Been looking at my rig from the perspective of my new band, and I'm considering a bit of a rethink...
At the moment, I get all my distortion and drive from my amp(s) - Jet City JCA50H and JCA22H, with phaser, boost and wah in front and delay in the loop. The heavy rhythm sound comes from the "normal" channel, and I roll off the volume for clean. Lead is obviously the drive channel.
My problems are:
- Clean is often a) not quite clean enough, and b) not loud enough
- I'm not very good at tap-dancing, so changes involving a switch from clean + phaser + delay -> heavy rhythm are my worst nightmare
- There isn't a single multi-fx unit out there which does everything I want and sounds good (I've tried all the major ones)
- I don't like modelling
- I really want to use dual delays, but the loops in my Jet City amps are line level which restricts my choice of second delay pedal.
- If my amp dies, I've got a lot of fucking around to do to get the right sound from somebody else's or go direct to the PA.
What I do have is an AMT C2 preamp pedal (the Cornford MK50-alike). It does sound very awesome, even on its clean channel. This got me thinking...what if I just get everything from my board using preamp pedals, and go straight into the loop return of my amp?
My idea is this:
- AMT C-2 for heavy rhythm
- AMT V-1 for clean (Vox AC30-alike)
- AMT S-1 for lead (Soldano-alike)
- Some kind of loop switcher
If I went with a programmable loop switch like the Joyo PXL8, this would mean everything is just about a single tap away, but it would be relatively expensive (£175 for the extra preamp pedals and £125 for the switcher, plus a shedload of extra cables; probably £350 all in) and would also require me to build a new board (and I don't like big boards).
If I went with a simple A/B loop switch and used the clean channel in the AMT C-2, skipped the V-1 and used the S-1 for lead...it would simplify the arrangement immensely, and mean I could fit it all onto my current board, but I'd still have the tapdancing. Also dual delays might be a pain in the ass, unless I specifically keep one of the delay pedals only for the clean/rhythm loop (which is where I'd mostly need it). This would be much cheaper - £80 for the preamp pedal, £40 for the A/B loop switch.
As an aside, both setups can easily be rewired to run direct to the PA (using the cab sim outs from the AMT pedals).
Anyway, that's my current thought process. Anybody else got any ideas, or have you tried it? No multi-fx suggestions, please...I've definitely discarded that as an option.
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Have you considered the Moen GEC-9, or the smaller sibling?
Multiple loops, and loads of presets, and it can do amp channel switching too. It's not MIDI though, if you need that.
Ringleader of the Cambridge cartel, pedal champ and king of the dirt boxes (down to 21)
Personally I don't think you'll be happy with pedals. You wont get the clarity and the right balance of low-end chunk, ime.
I've actually heard of people using the AMT P2 into the FX return of a 6505 instead of using the real preamp. That way you get a decent clean channel and through the 6505 power section the P1/P2 drive channel is very very close. If I had the pennies for recording I'd still take the real deal (I got this comparison right, on my headphones) but I'd be more than happy to use the P2 live.
But then again, I like modellers in general. It still might t be worth a look in, controllable by pod hd, too.