[Milkman]

Here are a couple of clips with my rehearsal set up (direct to board, monitors only)



Overview

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQZrx11Ar10

Crunchy rock tone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B3l6W-Edd4

Lead tone with analog delay

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4zEyBG-BNc

 

[Ti-Ron]

Wow that sounds great! By the way, I take a look on a couple of your live videos. Really love the Run like Hell cover!

 

[Voxguy76]

Wow great tone there. I can see why you ditched all your pedals Drool I just picked up a used Tonelab SE, i gotta say i'm very impressed with the sound. Of all the modellers i've played, this one has got to be one of the best. Well done on the clips man. :wave:

 

[auger]

hey Milkman...
that tone lab sounds pretty good....

and some nice guitar work.....
keep em coming....

I'm playing with some digitech equipment...which sounds okay once I play with it a bit...
and my sound room is under construction....and I hope it will be up and running by winter....

Auger

 

[gproud]

Wow. That sounds great. I've always thought the Vox stuff would have an edge over the others due to the fact it has a tube in the path somewhere. For something coming out of a DI --> Mixer --> Monitors, it sounds like it's coming out of a 'proper' guitar amp. Makes me wonder if I'm doing the right thing with the gear I keep buying.

 

[Milkman]

Thanks very much for the listens guys.

Looking at what I was using for the clip it should sound a LOT worse than that based on the collective wisdom of guitardom.

I think if a player wants to go this route, he or she can get their sound. You just have to dial it in.

When I rehearse next (Thursday) I'll shoot a couple of clips with clean tones and maybe a few effects, although some of the effects don't shine with a video camera as it doesn't capture the stereo elements of the sound.

It's also important to note that this is the MONITOR rig. I have eq'd the strips for the MAINS. Easy for me to say, but it does sound much better through the full PA.

 

[violation]

It sounds good for what it is... thou shall not compare to tubes in this thread... lol. Sounds like it could compete with the PODxt... ever kind of A/B them?

 

[mike7]

damn, I didn't think it was possible to get that kind of tone from modelers. That was pretty awesome.

 

[Milkman]

damn, I didn't think it was possible to get that kind of tone from modelers. That was pretty awesome.

Well thanks.

The reality is that I'm not even close to fully exploiting the tonal capabilities of this device. I only worry about tone so much and then focus on the sound of the band as a whole.

In the hands of a skilled tweaker this and other devices like it can deliver amazing sounds.

I'm pretty much a meat and potatoes player and this thing is exceeding my needs.

 

[Milkman]

If you're taking requests, I'd be more interested in some low gain overdrive sounds without effects - just slightly breaking up.

Sure I can do that. There are lots of examples in the presets. I'll find a suitable one and shoot it on Thursday.

 

[Guest]

Milkman, that sounds pretty great. I've always used modelling pedals into amps, with the amp pre's running in the loops, and have never found them satisfactory. But this go-it-alone approach seems like a nice way to travel light. I might have to seek out one of the ToneLab units and have my way with it.

I've some questions for you if you don't mind. Why'd you go with the LE over the SE? I'm a sucker for expression pedals so the two pedal model has a little more draw. I believe you mentioned before the model you went with had a better A/D converter. I've found that each unit I've owned in the past (GT-6 and before that the RP2000) had it's "thing" -- the GT did a good approximation of Boss stomp boxes for example. How does the ToneLab do on "the Vox tone" -- has it got a good, chimey AC30 model in it?

 

[Milkman]

Milkman, that sounds pretty great. I've always used modelling pedals into amps, with the amp pre's running in the loops, and have never found them satisfactory. But this go-it-alone approach seems like a nice way to travel light. I might have to seek out one of the ToneLab units and have my way with it.

I've some questions for you if you don't mind. Why'd you go with the LE over the SE? I'm a sucker for expression pedals so the two pedal model has a little more draw. I believe you mentioned before the model you went with had a better A/D converter. I've found that each unit I've owned in the past (GT-6 and before that the RP2000) had it's "thing" -- the GT did a good approximation of Boss stomp boxes for example. How does the ToneLab do on "the Vox tone" -- has it got a good, chimey AC30 model in it?

Hey thanks for checking the clips out.

Actually going direct is the best way to get the most out of these things as long as you have the monitoring element taken care of.

I went with the LE because of the improved resolution and because they eliminated the A/B switch (annoying as he11 to me) as well as because of the reduced size. Of course I nullified that advantage by mounting it on a pedalboard anyway.

As for the added expression pedal, for the most part I use volume or wah and this is easily assigned with the one pedal. I really never found myself using two pedals at once.

Also there are a few new effects.

Really I was quite happy when I had an SE. I just tried this one and liked the presets better so I grabbed it.

As for the Vox models, I hate to admit it, but I really haven't assessed the unit from that perspective. I don't start from scratch (build my tones from the amp up) but rather modify existing presets. I don't even pay attention to the model used in the presets.

 

[Hamm Guitars]

One of the guys from the Wheat Kings / Cat House Dogs (good band/players) used one of these direct one time I did them and it was great. He had lots of comments on his tone, and I believe the other player was using a Tele through a twin.

 

[Milkman]

One of the guys from the Wheat Kings / Cat House Dogs (good band/players) used one of these direct one time I did them and it was great. He had lots of comments on his tone, and I believe the other player was using a Tele through a twin.

Well I think it's good to hear from the soundmen out there. I wear both hats (although never at the same time) and I tend to assess things in the context of the overall sound of the band. What the audience hears is what matters the most to me.


These devices are a bit more of an integral concept than conventional rigs if I'm using the term correctly.

 

[Milkman]

Why the DI boxes? I would have guessed that the line-outs on the Tonelab were balanced TRS connections.

They are, but I still need to get to XLR (snake) which would require at least an adaptor and I have a bunch of the DIs so I use them.


Also as the DIs are active (phantom powered) they seem to boost the signal allowing me to run the gains on the channels nice and low.

 

[Milkman]

Acknowledged. I coulda figgered that out if I was thinking. It's too hot to think.

Yeah I've been hiding from the heat all day.

I think the DI's may have added benefits. Perhaps somebody more technically knowledgeable than I can offer some input on this.

They do have ground switches for what it's worth.

 

[Milkman]

The DI will colour the sound. If the signal is going through either active or passive components, it colours the sound. In terms of quantity and quality of colouration, that's a function of the component choice of the manufacturer. There are only so many ways to take an unbalanced high impedance signal and balance it and make it low impedance. I have a handful of passive DI boxes that cost me about $15.00 each. They always work, and they don't need a battery or phantom power. They do add some colour though. Mostly a baby diaper brown.:smile:

The active DI will have some boost to it. You will benefit from a hotter signal earlier in the food chain. Boosting the signal at the mixer end will also boost any noise picked up in the 150' of snake. How much noise? Do you run speaker level back through the same snake, or just line level signals to the power amps behind the mains? You WILL induce more noise with a speaker level signal in the same bundle as all of the line and mic level signals.

I try really hard to make sure that any AC lines that cross any audio lines do so at a 90 degree angle. Running AC and audio close and parallel is a recipe for hum.

The only speaker lines that run from the board are to the monitors. I use two of the 800 watt amps for monitor power.

The mains are all powered from stage. The idea is to have your speaker lines as short and as heavy a gauge as possible. You lose a LOT of power with long skinny speaker lines.

AC we get from our distro.

My signal goes as follows:

Guitar to the tonelab via an AKG Guitarbug wireless
Tonelab to the snake via two active DIs
Snake to board
Line level outputs from to board to the rack which includes the normal stuff
From the rack back through the snake to the amp inputs.
The mains are stereo

 

[SCREEM]

Sounds great Milkman, I love the Tonelab too, here's a sound clip I made of my favorite patch... Greco Lester(bridge pup)-tonelab-laptop soundcard. I used reaper with 3 tracks all the same patch and pup just different volumes on the guitar. http://www.esnips.com/doc/0ee8f6e9-3c59-492a-9843-de9721da7026/blue

 

[Milkman]

Sounds great Milkman, I love the Tonelab too, here's a sound clip I made of my favorite patch... Greco Lester(bridge pup)-tonelab-laptop soundcard. I used reaper with 3 tracks all the same patch and pup just different volumes on the guitar. http://www.esnips.com/doc/0ee8f6e9-3c59-492a-9843-de9721da7026/blue

Sounds right on Screem.

The funny thing is that you seem to favour tones that aren't bathed in effects (as do I).

I think a lot of people tend to overdo the FX when they get a device like this.

Which model do you have?

 

[SCREEM]

I have the SE model and use it to model vintage amps, wich it does very well as long as I don't bathe my patches in effects:food-smiley-004: