Amp Died, so I used a DI...... (Now I'm considering an AmpliFIRE Box)

Trude

John_A said:

You can’t turn off the speaker emulation in the flyrig.  It’s pretty good anyway

You can in the new v2 models! 

Actually, looking at the photos it seems like the FR5v2 has the speaker sim defeat button, bujt the RK v2 doesn't.  Weird (especially since RK himself seems to use it mostly direct into a Plexi and 4x12)

John_P

Trude said:

John_A said:

You can’t turn off the speaker emulation in the flyrig.  It’s pretty good anyway

You can in the new v2 models! 

Actually, looking at the photos it seems like the FR5v2 has the speaker sim defeat button, bujt the RK v2 doesn't.  Weird (especially since RK himself seems to use it mostly direct into a Plexi and 4x12)

Iirc setting the controls on the sansamp section to the centre makes it neutral so he uses it to switch the reverb on and off.        

I really like the flyrigs and if a smaller version of the ax8 from fractal isn’t announced soon I’ll almost certainly get a v2.     Just a shame the rk doesn’t have the post gain boost as well.  

Hoarasaurus

Wowsers, you go away from the site for a couple of days, and come back to a plethora of very useful comments!

 I had another rehearsal last night, and also had a bit of time in home studio; and with a more critical ear, rather than first impression eat, the RK-5 is pretty much bossing it. It will never replace an amp, but with the need for a quiet backline, it does a very good approximation of one. Unfortunately gone are the days i could just rock up with a Head and a 4x12!

For the studio though, the Amplifire would give a lot more options to quickly dial a tone in, but that's a whole different scenario. 

Thank you all!!

Hoarasaurus

drwiddly said:

If you like the Flyrig but want a bit more flexibility, why not consider an impulse response loader like the Mooer Radar? You could change the speaker emulation which would make a big difference to your tone.

I did think about the Mooer Radar, but for this application I don't really need any more flexibility. Tech21 do it well very well!

Hoarasaurus

Dontgiveupyourdayjob said:

I had an Amplifire (3-button model) for a couple of months. Personally I thought it sounded great, but then again I bought it used with a load of bought 3rd party patches and IR's already installed, which probably helped. I've since 'upgraded' to a Helix Stomp. I don't think the core sounds are any better with the Helix tbh, but the big difference is the user-friendliness of the interface in terms of creating/editing sounds, and also just in terms of the visibility on the unit itself. Helix also has more variety of effects, but if you're not a big FX user then won't be a deal breaker for you I guess. 

I was sorely temped by the Amplifire-Box at the time too, but managed to find a used full-fat Amplifire for considerably less than the new price of the AFB. Used AFB's were like hen's teeth at the time I was in the market for one.

Used AFB's like hens teeth? I go as far as saying more like Unicorn droppings, totally fictional!

Hoarasaurus

Trude said:

I had one briefly.  I was frustrated by the lack of effects loop, which ruined the utility of having XLR output for me (if you want to use the FB for amp gain and also use the XLR out, you have to have all your other effects pre-dirt). 
 
So in the end I just put it inline between my drive and time effects, and used it for mostly clean sounds.  However, I never quite gelled with the sound, and at one gig I put my Tech21 Leeds pedal next to it, and quickly realised I much preferred the Leeds.

So, a similar story to @p90fool in that the Sansamp won in the end.

On further looking; The lack of an effects loop also looked potentially frustrating.

For me, i like to have an analogue delay (EHX Deluxe Memory Boy) pre-drive, as there's an organic playability with it, but also like one afterwards, along with my trem (Cusack Tap-O-Whirl). With the RK-5, the speaker simulation is not ruined by the trem after it, so i don't lose tone there. 

Sansamp, they're very hard to beat for simplicity!

Hoarasaurus

meltedbuzzbox said:

I'd stick with the flyrig.
I honestly think it's fender emulation is easily on par with the helix but a lot simpler to use

After more critical listening, I Totally agree!

Fez

I really want to try the Fly rig R5V2 it's almost exactly what I said I would have when I saw the Paul Landers one. The addition of an fx loop really makes it useful.