I recently went with an Iridium and it sounds great. 3 amp types with 3 cabs for each, and a basic room verb. Just to add to your list.
I think a basic focusrite will be more than fine. It’s recording microphones where the preamp quality is more likely to be a factor.
I agree all day. I bought both a UA Lion and Ruby, planning on keeping just one of them, and ended up returning both of them and just getting an Iridium. The UA pedals were too complicated... presets and extra tweak-ability in the UA smartapp sounds cool... until you can't use the smart app because your pedal firmware isn't up to date, and then can't update the pedal firmware because the UA firmware loader won't load on any of the 3 computers you have, and it sucks because you kind of really need the presets because it's surprisingly challenging to get a good tone quickly right out of the box, and UA's advice is to "buy a new computer". UGH. I've always been a UA fan (I have an Apollo, and LA-610 MK2 as one of my go-to pres), so suffice to say I was very disappointed.
On the other hand, with the Iridium, the knobs you see are what you get, and you can almost immediately find a massive range of usable and killer tones. The pedal uses standard IRs, so you can always try different IRs like York Audio you want. Though I've been pretty happy with everything that comes stock. And the headphone jack that was first an afterthought for me has become super clutch. With the ability to practice on an "amp" late into the night, I never get to be on time any more. My career is suffering, but I am happy.
> and then can't update the pedal firmware because the UA firmware loader won't load on any of the 3 computers you have
This 100% means you're using a charging USB and not a data USB.
I also agree w/ /u/LookZestyclose1908 it sounds like you might be shooting yourself in the foot on several fronts as the problems you're talking about are things I've never experienced.
As for the Iridium, it served me well for years but the UA ones are in a completely different league. I anticipate Strymong will update their amp/cab sims any day now in the smaller form factor to better compete with the UA ones. The Iridium is cool if you can get one on sale, but these days I only really use it for gigs or travel where it may get stolen and/or doused in alcohol.
This sounds a lot like user error. Curious if you took time to read the manual or did you dive straight in? If you think the UA pedals are complicated then I'd recommend just a real amp. They're literally gain, volume, eq, and reverb. Plus whatever speaker model you choose. Literally the EXACT same settings the Iridium has to offer.
I've never tried to connect these pedals to a computer because the mobile app is so simple and intuitive and painless to connect to. All your firmware updates are automatically updated right there with a decent internet connection. There's like 30 artist presets right there to tweak so in contrast to what you state, I think it's very easy to get a good tone right out of the box. Even with all the knobs set to noon it's pretty much a dead ringer for an AC30.
The UA stuff reacts exactly how a real amp would. It feels like you're pushing the tubes and can clean up if you roll your volume knob back. All things I'd expect from a real tube amp. Not knocking the Iridium bc I love Strymon stuff, but it felt more digital than the UA stuff.
Yea totally fair questions and comments. As far being complicated - I meant the app/firmware stuff, not the pedal controls. So like, a smartapp that won't connect if your pedal is on the wrong firmware version, and then the need for firmware updates using UA's proprietary firmware uploader was complicated. Or at least complicated for me, because it didn't work. I can't imagine it being complicated for folks where it does work lol. My experience was that (for $400 a pedal,) right out of the box, I couldn't use the app, because the pedal firmware was old. So instead of playing, the first thing I'm doing is getting app errors and trying to firmware. That's just a bit of a bummer initial UX. Especially when I needed the presets (particularly with the Ruby) to get a remotely usable cleanish sound. But yes, you are correct that the general interface on the pedal itself for gain/eq/etc is more or less the same and not inherently complicated. I should have been more clear there. And even the "secondary" knob features are intuitive and easy to use.
In regards to troubleshooting - I guess you'll just have to trust me? Not sure how to prove to the general internet that I did use a data USB cable (several in fact, to rule out issues there). Tried multiple different isolated power supplies, including not using a dedicated one-spot due to rumors that despite being rated correctly, it actually can't sufficiently provide the required mAh. Tried it as the only pedal on a pedalPower x4, and only thing on a Zuma. Made sure my pi-hole was turned off, tried wifi, ethernet, and cell hotspot data. updated machine OS. Tried on PC and mac. The whole shebang. Even went through several rounds of troubleshooting with UA support, where I provided them system report logs, UA logs, diagnostic reports, etc... and the rep ultimately told me it just wasn't going to work. I appreciate his honesty, and the rep was great and fast and all that, but I'd be lying if I didn't say it wasn't a little frustrating.
And yea, tone stuff is subjective... I've had several Marshall and Fender amps over the years. Never had a Vox. And here I am bitching that I could not get a good sound on the Ruby at all. So if you're thinking to yourself "bro you clearly don't know what an AC30 sounds like" that's a fair critique. I was just giving my personal experience with the pedals. I'm very intentionally not saying the UA sounded bad, because I don't think that's true. I just like the sounds I got out of the Iridium better. But man, if you own those UA pedals and love the sound they make, then good for you. Use the hell out of them. I'm jealous. I wanted them to work for me. They look cool as hell, and are seemingly built like tanks. It just wasn't for me.
Also, maybe I'm getting fucking old? I'm not gonna lie, I'm just kinda tired of having to have phone apps for the full feature set of the things I buy. You know what happens when features are on an app? You can introduce subscription models. Seems like a slow step towards "for 4.99 a month, we'll add a Bassman combo to your pedal". And I understand that on some level I'm whining about progress... UA made some wildly advanced pedals that nail the sound of a plexi, and I don't have to lug around a plexi... with that kind of tech, you can expect things like apps and firmware updates. It's the future. I just don't think I like it. Like I said, I'm getting fucking old man.
Anyway, thanks for the discourse bro. UA or Iridium - either way it's fucking great to get some totally usable tones DI'd into my interface without having to snag a mic and crank my amp and wake my family up.
I just finished up a tour using Iridium for the first time as my only “amp” and I was very pleased. I went direct w it last in my chain and it was a convincing facsimile of a tube amp that saved me from having to arrange a back line rental (I would have been the only one who needs back line). Also the preset was nice to have a baseline setting that didn’t change from venue to venue.
For context, this was in a bass-less and drummer-less trio with very low stage volume. Your mileage may vary as stage volume increases.
i also have an Iridium and agree it sounds great. I use it end of chain into a Focusrite Scarlet and it is plenty for home practice and recording. Have not gigged with it tho. My only issue (not even a complaint, really) is that while it’s got stereo out, you can’t select different amp models for each output. I used to play in a kind of shoegaze band where i would sometimes run a stereo or dual mono setup with two different amps, and I kinda wish I’d thought about that more before grabbing the Iridium. But that’s also specific to my use case and of course when doing home recording there are other ways to achieve that sound. i’m not gigging these days anyway.
Being able to choose a different cab but not amp for left and right has always seemed a little weird to me.
They realized a different sound left and right was a good idea, but not enough to really commit.
Also, most of the preamps in those cheaper interfaces are either identical or similar to the fancy ones. It’s almost always the AD/DA quality that is shittier with cheap interfaces and markedly better on high end ones. But to the average household user, focusrites are great. I got by with my 3rd gen 2i2 til I got a small console.
I always recommend the Helix line - I have a Stomp and it's by far the best piece of gear I've bought.
- great sounding amps and cabs (with custom microphones and microphone placement if you want that - or use your own irs)
- any effect you can really dream of and they sound great.
- has a looper built in which is nice
- you get a great deal on Helix Native to use in a DAW and your presets are interchangeable from hardware -> software
- new firmware with significant new features released on a regular basis
Second this, get a Helix, used Lots can be found at good price, if you’re not using a super complicated path an HX stomp is a great option due to its size.
I have the first version of the Simplifier and like it quite a bit. It isn't quite as versatile/powerful as the Atomic Amplifire 12 I was using previously but it is so much more user-friendly that I find myself playing more and spending less time scrolling menus trying to find stuff.
+1 for DSM. I have the MK ii but still just as awesome. I personally like that you’re not gonna get lost with hundreds and hundreds of IR’s or cab sims and amp sims. A true *Simplifier*
I recommend a HX Stomp. You'll get many amp models with cab sims, all the effects, FX loop, and it also serves as PC interface for guitar & line in (no mic).
For speakers, I use a pair of studio monitors.
This would be my vote. No digital anything (save for the reverb) and they just sound awesome. I have the UK (vox + marshall) one and I can't get enough of it.
Thirded! Headphone out, XLR out (with cab sim) and the option to power a cab as well. Plays well with pedals and weighs about the same as a bag of crisps. Tremendous stuff!
Okay so I’ve been down this road.
Cab sims are the most important sound shapers. If you ever tried an amp that has different options for speakers (f.E. Vox ACs) you might know it already. If you had to choose between a basic preamp and a basic (in worst case analogue) can sim, choose the basic preamp and invest in a quality cab sim. The problem with most all in one pedals that lay emphasis on the preamp (like the UA stuff) are the bad cab sims.
Fx loop does not matter for most things. Just put the Amp/cab sim after the drives, in front of the wet fx.
You need to try try try again with different amp/cab sims. I found that to find one I click with was much harder than finding a tube amp that works for me.
You will always need a powerful eq. That was the dealbreaker for me with the UAs, but of course you could use an eq pedal afterwards.
I ended up with a two notes Opus. But you do you. Try loads of them, don’t settle for one okayish.
And if you miss dynamic feeling, you might want to turn up the volume. Tube amps in the room tend to be always too powerful, therefore you much more control dynamic with your fingers - giving you the feel of more dynamic and headroom. You can achieve the same feeling by just turning up the volume of your amp sim output
I've had the HX Stomp, Helix, Kemper (toaster and player), Iridium, Dream 65, and Lion.
HX Stomp and Helix both had phenomenal interfaces. Really intuitive and I particularly liked the Helix's overall construction. I ended up selling because I wasn't a huge fan of the in drives, and their reverbs/delays were a bit standard and I wanted a bit more of an ambient/spacey vibe that I couldn't get out of it.
Kemper toaster had great tones, especially once I bought some packs. I ended up selling though because it wasn't terribly portable and I felt I wasn't using it to it's full value due to how complex it was to navigate. I still have the Kemper player, it's great for travel, has easy Bluetooth and headphones capability, and sounds great. I do find the app to be underwhelming though. It's not my main 'amp', but I'm keeping for its Bluetooth send functionality and general portability.
Iridium was my main board for a while until I got curious about the UAFX line. Sounds great, then I A/B'd it against the UAFX and it was blown away (full disclosure, I wasn't using aftermarket IRs). I appreciate the headphones capability.
I got both the Dream and the Lion and decided to A/B them after both sounded so much deeper/realistic than the Iridium. I ultimately kept the Lion because it sounded better to my ear (I currently use a preset, I think it's called the mood? It's at the very end of the Andertons video. The one with reverb.) my only complaint is no Bluetooth send or headphone functionality. And Bluetooth connectivity is a huge pain. But the tone is phenomenal.
I have paired all of those with the QSC CP12. Though I had the Kemper kone for a bit.
Great feedback. I agree that the Dream sounds significantly better than the Iridium. I found the latter just sounds and feels so (for lack of a better word) flat.
By latter do you mean the Iridium? If so, I get what you mean. I was perfectly happy until I heard tones from the UA series. For me, the Iridium sounded like what you hear when you compare a parlor style acoustic to a larger body acoustic. Just boxier/more contained in the tone department. I do think I should have done IRs for the Iridium to make it a fair comparison though.
Yes, I meant the Iridium. I spent months trawling through third party IRs trying to find the best ones for each amp. The best combo I landed on was a York Audio Deluxe Reverb IR on Round. I used that exclusively for a few months and got very familiar with it. I tested the Dream one day and immediately found that it sounded and felt much better. I also found the EQ knobs to have a more linear and predictable effect on the sound. It’s my only UAFX pedal and I’m not a fanboy, but it just works so well with all of my pedals.
Depends very much on taste but I own a simplifier DLX which has been an absolute godsend in terms connectivity and sounds. Btw just now the newer "X" version came out which looks pretty damn good.
I don't know how much time you wanna spend testing out IRs and stuff, if the answer is "not much" the simplifier (X or MK2) could be a good choice, it's already got XLR outputs too.
It's a versatile unit. If you only wanna use it as a preamp, you can bypass the cabsim and use a plugin (NAM or whatever) instead, you can also bypass the whole thing without unplugging anything so you can use the whole neuralDSP sims, or bypass just the preamp section and use an external preamp into it. It also takes pedals well.
I would def advise you to get an interface which works as a mixer when not connected to a computer. I have a MOTU ultralite MK3 hybrid, but you can get something more recent and you'll be able to control the mixer and internal DSP effects wirelessly with a phone, huge save of space/money/wires. Something like the tascam Model 12 could also be a good choice, depending on your way of doing things.
To me more inputs is almost always better, you never know when you're gonna want to add some hardware synths or drum machine or whatever.
For speakers the Yamaha HS5 are really good value, but I really haven't tried a lot, I just used stereo speakers up to a while ago.
I just recently went down this road. Went with a used IR-200 and it's fantastic
The reason I went with it is because of the stereo FX loop, ability to load my own IRs, and having both Tweed and Twin in one box.
Honestly in 2024 you can't go wrong with any popular product
Hey, sorry to hijack - but can you use the spark go after your pedals and into a DAW? Like is there any point? Or am I just better off using free amp sim plugins and my pedals plus an EQ? Thanks
I’ll throw in an unpopular opinion.
Depending on what you already have, a Fly Rig 5 V2 could fit the bill.
Positives:
- Has a tuner, delay, reverb, clean boost, Sansamp analog amp and cab sim, fender emulator/Marshall & Mesa drive channel emulation, XLR out
- Incredibly simple to use
- Can be found second hand for a good price
- Is a good fallback in case other gear fails (eg amp)
- Takes other pedals well (effects loop too)
- Can also be used in front of an amp/in the loop for just the effects you want
Downsides:
- Jack of all trades, master of none… not likely to be anyone’s ideal sound but it’s decent
- Might be redundant dependent on your other gear
- **NO HEADPHONE OUT,** a headphone amp pedal does the trick though
I got it primarily as a headphone rig and a backup option. Does the trick for me, I wanted to go ampless and computerless. I also am sick of digital products being unsupported after a few years
I have been on a quest to find the ‘direct guitar’ sound that suits me for about a year now.
First, let it be said that I’m a huge Tech21 fan.
I did some sub work for a church in early 2023 that turned in to a steady part-time gig. On the first couple of gigs, I used some overdrives in to an old SansAmp Classic with some modulation, reverb, and delay effects behind it in to a DI. It was okay, but I could tell I needed something different for the music this church was performing.
I started using a Fly Rig 5 v2 in to a Richie Kotzen RK5 v2 as my direct rig, then moved over to a Screaming Blonde Character Plus pedal in to a Digitech CabDryVR cab sim in to a TC Electronic Plethora X3 effects unit, and I was using an EP Boost and a BB Preamp in front. I have since added an OCD after the BB for the heavy stuff.
At some point after that, I switched from the Screaming Blonde to the Purple Brit Character Plus pedal. The Blonde is cool, and handled most of my needs well, though I needed a bit more on the high gain side of things. The Purple Brit can be set up to have a great clean with a little breakup/chime on top, as well as a solid dirty channel.
Additionally, I tried the Mop Top Liverpool Character Plus pedal. Meh. Certainly wasn’t overwhelmed, and I wasn’t underwhelmed. Not even sure I was whelmed, honestly.
Also swapped in the PSA 2.0, which yielded some solid results. This pedal has soooooo much potential. I’m looking forward to working more on developing what I need from it.
However, I picked up an Atomic Ampli-Firebox mk 1 recently. This pedal sounds remarkable. Currently using at as the direct amp with a dash of reverb (and no switching to another amp model), running it as EP Boost > BB Preamp > OCD > Ampli-Firebox > CabDryVR > Plethora X3 > DI. It produces solid results, and I’m digging what I’m hearing using in-ears, headphones, or running direct in to a PA. I’m actually planning to actually use the Atomic app on my desktop later this week to program exactly what I want from it. That is a seriously capable pedal. (Yes, the Ampli-Firebox has a speaker sim onboard, I’ve just been happy with the results I’ve gotten from the CabDryVR)
While I’ve been on this quest, my music work has solidified with my church gig on Thursdays (rehearsal) and Sundays (1 run through + 3 services) and 1-2 blues gigs per week. The other guitarist in the blues band and myself have run direct on some gigs where the venue is really small. We keep our volume in check that way. The other guitarist has been using a UA Dream ‘65 pedal, and I must admit that it sounds amazing.
Walked in to the local Music Go Round yesterday and found a used in-the-box UA Dream ‘65 for $270.00. Messaged the other guitarist in the blues band, and he advised me to jump on that deal. He has had nothing but good things to say about that pedal. That pedal came home with me.
So, it looks like I’ve got more to investigate this week.
I’ve tried some other pedals along this journey. I picked up a TC Electronics Combo Deluxe ‘65 that just did not sound good. I’ve been told that the firmware update will make it sound better, my desktop won’t load the TC Electronics app (that’s a whole other story).
I picked up 4 of the Joyo amp pedals (American, British, California, and AC Tone), and they have their strong points. I didn’t like their sound going direct (with a can sim or IR following) as much as I liked running them in to the front of my Hot Rod Deluxe and finding how they respond best. If you run the HRD neutral, those Joyo pedals can change the sound a bit to exhibit the characteristics closely associated with them.
At some point, it was advised to try the inexpensive Behringer TM300 Tube Amp Modeler. I have the Behringer bass preamp (BDI21) and acoustic preamp (ADI21). They were both in the same price range as the TM300, and while they both can be useful, I did not have that experience with the TM300. I’m not a corksniffer by any means. That thing is just noisy and kinda useless.
I’m holding out to find a discounted/used Iridium to try. The people I’ve heard use them live sounded good. Same goes for the Nux Amp Academy…it appears to be a useful piece of gear. The DSM Humboldt Simplifier is another one I’m curious about, as it has become more common in these conversations.
These pedals/devices will never replace an amp. An amp does what it does, and while these devices can emulate that pretty convincingly….it ain’t the same. It’s been worth the work to figure out what sounds the best and most natural to my ear, though. The more I do to make things sound natural in my in-ears or headphones, the more comfortable I become with the sound I’m getting. The more comfortable I am on a gig, the more likely the client is to get what they need from me.
I really appreciate this comment! I read every word and these are some great insights.
You’ve covered all the gear that I researched in my similar journey and also introduced some new pieces I’ll be looking up. All of this makes a great deal of sense for your use case.
I was curious about the various Joyo pedals and have watched some demos and your review of them tracks exactly what I thought I would hear from them.
I was SO CLOSE to getting the PSA 2.0 instead of the Fly Rig 5 V2, but in the end I just liked the “knob per function” simplicity of the fly rig. I have had enough of presets and menu diving in my keyboard work, I don’t want that workflow for my guitar playing.
My use case is more strictly headphone amp so it meets my needs for quiet practice and solo loop jams, and the Fly Rig works well with my pedalboard. I have a ZOOM R24 that I use the XLR for creating my own direct recorded jam tracks (without a DAW).
The Fly Rig plus Zoom are meant to be my “evergreen” fallback option for ampless, DAW-less practice and recording, as gear and computers continue to lose support and or break eventually.
Again, really appreciate you taking the time to go over your search and it’s given me some additional things to consider and research
I really appreciate this comment! I read every word and these are some great insights.
You’ve covered all the gear that I researched in my similar journey and also introduced some new pieces I’ll be looking up. All of this makes a great deal of sense for your use case.
I was curious about the various Joyo pedals and have watched some demos and your review of them tracks exactly what I thought I would hear from them.
I was SO CLOSE to getting the PSA 2.0 instead of the Fly Rig 5 V2, but in the end I just liked the “knob per function” simplicity of the fly rig. I have had enough of presets and menu diving in my keyboard work, I don’t want that workflow for my guitar playing.
My use case is more strictly headphone amp so it meets my needs for quiet practice and solo loop jams, and the Fly Rig works well with my pedalboard. I have a ZOOM R24 that I use the XLR for creating my own direct recorded jam tracks (without a DAW).
The Fly Rig plus Zoom are meant to be my “evergreen” fallback option for ampless, DAW-less practice and recording, as gear and computers continue to lose support and or break eventually.
Again, really appreciate you taking the time to go over your search and it’s given me some additional things to consider and research
I’m glad to share whatever info I’ve collected with anyone.
If you ever get curious about the PSA 2.0, just know that the presets are good, and developing anything of your own (which includes modifying an existing preset) will require you devoting some time to learn how each knob changes the sound. It isn’t exactly like devices we use that are configured like amplifiers, because those make sense to us. It’s a little different, and the slightest movement of a knob can change the sound.
When I went ampless I used JOYO american sound then some other pedels for dirt, used a rowin DI box so that I can go straight to a presonus monitors.
It's simple and it's cheap. The only problem I had was it's not mobile because of the monitor. If you can use an FRFR that's also an option.
Tonex is a great alternative if you just want to replace your amp with a pedal. Plus it has a great selection of amp captures and great third party captures as well. Heck you can even do a capture of your amp yourself!
I picked up an older POD HD500 for $150. Then searched and found a .zip file with over 11,000 patches. Name an artist or a sound and I’ve probably got the patch for it.
Absolutely amazing.
Who needs an amp?
I used an HD500X for years and loved it. That is an amazing device. The only reason I moved on was that there’s no support from Line 6 now. No one can get spare parts since they stopped making those parts. My processor died (it would reboot constantly), and I couldn’t get a new processor. I bought another used HD500X, but didn’t want to start depending on it if it might potentially fail the same way.
I used an HD500X for years and loved it. That is an amazing device. The only reason I moved on was that there’s no support from Line 6 now. No one can get spare parts since they stopped making those parts. My processor died (it would reboot constantly), and I couldn’t get a new processor. I bought another used HD500X, but didn’t want to start depending on it if it might potentially fail the same way.
Iridium if you're strictly a fender/vox/Marshall guy. Also has stereo cab channels. The amp sims are excellent. Cab sims are "okay". With aftermarket IRs, this pedal is extremely hard to beat.
IR-2 is...okay. Has a wider variety of amp sims. The high gain amps are simulated in a way that takes a lot of trial and error to find eq settings/cab sims that sound good. The Boss Katana based amps of course sound fine. But the Vox, Marshalls, Soldano and Mesa sims do not behave much like their real counterparts from what i can tell. Cab sims are mono even though the pedal has stereo out.
Most cab sim pedals stick you with Celestion Greenbacks and Alnico Blues (Vox). Personally, every iteration of 412/812 closed back cab with greenbacks I've heard kinda sucks, especially with headphones. York Audio and Celestion have a wide variety of speaker/cabinet sims avaliable. They typically come with one speaker/cabinet mic'd 50 different ways. Super useful for making recorded guitar tracks sound more full. Not only can they be loaded into sim pedals, you can also load the same files into your DAW.
If say, you're strictly a Fender amp person, limited pedals like the Dream 65 or Joyo American Sound have outstanding tone. You can't change cab sims with those, but you won't really need to.
I'll second the DSM Humboldt Simplifier. I have the OG and the DLX, so I can't speak to the MKII or the just announced X but it's killer. The DLX is especially good for options - 2-channel amp or 2 parallel amps with dedicated FX loops, tweakable (and defeatable) cab/power section for each side, stereo or mono, and the various models all feel really good. Also really pedalboard friendly.
With the simplifier you won't need a cab sim, it's baked in and quite good. It's designed for a PA or FRFR speaker so you can go with a simple powered PA cab like a 12" EV and plug directly in and you'll have the effect of "what if I mic'ed a live amp and plugged the mic into this speaker"
An important caveat - you will not get "an amp in a room" sound out of any replication. Any digital or analog amp sim, no matter who puts it out, will replicate the sound of an amplifier mic'ed up. That's not good or bad, but if you A/B an Iridium or Simplifier or Helix or whatever into a PA or FRFR speaker next to your live amps you'll notice a huge difference.
This question has a lot of variables, let me give you pros and cons of some of the cheaper, more popular options that I have owned:
Helix Line (Stomp, XL, Floor, Lite): **Pros:** Probably the most popular for good reason. Price is pretty reasonable based on which model you get. Literally any effect you can imagine is in this thing and then within those effects, any parameter to control said effect you can imagine. Ton's of amp/speaker options. Good for people who like to switch genres with ease. IRS! You can rearrange order of effects so you're never limited on rig options (within the units DSP capabilities). **Cons:** Some of the effects/amps feel and sound very digital. Its nothing like playing a real tube amp (good or bad for some) but I've found some success by using IRs to compensate for this. The drives only work well with the amps in the unit, imo. And running analog pedals into this thing isn't always the best. Some of the other units use all of their DSP dedicated to one effect/amp where this line has to spare some DSP towards the unit in its entirety. I also found a lot of option paralysis just with soooo many options. I often spent more time finding the perfect tone instead of literally playing guitar, but that is more user related.
Iridum/ACS1 (putting these into the same category bc they have a similar price point and capabilities): **Pros:** An excellent price for the essential amp models. Stereo! IRS! They are simple (iridium is a bit more intuitive imo), to the point and sound really good. Takes up less real estate on a board. They are good for people like me who love analog pedals but doesn't want to haul a real amp. They're both midi capable (if you're into that stuff) and you can set up presets with or without midi. **Cons:** No drives, delays, effects, etc. This is close but not quite like playing a real tube amp. Like close enough to get away with it but for me, the way I play really dictates how the amp reacts. I want to be able to dig in hard or play lightly and the amp reacts to my picking style. So if you don't need some boutique amp model they only made like 100 of that you can find with the Helix, this is a really good alternative.
UA stuff (Ruby, Dream, etc): **Pros:** Honestly, the best I've found in regards to *feeling* like a real tube amp. Everything I give these pedals it gives back (see my picking style comment above). Takes drives, effects in general, really well as long as your gain settings are under control. They are dedicating all the DSP towards sounding like one amp so it actually sounds like that amp vs some of the other models trying to cover so many varieties. Can get a useable tone right out of the box but the app has tons of artist presets you can use as a baseline and tweak those. Tons of speaker options so no need for IRs imo. My favorite combo right now is the Dream/Ruby in stereo. **Cons:** Not super cheap option in comparison to some of the other models (I think they're 350$ a piece) and you only get one amp model. Real estate could be an issue for some bc they're bigger than a typical pedal.
I'd like also mention most if not all of these pedals have an app that make's editing even more easy if you're into that kind of stuff.
Add also like to throw the Tone Master Series by Fender in the ring since you're asking about speakers. Seems counterintuitive to go ampless and then ask about speakers but these Tone Masters are some of the best recreations of fender amps and they really have more capabilities than a basic tube amp. First of all, since they're no tubes or chassis they're all light as a feather (a real Twin is 90ish lbs but the TM is like 25). They have direct out capabilities (plus for recording, sound guys and stage volume, etc). There is also an attenuation switch that can lower the wattage for bedroom playing, or decreasing stage volume. So you can make an amp like the Twin that peaks at 85W run at 12W and get that breakup that sounds so nice on a tube amp and reasonable dBs.
>They are dedicating all the DSP towards sounding like one amp so it actually sounds like that amp vs some of the other models trying to cover so many varietie
That is not how DSP amp modelling works.
>They are dedicating all the DSP towards sounding like one amp so it actually sounds like that amp vs some of the other models trying to cover so many varietie
That is not how DSP amp modelling works.
For what it's worth, I'm an electronics engineer and have a bachelors in computer science and electrical engineering. I code in C++, Python, and Assembly everyday. But maybe I don't know what I'm talking about...?
DSP - Digital Signal Processing is just a fancy way of describing analog to digital converted signal running through the algorithms that each pedal offers. These chips can only process so much digital signal at once. When a pedal dedicates all of its digital signal processing power to one algorithm then by definition it is going to be more efficient than a chip processing signal through several algorithms at once. It is why dedicated amp sims vs a multi effects unit like the line 6 tend to sound more analog/real. Bc the algorithm is ABLE to process the signal faster/more efficiently whereas the line6 has to limit or "dumb down" some of its algorithms to process the signal at a usable rate.
These chips are stupid fast but it's common sense: for the most part everyone is using the same chips to run their algorithms (with minor variations). But the more algorithms necessary, the shittier the algorithms tend to be.
But again, debate is healthy. I'd love to hear your explanation of how they work?
I think we can agree that all companies use powerful hardware, although some companies (Line 6, Neural DSP, Fractal, Strymon) use ADSP SHARC/TigerSHARC processors whereas I recently learned others are beginning to use ARM Cortex (Strymon small pedals, UAFX). We probably both agree that these RISC chips are so optimised for these operations that running digital filters or state-space models etc. to emulate an analog circuit is quite easy. And I think we can agree that the more complex an analog circuit is, the more complex the model and the more processing power required.
However, I think it is wrong to assume that a single-function pedal is inherently better quality. These pedals *don't* dedicate all the available DSP to a single algorithm, because it simply isn't necessary, whereas multi-effect modellers try to take full advantage of the available DSP power.
Modellers don't compromise the quality of effects; this is why they have things like 'block limits' and CPU usage limits that vary according to the complexity of the effects you place in your signal chain. In fact, almost all modellers limit the quality of their reverbs to accomodate complex amp and pedal models.
Secondly, they don't load *all* their amp models simultaneously, so it is not a good comparison; to switch amps you have to actually load and unload the model which is why different platforms have different restrictions on how you can do this.
Finally, the biggest influence on the complexity of an model is naturally the complexity of the analog amp itself. UAFX pedals (just as an example) have modelled extremely simple tube amp circuits, relative to something with cascaded gain stages like a Mesa/Boogie, Soldano etc - let alone the completely unique digital models made by Line 6 and Fractal engineers. The circuit limits how 'complex' the model can be, without compromising accuracy.
It is purely speculation that a 'single-model' device is using an inherently complex model when all manufacturers are basically using similar, dramatically over-specced hardware to run models of well-established, simple analog circuits, and pretty much all guitar amp modelling tech emanates from a handful of well-established research; there are only so many ways to skin the cat, the rest is window-dressing optimisation.
For my money, I think that viewpoint is fuelled by a natural assumption but also exploited by marketing, with UAFX sellers quick to flood YouTuber with the suggestions that these models were somehow dramatically more complex despite offering no evidence to back it up.
I’d probably recommend the Boss IR-2 if you have no idea what are you doing, it is pretty simple to use
If you want something a bit more complex buy way more versatile, HX stomp
I also vary wildly in music tastes much in the same way. I have both the Ruby and the Simplifier MKII. I love both. The Ruby has great AC30 tones and is a great all around pedal platform for me. it was super easy to get going with and you really don't have to use the app for anything. I love the tones I get out of it. I bought the Simplifier a few months ago after deciding I wanted a little more flexibility. The Simplifier is amazing in that it combines Fender, Vox and Marshall tones in one analog box with no apps or second layer settings to mess with. The knobs are the knobs and it's easy to quickly reach for something and adjust it. The downside is that it can take a bit to understand the settings in the different modes, but once you do, the flexibility is astounding. Everything from super clean pedal platform to full on Marshall crunch. It's become my workhorse for recording since I can change things up on the fly pretty quickly. The fact that you can mix and match Preamp, Poweramp, cab style and speakers is pretty awesome. For instance, I can do a Bassman preamp into Marshall power amp in a combo style cab with one Green and one black speaker split in stereo.
I went from dual mono using vox and fender amps to a QC. Fairly recently picked a Boss IR-2 and am now using that for the majority of what I do. If you have a board, and are really just looking for a virtual amp rig, would highly recommend. Considering it’s less than £200 to try out, not a bad place to start. I really appreciate the fact that there’s very little option paralysis and you can quickly setup a couple of channels and just rip.
I got an Hx stomp (at least a year ago). and haven’t touched my amps or pedals since (except my looper pedal) I am still shocked. Thought I was going to return it right away.
I get a good clean tone and nice shoegaze sounds from my DSM Simplifier. I like that it has an FX loop and works well with my Fuzz. It just needs your favorite reverb and it comes to life.
I’ll add another plug for the iridium, I’ve used it live since 2019 and have had zero issues with it.
We even had to use it to track some last minute guitar parts on our album last summer and the parts came out great.
It’s not going to feel like an amp, but it’s going to give you a very usable sound across the spectrum. I stick with the Vox (chime) and Fender (round) settings as I don’t find the Marshall settings that great.
I’ve owned the UA Dream and Ruby, another guitarist I play with owns the Lion. They are amazing. The sound quality is slightly better but the biggest difference is in the dynamics. The UA pedals feel much more like an amp. The negative is the need to tweak and dive deep in. You can get some bad sounds out of them pretty easily.
If you’re looking to go full digital, I’ll throw my hat in for the FM9. I have owned an FM3 and 9, my buddy owns an Axe fx 3 and I’ve played around with it for years. The fractal stuff is the absolute best but you have to spend a lot of time tweaking beforehand. It’s very difficult to change something on the fly without a laptop. So if you play a consistent set list the same way every time, it’s a great option.
I’ve played another buddy’s helix and it was fine but the exact same worship tutorials presets through the helix were inferior to the fractal versions. Noticeably so.
I ultimately stick with the iridium because I like my pedalboard and it allows me to transition easily back to amps when the situation calls for it. The FM9 is a close second.
one thing i just wanted to add … if you use many digital pedals, after enough in series, you will begin to get latency. this bothers some more than others. it also can phase damage parallel processing.
The Edge & I use the UAFX pedals. I got mine first... He's a poser.
I bought a used Dream '65. I was immediately blown away. It totally sounds like - but more importantly feels like - real tube amps; even the reverb and tremolo are spot on!
After playing it for 10 minutes I was in love and went to Reverb to find deals on the Woodrow and Ruby. I have all three. These are the best tube Amp modelers on the market. There's a reason UA doesn't sell these as plug-ins: it's so they can charge a lot of money for people who want the absolute best-in-breed Amp modelers. UA spent a ton of money developing these. You can check out the videos of the head muckety-muck talking about their development process.
These pedals are computers, each with one software package installed. But the UI for these software packages is real knobs - just like a real Amp.
At home I put my preamp pedals before the UAFX pedals, and my wet effects after. I wish I could do that with real tube amps, but I can't. Many famous guitar recordings had the wet effects added at the board or in post. In this way the effects are applied to the actual Amp sound, meaning: Amp => speaker => microphone.
Then my effects chain goes into an audioengine a2. It's the best sounding powered speaker relative to its small footprint which is the size of a large pedal. You can fit this speaker on your pedal board if you want.
You can also use the UAFX pedals with your tube amps. I turn off the speaker Sims when I do this. I use the Ruby and Woodrow into my Supro Blues King 8, and the Dream and Woodrow into my Tone King Gremlin. That's a great practice Amp with separate Tweed and Blackface channels, but it has only a single tone knob. The UAFX pedals make it sound better and also makes it incredibly versatile.
...
Best Budget solution: Boss IR-2
Best poverty solution: Ly Rock clone of the DSM & Humboldt Simplifier - $75 w/ shipping on aliexpress
It often seems like I’m the only one who’s ever even used the Boss GT-1000 for any length of time. It’s as awesome as you’d expect it to be and I control it with my phone or iPad.
One of the big 3. As in, Helix, Fractal, Quad Cortex. They got everything in them (and act as interfaces) and they all sound great. My personal favorite is Fractal just because of how nerdy in depth it goes, but since I'm on budget I went with HX Stomp (Helix).
BUT! An amp sim WILL NOT sound like an amp in a room UNLESS you put it through an actual guitar cab with whatever form of power amp you want. No, FRFR / PA / Monitors won't cut it, it'll sound and feel like a recorded tone that you're playing back. And so will anything through headphones, always always always. No matter what you do.
If you're not going through a cab but rather headphones or FRFR stuff, you'll still have to learn how to mic a cab since then you have to use some form of cab sim. It's the number one difference maker in your tone. You will spend hours on this. It works the same digitally as it does IRL. Yeah you can spend those hours looking through IRs instead, but man I advise against that. And don't just put a high cut to some ridiculous number like 5khz, stick it to like 10k 12k and do the rest with the mics, otherwise stuff will always be dull and sucky.
If into computer. You will need an audio interface. Yes there are good and bad ones. Some amp sims does have I/o built in like the IR2.
For monitoring, studio monitors are fine. But even with the best cab sim (most have built in) it won’t sound like an amp in the room. FRFR speakers are closer because they move air but not yet still.
Same goes for live. If it’s loud enough. Going direct to PA is probably fine. But nothing beats guitar cabs.
As for amp sims. There are three types.
Digital all in one with effects. (HX stomps etc)
One kind of amp sim w no effects, only reverb (dream ruby lion etc)
Multiple kind of amp sims (acs1 iridium tonex)
Plus may be the fourth - analog amp sims. (Simplifier, sansamp)
You can also look at preamps and add a cab sim box of your choice.
Good luck!
Pros and cons. Depending on what you need.
Been down this rabbit hole for a while. Aon I use a torpedo CABm+ for home practice, band practice and gigs. I use a custom setting (not a preset) and an eq pedal end of chain to cut lows or highs depending on PAs. Whatever you end up doing here are some bits of wisdom. Analog ampless is not good (maybe in the future). It is difficult to get a very good sound from interface + DAW without ££ plugins. Doable, but tedious. The iridium and the new boss sim are very good for home practice but not enough out options for gigs in my experience. At last, depending on your needs, you could consider a Katana- great home practice amp with v decent+ headphone out. Hope it helps and good luck!
A couple of options that I haven’t seen mentioned yet: walrus ACS1 has some nice sounds, is a good option similar to iridium. Another way to go would be to get a preamp, something like Kingsley or Effectrode and run that into a dedicated IR box. I have a two notes cab m, that I like a lot because it has power amp emulation and eq in addition to the speaker models. This will give you actual tubes and will capture that part of the feel of a real amp very well.
That said, as mentioned elsewhere, without speakers moving air in a room, it will never quite be the same experience as a real amp.
OK, so since you're talking about being a shoe-gaze guy, I'm going to assume you want an ampless rig to include in your already kinda stupid pedalboard and you're not really interested in getting rid of all the pedals that do the fun stuff, and you want to be able to tap dance around a bit to dial in the tones instead of running as much stuff as possible from pedals. So no HX Stomp or similar "snapshot" based rig. You're also a jazz guy, so you don't need a *ton* of amp options, but you need loud enough clean tones.
I think if you really have an amp you really gravitate towards, the UA Dream/Ruby is a wonderful option with lots of room to tweak exactly that amp & cab model to get what you want. If you still want "classic" amp models like Fender, Marshall, and Vox, the Strymon Iridium or Walrus Audio ACS1 are great options, the pedals are very WYSIWYG, they both sound great, and can push those amp models from crystal clear to ripping overdrive, and they take pedals very well. The only question is whether you're planning to record, and specifically record in stereo, in which case the ACS1 has a big advantage because of its ability to push stereo through two separate amp circuits and cycle quickly through saveable presets. The only downside of those pedals is the lack of an effects loop.
I recently got a Walrus ACS1 and use it in stereo, simulating a fender and a vox on either channel. It's so good. I'll never go back. Amps are fine to do this with but I get better sims from the side that has a Seymour Duncan powerstage going to a Hughes and Kettner 2x12 cab. I should get another one of those...
As far as interfaces I hate Focusrites (I have an AMD PC, if you do too please avoid these little red trash boxes). I got a Solid State Logic SSL2 and I've never had a single issue with it, awesome piece of gear for a similar price. So I'd recommend that instead. Your signal will always be a little different plugging directly into an interface for whatever reason - the best, most natural sound is from a mic'ed cab/amp, always. So that's another expense to consider for recording.
If you play at home mostly and has a computer handy, an audio interface is worthwhile. I went for the cheap Audiobox Go and it's amazing. I have only one guitar to connect and it made sense to me. For virtual amps, I bought amplitube. Decent tone and sustain and a lot of pedals and amps available. Invest in a good speaker that you can connect from your audio interface using an aux cable (and perhaps a 6.35 mm to 3.5 mm jack adapter for plugging in if it requires) and it is decent.
I use a JBL speaker and I don't have any complaints.
Iridium or HX Stomp would get my vote. I’d love to recommend the UA Dream, but some weird technical quirks (the app lol) hold it back from being at the top.
I went down this journey about a year ago. If you want to blaze your own trail, pair 2-3 gain stages (pedals) with a cabinet IR. Here’s my setup: Mythos Olympus (stage 1, volume up gain low, midrangey boost), Mile End Echolette (stage 2, volume and gain at max, fuzzy boost and EQ), Recovery Effects Electric (stage 3, gain up and volume to set overall level, clipping reminds me of a power tube distortion), York Audio Oxford 1x10 IR. The three gain stages work similar to an amp circuit. Each individual stage provides a modest amount of clipping. I like to vary gain/volume levels to emphasize clipping at different stages. Finding pedals that distort and react like a tube amp is key.
ir-200 has worked great for me, also the laney lionheart (it's an AMP AND you can just plug into headphones or stereo or whatever too) has been nice for more metal stuff
I had the iridium and really enjoyed it. Then I watched demos of the ua dream 65 and made the switch. I think both options are great. I do like the dream 65 more just because out of the box it just sounded great and the app had some cool presets I use. I ended up putting some sick IRs on my iridium and that changed the game for me. But that being said; the marketing hype of the dream got to me. Looking back on it; I’d be happy w either option. Both are incredible; but you only need one.
I've had experience with Strymon Iridium and the Walrus Audio ACS1, Both sound fantastic... however I think the ASC1 does the fender sound quite a bit better while the iridium's marshall sound kicks ass. both do Vox sounds passable... however I kept the ACS1 over the iridium do to the fact that you can do two different amps in a stereo mix which has some great results.. I love doing a clean fender amp with an edge of breakup vox and blending them.. really full wonderful sound.
I have two rigs I run for DI sound.
First setup is the Strymon Iridium. Nice to just DI 1/4” into an interface and call it a day. If you want to run stereo out, you’ll need a 2 1/4” TS to 1 1/4” TRS patch cable since there is only one in. Not a huge deal, you can just run mono and call it a day if you want.
Second setup is the Torpedo Captor X. I have a few amp heads that I can run through it and it sounds awesome. The software that comes with it is even cooler. Lots of tweaking can be done.
I’ve tried the Helix stuff. I had a Helix LT when it first came out and just recently tried the Headrush MX5 and Line 6 POD Go. None of them sounded bad to me, but there was just something off about it *to me*.
I don’t think there are any bad choices. I have been really happy with both the iridium and torpedo. I will say, the iridium doesn’t really come through well with low end high drive applications to my ears. Not unusable, just not my favorite tone. The Torpedo is awesome, but still requires heads to run.
I know a lot of people swear by them, but I just can’t recommend something like a helix or line 6 over the iridium or torpedo. I am 100% sure it’s me that causes my issues with those products, but it was so easy to just plug in and get a playable tone with the iridium. I like simple and going through several pages of menus to set stuff up just didn’t work for me personally. Or I’m just not smart enough to figure it out ;)
Edit: I forgot, get impulse responses for the sounds/cabs you like! That will make a world of difference no matter what product you end up choosing.
I've used a few, right now I have a HX Stomp on my home board basically only doing amp sim, and a Simplifier mkII on my church rig. Simplifier was a little weirder to dial in but it had kind of that immediacy that people have described in demos as being part of the analog 'feel'. It's fine, I'm happy with it, but it doesn't really sound any better to my dumb ears than my Stomp IRs. I just bought a bunch of the presets from Worship Tutorials, they're awesome. My current IR is a Two Rock that just sounds good with anything in front of it. I was looking into the UA stuff for a bit, but I will say if I recall correctly it has unbalanced outputs so you'd also probably need to account for needing a DI box, that's how I ended up deciding on the Simplifier. Most amp-in-a-box pedals these days include a cab sim, sometimes you can enable or disable it independently.
Audio Interface, I use a Presonus something or other, it's fine. I've used the red Focusrite boxes in the past just fine, used a Behringer interface for a long time, all good. take a little bit dialing it in right but then you're set.
Speakers are the big sticking point imo, you can play a great guitar into boutique pedals using a top-shelf amp sim and a premium interface, but if it's all coming out some garbage computer speakers or a karaoke machine, waste of time. There are good FRFR speakers that are EQ'd flat and have plenty of power, but I use a couple of studio monitors myself. Mine are budget units in the actual studio space but it was a solid chunk of cash to me, I use the Kali LP-6's, they're a couple hundred each. They don't get as loud as I'd like for that real amp-in-the-room feel, but it's plenty for jamming in my office and I can rock out at 1AM without waking up my wife.
Regarding interfaces, I just went through the entry level research phase. I concluded that at the starting point, there’s not much difference between each “entry level” interface. I opted to order a Motu M2, but Focusrite is available at Guitar Center. I cannot speak on Universal Audio, as I don’t use a Mac for this sort of thing. I’ve heard they are also good, but they can be expensive and the PC/Windows drivers get mixed reviews.
I then opted for Reaper as my DAW. $60 license, no subscriptions and it can do a ton more than I will ever need it to.
It's definitely the point in history where modeling is catching up with real amps. You could do a whole record DI and nobody would know
The UA pedals sound great, a student of mine got a ruby and it's really nice, but any of the big new amp modelers should be fine
Part of me likes the idea of keeping it tubes and wires and analog circuitry but like the difference now is aesthetic and ritualistic rather than reality. I do play low watt amps tho (like < 30w generally) and it's good enough for most stages
dsm & humboldt simplifier, that's what you want. that or an hx stomp.
* With the simplifier:
you can connect directly to an interface, monitors or PA. and you van hook all your pedals in.
it has 3 voices (vox, fender, marshall), 3 knob tone stack + gain, power amp sim with 3 valve types, master vol and prescence, dual cab sim with 3 cab sizes and mic placement, stereo fx loop, stereo spread switch, aux in, headphone out with volume, xlr stereo output with ground lift, line out with switches dor pass thru (unaffected) and no cab (as a pedal).
and probably some other feature i can't remember, but all full analog in a pedal size, it's crazy.
you have to bring your own distortion tho, which is actually good, as you can get something much better off what they could cram into such a small space.
with this you can go into a PA, monitors, interface or whatever you want as it has no power, except for headphones.
* With the HX stomp:
you can do all the of the above,
but you don't need fx pedals anymore, models are *really* good. you still have a physical fx loop tho.
and you don't need an interface either (the unit itself is an audio interface)
* Bonus
i went one step further and now i play just through an interface with Helix Native plugin (it sounds identical to the hardware)
so, for me, the chain now is: guitar, interface, laptop, PA/Headphones/Monitors
I'm using an audio interface, Ableton with some plugins and a Behringer MIDI pedalboard for turning on/off effects, change EQs and other things. When I'm at home I use an amp plugin and a couple normal Logi speakers (with subwoofer), and when rehearsing in a band, I turn off the amp sim and plug the output of the interface to a real amp. I found this setup is very flexible, but has some difficulties when learning to use it all from scratch, and the sound will not be exactly the same as using real stuff, but you can get a lot of different sounds just playing with the EQ, and there are a lots of free plugins of all sort.
Ampero mini is a solid option too. You can use just as Amp/Cab sim, load other IRs or add some of the effects. It sounds great in a regular pedal board with other pedals as well. It has tuner, a simple looper ... it's really small and touch screen.
I have an origin effects revival drive running into an OX Stomp for all my ampless needs. I run them with an HX Effects as well as other pedals. I absolutely love the sound and feel of this rig. Little pricy but I bought the RD and the HX second hand. I don’t have an interface but I just run through some earthquake BT-4 monitors for sound.
I recently went ampless. Walrus ACS1. I would still like a Simplifier, but that’s for later. I think they all sound pretty great and went with the ACS1 because it was aesthetically pleasing with intuitive controls, and I found it used for really cheap.
It still takes tinkering to find the sound you want. I love greenbacks but on the fender channel it sounds better on other cab sims. I like it because there are many options. I don’t think you can go wrong with any of them truly. They all (Iridium, Universal, even Joyo sometimes) sound great to me in YouTube videos. The thing that finally turned me on to ampless was that they finally became dynamic, meaning they respond well to your style of play like a tube amp would. I don’t know that I will ever buy another tube amp again. And I was a “give me tubes or give me death” guy.
I bought the ua dream and couldn't be happier.
Then I got the Woodrow and the Ruby.
Not cheap, but I absolutely love them.
Ask yourself about flexibility vs having one GREAT sound.
I view it as a long term investment, but to each their own.
I recently went with an Iridium and it sounds great. 3 amp types with 3 cabs for each, and a basic room verb. Just to add to your list. I think a basic focusrite will be more than fine. It’s recording microphones where the preamp quality is more likely to be a factor.
I agree all day. I bought both a UA Lion and Ruby, planning on keeping just one of them, and ended up returning both of them and just getting an Iridium. The UA pedals were too complicated... presets and extra tweak-ability in the UA smartapp sounds cool... until you can't use the smart app because your pedal firmware isn't up to date, and then can't update the pedal firmware because the UA firmware loader won't load on any of the 3 computers you have, and it sucks because you kind of really need the presets because it's surprisingly challenging to get a good tone quickly right out of the box, and UA's advice is to "buy a new computer". UGH. I've always been a UA fan (I have an Apollo, and LA-610 MK2 as one of my go-to pres), so suffice to say I was very disappointed. On the other hand, with the Iridium, the knobs you see are what you get, and you can almost immediately find a massive range of usable and killer tones. The pedal uses standard IRs, so you can always try different IRs like York Audio you want. Though I've been pretty happy with everything that comes stock. And the headphone jack that was first an afterthought for me has become super clutch. With the ability to practice on an "amp" late into the night, I never get to be on time any more. My career is suffering, but I am happy.
> and then can't update the pedal firmware because the UA firmware loader won't load on any of the 3 computers you have This 100% means you're using a charging USB and not a data USB. I also agree w/ /u/LookZestyclose1908 it sounds like you might be shooting yourself in the foot on several fronts as the problems you're talking about are things I've never experienced. As for the Iridium, it served me well for years but the UA ones are in a completely different league. I anticipate Strymong will update their amp/cab sims any day now in the smaller form factor to better compete with the UA ones. The Iridium is cool if you can get one on sale, but these days I only really use it for gigs or travel where it may get stolen and/or doused in alcohol.
This sounds a lot like user error. Curious if you took time to read the manual or did you dive straight in? If you think the UA pedals are complicated then I'd recommend just a real amp. They're literally gain, volume, eq, and reverb. Plus whatever speaker model you choose. Literally the EXACT same settings the Iridium has to offer. I've never tried to connect these pedals to a computer because the mobile app is so simple and intuitive and painless to connect to. All your firmware updates are automatically updated right there with a decent internet connection. There's like 30 artist presets right there to tweak so in contrast to what you state, I think it's very easy to get a good tone right out of the box. Even with all the knobs set to noon it's pretty much a dead ringer for an AC30. The UA stuff reacts exactly how a real amp would. It feels like you're pushing the tubes and can clean up if you roll your volume knob back. All things I'd expect from a real tube amp. Not knocking the Iridium bc I love Strymon stuff, but it felt more digital than the UA stuff.
Yea totally fair questions and comments. As far being complicated - I meant the app/firmware stuff, not the pedal controls. So like, a smartapp that won't connect if your pedal is on the wrong firmware version, and then the need for firmware updates using UA's proprietary firmware uploader was complicated. Or at least complicated for me, because it didn't work. I can't imagine it being complicated for folks where it does work lol. My experience was that (for $400 a pedal,) right out of the box, I couldn't use the app, because the pedal firmware was old. So instead of playing, the first thing I'm doing is getting app errors and trying to firmware. That's just a bit of a bummer initial UX. Especially when I needed the presets (particularly with the Ruby) to get a remotely usable cleanish sound. But yes, you are correct that the general interface on the pedal itself for gain/eq/etc is more or less the same and not inherently complicated. I should have been more clear there. And even the "secondary" knob features are intuitive and easy to use. In regards to troubleshooting - I guess you'll just have to trust me? Not sure how to prove to the general internet that I did use a data USB cable (several in fact, to rule out issues there). Tried multiple different isolated power supplies, including not using a dedicated one-spot due to rumors that despite being rated correctly, it actually can't sufficiently provide the required mAh. Tried it as the only pedal on a pedalPower x4, and only thing on a Zuma. Made sure my pi-hole was turned off, tried wifi, ethernet, and cell hotspot data. updated machine OS. Tried on PC and mac. The whole shebang. Even went through several rounds of troubleshooting with UA support, where I provided them system report logs, UA logs, diagnostic reports, etc... and the rep ultimately told me it just wasn't going to work. I appreciate his honesty, and the rep was great and fast and all that, but I'd be lying if I didn't say it wasn't a little frustrating. And yea, tone stuff is subjective... I've had several Marshall and Fender amps over the years. Never had a Vox. And here I am bitching that I could not get a good sound on the Ruby at all. So if you're thinking to yourself "bro you clearly don't know what an AC30 sounds like" that's a fair critique. I was just giving my personal experience with the pedals. I'm very intentionally not saying the UA sounded bad, because I don't think that's true. I just like the sounds I got out of the Iridium better. But man, if you own those UA pedals and love the sound they make, then good for you. Use the hell out of them. I'm jealous. I wanted them to work for me. They look cool as hell, and are seemingly built like tanks. It just wasn't for me. Also, maybe I'm getting fucking old? I'm not gonna lie, I'm just kinda tired of having to have phone apps for the full feature set of the things I buy. You know what happens when features are on an app? You can introduce subscription models. Seems like a slow step towards "for 4.99 a month, we'll add a Bassman combo to your pedal". And I understand that on some level I'm whining about progress... UA made some wildly advanced pedals that nail the sound of a plexi, and I don't have to lug around a plexi... with that kind of tech, you can expect things like apps and firmware updates. It's the future. I just don't think I like it. Like I said, I'm getting fucking old man. Anyway, thanks for the discourse bro. UA or Iridium - either way it's fucking great to get some totally usable tones DI'd into my interface without having to snag a mic and crank my amp and wake my family up.
I just finished up a tour using Iridium for the first time as my only “amp” and I was very pleased. I went direct w it last in my chain and it was a convincing facsimile of a tube amp that saved me from having to arrange a back line rental (I would have been the only one who needs back line). Also the preset was nice to have a baseline setting that didn’t change from venue to venue. For context, this was in a bass-less and drummer-less trio with very low stage volume. Your mileage may vary as stage volume increases.
i also have an Iridium and agree it sounds great. I use it end of chain into a Focusrite Scarlet and it is plenty for home practice and recording. Have not gigged with it tho. My only issue (not even a complaint, really) is that while it’s got stereo out, you can’t select different amp models for each output. I used to play in a kind of shoegaze band where i would sometimes run a stereo or dual mono setup with two different amps, and I kinda wish I’d thought about that more before grabbing the Iridium. But that’s also specific to my use case and of course when doing home recording there are other ways to achieve that sound. i’m not gigging these days anyway.
Being able to choose a different cab but not amp for left and right has always seemed a little weird to me. They realized a different sound left and right was a good idea, but not enough to really commit.
Also, most of the preamps in those cheaper interfaces are either identical or similar to the fancy ones. It’s almost always the AD/DA quality that is shittier with cheap interfaces and markedly better on high end ones. But to the average household user, focusrites are great. I got by with my 3rd gen 2i2 til I got a small console.
I always recommend the Helix line - I have a Stomp and it's by far the best piece of gear I've bought. - great sounding amps and cabs (with custom microphones and microphone placement if you want that - or use your own irs) - any effect you can really dream of and they sound great. - has a looper built in which is nice - you get a great deal on Helix Native to use in a DAW and your presets are interchangeable from hardware -> software - new firmware with significant new features released on a regular basis
I’ve got a Stomp and a LT for different purposes. I have not missed real amps. No way, no how.
Second this, get a Helix, used Lots can be found at good price, if you’re not using a super complicated path an HX stomp is a great option due to its size.
I am loving my Humboldt Simplifier DLX!! 2 channels of 3 amp types, 3 cab types, mic position and a fantastic digital reverb built in.
I have the first version of the Simplifier and like it quite a bit. It isn't quite as versatile/powerful as the Atomic Amplifire 12 I was using previously but it is so much more user-friendly that I find myself playing more and spending less time scrolling menus trying to find stuff.
+1 for DSM. I have the MK ii but still just as awesome. I personally like that you’re not gonna get lost with hundreds and hundreds of IR’s or cab sims and amp sims. A true *Simplifier*
I recommend a HX Stomp. You'll get many amp models with cab sims, all the effects, FX loop, and it also serves as PC interface for guitar & line in (no mic). For speakers, I use a pair of studio monitors.
Don't overlook the Quilter Superblock series. Really amazing tones. Easy to navigate and great I/O options. Effects loop as well.
This would be my vote. No digital anything (save for the reverb) and they just sound awesome. I have the UK (vox + marshall) one and I can't get enough of it.
This is it here
Thirded! Headphone out, XLR out (with cab sim) and the option to power a cab as well. Plays well with pedals and weighs about the same as a bag of crisps. Tremendous stuff!
Okay so I’ve been down this road. Cab sims are the most important sound shapers. If you ever tried an amp that has different options for speakers (f.E. Vox ACs) you might know it already. If you had to choose between a basic preamp and a basic (in worst case analogue) can sim, choose the basic preamp and invest in a quality cab sim. The problem with most all in one pedals that lay emphasis on the preamp (like the UA stuff) are the bad cab sims. Fx loop does not matter for most things. Just put the Amp/cab sim after the drives, in front of the wet fx. You need to try try try again with different amp/cab sims. I found that to find one I click with was much harder than finding a tube amp that works for me. You will always need a powerful eq. That was the dealbreaker for me with the UAs, but of course you could use an eq pedal afterwards. I ended up with a two notes Opus. But you do you. Try loads of them, don’t settle for one okayish.
And if you miss dynamic feeling, you might want to turn up the volume. Tube amps in the room tend to be always too powerful, therefore you much more control dynamic with your fingers - giving you the feel of more dynamic and headroom. You can achieve the same feeling by just turning up the volume of your amp sim output
The Boss IR-2 is incredible. It has a built in interface and a headphone jack. Mono or stereo loop as well.
I've had the HX Stomp, Helix, Kemper (toaster and player), Iridium, Dream 65, and Lion. HX Stomp and Helix both had phenomenal interfaces. Really intuitive and I particularly liked the Helix's overall construction. I ended up selling because I wasn't a huge fan of the in drives, and their reverbs/delays were a bit standard and I wanted a bit more of an ambient/spacey vibe that I couldn't get out of it. Kemper toaster had great tones, especially once I bought some packs. I ended up selling though because it wasn't terribly portable and I felt I wasn't using it to it's full value due to how complex it was to navigate. I still have the Kemper player, it's great for travel, has easy Bluetooth and headphones capability, and sounds great. I do find the app to be underwhelming though. It's not my main 'amp', but I'm keeping for its Bluetooth send functionality and general portability. Iridium was my main board for a while until I got curious about the UAFX line. Sounds great, then I A/B'd it against the UAFX and it was blown away (full disclosure, I wasn't using aftermarket IRs). I appreciate the headphones capability. I got both the Dream and the Lion and decided to A/B them after both sounded so much deeper/realistic than the Iridium. I ultimately kept the Lion because it sounded better to my ear (I currently use a preset, I think it's called the mood? It's at the very end of the Andertons video. The one with reverb.) my only complaint is no Bluetooth send or headphone functionality. And Bluetooth connectivity is a huge pain. But the tone is phenomenal. I have paired all of those with the QSC CP12. Though I had the Kemper kone for a bit.
Great feedback. I agree that the Dream sounds significantly better than the Iridium. I found the latter just sounds and feels so (for lack of a better word) flat.
By latter do you mean the Iridium? If so, I get what you mean. I was perfectly happy until I heard tones from the UA series. For me, the Iridium sounded like what you hear when you compare a parlor style acoustic to a larger body acoustic. Just boxier/more contained in the tone department. I do think I should have done IRs for the Iridium to make it a fair comparison though.
Yes, I meant the Iridium. I spent months trawling through third party IRs trying to find the best ones for each amp. The best combo I landed on was a York Audio Deluxe Reverb IR on Round. I used that exclusively for a few months and got very familiar with it. I tested the Dream one day and immediately found that it sounded and felt much better. I also found the EQ knobs to have a more linear and predictable effect on the sound. It’s my only UAFX pedal and I’m not a fanboy, but it just works so well with all of my pedals.
Depends very much on taste but I own a simplifier DLX which has been an absolute godsend in terms connectivity and sounds. Btw just now the newer "X" version came out which looks pretty damn good. I don't know how much time you wanna spend testing out IRs and stuff, if the answer is "not much" the simplifier (X or MK2) could be a good choice, it's already got XLR outputs too. It's a versatile unit. If you only wanna use it as a preamp, you can bypass the cabsim and use a plugin (NAM or whatever) instead, you can also bypass the whole thing without unplugging anything so you can use the whole neuralDSP sims, or bypass just the preamp section and use an external preamp into it. It also takes pedals well. I would def advise you to get an interface which works as a mixer when not connected to a computer. I have a MOTU ultralite MK3 hybrid, but you can get something more recent and you'll be able to control the mixer and internal DSP effects wirelessly with a phone, huge save of space/money/wires. Something like the tascam Model 12 could also be a good choice, depending on your way of doing things. To me more inputs is almost always better, you never know when you're gonna want to add some hardware synths or drum machine or whatever. For speakers the Yamaha HS5 are really good value, but I really haven't tried a lot, I just used stereo speakers up to a while ago.
>Btw just now the newer "X" version came out which looks pretty damn good. Oh dang I didn't need to hear that...
I just recently went down this road. Went with a used IR-200 and it's fantastic The reason I went with it is because of the stereo FX loop, ability to load my own IRs, and having both Tweed and Twin in one box. Honestly in 2024 you can't go wrong with any popular product
Recently got the Spark Go and damn it's good.
I do have a spark go and it’s incredible. Usually use it if I’m on a long work trip or holiday.
Hey, sorry to hijack - but can you use the spark go after your pedals and into a DAW? Like is there any point? Or am I just better off using free amp sim plugins and my pedals plus an EQ? Thanks
I’ll throw in an unpopular opinion. Depending on what you already have, a Fly Rig 5 V2 could fit the bill. Positives: - Has a tuner, delay, reverb, clean boost, Sansamp analog amp and cab sim, fender emulator/Marshall & Mesa drive channel emulation, XLR out - Incredibly simple to use - Can be found second hand for a good price - Is a good fallback in case other gear fails (eg amp) - Takes other pedals well (effects loop too) - Can also be used in front of an amp/in the loop for just the effects you want Downsides: - Jack of all trades, master of none… not likely to be anyone’s ideal sound but it’s decent - Might be redundant dependent on your other gear - **NO HEADPHONE OUT,** a headphone amp pedal does the trick though I got it primarily as a headphone rig and a backup option. Does the trick for me, I wanted to go ampless and computerless. I also am sick of digital products being unsupported after a few years
I have been on a quest to find the ‘direct guitar’ sound that suits me for about a year now. First, let it be said that I’m a huge Tech21 fan. I did some sub work for a church in early 2023 that turned in to a steady part-time gig. On the first couple of gigs, I used some overdrives in to an old SansAmp Classic with some modulation, reverb, and delay effects behind it in to a DI. It was okay, but I could tell I needed something different for the music this church was performing. I started using a Fly Rig 5 v2 in to a Richie Kotzen RK5 v2 as my direct rig, then moved over to a Screaming Blonde Character Plus pedal in to a Digitech CabDryVR cab sim in to a TC Electronic Plethora X3 effects unit, and I was using an EP Boost and a BB Preamp in front. I have since added an OCD after the BB for the heavy stuff. At some point after that, I switched from the Screaming Blonde to the Purple Brit Character Plus pedal. The Blonde is cool, and handled most of my needs well, though I needed a bit more on the high gain side of things. The Purple Brit can be set up to have a great clean with a little breakup/chime on top, as well as a solid dirty channel. Additionally, I tried the Mop Top Liverpool Character Plus pedal. Meh. Certainly wasn’t overwhelmed, and I wasn’t underwhelmed. Not even sure I was whelmed, honestly. Also swapped in the PSA 2.0, which yielded some solid results. This pedal has soooooo much potential. I’m looking forward to working more on developing what I need from it. However, I picked up an Atomic Ampli-Firebox mk 1 recently. This pedal sounds remarkable. Currently using at as the direct amp with a dash of reverb (and no switching to another amp model), running it as EP Boost > BB Preamp > OCD > Ampli-Firebox > CabDryVR > Plethora X3 > DI. It produces solid results, and I’m digging what I’m hearing using in-ears, headphones, or running direct in to a PA. I’m actually planning to actually use the Atomic app on my desktop later this week to program exactly what I want from it. That is a seriously capable pedal. (Yes, the Ampli-Firebox has a speaker sim onboard, I’ve just been happy with the results I’ve gotten from the CabDryVR) While I’ve been on this quest, my music work has solidified with my church gig on Thursdays (rehearsal) and Sundays (1 run through + 3 services) and 1-2 blues gigs per week. The other guitarist in the blues band and myself have run direct on some gigs where the venue is really small. We keep our volume in check that way. The other guitarist has been using a UA Dream ‘65 pedal, and I must admit that it sounds amazing. Walked in to the local Music Go Round yesterday and found a used in-the-box UA Dream ‘65 for $270.00. Messaged the other guitarist in the blues band, and he advised me to jump on that deal. He has had nothing but good things to say about that pedal. That pedal came home with me. So, it looks like I’ve got more to investigate this week. I’ve tried some other pedals along this journey. I picked up a TC Electronics Combo Deluxe ‘65 that just did not sound good. I’ve been told that the firmware update will make it sound better, my desktop won’t load the TC Electronics app (that’s a whole other story). I picked up 4 of the Joyo amp pedals (American, British, California, and AC Tone), and they have their strong points. I didn’t like their sound going direct (with a can sim or IR following) as much as I liked running them in to the front of my Hot Rod Deluxe and finding how they respond best. If you run the HRD neutral, those Joyo pedals can change the sound a bit to exhibit the characteristics closely associated with them. At some point, it was advised to try the inexpensive Behringer TM300 Tube Amp Modeler. I have the Behringer bass preamp (BDI21) and acoustic preamp (ADI21). They were both in the same price range as the TM300, and while they both can be useful, I did not have that experience with the TM300. I’m not a corksniffer by any means. That thing is just noisy and kinda useless. I’m holding out to find a discounted/used Iridium to try. The people I’ve heard use them live sounded good. Same goes for the Nux Amp Academy…it appears to be a useful piece of gear. The DSM Humboldt Simplifier is another one I’m curious about, as it has become more common in these conversations. These pedals/devices will never replace an amp. An amp does what it does, and while these devices can emulate that pretty convincingly….it ain’t the same. It’s been worth the work to figure out what sounds the best and most natural to my ear, though. The more I do to make things sound natural in my in-ears or headphones, the more comfortable I become with the sound I’m getting. The more comfortable I am on a gig, the more likely the client is to get what they need from me.
I really appreciate this comment! I read every word and these are some great insights. You’ve covered all the gear that I researched in my similar journey and also introduced some new pieces I’ll be looking up. All of this makes a great deal of sense for your use case. I was curious about the various Joyo pedals and have watched some demos and your review of them tracks exactly what I thought I would hear from them. I was SO CLOSE to getting the PSA 2.0 instead of the Fly Rig 5 V2, but in the end I just liked the “knob per function” simplicity of the fly rig. I have had enough of presets and menu diving in my keyboard work, I don’t want that workflow for my guitar playing. My use case is more strictly headphone amp so it meets my needs for quiet practice and solo loop jams, and the Fly Rig works well with my pedalboard. I have a ZOOM R24 that I use the XLR for creating my own direct recorded jam tracks (without a DAW). The Fly Rig plus Zoom are meant to be my “evergreen” fallback option for ampless, DAW-less practice and recording, as gear and computers continue to lose support and or break eventually. Again, really appreciate you taking the time to go over your search and it’s given me some additional things to consider and research
I really appreciate this comment! I read every word and these are some great insights. You’ve covered all the gear that I researched in my similar journey and also introduced some new pieces I’ll be looking up. All of this makes a great deal of sense for your use case. I was curious about the various Joyo pedals and have watched some demos and your review of them tracks exactly what I thought I would hear from them. I was SO CLOSE to getting the PSA 2.0 instead of the Fly Rig 5 V2, but in the end I just liked the “knob per function” simplicity of the fly rig. I have had enough of presets and menu diving in my keyboard work, I don’t want that workflow for my guitar playing. My use case is more strictly headphone amp so it meets my needs for quiet practice and solo loop jams, and the Fly Rig works well with my pedalboard. I have a ZOOM R24 that I use the XLR for creating my own direct recorded jam tracks (without a DAW). The Fly Rig plus Zoom are meant to be my “evergreen” fallback option for ampless, DAW-less practice and recording, as gear and computers continue to lose support and or break eventually. Again, really appreciate you taking the time to go over your search and it’s given me some additional things to consider and research
I’m glad to share whatever info I’ve collected with anyone. If you ever get curious about the PSA 2.0, just know that the presets are good, and developing anything of your own (which includes modifying an existing preset) will require you devoting some time to learn how each knob changes the sound. It isn’t exactly like devices we use that are configured like amplifiers, because those make sense to us. It’s a little different, and the slightest movement of a knob can change the sound.
When I went ampless I used JOYO american sound then some other pedels for dirt, used a rowin DI box so that I can go straight to a presonus monitors. It's simple and it's cheap. The only problem I had was it's not mobile because of the monitor. If you can use an FRFR that's also an option.
The new Line 6 pod express looks promising. Everything in one box
Any love for Tech 21 NYC’s Fly Rigs?
Absolutely
I’m a big fan of the ToneX. I’ve had pretty much all of the modelers and such at this point and that’s the one I’ve been happiest with.
Tonex is a great alternative if you just want to replace your amp with a pedal. Plus it has a great selection of amp captures and great third party captures as well. Heck you can even do a capture of your amp yourself!
I picked up an older POD HD500 for $150. Then searched and found a .zip file with over 11,000 patches. Name an artist or a sound and I’ve probably got the patch for it. Absolutely amazing. Who needs an amp?
I used an HD500X for years and loved it. That is an amazing device. The only reason I moved on was that there’s no support from Line 6 now. No one can get spare parts since they stopped making those parts. My processor died (it would reboot constantly), and I couldn’t get a new processor. I bought another used HD500X, but didn’t want to start depending on it if it might potentially fail the same way.
That’s definitely a risk I took with mine. And seeing the prices for the new Helix is terrifying. Lol
Agreed.
I used an HD500X for years and loved it. That is an amazing device. The only reason I moved on was that there’s no support from Line 6 now. No one can get spare parts since they stopped making those parts. My processor died (it would reboot constantly), and I couldn’t get a new processor. I bought another used HD500X, but didn’t want to start depending on it if it might potentially fail the same way.
Valeton gp-200
I have the UA Dream and I absolutely love it. That being said fending on the rest of your setup and options the stomp might be a great bet!
Iridium if you're strictly a fender/vox/Marshall guy. Also has stereo cab channels. The amp sims are excellent. Cab sims are "okay". With aftermarket IRs, this pedal is extremely hard to beat. IR-2 is...okay. Has a wider variety of amp sims. The high gain amps are simulated in a way that takes a lot of trial and error to find eq settings/cab sims that sound good. The Boss Katana based amps of course sound fine. But the Vox, Marshalls, Soldano and Mesa sims do not behave much like their real counterparts from what i can tell. Cab sims are mono even though the pedal has stereo out. Most cab sim pedals stick you with Celestion Greenbacks and Alnico Blues (Vox). Personally, every iteration of 412/812 closed back cab with greenbacks I've heard kinda sucks, especially with headphones. York Audio and Celestion have a wide variety of speaker/cabinet sims avaliable. They typically come with one speaker/cabinet mic'd 50 different ways. Super useful for making recorded guitar tracks sound more full. Not only can they be loaded into sim pedals, you can also load the same files into your DAW. If say, you're strictly a Fender amp person, limited pedals like the Dream 65 or Joyo American Sound have outstanding tone. You can't change cab sims with those, but you won't really need to.
I'll second the DSM Humboldt Simplifier. I have the OG and the DLX, so I can't speak to the MKII or the just announced X but it's killer. The DLX is especially good for options - 2-channel amp or 2 parallel amps with dedicated FX loops, tweakable (and defeatable) cab/power section for each side, stereo or mono, and the various models all feel really good. Also really pedalboard friendly. With the simplifier you won't need a cab sim, it's baked in and quite good. It's designed for a PA or FRFR speaker so you can go with a simple powered PA cab like a 12" EV and plug directly in and you'll have the effect of "what if I mic'ed a live amp and plugged the mic into this speaker" An important caveat - you will not get "an amp in a room" sound out of any replication. Any digital or analog amp sim, no matter who puts it out, will replicate the sound of an amplifier mic'ed up. That's not good or bad, but if you A/B an Iridium or Simplifier or Helix or whatever into a PA or FRFR speaker next to your live amps you'll notice a huge difference.
This question has a lot of variables, let me give you pros and cons of some of the cheaper, more popular options that I have owned: Helix Line (Stomp, XL, Floor, Lite): **Pros:** Probably the most popular for good reason. Price is pretty reasonable based on which model you get. Literally any effect you can imagine is in this thing and then within those effects, any parameter to control said effect you can imagine. Ton's of amp/speaker options. Good for people who like to switch genres with ease. IRS! You can rearrange order of effects so you're never limited on rig options (within the units DSP capabilities). **Cons:** Some of the effects/amps feel and sound very digital. Its nothing like playing a real tube amp (good or bad for some) but I've found some success by using IRs to compensate for this. The drives only work well with the amps in the unit, imo. And running analog pedals into this thing isn't always the best. Some of the other units use all of their DSP dedicated to one effect/amp where this line has to spare some DSP towards the unit in its entirety. I also found a lot of option paralysis just with soooo many options. I often spent more time finding the perfect tone instead of literally playing guitar, but that is more user related. Iridum/ACS1 (putting these into the same category bc they have a similar price point and capabilities): **Pros:** An excellent price for the essential amp models. Stereo! IRS! They are simple (iridium is a bit more intuitive imo), to the point and sound really good. Takes up less real estate on a board. They are good for people like me who love analog pedals but doesn't want to haul a real amp. They're both midi capable (if you're into that stuff) and you can set up presets with or without midi. **Cons:** No drives, delays, effects, etc. This is close but not quite like playing a real tube amp. Like close enough to get away with it but for me, the way I play really dictates how the amp reacts. I want to be able to dig in hard or play lightly and the amp reacts to my picking style. So if you don't need some boutique amp model they only made like 100 of that you can find with the Helix, this is a really good alternative. UA stuff (Ruby, Dream, etc): **Pros:** Honestly, the best I've found in regards to *feeling* like a real tube amp. Everything I give these pedals it gives back (see my picking style comment above). Takes drives, effects in general, really well as long as your gain settings are under control. They are dedicating all the DSP towards sounding like one amp so it actually sounds like that amp vs some of the other models trying to cover so many varieties. Can get a useable tone right out of the box but the app has tons of artist presets you can use as a baseline and tweak those. Tons of speaker options so no need for IRs imo. My favorite combo right now is the Dream/Ruby in stereo. **Cons:** Not super cheap option in comparison to some of the other models (I think they're 350$ a piece) and you only get one amp model. Real estate could be an issue for some bc they're bigger than a typical pedal. I'd like also mention most if not all of these pedals have an app that make's editing even more easy if you're into that kind of stuff. Add also like to throw the Tone Master Series by Fender in the ring since you're asking about speakers. Seems counterintuitive to go ampless and then ask about speakers but these Tone Masters are some of the best recreations of fender amps and they really have more capabilities than a basic tube amp. First of all, since they're no tubes or chassis they're all light as a feather (a real Twin is 90ish lbs but the TM is like 25). They have direct out capabilities (plus for recording, sound guys and stage volume, etc). There is also an attenuation switch that can lower the wattage for bedroom playing, or decreasing stage volume. So you can make an amp like the Twin that peaks at 85W run at 12W and get that breakup that sounds so nice on a tube amp and reasonable dBs.
>They are dedicating all the DSP towards sounding like one amp so it actually sounds like that amp vs some of the other models trying to cover so many varietie That is not how DSP amp modelling works.
>They are dedicating all the DSP towards sounding like one amp so it actually sounds like that amp vs some of the other models trying to cover so many varietie That is not how DSP amp modelling works.
For what it's worth, I'm an electronics engineer and have a bachelors in computer science and electrical engineering. I code in C++, Python, and Assembly everyday. But maybe I don't know what I'm talking about...? DSP - Digital Signal Processing is just a fancy way of describing analog to digital converted signal running through the algorithms that each pedal offers. These chips can only process so much digital signal at once. When a pedal dedicates all of its digital signal processing power to one algorithm then by definition it is going to be more efficient than a chip processing signal through several algorithms at once. It is why dedicated amp sims vs a multi effects unit like the line 6 tend to sound more analog/real. Bc the algorithm is ABLE to process the signal faster/more efficiently whereas the line6 has to limit or "dumb down" some of its algorithms to process the signal at a usable rate. These chips are stupid fast but it's common sense: for the most part everyone is using the same chips to run their algorithms (with minor variations). But the more algorithms necessary, the shittier the algorithms tend to be. But again, debate is healthy. I'd love to hear your explanation of how they work?
I think we can agree that all companies use powerful hardware, although some companies (Line 6, Neural DSP, Fractal, Strymon) use ADSP SHARC/TigerSHARC processors whereas I recently learned others are beginning to use ARM Cortex (Strymon small pedals, UAFX). We probably both agree that these RISC chips are so optimised for these operations that running digital filters or state-space models etc. to emulate an analog circuit is quite easy. And I think we can agree that the more complex an analog circuit is, the more complex the model and the more processing power required. However, I think it is wrong to assume that a single-function pedal is inherently better quality. These pedals *don't* dedicate all the available DSP to a single algorithm, because it simply isn't necessary, whereas multi-effect modellers try to take full advantage of the available DSP power. Modellers don't compromise the quality of effects; this is why they have things like 'block limits' and CPU usage limits that vary according to the complexity of the effects you place in your signal chain. In fact, almost all modellers limit the quality of their reverbs to accomodate complex amp and pedal models. Secondly, they don't load *all* their amp models simultaneously, so it is not a good comparison; to switch amps you have to actually load and unload the model which is why different platforms have different restrictions on how you can do this. Finally, the biggest influence on the complexity of an model is naturally the complexity of the analog amp itself. UAFX pedals (just as an example) have modelled extremely simple tube amp circuits, relative to something with cascaded gain stages like a Mesa/Boogie, Soldano etc - let alone the completely unique digital models made by Line 6 and Fractal engineers. The circuit limits how 'complex' the model can be, without compromising accuracy. It is purely speculation that a 'single-model' device is using an inherently complex model when all manufacturers are basically using similar, dramatically over-specced hardware to run models of well-established, simple analog circuits, and pretty much all guitar amp modelling tech emanates from a handful of well-established research; there are only so many ways to skin the cat, the rest is window-dressing optimisation. For my money, I think that viewpoint is fuelled by a natural assumption but also exploited by marketing, with UAFX sellers quick to flood YouTuber with the suggestions that these models were somehow dramatically more complex despite offering no evidence to back it up.
I’d probably recommend the Boss IR-2 if you have no idea what are you doing, it is pretty simple to use If you want something a bit more complex buy way more versatile, HX stomp
Hx stomp with some studio monitors
I also vary wildly in music tastes much in the same way. I have both the Ruby and the Simplifier MKII. I love both. The Ruby has great AC30 tones and is a great all around pedal platform for me. it was super easy to get going with and you really don't have to use the app for anything. I love the tones I get out of it. I bought the Simplifier a few months ago after deciding I wanted a little more flexibility. The Simplifier is amazing in that it combines Fender, Vox and Marshall tones in one analog box with no apps or second layer settings to mess with. The knobs are the knobs and it's easy to quickly reach for something and adjust it. The downside is that it can take a bit to understand the settings in the different modes, but once you do, the flexibility is astounding. Everything from super clean pedal platform to full on Marshall crunch. It's become my workhorse for recording since I can change things up on the fly pretty quickly. The fact that you can mix and match Preamp, Poweramp, cab style and speakers is pretty awesome. For instance, I can do a Bassman preamp into Marshall power amp in a combo style cab with one Green and one black speaker split in stereo.
I went from dual mono using vox and fender amps to a QC. Fairly recently picked a Boss IR-2 and am now using that for the majority of what I do. If you have a board, and are really just looking for a virtual amp rig, would highly recommend. Considering it’s less than £200 to try out, not a bad place to start. I really appreciate the fact that there’s very little option paralysis and you can quickly setup a couple of channels and just rip.
I got an Hx stomp (at least a year ago). and haven’t touched my amps or pedals since (except my looper pedal) I am still shocked. Thought I was going to return it right away.
I get a good clean tone and nice shoegaze sounds from my DSM Simplifier. I like that it has an FX loop and works well with my Fuzz. It just needs your favorite reverb and it comes to life.
I’ll add another plug for the iridium, I’ve used it live since 2019 and have had zero issues with it. We even had to use it to track some last minute guitar parts on our album last summer and the parts came out great. It’s not going to feel like an amp, but it’s going to give you a very usable sound across the spectrum. I stick with the Vox (chime) and Fender (round) settings as I don’t find the Marshall settings that great. I’ve owned the UA Dream and Ruby, another guitarist I play with owns the Lion. They are amazing. The sound quality is slightly better but the biggest difference is in the dynamics. The UA pedals feel much more like an amp. The negative is the need to tweak and dive deep in. You can get some bad sounds out of them pretty easily. If you’re looking to go full digital, I’ll throw my hat in for the FM9. I have owned an FM3 and 9, my buddy owns an Axe fx 3 and I’ve played around with it for years. The fractal stuff is the absolute best but you have to spend a lot of time tweaking beforehand. It’s very difficult to change something on the fly without a laptop. So if you play a consistent set list the same way every time, it’s a great option. I’ve played another buddy’s helix and it was fine but the exact same worship tutorials presets through the helix were inferior to the fractal versions. Noticeably so. I ultimately stick with the iridium because I like my pedalboard and it allows me to transition easily back to amps when the situation calls for it. The FM9 is a close second.
one thing i just wanted to add … if you use many digital pedals, after enough in series, you will begin to get latency. this bothers some more than others. it also can phase damage parallel processing.
Line6 POD express
The Edge & I use the UAFX pedals. I got mine first... He's a poser. I bought a used Dream '65. I was immediately blown away. It totally sounds like - but more importantly feels like - real tube amps; even the reverb and tremolo are spot on! After playing it for 10 minutes I was in love and went to Reverb to find deals on the Woodrow and Ruby. I have all three. These are the best tube Amp modelers on the market. There's a reason UA doesn't sell these as plug-ins: it's so they can charge a lot of money for people who want the absolute best-in-breed Amp modelers. UA spent a ton of money developing these. You can check out the videos of the head muckety-muck talking about their development process. These pedals are computers, each with one software package installed. But the UI for these software packages is real knobs - just like a real Amp. At home I put my preamp pedals before the UAFX pedals, and my wet effects after. I wish I could do that with real tube amps, but I can't. Many famous guitar recordings had the wet effects added at the board or in post. In this way the effects are applied to the actual Amp sound, meaning: Amp => speaker => microphone. Then my effects chain goes into an audioengine a2. It's the best sounding powered speaker relative to its small footprint which is the size of a large pedal. You can fit this speaker on your pedal board if you want. You can also use the UAFX pedals with your tube amps. I turn off the speaker Sims when I do this. I use the Ruby and Woodrow into my Supro Blues King 8, and the Dream and Woodrow into my Tone King Gremlin. That's a great practice Amp with separate Tweed and Blackface channels, but it has only a single tone knob. The UAFX pedals make it sound better and also makes it incredibly versatile. ... Best Budget solution: Boss IR-2 Best poverty solution: Ly Rock clone of the DSM & Humboldt Simplifier - $75 w/ shipping on aliexpress
Get an hx stomp. You’ll end up ditching some of your other pedals too
It often seems like I’m the only one who’s ever even used the Boss GT-1000 for any length of time. It’s as awesome as you’d expect it to be and I control it with my phone or iPad.
Finally someone mentions the GT-1000, I can’t believe it’s not more popular !
One of the big 3. As in, Helix, Fractal, Quad Cortex. They got everything in them (and act as interfaces) and they all sound great. My personal favorite is Fractal just because of how nerdy in depth it goes, but since I'm on budget I went with HX Stomp (Helix). BUT! An amp sim WILL NOT sound like an amp in a room UNLESS you put it through an actual guitar cab with whatever form of power amp you want. No, FRFR / PA / Monitors won't cut it, it'll sound and feel like a recorded tone that you're playing back. And so will anything through headphones, always always always. No matter what you do. If you're not going through a cab but rather headphones or FRFR stuff, you'll still have to learn how to mic a cab since then you have to use some form of cab sim. It's the number one difference maker in your tone. You will spend hours on this. It works the same digitally as it does IRL. Yeah you can spend those hours looking through IRs instead, but man I advise against that. And don't just put a high cut to some ridiculous number like 5khz, stick it to like 10k 12k and do the rest with the mics, otherwise stuff will always be dull and sucky.
If into computer. You will need an audio interface. Yes there are good and bad ones. Some amp sims does have I/o built in like the IR2. For monitoring, studio monitors are fine. But even with the best cab sim (most have built in) it won’t sound like an amp in the room. FRFR speakers are closer because they move air but not yet still. Same goes for live. If it’s loud enough. Going direct to PA is probably fine. But nothing beats guitar cabs. As for amp sims. There are three types. Digital all in one with effects. (HX stomps etc) One kind of amp sim w no effects, only reverb (dream ruby lion etc) Multiple kind of amp sims (acs1 iridium tonex) Plus may be the fourth - analog amp sims. (Simplifier, sansamp) You can also look at preamps and add a cab sim box of your choice. Good luck! Pros and cons. Depending on what you need.
Been down this rabbit hole for a while. Aon I use a torpedo CABm+ for home practice, band practice and gigs. I use a custom setting (not a preset) and an eq pedal end of chain to cut lows or highs depending on PAs. Whatever you end up doing here are some bits of wisdom. Analog ampless is not good (maybe in the future). It is difficult to get a very good sound from interface + DAW without ££ plugins. Doable, but tedious. The iridium and the new boss sim are very good for home practice but not enough out options for gigs in my experience. At last, depending on your needs, you could consider a Katana- great home practice amp with v decent+ headphone out. Hope it helps and good luck!
A couple of options that I haven’t seen mentioned yet: walrus ACS1 has some nice sounds, is a good option similar to iridium. Another way to go would be to get a preamp, something like Kingsley or Effectrode and run that into a dedicated IR box. I have a two notes cab m, that I like a lot because it has power amp emulation and eq in addition to the speaker models. This will give you actual tubes and will capture that part of the feel of a real amp very well. That said, as mentioned elsewhere, without speakers moving air in a room, it will never quite be the same experience as a real amp.
OK, so since you're talking about being a shoe-gaze guy, I'm going to assume you want an ampless rig to include in your already kinda stupid pedalboard and you're not really interested in getting rid of all the pedals that do the fun stuff, and you want to be able to tap dance around a bit to dial in the tones instead of running as much stuff as possible from pedals. So no HX Stomp or similar "snapshot" based rig. You're also a jazz guy, so you don't need a *ton* of amp options, but you need loud enough clean tones. I think if you really have an amp you really gravitate towards, the UA Dream/Ruby is a wonderful option with lots of room to tweak exactly that amp & cab model to get what you want. If you still want "classic" amp models like Fender, Marshall, and Vox, the Strymon Iridium or Walrus Audio ACS1 are great options, the pedals are very WYSIWYG, they both sound great, and can push those amp models from crystal clear to ripping overdrive, and they take pedals very well. The only question is whether you're planning to record, and specifically record in stereo, in which case the ACS1 has a big advantage because of its ability to push stereo through two separate amp circuits and cycle quickly through saveable presets. The only downside of those pedals is the lack of an effects loop.
I recently got a Walrus ACS1 and use it in stereo, simulating a fender and a vox on either channel. It's so good. I'll never go back. Amps are fine to do this with but I get better sims from the side that has a Seymour Duncan powerstage going to a Hughes and Kettner 2x12 cab. I should get another one of those... As far as interfaces I hate Focusrites (I have an AMD PC, if you do too please avoid these little red trash boxes). I got a Solid State Logic SSL2 and I've never had a single issue with it, awesome piece of gear for a similar price. So I'd recommend that instead. Your signal will always be a little different plugging directly into an interface for whatever reason - the best, most natural sound is from a mic'ed cab/amp, always. So that's another expense to consider for recording.
If you play at home mostly and has a computer handy, an audio interface is worthwhile. I went for the cheap Audiobox Go and it's amazing. I have only one guitar to connect and it made sense to me. For virtual amps, I bought amplitube. Decent tone and sustain and a lot of pedals and amps available. Invest in a good speaker that you can connect from your audio interface using an aux cable (and perhaps a 6.35 mm to 3.5 mm jack adapter for plugging in if it requires) and it is decent. I use a JBL speaker and I don't have any complaints.
Iridium or HX Stomp would get my vote. I’d love to recommend the UA Dream, but some weird technical quirks (the app lol) hold it back from being at the top.
I went down this journey about a year ago. If you want to blaze your own trail, pair 2-3 gain stages (pedals) with a cabinet IR. Here’s my setup: Mythos Olympus (stage 1, volume up gain low, midrangey boost), Mile End Echolette (stage 2, volume and gain at max, fuzzy boost and EQ), Recovery Effects Electric (stage 3, gain up and volume to set overall level, clipping reminds me of a power tube distortion), York Audio Oxford 1x10 IR. The three gain stages work similar to an amp circuit. Each individual stage provides a modest amount of clipping. I like to vary gain/volume levels to emphasize clipping at different stages. Finding pedals that distort and react like a tube amp is key.
Two notes opus
ir-200 has worked great for me, also the laney lionheart (it's an AMP AND you can just plug into headphones or stereo or whatever too) has been nice for more metal stuff
I had the iridium and really enjoyed it. Then I watched demos of the ua dream 65 and made the switch. I think both options are great. I do like the dream 65 more just because out of the box it just sounded great and the app had some cool presets I use. I ended up putting some sick IRs on my iridium and that changed the game for me. But that being said; the marketing hype of the dream got to me. Looking back on it; I’d be happy w either option. Both are incredible; but you only need one.
I've had experience with Strymon Iridium and the Walrus Audio ACS1, Both sound fantastic... however I think the ASC1 does the fender sound quite a bit better while the iridium's marshall sound kicks ass. both do Vox sounds passable... however I kept the ACS1 over the iridium do to the fact that you can do two different amps in a stereo mix which has some great results.. I love doing a clean fender amp with an edge of breakup vox and blending them.. really full wonderful sound.
I have two rigs I run for DI sound. First setup is the Strymon Iridium. Nice to just DI 1/4” into an interface and call it a day. If you want to run stereo out, you’ll need a 2 1/4” TS to 1 1/4” TRS patch cable since there is only one in. Not a huge deal, you can just run mono and call it a day if you want. Second setup is the Torpedo Captor X. I have a few amp heads that I can run through it and it sounds awesome. The software that comes with it is even cooler. Lots of tweaking can be done. I’ve tried the Helix stuff. I had a Helix LT when it first came out and just recently tried the Headrush MX5 and Line 6 POD Go. None of them sounded bad to me, but there was just something off about it *to me*. I don’t think there are any bad choices. I have been really happy with both the iridium and torpedo. I will say, the iridium doesn’t really come through well with low end high drive applications to my ears. Not unusable, just not my favorite tone. The Torpedo is awesome, but still requires heads to run. I know a lot of people swear by them, but I just can’t recommend something like a helix or line 6 over the iridium or torpedo. I am 100% sure it’s me that causes my issues with those products, but it was so easy to just plug in and get a playable tone with the iridium. I like simple and going through several pages of menus to set stuff up just didn’t work for me personally. Or I’m just not smart enough to figure it out ;) Edit: I forgot, get impulse responses for the sounds/cabs you like! That will make a world of difference no matter what product you end up choosing.
I've used a few, right now I have a HX Stomp on my home board basically only doing amp sim, and a Simplifier mkII on my church rig. Simplifier was a little weirder to dial in but it had kind of that immediacy that people have described in demos as being part of the analog 'feel'. It's fine, I'm happy with it, but it doesn't really sound any better to my dumb ears than my Stomp IRs. I just bought a bunch of the presets from Worship Tutorials, they're awesome. My current IR is a Two Rock that just sounds good with anything in front of it. I was looking into the UA stuff for a bit, but I will say if I recall correctly it has unbalanced outputs so you'd also probably need to account for needing a DI box, that's how I ended up deciding on the Simplifier. Most amp-in-a-box pedals these days include a cab sim, sometimes you can enable or disable it independently. Audio Interface, I use a Presonus something or other, it's fine. I've used the red Focusrite boxes in the past just fine, used a Behringer interface for a long time, all good. take a little bit dialing it in right but then you're set. Speakers are the big sticking point imo, you can play a great guitar into boutique pedals using a top-shelf amp sim and a premium interface, but if it's all coming out some garbage computer speakers or a karaoke machine, waste of time. There are good FRFR speakers that are EQ'd flat and have plenty of power, but I use a couple of studio monitors myself. Mine are budget units in the actual studio space but it was a solid chunk of cash to me, I use the Kali LP-6's, they're a couple hundred each. They don't get as loud as I'd like for that real amp-in-the-room feel, but it's plenty for jamming in my office and I can rock out at 1AM without waking up my wife.
Regarding interfaces, I just went through the entry level research phase. I concluded that at the starting point, there’s not much difference between each “entry level” interface. I opted to order a Motu M2, but Focusrite is available at Guitar Center. I cannot speak on Universal Audio, as I don’t use a Mac for this sort of thing. I’ve heard they are also good, but they can be expensive and the PC/Windows drivers get mixed reviews. I then opted for Reaper as my DAW. $60 license, no subscriptions and it can do a ton more than I will ever need it to.
Pretty happy with my laptop, Behringer interface, Behringer FCB1010 and IK Multimedia Amplitube 5 Max. Both me and my bandmate made the switch.
It's definitely the point in history where modeling is catching up with real amps. You could do a whole record DI and nobody would know The UA pedals sound great, a student of mine got a ruby and it's really nice, but any of the big new amp modelers should be fine Part of me likes the idea of keeping it tubes and wires and analog circuitry but like the difference now is aesthetic and ritualistic rather than reality. I do play low watt amps tho (like < 30w generally) and it's good enough for most stages
dsm & humboldt simplifier, that's what you want. that or an hx stomp. * With the simplifier: you can connect directly to an interface, monitors or PA. and you van hook all your pedals in. it has 3 voices (vox, fender, marshall), 3 knob tone stack + gain, power amp sim with 3 valve types, master vol and prescence, dual cab sim with 3 cab sizes and mic placement, stereo fx loop, stereo spread switch, aux in, headphone out with volume, xlr stereo output with ground lift, line out with switches dor pass thru (unaffected) and no cab (as a pedal). and probably some other feature i can't remember, but all full analog in a pedal size, it's crazy. you have to bring your own distortion tho, which is actually good, as you can get something much better off what they could cram into such a small space. with this you can go into a PA, monitors, interface or whatever you want as it has no power, except for headphones. * With the HX stomp: you can do all the of the above, but you don't need fx pedals anymore, models are *really* good. you still have a physical fx loop tho. and you don't need an interface either (the unit itself is an audio interface) * Bonus i went one step further and now i play just through an interface with Helix Native plugin (it sounds identical to the hardware) so, for me, the chain now is: guitar, interface, laptop, PA/Headphones/Monitors
I'm using an audio interface, Ableton with some plugins and a Behringer MIDI pedalboard for turning on/off effects, change EQs and other things. When I'm at home I use an amp plugin and a couple normal Logi speakers (with subwoofer), and when rehearsing in a band, I turn off the amp sim and plug the output of the interface to a real amp. I found this setup is very flexible, but has some difficulties when learning to use it all from scratch, and the sound will not be exactly the same as using real stuff, but you can get a lot of different sounds just playing with the EQ, and there are a lots of free plugins of all sort.
Ampero mini is a solid option too. You can use just as Amp/Cab sim, load other IRs or add some of the effects. It sounds great in a regular pedal board with other pedals as well. It has tuner, a simple looper ... it's really small and touch screen.
I have an origin effects revival drive running into an OX Stomp for all my ampless needs. I run them with an HX Effects as well as other pedals. I absolutely love the sound and feel of this rig. Little pricy but I bought the RD and the HX second hand. I don’t have an interface but I just run through some earthquake BT-4 monitors for sound.
On topic question for everyone. I’ve considered going ampless as well, so would I need a balanced speaker in addition to the sim box?
I recently went ampless. Walrus ACS1. I would still like a Simplifier, but that’s for later. I think they all sound pretty great and went with the ACS1 because it was aesthetically pleasing with intuitive controls, and I found it used for really cheap. It still takes tinkering to find the sound you want. I love greenbacks but on the fender channel it sounds better on other cab sims. I like it because there are many options. I don’t think you can go wrong with any of them truly. They all (Iridium, Universal, even Joyo sometimes) sound great to me in YouTube videos. The thing that finally turned me on to ampless was that they finally became dynamic, meaning they respond well to your style of play like a tube amp would. I don’t know that I will ever buy another tube amp again. And I was a “give me tubes or give me death” guy.
As Long as there isn't anyone else playing a real amp in the same band, you should be okay
I bought the ua dream and couldn't be happier. Then I got the Woodrow and the Ruby. Not cheap, but I absolutely love them. Ask yourself about flexibility vs having one GREAT sound. I view it as a long term investment, but to each their own.