Modeler & Multi FX memory lane

[laxu]

This is a thread for reminiscing about your favorite and least favorite modelers from the past. Multifx, rack units, amps...if it's digital, it's alright over here.

 

[la szum]

So this is where we trauma dump??

 

[laxu]

The Yamaha DG80 combo was the first modeler I owned. It was released in 1998. It is still a great design with a unique look, straightforward functionality and after an initial learning curve, is as easy to use as any amp.

I feel it's still unsurpassed for user interface design. 8 generic name amp models, tremolo, chorus, tape delay and 3 types of reverb. Motorized pots to represent preset values or to edit effects.

Everybody who tried it just said it sounds good, nobody was saying things like "well it does not sound like this or that specific amp model". People were able to evaluate it on its own merits.

Great looking amp as well. Yamaha should revive it with a modernized version.

 

[T Gobbs]

 

[Whizzinby]

The first modeler I owned was the Quad Cortex. So it’s been smooth sailing.

But even that kind of rocked in many respects. I haven’t had to endure the growing pains many have trying to use early digital stuff.

 

[Progressive_disclosure]

Here’s my first, a Korg Toneworks 1500G! I bought it used early on and plugged it straight into my Peavey Rage 158 solid state amp… Back then I had no idea what I was doing or how to get things to sound like I wanted. I sold it off together with a lot of other stuff when purging and not being into guitar. Kind of miss it though, would be cool to know how I could make it sound today. Anyone else have experience with these?

 

[laxu]

Least favorite. I had this at the same time as the DG80 and boy, did the Boss sound so much worse for just about everything! It was such a pain in the ass to use as well with that god damn value wheel etc.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Least favorite. I had this at the same time as the DG80 and boy, did the Boss sound so much worse for just about everything! It was such a pain in the ass to use as well with that god damn value wheel etc.

 

[mbenigni]

The first modeler I owned was the Quad Cortex. So it’s been smooth sailing.

But even that kind of rocked in many respects. I haven’t had to endure the growing pains many have trying to use early digital stuff.

Is that true? I had no idea you were so new to (amp and effects) modeling.

 

[Digital Igloo]

I should probably limit this to before joining Line 6.

It's not a modeler per sé, but I kept going back to the Marshall JMP-1 for many years before going fully in the box (Amp Farm, Echo Farm, and Wave Mechanics SoundBlender). Used it more than my POD Pro or SansAmp PSA-1.

Least favorite was probably the Alesis Quadraverb GT, but it was still a decent product for its time.

 

[Whizzinby]

Is that true? I had no idea you were so new to (amp and effects) modeling.

Yep. Modeling wasnt really an interest of mine until 5-6 years ago. I had obviously used digital fx, but about the time I was considering trying a modeler, the QC was being announced, so I lobbed a preorder and the rest is history.

 

[EOengineer]

I should probably limit this to before joining Line 6.

It's not a modeler per sé, but I kept going back to the Marshall JMP-1 for many years before going fully in the box (Amp Farm, Echo Farm, and Wave Mechanics SoundBlender). Used it more than my POD Pro or SansAmp PSA-1.
View attachment 56444
Least favorite was probably the Alesis Quadraverb GT, but it was still a decent product for its time.

I’ve always wanted a JMP-1 and Triaxis in a rack together. Throw a 2:90 or VHT power amp in there and it probably has its own gravitational pull too.

 

[ian_dissonance]

Least favorite. I had this at the same time as the DG80 and boy, did the Boss sound so much worse for just about everything! It was such a pain in the ass to use as well with that god damn value wheel etc.

I blew a big chunk of my dishwashing money on this and two Crate half stacks and ran it in stereo with my high school band. Probably sounded like shit but I was definitely the loudest motherfucker at the shows, lol.

 

[ian_dissonance]

View attachment 56436
View attachment 56437

The Yamaha DG80 combo was the first modeler I owned. It was released in 1998. It is still a great design with a unique look, straightforward functionality and after an initial learning curve, is as easy to use as any amp.

I feel it's still unsurpassed for user interface design. 8 generic name amp models, tremolo, chorus, tape delay and 3 types of reverb. Motorized pots to represent preset values or to edit effects.

Everybody who tried it just said it sounds good, nobody was saying things like "well it does not sound like this or that specific amp model". People were able to evaluate it on its own merits.

Great looking amp as well. Yamaha should revive it with a modernized version.

I had the head version of this for a little while because supposedly Chimaira’s first album was recorded with one. Too young and stupid to appreciate the “generic” modeling.

 

[la szum]

View attachment 56436
View attachment 56437

The Yamaha DG80 combo was the first modeler I owned. It was released in 1998. It is still a great design with a unique look, straightforward functionality and after an initial learning curve, is as easy to use as any amp.

I feel it's still unsurpassed for user interface design. 8 generic name amp models, tremolo, chorus, tape delay and 3 types of reverb. Motorized pots to represent preset values or to edit effects.

Everybody who tried it just said it sounds good, nobody was saying things like "well it does not sound like this or that specific amp model". People were able to evaluate it on its own merits.

Great looking amp as well. Yamaha should revive it with a modernized version.

Was that before or after the Magic Stomp era?

 

[la szum]

Still have it.

I used some rack gear in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but those were kind of their own
thing, and not really a model or capture/clone of anything else. First big studio experience
I used a Rocktron Pro Gap. Autumn of 1989. Throw the MP-1 in there and some other Rocktron
gear.


Tried some of the Digitech stuff when I got back into playing Electric Guitar in 2004, but ended up
mostly using a Marshall. I can honestly say the one where I thought, "This isn't half bad," was the
Digitech GSP1101. That led down the rabbit hole of trying a some of the older Digitech units like
2101 and 2112.

I can't say I miss any of the stuff. I do look for some Rocktron stuff out of nostalgia.... but not because
I recall it sounding good, let alone great.

 

[sleewell]

I think my first one was a digitech rp 1000. It was pretty cool

 

[GTR37]

I would say for Amp modelling the Boss GP100
Loved some of the effects and cleans but the hi gain 5150 Mesa and Marshalls sounded like a bag of bees

I really liked the Rocktron stuff in my teens when I got into rack stuff
Had a Intellifex , Chameleon
Prophesy
Had a Digitech twin tube

Then the 2101 with 45 pages of parameters for reverb

 

[Nathan Explosion]

Digitech GSP7, bought around 1993 from the printed Musician's Friend catalog, back when you actually had to call in.

Using a landline.

 

[Karl Houseknecht]

Zoom 9030 was the first “modeler” for me. 1993. Used it with a MosValve MV-972 power and a Crate 212 with V30s. Kept it until I got a PodXT bean.