VG-99 still my go-to for cover band stuff, too

Started by mooncaine, March 13, 2017, 10:00:49 PM

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mooncaine

Like Alex says, the VG-99's pretty nice to take out. I've been using it all year with random signup jams, doing cover tunes, and it's way easy to deal with. As I work on this week's Bowie set, I realize again how nice it is to just have one do-everything guitar kit... and the ability to edit patches on the computer, without needing the VG-99 to be attached and powered up.

Quote from: alexmcginness on March 13, 2017, 09:22:01 AMThis is why the VG-99 is such a quick setup for live playing. Its at waist height and you dont have to run thru menus to tweak it and even the menus you do have to go thru have dedicated buttons to access them quickly. You can assign perimeters that need tweaking to the F Knobs and do it on the fly, without having to look like a fitness instructor, bending over all the time and then standing up again.

Smash

Totally agree. I'm just mid patch programming for a new band. Got a killer Bonamassa lead and wicked semi clean strat with auto rotary'd Hammond for Clapton's I shot the Sheriff - sounds awesome through the Center Point Stereo with sub woofer. got a similar patch for Kula Shakers Hush but with dirty les Paul and positively screaming Hammond lol! Also fine tuned my talk box patch for Rocky Mountain Way - still not 100% happy with it though.

I've spent so much time recently doing synth pad combo tones that I'd totally forgotten just how good the VG99 can be at bread and butter stuff - as long as you remember Bill Rupert's tip of putting a compressor (or in my case I prefer the limiter with zero release time) straight after the amp models it sounds really organic.

alexmcginness

Quote from: Smash on March 14, 2017, 02:06:35 AM
as long as you remember Bill Rupert's tip of putting a compressor (or in my case I prefer the limiter with zero release time) straight after the amp models it sounds really organic.

I missed that tip. What settings do you use for the comp or limiter? So its 0 release on the limiter, what setting for the threshold? In the comp i imagine the sustian would be set at 0? and the attack?
  I know about Bills EQ tip that you do a high cut to lop off the fizz, but the comp thing is new for me. Any settings advice would be helpfull. Thanks.
VG-88V2, GR-50, GR-55, 4 X VG-99s,2 X FC-300,  2 X GP-10 AXON AX 100 MKII, FISHMAN TRIPLE PLAY,MIDX-10, MIDX-20, AVID 11 RACK, BEHRINGER FCB 1010, LIVID GUITAR WING, ROLAND US-20, 3 X GUYATONE TO-2. MARSHALL BLUESBREAKER, SERBIAN ELIMINATOR AMP. GR-33.

mooncaine

Would like to know more about your limiter after the amp trick. I've been slotting the Adv Comp after amps for a while now, on some bread&butter rock guitar patches, but not sure about settings on comps or limiters. I sure do get a lot handling noise when I use comps or limiters. Scrape, plonk, scritch.

Smash

#4
The idea of zero release on the limiter is like the kind of setting you'd use for mastering. I guess in my head I think of amps golden tone zone as being when it's being driven hard and the speakers get momentarily to the limit of their mechanical excursion - essentially it's a form of limiting, clipping the peaks sort of thing. Even before that they have a sort of soft knee compression due to the mechanics of the cone and rim. And valve power amps have always felt like they a sort of punch you can mimic to some degree with compression/limiting.

Anyway I favour the Rack 160D or Vintage rack Mod block limiters - for some reason the Boss model doesn't do it for me. Only thing I do is dial down the release, add some attack (I like to hear it's effect more) and then maybe tweak the threshold so I get something I like. It's subtle but can really help warm up an amp tone. So starting point = zero release, a bit of attack and default for the rest.

Don't forget the master volume of the amp model will have a big effect on what's happening as it will drive the limiter harder - before tweaking the threshold try maxing out the amp volume in combination to really hear the effect then back off.

alexmcginness

VG-88V2, GR-50, GR-55, 4 X VG-99s,2 X FC-300,  2 X GP-10 AXON AX 100 MKII, FISHMAN TRIPLE PLAY,MIDX-10, MIDX-20, AVID 11 RACK, BEHRINGER FCB 1010, LIVID GUITAR WING, ROLAND US-20, 3 X GUYATONE TO-2. MARSHALL BLUESBREAKER, SERBIAN ELIMINATOR AMP. GR-33.

Smash

Not me - Bill Rupert!

how much warmer and fuller does your amp sim sound? ;)

alexmcginness

It was pretty warm before but the amp compression wasnt there. It is now. It was very linear before now its like a real amps dynamics/soft knee response. I can dig in and its more level on the hard picked/strummed notes. That along with the EQ low and high pass filters you can get a very realistic natural sounding amp happening. Thanks again to you and the Mighty Bill.
VG-88V2, GR-50, GR-55, 4 X VG-99s,2 X FC-300,  2 X GP-10 AXON AX 100 MKII, FISHMAN TRIPLE PLAY,MIDX-10, MIDX-20, AVID 11 RACK, BEHRINGER FCB 1010, LIVID GUITAR WING, ROLAND US-20, 3 X GUYATONE TO-2. MARSHALL BLUESBREAKER, SERBIAN ELIMINATOR AMP. GR-33.