempo as well as pitch shifting are integral techniques in remixing allowing to match many more tracks into a cohesive work.

So I’m not trying to talk you into something you’re not comfortable with - what you upload is entirely your call. I’m just trying to mention some of the nuances and implications.

p.s. I like Guitar Rig 4 quite a bit. In the context of a full mix it sounds quite credible. In my case I can compare a real VOX AC30 with the Guitar Rig emulation.

However when listening in isolation, I find most software based amp simulators (I’ve also tried Line 6 stuff as well as some of the builtin amps of Cubase 5) have a rough time competing with the real thing when using just the amp’s natural (over)drive. To me it sounds like the software amps don’t do as well on the break-up in the lower parts of the frequency spectrum, so the crunch sounds a bit tinny compared to the real tube amp. However, the more other FX are part of the signal chain, the less the difference seams to matter. And in the context of a fuller pop/rock mix it seems to matter even less.

Quote: spinmeister
However when listening in isolation, I find most software based amp simulators (I’ve also tried Line 6 stuff as well as some of the builtin amps of Cubase 5) have a rough time competing with the real thing when using just the amp’s natural (over)drive. To me it sounds like the software amps don’t do as well on the break-up in the lower parts of the frequency spectrum, so the crunch sounds a bit tinny compared to the real tube amp. However, the more other FX are part of the signal chain, the less the difference seams to matter. And in the context of a fuller pop/rock mix it seems to matter even less.

I tend to agree - digital overdrive lacks organic warmth and smoothness, but you can bury the bad overdrive in other effects. I tried to turn a spinningmerkaba acoustic guitar part into an electric sounding part, and found that with phasers, delays, and a virtual tube screamer, all that processing does tend to hide or diminish the weaknesses of digital distortion.

Yeah, I’ve found the same issue with my pod x3 and the vst, high gain stuff just doesn’t sound right straight up through the ‘amp’. You can obfuscate things behind a lot of effects, and this (or eq tricks) seem to be how most modelers get by on crunchy sounds.

I’ve found, that running your effect rig into the FX return on a tube amp, can do wonders to make this kind of tone feel and sound right and less ‘digital’. (but I haven’t tried micing this setup yet)

Your obviously not going to get that “wow this sounds just like X” with this approach, but you get a lot more versatility out of your gear, and I think thats the real benefit of this sort of tech, not any sort of 100% accurate copy of any given piece of gear.

I’ve had my eyes on one of these for a while: http://www.fractalaudio.com... as they are built for this exact purpose.

But for now, I do this with a Carvin Nomad, and the speaker/cab from a gutted Roland Cube 60 I got off ebay. Been pretty happy with the results so far.

I ended up getting one of these to complement my AC30 for power tube distortion at lower volumes. Quite a nice overdriven sound. One of these days I want to build a larger sound-proof box for it with a mic inside, so I can get power tube tube distortion at headphone levels.

Yeah I wouldn’t mind having a little amp like that, or a little champ.

Presently I’m blessed with extremely forgiving neighbors and highly directional cabinets.

I recently bought a VOX VT-30. I was tired of lugging around monstrous cabinets or the 110 watt Twin for gigs where they put a mic on the amp anyways. Not “travel amp” small, but a nice reduction in size for me!

The only battery amp we have is my daughter’s Danelectro. It can actually get pretty loud.