Members Cliff Fiscal Posted April 16, 2012 Members Share Posted April 16, 2012 I bought a Vox Valvetronix AD30VT a while back, and it was suppose to become my low volume practice amp. ....but it doesn't really inspire me to play. It doesn't sound bad, per se.....but it's just kind of lifeless. Any tips or suggestions to getting over NEEDING good tone for practicing? I suppose it's not as big of a deal when I'm just working on technique.....even though a good clean tone helps me focus solely on what I'm doing. When trying to write....having good tone, and my pedal board makes it so much easier to come up with stuff. Wrote zero with the Vox.......wrote 2 full songs when I had the Super on. go figure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members timmyfirst Posted April 16, 2012 Members Share Posted April 16, 2012 For practice at home i just have a Crate GX15r and a Line6 spider III 30w. They arent great sounding amps but i dont feel the need to have an expensive practice amp when i get to rehearse 3 times a week with my main rig. I wrote lots of stuff for the last album on the gx15, it served the purpose i needed it for! I got the Line6 for writing the new album purely because i wanted to dabble in the effects a little more. I can get some cool tones out of both amps, sure they arent as cool as my live rig but i'm the only one hearing these tones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members isvoid Posted April 16, 2012 Members Share Posted April 16, 2012 sorry to hear teh tone in your fingerz doesn't bring teh inspiration; perspiration until it does Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sleewell Posted April 16, 2012 Members Share Posted April 16, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cliff Fiscal Posted April 16, 2012 Author Members Share Posted April 16, 2012 sorry to hear teh tone in your fingerz doesn't bring teh inspiration; perspiration until it does I do better unplugged than plugged into a crap amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sleewell Posted April 16, 2012 Members Share Posted April 16, 2012 good players can sound good on crap gear {censored} players complain about the same gear good players can make sound good my solution for you is to buy another more expensive amp, i am sure that is the real issue here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ~Abstract~ Posted April 16, 2012 Members Share Posted April 16, 2012 Get a small older amp. Maybe a Fender Bandmaster (I've always loved those)...or a Princeton or Champ or Deluxe...then practice with that. Hard for me to get inspired when I'm playing on crap gear. Especially true if I've got great gear I'd rather be playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cliff Fiscal Posted April 16, 2012 Author Members Share Posted April 16, 2012 good players can sound good on crap gear {censored} players complain about the same gear good players can make sound good my solution for you is to buy another more expensive amp, i am sure that is the real issue here. Great Idea! Or......can I borrow one of your wildly expensive amps? :idea:x50 I'm not saying I can't sound good using the Vox Valtronix.......I'm saying that I don't like it as much as a "real" amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members The Anomaly Posted April 16, 2012 Members Share Posted April 16, 2012 I can understand what you're saying OP, but try not to let it get in your way. If you want, buy something better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sleewell Posted April 16, 2012 Members Share Posted April 16, 2012 y u mad bro? x 51 lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cliff Fiscal Posted April 16, 2012 Author Members Share Posted April 16, 2012 I can understand what you're saying OP, but try not to let it get in your way. If you want, buy something better. Yeah, I think it's a way for me to cop out.......to a point. Avoid work by tweaking tones. Having the pedalboard now, would probably make the Vox a little more usable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cliff Fiscal Posted April 16, 2012 Author Members Share Posted April 16, 2012 y u mad bro? x 51 lol not mad. Just don't like being called a hack........especially when you don't know me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members timrocker Posted April 16, 2012 Members Share Posted April 16, 2012 OP, have you tried the Bugera V22? I "guested" on one a couple of times last summer, and thought it was really good value for small/portable and inexpensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cliff Fiscal Posted April 16, 2012 Author Members Share Posted April 16, 2012 No I haven't. Too much "starts on fire" stuck in my mind to even try one. I know it's wrong to have biases like that, but I just can't help it. Almost all cheap import amps that I've tried have been sold. Something about the tone that just doesn't sit right with me. I'm thinking about building a 22w Trinity Hiwatt clone (has MV). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lz4005 Posted April 16, 2012 Members Share Posted April 16, 2012 When trying to write....having good tone, and my pedal board makes it so much easier to come up with stuff. I've been in the same place, where I felt like I was too dependent on effects and tones, rather than all the other things that make up a song. I broke myself of it by playing through a 9V powered mini-Marshall until I could make it sound good. If you want to try to get over it as a writer's block issue, focus on getting inspired by a chord progression you haven't used before and/or something rhythmic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members timrocker Posted April 16, 2012 Members Share Posted April 16, 2012 The Bugera V22 that I had the use of a few times was so good I pretty much decided to unload my Fender Super Champ XD and get one. It's in the works, I just haven't gotten to it yet. I don't know anything about Bugera's reliability or durability issues. (cross fingers, hope to not find out) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kardula Posted April 16, 2012 Members Share Posted April 16, 2012 I was actually just going through this today.....having great tone keeps me at my guitar for hours on end just noodling and listening. I was almost late for work while playing my guitar and just listening to the tones coming out of it. I have a rivera r30 that can't be beat for the 450 I paid for it. Tone is definitely in the fingers, but that doesn't mean that us lesser players can't get all the help we want from good gear. Yngwie and EVH sound like themselves no matter what the gear, but they definitely sound better on better gear....otherwise they wouldn't be so picky. I still sound like myself whether playing the ultra or the rivera, but the rivera sounds A LOT better. What I'm getting at is that I haven't found anything which helps me get over bad tone, which is why my best amp is the one I practice on and my best guitar is the one I use the most. I say spend some money on tone that YOU can live with while practicing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bish0p34 Posted April 16, 2012 Members Share Posted April 16, 2012 Great Idea! Or......can I borrow one of your wildly expensive amps? :idea:x50 I'm not saying I can't sound good using the Vox Valtronix.......I'm saying that I don't like it as much as a "real" amp. You sound like my girlfriend lol... I let her use my Triamp once to jam around the house, and now my Vox VT80 isn't good enough for her anymore. It works for me though. The upside is that when she starts her new job she's going to buy a Triamp for around the house. The downside is that I won't be able to use it. Regardless, you should just try to have fun with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarbilly74 Posted April 16, 2012 Members Share Posted April 16, 2012 I use the Tonelab through the comp speakers and it's fine for practicing and songwriting. The Legacy is an extremely loud amp and I wouldn't be able to practice with it anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fretless Posted April 16, 2012 Members Share Posted April 16, 2012 Vox amplug sound killer IMO and record nicely too . I used the classic rock direct for this clippy . I think I may get the JS one too .http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11513062 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cliff Fiscal Posted April 16, 2012 Author Members Share Posted April 16, 2012 better sounds better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted April 17, 2012 Members Share Posted April 17, 2012 OP, have you tried the Bugera V22? I "guested" on one a couple of times last summer, and thought it was really good value for small/portable and inexpensive.I've played thru one a fair amount. I prefer my Vox AD30VT over it, especially the AC30 and Soldano models. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bdubbs Posted April 17, 2012 Members Share Posted April 17, 2012 I practice and write on acoustic. Everything sounds better/easier to play when I move to electric. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eyeball987 Posted April 17, 2012 Members Share Posted April 17, 2012 I bought a Cube 40XL recently to practice with. The clean sounds great with single coils but not with buckers. The gain tones leave me wanting to fire up the RM100 but I bought the thing so that I could hammer out some sound a few minutes at a time without having to warm the glass. It just doesn't make me want to even turn it on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SexWithRobots Posted April 17, 2012 Members Share Posted April 17, 2012 I have a {censored}ty little 15 watt crate amp that I use at home cause my main rig is never hear but I know the feeling. I have been practicing through guitar rig on my computer lately and it seems a lot better for some reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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