Been trying to find ideas on the better amp models...

[WickedFinger]

I am finding the Hi Watt seems to play with external pedals very well and has a good clean sound, anyone have any other ideas?

I am finding the option thing to be getting overwhelming and want to try and use just a few amps as standards.

So far for cleans I like the Mesa cln channel, the Shiva w gain dwn, Plexi at times, Soldano cln channel anyone have any other ideas?

High gains I like the Engl the best I think, 2204mod, and a few others but I am more interested in cleaner amps that sound good with external drive pedals. 

[malhavok]

If you are overwhelmed by too many options then asking for opinions will eventually get people naming every amp again and you're back to square one ;)

 

Picking ones that work for you is best and you're off to a good start. For cleans, I am right with you on Mesa and Soldano clean channels. I love'em.

 

Dirty is much less universal. I can say many people gravitate toward the Matchless channel 2 and jumped mode for rock or lead stuff. Those two models have such a great mid-range quality that can cut most mixes.

[WickedFinger]

Just looking for ones I have not really given a shot yet or maybe someone has good luck with the tones. Curious what ones users like the most.

I guess my biggest thing is I need better IRs. Like buying presets I am leery what I will get, as truly all the free IRs I have collected are not great. Worried if I drop the bucks I'll wish I had not. I hear good things about Ownhammer but it's a grey area for me, I never messed w IRs before my GSP1101 or the Helix. 

 

I am trying to figure out the best models that respond well w pedals. I really cannot see the Helix as a do all stand alone unit for me and if they load in all those POD M things it is a waste of space for me. I would love to have just a modeler preamp with the loops and routing and just farm out for effects. Give me a cool Strymon or Eventide over all other stuff any day. I would have kept the Atomic Amp if it had all the loop and routing ability of the Helix but one loop ain't gonna do it. 

[DunedinDragon]

Just looking for ones I have not really given a shot yet or maybe someone has good luck with the tones. Curious what ones users like the most.

I guess my biggest thing is I need better IRs. Like buying presets I am leery what I will get, as truly all the free IRs I have collected are not great. Worried if I drop the bucks I'll wish I had not. I hear good things about Ownhammer but it's a grey area for me, I never messed w IRs before my GSP1101 or the Helix. 

 

I am trying to figure out the best models that respond well w pedals. I really cannot see the Helix as a do all stand alone unit for me and if they load in all those POD M things it is a waste of space for me. I would love to have just a modeler preamp with the loops and routing and just farm out for effects. Give me a cool Strymon or Eventide over all other stuff any day. I would have kept the Atomic Amp if it had all the loop and routing ability of the Helix but one loop ain't gonna do it. 

 

You've probably already found the best amp model for pedals in the HiWatt.  In fact that was one of the main features of the amp originally that made it so popular.  It also does a great "edge of breakup" crunch sound.

 

As far as IRs, I'm finally becoming a believer on them once I discovered Ownhammer IRs.  The only downside is each of the Ownhammer IRs comes with a very wide variety of mic placements and mixes and you have to spend a bit of time figuring out which ones work best for you.  The best way I found to do this was set up a simple patch in which uses just an amp and IR slot 128.  I would then work my way through each of the variations of the IRs loading them against different amps to find the one that most pleased my ears and responded well to that amp.  Once I did that I loaded it into a more permanent lower slot.

[HonestOpinion]

The easiest method I have found for auditioning IRs is to use the 'Pedal Edit' mode.

 

1. Press and hold the 'Mode' footswitch.
2. Select the footswitch with your IR or hit the 'MORE...' footswitch if you don't see it on the first screen and then select it.
3. All the parameters for an IR block should be showing now. Press the 'IR SELECT' footswitch.
4. Use the 'VALUE-' and 'VALUE+' footswitches to cycle through your IRs and audition them.
5. Don't forget to save if you find an IR you like. You can do it with your foot if you press and hold the 'EXIT' footswitch.

[DunedinDragon]

 

The easiest method I have found for auditioning IRs is to use the 'Pedal Edit' mode.

 

1. Press and hold the 'Mode' footswitch.
2. Select the footswitch with your IR or hit the 'MORE...' footswitch if you don't see it on the first screen and then select it.
3. All the parameters for an IR block should be showing now. Press the 'IR SELECT' footswitch.
4. Use the 'VALUE-' and 'VALUE+' footswitches to cycle through your IRs and audition them.
5. Don't forget to save if you find an IR you like. You can do it with your foot if you press and hold the 'EXIT' footswitch.

 

 

That's assuming you want to load all the IR's, which I don't.  I want to audition them to find out which one's I want to load.

[HonestOpinion]

..

 

As far as IRs, I'm finally becoming a believer on them once I discovered Ownhammer IRs.  The only downside is each of the Ownhammer IRs comes with a very wide variety of mic placements and mixes and you have to spend a bit of time figuring out which ones work best for you.  The best way I found to do this was set up a simple patch in which uses just an amp and IR slot 128.  I would then work my way through each of the variations of the IRs loading them against different amps to find the one that most pleased my ears and responded well to that amp.  Once I did that I loaded it into a more permanent lower slot.

 

 

 

The easiest method I have found for auditioning IRs is to use the 'Pedal Edit' mode.

 

1. Press and hold the 'Mode' footswitch.
2. Select the footswitch with your IR or hit the 'MORE...' footswitch if you don't see it on the first screen and then select it.
3. All the parameters for an IR block should be showing now. Press the 'IR SELECT' footswitch.
4. Use the 'VALUE-' and 'VALUE+' footswitches to cycle through your IRs and audition them.
5. Don't forget to save if you find an IR you like. You can do it with your foot if you press and hold the 'EXIT' footswitch.

 

 

 

That's assuming you want to load all the IR's, which I don't.  I want to audition them to find out which one's I want to load.

 

You bring up a good point. You don't need to load all the IR slots. I think the method I proposed above could be useful in your process. It is a lot easier to load up say 20 IRs at one time into the Helix in temporary holding slots(e.g. slots 80-100) then using a single temporary slot and having to reload for each audition. They can all be dragged in at the same time. Then scroll/audition through them using 'Pedal Edit' mode. I think you may find this less ponderous than to have to go back to the Editor every time and swap a new IR in for each audition. I am talking about loading up the temporary slots with just your favorites or the ones you are most likely to want to audition for your current session/preset. The above method also allows you to jump back and forth through multiple IRs easily for A/B/C... comparison instead of having to go back and have to drag an IR into the Editor for a second time that you may only half remember 'maybe' preferring to the one you are currently auditioning. When you are finished auditioning you can remove any you are not going to use from the temporary slots you were using on the Helix and as you say move the one(s) you want to keep into more permanent slots(s). Anyway, everybody has their preferred way of doing things and if your method works for you great. You might want to give the 'Pedal Edit' audition method a try though. I find it far easier and a better method for doing comparisons then swapping presets in and out of the Editor one by one.

 

Additionally, eventually you may have most of your favorite IRs already loaded. This gives you a fast way to audition them and find the preferred one for your preset.

[DunedinDragon]

 

You bring up a good point. You don't need to load all the IR slots. I think the method I proposed above could be useful in your process. It is a lot easier to load up say 20 IRs at one time into the Helix in temporary holding slots(e.g. slots 80-100) then using a single temporary slot and having to reload for each audition. They can all be dragged in at the same time. Then scroll/audition through them using 'Pedal Edit' mode. I think you may find this less ponderous than to have to go back to the Editor every time and swap a new IR in for each audition. I am talking about loading up the temporary slots with just your favorites or the ones you are most likely to want to audition for your current session/preset. The above method also allows you to jump back and forth through multiple IRs easily for A/B/C... comparison instead of having to go back and have to drag an IR into the Editor for a second time that you may only half remember 'maybe' preferring to the one you are currently auditioning. When you are finished auditioning you can remove any you are not going to use from the temporary slots you were using on the Helix and as you say move the one(s) you want to keep into more permanent slots(s). Anyway, everybody has their preferred way of doing things and if your method works for you great. You might want to give the 'Pedal Edit' audition method a try though. I find it far easier and a better method for doing comparisons then swapping presets in and out of the Editor one by one.

 

Additionally, eventually you may have most of your favorite IRs already loaded. This gives you a fast way to audition them and find the preferred one for your preset.

 

 

I may eventually end up doing something like that, but I'm very early in the process of picking just one version of each IR that best matches what I would intend to use it for.  I guess I'm mostly concerned about keeping it manageable given what people were going through in the last upgrade.  At this point I'm going to see if I can achieve everything I need to achieve with just one mix of the 1x12 Deluxe cab, 2x12 Vox cab, 4x12 Mesa cab, and 4x12 Marshall cab.  I may end up with additional mixes of the IR's on each of the cabs, but for now I'd like to limit it for convenience sake.

[HonestOpinion]

I may eventually end up doing something like that, but I'm very early in the process of picking just one version of each IR that best matches what I would intend to use it for.  I guess I'm mostly concerned about keeping it manageable given what people were going through in the last upgrade.  At this point I'm going to see if I can achieve everything I need to achieve with just one mix of the 1x12 Deluxe cab, 2x12 Vox cab, 4x12 Mesa cab, and 4x12 Marshall cab.  I may end up with additional mixes of the IR's on each of the cabs, but for now I'd like to limit it for convenience sake.

 

I hear you, the sheer amount of choices available with IRs particularly with the Ownhammer IRs is dizzying. I can see where finding some core ones that work great for you is better than getting lost in the minutiae and discovering you have been listening to and comparing the same looped phrase for the past 17 hours as you perused a thousand IRs (unless of course you enjoy that sort of thing, I don't).  ;)

[Rocco_Crocco]

3 Sigma IRs... Fewer choices and they sound great.

[arislaf]

As for irs I prefer red wirez. Clean the twin reverb sounds awesome. Broken I like the ac 30 , and high gain goes to electric.

[DunedinDragon]

3 Sigma IRs... Fewer choices and they sound great.

 

Yeah, I bought their HiWatt and tried it out.  Fewer choices means fewer capture options.  I found I definitely prefer multiple mic captures as far as sounding more realistic through my rig.  And I got that with the Ownhammers.

[zooey]

I like the simplicity of the fewer 3 Sigma choices, but it's hard to know if I'd specifically like the ones they pick, or how much I'd miss the flexibility the painfully large Ownhammer collections give you.

 

But the big problem with 3 Sigma for me is that they don't have any free cabs to check out. The free Ownhammer Mesa lib has nearly sold me on their stuff, somewhat against my will. Good stuff, generally head and shoulders above the other free IRs I've tried.

[Rocco_Crocco]

Yeah, I bought their HiWatt and tried it out.  Fewer choices means fewer capture options.  I found I definitely prefer multiple mic captures as far as sounding more realistic through my rig.  And I got that with the Ownhammers.

I'm glad you like your OHs.

 

I read that they give you a "Start Here" folder with the purchase of their IRs, with the intention of giving you a good starting point of great tones, but I didn't get a "Start Here" folder with my purchase. I forget the name of the bundle I bought, but there was a boatload of them, and they sounded very good... just overwhelming for me having to print out the chart to cross reference their naming system to exactly what mic and placement was used, etc.