Digital modeling history

[Sascha Franck]

Oh, and then there was this one, the infamous Zoom 9000 (for completely unknown reasons, the previous model, the one you could put on your belt, was named 9002):

I had that in my utility case/bag as a "in case nothing works at all anymore" backup. Would make a show on batteries, so you didn't even need power.
And guess what? I thanked god that I didn't stop the habit of keeping it in some bag or case until 2014 - because that was when I actually *had* to use it. It happened that the case with all the guitar stuff (provided by the production, hence traveling in a trailer) didn't make it to a pretty big cover show in Switzerland. Has been on a sunday, all shops closed, also has been rather late already, so getting any decent backup was out of reach. So, there it was, the glorious Zoom 9000 moment. None of the presets were intact anymore (internal battery long time empty, I think), but as there's pretty much no parameters I just created 4 patches and called it a day. Sidenote: As the PSU was not working anymore, I had to dial in the patches twice. One time during soundcheck and then 10 minutes in advance of the show (simply because the batteries wouldn't make it from soundcheck to the end of the show). However, the gig went quite fine, fortunately all overdriven guitars were mostly lead things, for serious riffing it'd been a desaster.

Another Zoom 9000 story: Boogie MKIV failing. Straight before the show (has just been the fuse, but little did I know back then...). Had to run the Zoom through some Gallien-Krueger guitar top (which actually doesn't deserve the name...) into my cab. Now, all throughout that gig I thought I had the most horrible sound of all times. But when we were done, some axe slinging mates of mine made it backstage and complimented on my sound. "Man, we knew it the MKIV was worth it's money!" (they obviously didn't know about the disaster). Confirmation bias mucho, eh?

 

[mbenigni]

I should add: I don't mean to sound dismissive or like I'm putting down the spirit/fun of the thread. Just don't have the early experiences with modellers that many here do and became interested in them much later, after discovering guitar forums and Fractal, observing the arrival of Kemper and Helix, etc. Still took me a while to really dive in, though, and it's still very on/off. But the whole field is fascinating and seems to be the future, to me.

Agree about its being the future, but there's no telling how long "the old ways" will hold. In objective terms, a tube amplifier is a really inefficient design on so many levels - cost, power-consumption, maintenance, mass... They still sound better than any alternative, but that margin is getting razor thin.

Early on (and still to this day), if you were on a budget, or if you didn't already know exactly what you were going for, modeling was a fun, cheap way to experiment with a lot of options. That really appealed to me. And as a student of engineering, the concept of analyzing a system and creating a mathematical equivalent seemed sound, and cool. But I would often confuse the theoretical possibilities with the actual realities of the technology available at the time, and then drive myself (and bandmates) crazy trying to make clever, but subpar, systems sound like something they weren't. Sometimes (though certainly not often) you have to listen to the idiot drummer and just go buy a tube amp.

 

[paisleywookiee]

Oh, and then there was this one, the infamous Zoom 9000 (for completely unknown reasons, the previous model, the one you could put on your belt, was named 9002):
View attachment 5925
I had that in my utility case/bag as a "in case nothing works at all anymore" backup. Would make a show on batteries, so you didn't even need power.
And guess what? I thanked god that I didn't stop the habit of keeping it in some bag or case until 2014 - because that was when I actually *had* to use it. It happened that the case with all the guitar stuff (provided by the production, hence traveling in a trailer) didn't make it to a pretty big cover show in Switzerland. Has been on a sunday, all shops closed, also has been rather late already, so getting any decent backup was out of reach. So, there it was, the glorious Zoom 9000 moment. None of the presets were intact anymore (internal battery long time empty, I think), but as there's pretty much no parameters I just created 4 patches and called it a day. Sidenote: As the PSU was alos not working anymore, I had to dial in the patches twice. One time during soundcheck and then 10 minutes in advance of the show (simply because the batteries wouldn't make it from soundcheck to the end of the show). However, the gig went quite fine, fortunately all overdriven guitars were mostly lead things, for serious riffing it'd been a desaster.

Another Zoom 9000 story: Boogie MKIV failing. Straight before the show (has just been the fuse, but little did I know back then...). Had to run the Zoom through some Gallien-Krueger guitar top (which actually doesn't deserve the name...) into my cab. Now, all throughout that gig I thought I had the most horrible sound of all times. But when we were done, some axe slinging mates of mine made it backstage and complimented on my sound. "Man, we knew it the MKIV was worth it's money!" (they obviously didn't know about the disaster). Confirmation bias mucho, eh?

I had one of those! Wish I knew what happened to it. I did a jazz show, direct to PA on that.

 

[mbenigni]

Oh, and then there was this one, the infamous Zoom 9000 (for completely unknown reasons, the previous model, the one you could put on your belt, was named 9002):
View attachment 5925
I had that in my utility case/bag as a "in case nothing works at all anymore" backup. Would make a show on batteries, so you didn't even need power.
And guess what? I thanked god that I didn't stop the habit of keeping it in some bag or case until 2014 - because that was when I actually *had* to use it. It happened that the case with all the guitar stuff (provided by the production, hence traveling in a trailer) didn't make it to a pretty big cover show in Switzerland. Has been on a sunday, all shops closed, also has been rather late already, so getting any decent backup was out of reach. So, there it was, the glorious Zoom 9000 moment. None of the presets were intact anymore (internal battery long time empty, I think), but as there's pretty much no parameters I just created 4 patches and called it a day. Sidenote: As the PSU was alos not working anymore, I had to dial in the patches twice. One time during soundcheck and then 10 minutes in advance of the show (simply because the batteries wouldn't make it from soundcheck to the end of the show). However, the gig went quite fine, fortunately all overdriven guitars were mostly lead things, for serious riffing it'd been a desaster.

Another Zoom 9000 story: Boogie MKIV failing. Straight before the show (has just been the fuse, but little did I know back then...). Had to run the Zoom through some Gallien-Krueger guitar top (which actually doesn't deserve the name...) into my cab. Now, all throughout that gig I thought I had the most horrible sound of all times. But when we were done, some axe slinging mates of mine made it backstage and complimented on my sound. "Man, we knew it the MKIV was worth it's money!" (they obviously didn't know about the disaster). Confirmation bias mucho, eh?

These stories are amazing! And I have never seen any of that gear before, which is equally amazing.

 

[laxu]

First truly affordable digital multieffects?

View attachment 5926
Sure, it's mostly sounds like crap by today's standards, but f.ex. the digital noise gate (a.k.a ZNR) was always surprisingly good in these.

I had the Zoom 505-II, bought it when I didn't really understand anything about fx. Man, that's an awful piece of gear in pretty much every way.

 

[mbenigni]

First truly affordable digital multieffects?

View attachment 5926
Sure, it's mostly sounds like crap by today's standards, but f.ex. the digital noise gate (a.k.a ZNR) was always surprisingly good in these.

Must have been about the same vintage as the Korg A3? I remember a friend having one, and visiting as often as possible to mess with it. Primordial GAS LOL.

 

[Sascha Franck]

It's funny, the early days of modellers passed me by, compared to most around here. I was an old-school, 90s rock guy, always gigging with a Marshall half stack, and I remember being in music stores looking at Pods and being like, “WTF are these little things.” Didn't help that I bought a ZOOM 505II to use with headphones in an apartment and absolutely hated it.

It's been pretty much the same for me. I always also had 2-3 different amps to suit all venues and gig types, but it never occured to me that I should possibly go direct. That's always been "only try that at home" territory (I didn't want to be the "wtf is that sound?" guy).
But it all changed one day when I arrived at the theatre's rehearsal rooms (I had a pedalboard and a small Rath amp with me, those were quite nice for low volume jobs with not much riffing). The sound guy instantly was "sorry, we have no space for an amp and we don't want the volume, either!" That was in 1996 I think and the best options have been the mentioned GT-5 or maybe the Rockman stuff - so it was quite weird that the theatre had the balls to make this a mandatory thing, especially without telling me in advance. So I rushed out to the local music store the next day and bought the Boss.
It did however take until the Amplifirebox that I was going DI without being forced to.

 

[Sascha Franck]

I had one of those! Wish I knew what happened to it. I did a jazz show, direct to PA on that.

I still have mine. Possibly living next to the GT-5, having a chat. Should actually give all of that stuff a try through a modern cab sim. With the GT-10 that was quite a revelation (I could actually gig with it and have no sound related issues).

 

[James Freeman]

"Man, we knew it the MKIV was worth it's money!" (they obviously didn't know about the disaster). Confirmation bias mucho, eh?

MESA/Boogie Mark 9000 !

 

[mbenigni]

I still have mine. Possibly living next to the GT-5, having a chat. Should actually give all of that stuff a try through a modern cab sim. With the GT-10 that was quite a revelation (I could actually gig with it and have no sound related issues).

It sounds like you could open a museum!

 

[Sascha Franck]

It sounds like you could open a museum!

Yeah well, I just found something else... gimme a minute.

 

[mbenigni]

Yeah well, I just found something else... gimme a minute.

 

[Sascha Franck]

First truly affordable digital multieffects?

View attachment 5926
Sure, it's mostly sounds like crap by today's standards, but f.ex. the digital noise gate (a.k.a ZNR) was always surprisingly good in these.

My oh my, that brought up memories.
So, here we go:

Right, that's the bass model! And unlike it's other brethren, it's not in the basement (for completely unknown reasons I remembered stumbling over it in one of the not so shiny corners of our flat).

I usually don't play bass. I sometimes own one, sometimes I don't - in the end, MIDI is my friend when it comes to basses.
Ok, so, wtf is that Zoom 506B doing in my posession?

Many years back I got a call from some "management" of a kind of cover/jam band, asking whether I'd sub for a gig, the guitar player was sick. I said OK (after all, these kinda gigs are what I do often, people usually know that I can sort of adjust quickly when you throw me into some murky waters).
So, I packed my stuff and went to the gig - fortunately pretty early. Got my stuff out, put it onto the stage and went to the sound dude to check some details (he's been there early, too, the band was supposed to arrive a little later). He then asked me what kinda DI signal I would provide. Uh? I already knew the guitar dude was playing a real amp. I must've been looking a little bewildered because the sound guy asked whether that'd be a problem with me. "It's usually not a big problem to grab a DI signal from a bass, don't you agree? We usually don't mic the bass amp."

WTF?!?

I then told the guy that I was asked to play guitar on that gig. That was when he started looking bewildered, to put it mildly. He then informed me that the bass player was sick, the guitarist was doing just fine. A few phone calls later it turned out that it was the manager kinda dude who mixed that up and organized a guitar sub (your's truly) instead of some bass player.
Ok, in the meantime, the rest of the band arrived, we discussed things a little and decided trying to call another bass player (I would get like some bucks for my traveling efforts, which was fine for me, after all it's been a funny story). But as it's been rather late already, that didn't work. So they decided to ask me whether I couldn't just play at least some bass parts (or probably share them with the keyboard player). Not that I was any happy about it, but $$$ is $$$ and I'm an adventurous person, so I agreed - oh, fwiw, could only do that because the bass stuff was packed in their van anyway. So there it was, some kinda bass combo (don't remember anymore, could've been a GK as well) and the glorious Zoom 506. Didn't even want to use it (if there ever was a gig where I wanted to keep things simple, it's gotta be that one), but they said the bass would otherwise sound shite.

Alright, there we went. I then phoned the (truly sick, nonstop coughing) bass player and asked him a few things, which we got sorted. Oh, fwiw, the bass has been some kinda standard Squier, I think a Jazzbass (I don't know anything about basses).
So that was it, on to the show. Of which I can't tell you much about, just that it sort of worked. Fortunately I knew most songs, I can as well read sheets sort of ok-ish, but due to my immense bass playing skills I had to resort to quarter notes and what not. I'm sure, Level 42 tunes never sounded any better (kidding, fortunately there were little bass heavy tunes and/or we skipped them). Fortunately, it's just been 2 1-hour sets, so that went along rather quickly.

Ok, so that was pretty much it. The band was quite thankful - but I never got a call as a bass sub from them again (well, in fact, they asked me as a guitar sub years later, I took that as some "wasn't thaaat bad back then in my bass forays" sign).
So, why do I still have that Zoom? When the band had packed and were leaving already, I went back to the stage for an "idiot walk" (looking to make sure nothing was left). And there it was, that little grey-orange fellow, lost and forgotten. So I took it with me. Phoned the bass player the next day and asked him about it. He said he really didn't need it any soon (he was usually using something else already), so I should just keep it until some day when he would be around (he's living like 100km away). Just that it never happened. I even asked him again some while later and he was like "I defenitely don't want that POS back!"

Sorry for that lengthy story - but that's modeler history for me I suppose. Besides, it's all @Lysander's fault, otherwise I would've never remembered.
Note: No, don't ask me to record some basses for you!

 

[dronerstone]

On another note, the lead guitarist in my first band back in high school (around 1999-2000) had a large silver KORG multi FX unit. Probably the AX1000G?

It sounded thin/brittle and "digital" in the worst possible way, with a cheap Epi LP and 50W solid-state "Park by Marshall" combo.

Yuck.

 

[mbenigni]

My oh my, that brought up memories.
So, here we go:
View attachment 5929

Right, that's the bass model! And unlike it's other brethren, it's not in the basement (for completely unknown reasons I remembered stumbling over it in one of the not so shiny corners of our flat).

I usually don't play bass. I sometimes own one, sometimes I don't - in the end, MIDI is my friend when it comes to basses.
Ok, so, wtf is that Zoom 506B doing in my posession?

Many years back I got a call from some "management" of a kind of cover/jam band, asking whether I'd sub for a gig, the guitar player was sick. I said OK (after all, these kinda gigs are what I do often, people usually know that I can sort of adjust quickly when you throw me into some murky waters).
So, I packed my stuff and went to the gig - fortunately pretty early. Got my stuff out, put it onto the stage and went to the sound dude to check some details (he's been there early, too, the band was supposed to arrive a little later). He then asked me what kinda DI signal I would provide. Uh? I already knew the guitar dude was playing a real amp. I must've been looking a little bewildered because the sound guy asked whether that'd be a problem with me. "It's usually not a big problem to grab a DI signal from a bass, don't you agree? We usually don't mic the bass amp."

WTF?!?

I then told the guy that I was asked to play guitar on that gig. That was when he started looking bewildered, to put it mildly. He then informed me that the bass player was sick, the guitarist was doing just fine. A few phone calls later it turned out that it was the manager kinda dude who mixed that up and organized a guitar sub (your's truly) instead of some bass player.
Ok, in the meantime, the rest of the band arrived, we discussed things a little and decided trying to call another bass player (I would get like some bucks for my traveling efforts, which was fine for me, after all it's been a funny story). But as it's been rather late already, that didn't work. So they decided to ask me whether I couldn't just play at least some bass parts (or probably share them with the keyboard player). Not that I was any happy about it, but $$$ is $$$ and I'm an adventurous person, so I agreed - oh, fwiw, could only do that because the bass stuff was packed in their van anyway. So there it was, some kinda bass combo (don't remember anymore, could've been a GK as well) and the glorious Zoom 506. Didn't even want to use it (if there ever was a gig where I wanted to keep things simple, it's gotta be that one), but they said the bass would otherwise sound shite.

Alright, there we went. I then phoned the (truly sick, nonstop coughing) bass player and asked him a few things, which we got sorted. Oh, fwiw, the bass has been some kinda standard Squier, I think a Jazzbass (I don't know anything about basses).
So that was it, on to the show. Of which I can't tell you much about, just that it sort of worked. Fortunately I knew most songs, I can as well read sheets sort of ok-ish, but due to my immense bass playing skills I had to resort to quarter notes and what not. I'm sure, Level 42 tunes never sounded any better (kidding, fortunately there were little bass heavy tunes and/or we skipped them). Fortunately, it's just been 2 1-hour sets, so that went along rather quickly.

Ok, so that was pretty much it. The band was quite thankful - but I never got a call as a bass sub from them again (well, in fact, they asked me as a guitar sub years later, I took that as some "wasn't thaaat bad back then in my bass forays" sign).
So, why do I still have that Zoom? When the band had packed and were leaving already, I went back to the stage for an "idiot walk" (looking to make sure nothing was left). And there it was, that little grey-orange fellow, lost and forgotten. So I took it with me. Phoned the bass player the next day and asked him about it. He said he really didn't need it any soon (he was usually using something else already), so I should just keep it until some day when he would be around (he's living like 100km away). Just that it never happened. I even asked him again some while later and he was like "I defenitely don't want that POS back!"

Sorry for that lengthy story - but that's modeler history for me I suppose. Besides, it's all @Lysander's fault, otherwise I would've never remembered.
Note: No, don't ask me to record some basses for you!

Another great story! :)

 

[Sascha Franck]

Perhaps it's not too late to become a GT-fluencer - practising preview-thumbnail-faces...

Whatever, on a serious note, regardless of the various shortcomings and the pretty questionable ADDA converters, this has got to be the piece of gear that has paid off more than any other thing I ever owned.

 

[Will Chen]

My first digital MFX (really a hybrid as the od stuff was analog) was the Boss ME-6, got it back when they first came out. Loved it. Learned so much using it, a old Fostex cassette 4-track, a Crate amp, and an SM57.

After that I owned an RP-1 for a while, then went back dedicated pedals for a while. The first time I was ever completely satisfied with a direct recorded tone was the Johnson J-Station. Since then I've tried nearly every thing out there, been a long and expensive journey...

 

[ragingplatypi]

On another note, the lead guitarist in my first band back in high school (around 1999-2000) had a large silver KORG multi FX unit. Probably the AX1000G?

It sounded thin/brittle and "digital" in the worst possible way, with a cheap Epi LP and 50W solid-state "Park by Marshall" combo.

Yuck.

Aww. I had Korg AX1000G and got a good clean tone out of it. You can here it here:

Sara Stands

Listen to Sara Stands by ragingplatypi #np on #SoundCloud

on.soundcloud.com

I put a tube screamer in front that for dirt. I moved onto the Yamaha DG Stomp briefly and then to the Vox ToneLab SE which I kept for almost 15 years.

 

[pipelineaudio]

Was Rocktron doing their early ProGAP stuff digitally?

 

[Stone]

My journey started 3.7 Years ago

-------->

------>

Coming soon --->