Guitar tone hell

[metropolis_4]

So I get to spend the weekend playing whatever rig this venue provides. I get here and find…

A Digitech RP500




Good lord… I have no words… I’d forgotten gear could sound this bad

 

[norminal]

A Digitech RP500

I played through one of those once.

 

[DrewJD82]

Maybe talk to the other guitarists that gig their and ya’ll throw down $25 and get a stomp to donate so ya’ll don't have to play through that?

 

[deathbyguitar]

I'm gonna need some more background story on that trainwreck, my man.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Get your YaYa's™ on

 

[James Freeman]

Exactly the situation where a small IR loader pedal can save the day.

 

[dronerstone]

I'm gonna need some more background story on that trainwreck, my man.

This.

How can this even happen in 2024?

 

[Enchilada Jones]

I’d start looking for the hidden camera and the host of ‘You've Been Punked’. That can’t be real!
Maybe in a coffee shop gig in the outskirts of Bumfuk Egypt or something.

 

[sleewell]

Tha fuck?

 

[the-trooper]

It's also pretty incredible that you just came there without knowing or checking what you're supposed to play through.
Also a lesson to get one of the smaller newer modelers and carry it as a backup.

 

[Los-D]

So I get to spend the weekend playing whatever rig this venue provides. I get here and find…

A Digitech RP500




Good lord… I have no words… I’d forgotten gear could sound this bad

 

[kartikg3]

So I get to spend the weekend playing whatever rig this venue provides. I get here and find…

A Digitech RP500




Good lord… I have no words… I’d forgotten gear could sound this bad

Was it direct to FOH, or into the return of an amp/Poweramp+cab?

If it was direct to FOH, did you ensure that the cab modeling was turned on? Of it was into return of an amp, did you ensure cab modeling was off?

In the past I have managed to get great tones out of the RP series in FOH settings. Dressing the lead tones in a good heap of delay and reverb does a great trick, because digitech's RP reverbs were awesome. Their chorus was great as well. Their tube screamer and DS-1 models were very comparable to the real deals as well (I've tested before).

Yeah like JF said, if you had a cab/IR loader, it would have been awesome. Because like any unit, the cab modeling is the weakest on these.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Exactly the situation where a small IR loader pedal can save the day.

Every bit this. I'm just doing the same. There's a bunch of gigs coming up where I will have to leave whatever it is on the truck (simply because a sub will also use it), so I blew the dust from my GT-10, deactivated all cab/mic sims and am now running it through an AMT Pangaea. Works so well I will continue using it here and there (mainly for gigs were I have or want to leave stuff at venues and such).

 

[JasonE]

I am sure this will end with a list of questions that will be asked of every venue going forward...

There are plenty of good solutions for this if you know what you are walking into.

 

[metropolis_4]

Was it direct to FOH, or into the return of an amp/Poweramp+cab?

If it was direct to FOH, did you ensure that the cab modeling was turned on? Of it was into return of an amp, did you ensure cab modeling was off?

In the past I have managed to get great tones out of the RP series in FOH settings. Dressing the lead tones in a good heap of delay and reverb does a great trick, because digitech's RP reverbs were awesome. Their chorus was great as well. Their tube screamer and DS-1 models were very comparable to the real deals as well (I've tested before).

Yeah like JF said, if you had a cab/IR loader, it would have been awesome. Because like any unit, the cab modeling is the weakest on these.

I looked up the manual when I got home last night and I’m going to get there early tonight to check a few things. I think it’s possible something was turned off.

The distortion I was told to use sounded like a BD-2 with the drive up all the way direct into a mixer

It was so ungodly horrible it was jarring. I played terrible the first half of the show because I was trying to adapt to how bad it sounded.

 

[metropolis_4]

It's also pretty incredible that you just came there without knowing or checking what you're supposed to play through.
Also a lesson to get one of the smaller newer modelers and carry it as a backup.

Sometimes all you can do is roll with the punches

 

[kartikg3]

The distortion I was told to use sounded like a BD-2 with the drive up all the way direct into a mixer

It was so ungodly horrible it was jarring. I played terrible the first half of the show because I was trying to adapt to how bad it sounded.

That definitely sounds like a turned off cab emulation to me.

 

[AFKAEjay]

I looked up the manual when I got home last night and I’m going to get there early tonight to check a few things. I think it’s possible something was turned off.

The distortion I was told to use sounded like a BD-2 with the drive up all the way direct into a mixer

It was so ungodly horrible it was jarring. I played terrible the first half of the show because I was trying to adapt to how bad it sounded.

Why not take something of your own?
worsecase…bypass everything on rp500…put whatever you got in front.

 

[dk_ace]

TGF membership revoked. You went to a gig without bringing an epic, overthought rig of your own? You don’t belong here and you deserve what you got with the busted RP500.

 

[metropolis_4]

Why not take something of your own?
worsecase…bypass everything on rp500…put whatever you got in front.

Sometimes you just have to go with what you’re given.

If I bring my own it might sound better to me, but it’s going to mess up levels, the sound guys will have to change all their settings for me, and it won’t sound the same as what everyone is expecting to hear.

Sometimes the people you work for are going to be happier if you just go with the flow and don’t cause complications for them rather than changing everything up and creating more work for them for “improvements” in tone that they might not even notice.