Effects---- What to do?!?!?

[ace_of_spadezz]

ON the hot rod devillie, i'm assuming that i would just set it on clean and use a pedal or whatever i had for distortion. Can anyone tell me like some of thier opinions on this amp like tubes used, sound etc. thanks

[BeastofLove]

I just realized that in the past few months the price went up on the DeVille, so I'm not sure if it's still in your budget. If it is though...

It's got a really full, warm sound. Plenty of presence though to cut through. Controls aren't as sensitive as, say, a Rivera or Mesa Nomad, but they do their job just fine. It's a very bassy amp, so you'll find yourself cranking that knob down as you turn your volume up... and it never gets shrill and obnoxious like the newer Twins (e.g. the 'Evil Twin'). To me, it sounds very similar to my friend's vintage Bassman w/ 2x12 speaker cab. So, if you like the warmer Fender sound as opposed to the spanky/trebly Fender sound, this amp will do you fine. Don't get me wrong though- it isn't warm = muddy. It's warm = full and not shrill.

I'm running it with JJ/Tesla 6L6's right now, and have been for a while. Definately an improvement over the stock Fender tubes... sort of like someone turned up the contrast on the TV. Everything is a bit better defined. The amp is very dynamic, and has a great reverb in it.

The distortion channel (to me) is useless at listenable volumes. Listenable = up to 3 on the Volume knob... this amp gets loud FAST. I have a power break type unit that I can place in the effects loop which acts as a master volume, and if I peg the amp on 10 while leaving the master low, the sound does get quite creamy. But I really don't use this option.

Like I said earlier, this amp is very effects-friendly, and just about any pedal sounds good through it with a bit of tweaking. The FabTone made it sound like a over-the-top high gain Marshall Stack, and Zinky True Grit made it sound like some sort of 70's rock thang.

The amp sounds much larger than it is, and doesn't have a 'boxy' sound like some other amps do. Most recently, I owned a Mesa Nomad 45 and I could really hear the enclosure... it sounded very... boxy to me. The DeVille is simply room-filling. But to each their own. Then again, there I'm comparing a 1x12 with a 2x12, but the sonic difference was dramatic.

I don't know why Fender raised the price on these things by $200 over the past couple months, but I'm thinking they finally caught on that this is a really killer amp... and I definately prefer it to the Twins that are currently out. I tried a VibroKing as well, and I actually liked the DeVille's tone better... go figure. I'll miss the built-in vibrato that the VibroKing had, but that's why I picked up a Demeter Tremulator

I hope that answers your question... if there's anything specific you want to know... um... let me know.

-Ben

[microdmitry]

Save yourself a few hundred bucks by going for TC Electronic G-Force straight away. You'll eventually end up buying one anyway, so you may just as well skip the crap you'll buy in between.

[The Dark Wolf]

Originally Posted by microdmitry

Save yourself a few hundred bucks by going for TC Electronic G-Force straight away. You'll eventually end up buying one anyway, so you may just as well skip the crap you'll buy in between.

Lol, I disagree, but funny comment nonetheless, and probably true if one goes the tube/amp route.

[ace_of_spadezz]

Well i am really more in support of the trebly fender sound so i don't guess i would like the Devillie that much. I looked at a Marshall 100DFX and it looks pretty good cheap ( i do like the marshall sound). I am still looking at the Line 6 Flextone II, III, and vetta also. I found this

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WDVW

its a Fender FM 212R and i don't know a lot about it but it looks like the trebly fender sound that would be a good base for a Gt-6 or other effects. Any info on it would be good or on the marshall or line 6. I know I need to go try some of this stuff out but i live like 3 hours from a guitar store where I could try one of these. Thats it for now i guess...

[microdmitry]

Originally Posted by Wordwolf

Lol, I disagree, but funny comment nonetheless, and probably true if one goes the tube/amp route.

Why would you disagree? It's (surprisingly) the only unit on the market that does what a guitar FX unit is supposed to do.

[BeastofLove]

Maybe he doesn't care for the G-Force. I don't.

-Ben

[Andelusion]

I'm another fan of the All in one units here!

About a month ago i got some money together to get some decent effects together, i needed the standard stuff, Delay, Chorus, definately Compression, Noise Gate,

I could see this was going to cost me a lot (i'm only 16) and power supplies was going to be a problem as i already have 13 power sockets used up in my bedroom lol

I decided i wanted to go down the Rack route. My guitar teachear has basically every piece of gear you could imagine, when i have lessons with him we play through a Roland GP-100 and all the patches are controlled by a Roland FC-200 floorboard. I couldn't believe how amazing this thing sounds, it's about 6-7 years old now, when he bought it it cost him well over £1000, the night after he told me what the model was i had a look on ebay and to my astonishment and suprise there was one on Ebay! I bidded and got it....for £325 including a 2U rack box and an fc-200 floorboard Let me tell you since i've got it it's suprpassed -all- of my expectations and now i can't imagine using 1223492340 pedals to get my desired sound.

I could go on forever about what it can do but the pros for a Rack unit are definately: Hugely powerful if you get a high end unit, Easily change between patches with a midi or similar floorboard, possible speaker/amp/micing simulation for direct in recording, edit patches on the fly depending on your model (i can actually edit any patch and any effect/amp parameter whilst playing with my floorboard), I suppose the Pros of pedals are that, i can't actually think of any lol I can't imagine wanting to use them over an all in one rack uniit

[The Dark Wolf]

Originally Posted by microdmitry

Why would you disagree? It's (surprisingly) the only unit on the market that does what a guitar FX unit is supposed to do.

Well, I was just being somewhat whimsical/silly. Obviously, it's a great unit. I'm just MUCH more of a digital/modeling, all-in-one kind of guy. Tubes and amps, all good, but not everyone prefers that sort of thing, myself included. I guess I was just appreciating your Russian sense of certainty about the G-Force, Micro!

[Patrick Deno]

Originally Posted by ace_of_spadezz

Any info ... on the ... line 6.

http://www.line6.com

I can personally tell you all about the Flextone II and the Vetta. I have owned two FT II HDs over the years (I had to sell the first one back to the store for monetary reasons a few years ago and own the other now) and used to play the Vetta combo in the amp room at the music store where I worked in Germany all the time on my lunch breaks. Waddaya wanna know?

LJ

[bduersch]

Does anybody have experience with both the Boss GT-6 and ME-50?

The reason I ask... I've been looking for an on-the-floor FX processor to take to impromptu jam sessions (instead of taking my rack).

I tried a GT-6 over the weekend... I plugged it into the front end of a Fender Deluxe Reverb. I was pretty impressed overall, particularly with the wah simulation, and it felt like it was built like a small tank. Anyway, I really don't care about amp models (I've got half a dozen amps around the house already), so part of me thinks I'd be able to get by with the ME-50, but I'm concerned that the variety/quality of effects in the ME-50 wouldn't be as good as the GT-6. Any comments on how the quality of effects compares between the two?

--B

[ace_of_spadezz]

Well i was really wanting to know just some of the differces between the flextone II and III. Is II recomended because it is cheaper or better? Also what would be the best to get the flextone or vetta in head or combo? also whould these amps work good with effects, thanx,-----Ace.

[ace_of_spadezz]

O yea and a question to the me-50 or gt-6 on effects that bduersch
wrote would be good to know too,
good question

[Patrick Deno]

Originally Posted by ace_of_spadezz

Well i was really wanting to know just some of the differces between the flextone II and III. Is II recomended because it is cheaper or better? Also what would be the best to get the flextone or vetta in head or combo? also whould these amps work good with effects, thanx,-----Ace.

Ok, first off, I can't tell you anything about the Flextone III because I've never played it. It was/is entirely too 'vintage' looking for my tastes and I am not a vintage kind of guy so never had the need to try it.

The Flextone II HD, on the other hand, is another matter. I personally don't like combos (I'll touch on that subject later) and have always liked half and full stacks. That's just me - your millage, as Glen likes to say, may vary.

The Flextone II HD filled a void for me when I first tried it. I used to play through rack equipment that had a million cables and took about a half hour before a gig to set up. I hated it but had found no alternative up until that point. I'd tried many amp heads over the years but found none to my liking that didn't cost an arm, a leg and my first born child to pay for. Then I played the Flextone and was blown away by it's simplicity, ease of use and great tone. Within just a few minutes of turning dials I not only nailed my signature sound with this beast but bettered it with a minimum of tweaking! But the best was yet to come as I not only found the high-gain/recto sounds I was looking for but also wonderful bluesy, jazzy and gorgeous clean tones as well.

It has a plethora of cab sims which can be used for recording in the studio, accessable through XLR outs and the whole unit can be run without a load for that purpous. It can match the ohmage needs of all typical speaker cabinets and can run stereo or mono at the equivelant of a roaring 200 watts. It weighs next to nothing compared to tube heads yet sounds like one without the problems of tubes. I actually had a tube freak buddy who couldn't believe that it didn't have tubes when he first heard me play through it. He kept looking at the back, trying to find them. It has on-board effects like delays, reverb, compression, chorus, flanger, noise gate, etc. and even a wah if you use the floor board (admittedly, not the best wah I've ever heard/used but not totally horrid). It has an effects loop that can be run series or parallel at the flick of a switch and sports dedicated midi ports. It's LOUD!!!!! yet sounds good even at room volume (no tubes!!!). In short, it did everything my rack units did and better in a much cooler and smaller/easier package. It's like having a rack "fridge" in an amp head and owning a room full of other amps and speakers too.

Now that Line6 no longer produces them and they've been replaced by the Vetta and HD47 lines you can get them for around $500 with floorboard on e(vil)Bay. What's not to like?

The Vetta is great too but a good deal more expensive at the moment even if you buy it 'pre-owned'. When I played this thing it was a combo, which as I said before I don't generally like, but this one blew me away. It had all the balls I could handle and lots more to give if I needed it. Imagine owning 2 Flextones side by side, having them set to different tones and being able to mix the two signals together to get the thickest, most bombastic tones you can imagine. That's the Vetta. Everything from tear-jerking clean sounds to raw, bone crushing chunk is packed in this thing and with being able to mix two seperate modeling types at once plus their effects in this one unit you can very easily, and quickly might I add, find a sound that's all your own.

The HD47 deserves a mention here too. Now, I've never played one but from what I've heard they're a metal-head's wet dream. All the best, gut rentching heavy amps have been modeled for this head as well as some great in-between sounds and melty-sweet clean tones. And at the equivelant of 300 watts of power, no one's gonna argue with this monster.

Now, my suggestion, since money is an issue, would be to either go with the DeVille and the GT6 (read: floor A-I-O stomper of your choice) or the Flextone II HD and a speaker box. Again, I can't stress enough that this is just my oppinion. It's up to you to actually try some of this equipment and make your own choices. I'm sure someone will read all this and say I'm totally full of ****e, too. What works for me may not work for you or the next guy. It's a funny old world that way.

Your last question was whether or not they work well with effects. Well, there's already a bunch on-board but if ya wanna throw something else in the mix too that's what the effects loop is for. The only other effects I personally use are on the floor: a Whammy reissue pedal and the Bad Horsey II wah (I just like it better then the on-board wah). I haven't needed anything else. Again, your millage may vary. Try it out!

Hope this helps,

LJ

[ace_of_spadezz]

Yea, thanx, that was a lot of help. I think i have narrowed my choices down some, although i don't really know if combo or head would be better. any help on that ? And what are some good cabinets to get if i get the flextone II hd or vetta head? Thanks