considering switching to a digital pre amp

[cgibsong002]

Got an engl e530 with a rocktron power amp right now. Now that I'm gigging live, I'm considering switching to digital to make things simpler and ditch my pedal board. I can't spend money.. aka I'm looking for something I can get used for the price I can sell the engl. I know the eleven rack is in the range..and some pod stuff as well.

 

What do you guys think? Are there others in the price range? What would you recommend? I'm playing heavy metal and use more or less NO effects. All I need is a good metal tone, ability for PLENTY of actual boost for solos, and that's basically about it.

[manvspig]

are you trying to get rid of using speakers and just going straight into the pa? the pod hd probably would be satisfactory but your tone would suffer. if you aren't trying to get rid of the speakers set up look into the peavey vypyr 120 watt combo. i had one and the tone was pretty good. though i haven't heard it sense i got my 6505+ so i have no retrospect view to the tone haha. you store 4 channels on 3 different banks so you could make 2 identical ones with 1 louder and theres your volume boost. it has effects on it although you said you don't need em.

[HKSblade2]

GSP1101 is another good option.

[DeadNight Warrior]

 

What are not happy about with your current set up? Are you not happy with the actual sound?

If you don't use any effects, I'm not really sure what you'd have on your pedal board other than the ENGL's switch and maybe a booster. Going digital wouldn't mean you'd have no pedals out there, coz you'd still need something to be able to switch things. You could run a tiny MIDI Mouse or something to just go back and forth between a rhythm and lead patch, but it doesn't seem like a great deal simpler than what I imagine to be an already rather simple pedalboard.

I certainly don't have anything against digital. I run an Axe-FX Ultra for all my sounds, powered by a SS Matrix power amp. But I went that way, downsizing from have 14 spaces (or something... don't really recall anymore) of heavy rack gear, with various other amps, cabs, FX, etc. etc. I'm not huge on FX either, but I do occasionally have to bust out pitch, delay, different boosts, etc., and I do like to play with different sounds outside of the band, so something like the Axe-FX for me makes sense there.

 

But if all I wanted was a heavy sound and a boost for leads, unless your ENGL isn't doing it for you sound-wise, I'd probably just run that with a boost out front. If you don't like the sound of the ENGL, then yeah I can understand wanting to change. In which case certainly consider the digital options around, but for your fairly no-frills requirements, I wouldn't limit it just to the digital stuff.