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Amplitube 3 for live use?


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Hello,

Could you use amplitube 3 for live use? I just find carrying a tube amp in 2013 a stupid idea, so wouldn't amplitube 3 be better? The setup would be:

 

Guitar > iRig HD > Macbook Air > PA

This seems a lot better and more reliable than

Guitar > Pedals > Amp > Mic > Post amp effects > PA

 

It would mean no wasting time on micing an amp up, no wasting time setting pedals up, no need to tap dance around pedals, no need to bring several tube amps such as a fender amp for cleans and an orange for OD, no damaging your back, always a consistant sound, and no feedback - crystal clear!

 

Isn't bringing a tube amp to a gig like bringing an acoustic piano to a gig?

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IMO no, tube amps are very reliable (almost bullet proof) if they are properly maintained and they have a lot of forgiveness even when they aren't very well maintained. I haven't played with Amplitude specifically but any of the electronic emmulators I have tried don't quite get the sound right, maybe A3 is better in this regard. I have been running tube & tube hybrid bass and guitar amps for over 35 years now and have never had one die, even when I was young and stupid on the maintenance end.

 

There is also something to be said for appearances on stage, hard to get a rocking or metal feel with no Marshall (etc) cabs on stage. For recording I have been using a Two Notes Torpedo VB 101 and I love it, I have a gig over the August long weekend where I am doing rhythym instead of bass and will be packing it along; really looking forward to being able to get a cranked amp sound with a low stage volume. It does a very good job emulating different cabinets while still running any of my heads.

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agedhorse wrote:

 

Stupid bringing an acoustic piano to a gig??? 5 gigs this year that used an acoustic piano. All 5 sold out. Why is this stupid? IMO, an acoustic piano (in this case mostly 7' grands) made sense to the performers.

 

I believe the OP was probably referring to bar gigs, where trying to bring a 7' grand would indeed be stupid.

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Could you use Amplitube live? Sure. Lots of people use various forms of emulation systems live. However, it is not as simple and trouble free as you may think. The biggest pitfall I've seen is that presets are not created with a live PA in mind. As anyone that has who's into recording knows: just because it sounds good live, it doesn't mean it will sound good when recorded. Well the same is true here. Just because it sounds good through your headphones or studio monitors, doesn't mean it will sound good through the PA. If you are going to use this live, do yourself a favor and work out your tones with a PA. I cannot emphasize this point enough.

Next, you suggest using a Macbook Air with an iRig. I have no experience with the iRig so I don't know how robust it is, but I do use a Macbook Pro in my live rig (DMX control, interface to my mixer, music source between sets). In general, I find the Macs to be pretty consistent. However, the headphone output is not the highest quality audio, and the jack is not what I would call road-worthy. If you gig a lot, be prepaired for problems. Have a backup plan ready and waiting (i.e. a duplicate rig). The Firewire output is far better in terms of audio quality, but this is wraught with other problems including the reliabilty of connection. Additionally, I have found problems with some of Apple's pushed operating system updates, including one that disabled the Firewire, and another that made it unstable. I got my rig stable a couple of years ago, and haven't allowed an update since. This is part of the reason why all-in-one emulators continue to be so popular (such as the Line6 HD500).

In addition to all of this, you are now putting your interaction with your sound 100% into the hands of the soundman. This can be both a blessing and a curse. Without you bringing a personal monitor, you will be relying on the soundman's monitor mix completely. I have come across a lot of soundmen that won't put a guitar in the monitors (some people are control freaks). Or, if there is only 1 or 2 monitor mixes available, this means that the rest of the band will be forced into hearing the guitar up front, or you will have to compromize and hope you can hear your details with the vocals up front. And this isn't even mentioning the guys with POS monitors that will wring your tone out like a wet towel leaving you having to perform with screaching cats screaming back at you instead of your lush new tone.

I am only highlighting some of the issues with using computer-based rigs. None of this is insurmountable, but it does represent some risk and shows that it is not as simple as some may think, and is definately NOT more reliable than using a system specifically designed for the abuse that live performance presents.

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I'll second and add to Mutha Goose.   Emulators PODS and the like can sound good live but you have to

get them set up through the PA at PA volume ahead of time.   Now onto recording,  micing amps is a pain

and its hard to get a good sound in my opinion.  But I can throw Guitar Rig 3 onto recordings and it sounds

FANTASTIC,  if you just stand and play it through some speakers as an amp simulator frankly it sounds like

****.  But recorded...............excellent.

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It would mean no wasting time on micing an amp up, no wasting time setting pedals up, no need to tap dance around pedals, no need to bring several tube amps such as a fender amp for cleans and an orange for OD, no damaging your back, always a consistant sound, and no feedback - crystal clear!

 

I'll be one of the few voices in your favor.

I gig in NYC, and I don't use amps anymore.  I used to use amps, but holy ****, they're too heavy for public transport, too loud, and the stage mix is horrible.

But, I would never run my guitar through a computer for live use, for one reason: LATENCY.  Latency seems to creep up at the weirdest times, along with random crashes, bugs, etc.

So, get some sort of amp modeler with an XLR output and run direct to the PA.  Or do what I do:

Guitar > effects pedals > Behringer Ultra-G DI (which has a speaker emulator) > house PA

The tone is great, the levels are far easier for the PA guy to mix, and there's no battling on stage for levels.

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+1 for using a modeler... or at least for having a modeler as a backup when the computer setup fails (and it WILL fail mid-gig at some point).

I wish I could recommend a modeler, but at this point I really have no idea what to tell you to use. A year ago I would have told you to pick up a used POD XT Live (for guitar or bass) as they are both very good and can be had relatively cheaply now that the HD stuff is out and Line6 are pushing guitar and bass players into using the same units. The HD stuff that I've heard is very very good, but bang for buck I'd personally be more inclined to buy a couple XT Lives and have one as a backup.

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