Nita Strauss Rig Rundown

BlueStrat

Great rig rundown of Nita Strauss' live rig all from nothing more than a Boss GT1000.

No massive 4x12 and valve head, just all from an affordable fx unit

fretmeister

For the smaller shows.

Her rig for Alice Cooper is a lot bigger!

It does sound great though.

EricTheWeary

No onstage amps with Alice so no clues from seeing her. Quick Google suggests Marshall 100w valve heads and 4x12 cabs. 

Stevepage

Pretty sure she uses Marshall JVM410 heads with Alice Cooper. I’m sure the cost of shipping that rig around cost a fortune

exocet

She makes a very good point about the Boss approach to specific Amps….I.e they don’t claim to replicate JCM 800 or Triple Rec etc. I’m guilty of dialling up a specific amp model on a Fractal unit and then quibbling over whether the knobs represent how the real thing would be set….what a waste of time that is.

monquixote

exocet said:

She makes a very good point about the Boss approach to specific Amps….I.e they don’t claim to replicate JCM 800 or Triple Rec etc. I’m guilty of dialling up a specific amp model on a Fractal unit and then quibbling over whether the knobs represent how the real thing would be set….what a waste of time that is.

That was one of the things that annoyed me about the Helix. It's got about 10 subtle variations of plexi which means you waste a bunch of time finding the one you like and then never look at the others again other than wasting time scrolling past them.

The GT-1000 just has one decent plexi ish thing.

Bennyboy-UK

Stevepage said:

Pretty sure she uses Marshall JVM410 heads with Alice Cooper. I’m sure the cost of shipping that rig around cost a fortune

Or just hiring gear in country? It’s pretty common amp gear.

I believe Def Leppard are using AFXIII - they could travel just with guitars and send the presents on an email and install them onto a hired fractal at the destination and have EXACTLY consistent sounds anywhere in the world.

I think that’s a pretty cool approach.

hollywoodrox

I think she used to use the Gt100 before she got the 1000 too
  she seems to use the GT on her national anthem gigs etc 

DavusPG

Never seen any interviews with her before, but she talks a lot of sense with her approach to sounds from modellers.

Nice guitar too

EricTheWeary

Stevepage said:

Pretty sure she uses Marshall JVM410 heads with Alice Cooper. I’m sure the cost of shipping that rig around cost a fortune

Three guitarists, bass, drums and vocals. No onstage amplification. From where I was sat if you'd said everything was modelling I wouldn't have batted an eye lid. 

fastonebaz

i've followed her for ages, since her time in Iron Maidens and I've always thought her tone was awful in every clip i've ever heard including that rig run down, and I'm a huge Alice Cooper fan too

timmypix

EricTheWeary said:

No onstage amps with Alice so no clues from seeing her. Quick Google suggests Marshall 100w valve heads and 4x12 cabs. 

From the video: "... a JVM, which is what I use with Alice now"

CaseOfAce

fastonebaz said:

i've followed her for ages, since her time in Iron Maidens and I've always thought her tone was awful in every clip i've ever heard including that rig run down, and I'm a huge Alice Cooper fan too

I have to agree - I love her approach to the unit (4 basic sounds - forget the fripperies) - but at the end of the day she ain't plugging into it cos it's tone of the gods - it's cos she can stick it on a plane as carry-on, saving money on cartage - plus she has decent engineer front of house / mix.
It sounded dreadful in that rig rundown.

p90fool

She's great and I get how it works for her style, but it has all the same brittle overtones at the start of the note envelope as my ten year old Zoom G3. 

I know from experience you do kind of get used to it, I'm just disappointed it's still there!

digitalscream

CaseOfAce said:

It sounded dreadful in that rig rundown.

I'd have to agree, but...to be fair, that's a patch set up for a direct live sound rather than direct recording, but they've recorded it direct anyway. It's always going to sound terrible that way.

Keiko

fastonebaz said:

i've followed her for ages, since her time in Iron Maidens and I've always thought her tone was awful in every clip i've ever heard including that rig run down, and I'm a huge Alice Cooper fan too

Women - know your limits.

[narrator] An ordinary dinner party.
The sort of occasion we all enjoy.

The men are exchanging witty stories.
And look at the women.

Aren't they pretty?

Look at the way they laugh.
They're delightful.

But now the conversation turns
to more serious matters:

"I wonder if the Marshall stack is the gold standard of guitar tone?"

- "I think it is."
- "Good, then we're all agreed."

[narrator] But oh, dear. What's this?

One of the women
is about to embarrass us all.

"I think the Boss GT-1000 is the gold standard of guitar tone,
plus it's much easier to carry."

[narrator] The lady has foolishly
attempted to join the conversation

with a wild and dangerous opinion
of her own. What half-baked drivel!

See how the men look at her
with utter contempt.

"Nita, we're going home!"

[narrator] Women, know your limits!

...

Now let's see the proper way.

"Good, so we're all agreed.
The Marshall stack is the gold standard of guitar tone."

"Oh, I don't know anything
about guitar tone, I'm afraid,

but I do love little kittens.

They're so soft and furry."

"What a delightful thought, you dear,
sweet, fragile little thing.

How I adore you."

[narrator] Women, know your limits.

hollywoodrox

digitalscream said:

CaseOfAce said:

It sounded dreadful in that rig rundown.

I'd have to agree, but...to be fair, that's a patch set up for a direct live sound rather than direct recording, but they've recorded it direct anyway. It's always going to sound terrible that 

merlin

Plectrum squeal is horrible. However, her choice has huge advantages for many of the gigs she plays. So good luck to her. 

I wish more people would play "The Star Spangled Banner" with the same irony and anti-establishment (and anti-military/war) vibe that Hendrix did.   

monquixote

I imagine the conversation went something like.

Nita's Tech: We don't have the budget to ship amps for this tour so we might need to go direct

Nita: Cool Boss are usually great so get whatever their current flagship is

Nita's Tech: Awesome let's set up a few core tones for your gig

Nita: They sound decent enough, let's go and be awesome rockstars

<Nita and tech high 5 > 

What probably didn't happen is she bought a GT-1000, Kemper, AxeFX, Helix, Quad Cortex and 1,000 different IRs and then did a 3 month investigation about which one sounds most authentically like a JVM while documenting the results on the internet.

BlueStrat

Nita plugs in to a basic fx box and gets on with filling clubs across the world with paying fans. 

Meanwhile over at someone’s bedroom, intense debate breaks out whether she really captured the True Tone of mustang sally. 

english_bob

digitalscream said:

CaseOfAce said:

It sounded dreadful in that rig rundown.

I'd have to agree, but...to be fair, that's a patch set up for a direct live sound rather than direct recording, but they've recorded it direct anyway. It's always going to sound terrible that way.

It's also the sound she EQed to work in a band mix, not an Instagram solo guitar video, so it's not meant to sound great in isolation.