Valeton GP-50, GP-150 and GP-180

Sascha Franck said:
What's your interface input trim sitting at? Does the interface input actually clip?
Click to expand...
The input trim of tonex doesn't seem to make a difference when recording DI signal. It stays on the same level when recorded in DAW (tonex as interface). Haven't found a setting that makes a difference.
 
Dimiguitar said:
The input trim of tonex doesn't seem to make a difference when recording DI signal. It stays on the same level when recorded in DAW (tonex as interface).
Click to expand...

Oh, now I see, you're talking about the TXO as an interface - sorry, got that completely wrong.
Did you adjust the TXOs input level? I know, it's sitting behind the AD conversion but before your DAW.
 
Dimiguitar said:
Yes, and it doesn't seem to make a difference with the DI signal.
Click to expand...

Oh, didn't know that. But the few times I was using it as an interface, nothing clipped, so I never checked - none of my guitars is equipped with particularly hot pickups, though.
Maybe there's not enough headroom suitable for hotter pickups within the hardware, which would be pretty bad.
 
Sascha Franck said:
Oh, didn't know that. But the few times I was using it as an interface, nothing clipped, so I never checked - none of my guitars is equipped with particularly hot pickups, though.
Maybe there's not enough headroom suitable for hotter pickups within the hardware, which would be pretty bad.
Click to expand...

It clips with several of my pickups. Duncan JB, Duncan distortion. But it depends what you play. If it's really hard chugs it clips. The problem is much of my playing involves this.

And there doesn't seem to be a way around it, from what I have found so far, with the tonex alone. So far I've lived with the clipping when using tonex as interface.

Don't know if the velatons have the same issue. But I suspect many units do, even if people don't notice?
 
Dimiguitar said:
And there doesn't seem to be a way around it, from what I have found so far, with the tonex alone.
Click to expand...

Fwiw, back home, and as said, I checked the TXO as an interface. When slamming the bridge pickup of the DGT SE hard, I pretty much exactly reach 0dB. So there's zero room for any boost or hotter pickups. And no way to change that others than lowering the level before plugging into the pedal.
Not good.

Also checked with the GP-50, kinda the same thing when pushing the USB recording level all the way up. So yes, you can adjust that on the GP, but as it's behind the ADC, I can't tell whether it might clip before. Should possibly try with a boost in front to know.

And while it's pretty clear that USB Audio is just an afterthought on these kinda devices, it could really be a tad better. I mean, converters with a decent enough dynamic range don't cost a fortune anymore - and I'd rather pay some more bucks and never ever run into clipping (regardless whether using just the onboard sounds or USB audio).
Also, as mentioned before, audio interface performance is pretty bad on both of these (in fact horribly bad on the GP).

---

Anyhow, will post some NAM/plugin vs. NAM-GP-converted comparisons later on. So far, the GP is sounding pretty damn well to my ears (as in "damn well for that price tag"), but I'll post some clips for you to judge on your own.
 
First small comparison. All files for now will be "re-NAM-ed" Tonex captures (I'm familiar with them, so I also wanted them in the GP-50).

Note: This is not a scientific comparison by any means. Had to do a little input level guesswork for the NAM-plugin as there's no information about how hard the GP-50 would "hit" captures internally. Also, I'm using my rusty Zoom G3 as a pre-looper and splitter, so that might impact things to some extent, but that way both the GP-50 and my Motu M2 are hit with the same level (the G3 really isn't bad, though).
Anyhow, all this is also why I won't make it a blind test. It's really just a "ballpark yes/no" thing.
Files are mono MP3s at 128kbps (hence as good as 256/stereo).

An SL67 that I like for some "standard" riff tones here and there.
Here's the plugin:


And the same file in the GP (needless to say, zero tone shaping in either device):


More later.
 
Sascha Franck said:
First small comparison. All files for now will be "re-NAM-ed" Tonex captures (I'm familiar with them, so I also wanted them in the GP-50).

Note: This is not a scientific comparison by any means. Had to do a little input level guesswork for the NAM-plugin as there's no information about how hard the GP-50 would "hit" captures internally. Also, I'm using my rusty Zoom G3 as a pre-looper and splitter, so that might impact things to some extent, but that way both the GP-50 and my Motu M2 are hit with the same level (the G3 really isn't bad, though).
Anyhow, all this is also why I won't make it a blind test. It's really just a "ballpark yes/no" thing.
Files are mono MP3s at 128kbps (hence as good as 256/stereo).

An SL67 that I like for some "standard" riff tones here and there.
Here's the plugin:


And the same file in the GP (needless to say, zero tone shaping in either device):


More later.
Click to expand...

Sounds like there’s a little less bite in the GP one. But like some other recent comparisons, a little eq adjustment would probably fix it and the differences are small enough that I wouldn’t give a shit either way considering the GP5 costs less than a nice dinner and a couple of drinks.
 
Sascha Franck said:
Fwiw, back home, and as said, I checked the TXO as an interface. When slamming the bridge pickup of the DGT SE hard, I pretty much exactly reach 0dB. So there's zero room for any boost or hotter pickups. And no way to change that others than lowering the level before plugging into the pedal.
Not good.

Also checked with the GP-50, kinda the same thing when pushing the USB recording level all the way up. So yes, you can adjust that on the GP, but as it's behind the ADC, I can't tell whether it might clip before. Should possibly try with a boost in front to know.

And while it's pretty clear that USB Audio is just an afterthought on these kinda devices, it could really be a tad better. I mean, converters with a decent enough dynamic range don't cost a fortune anymore - and I'd rather pay some more bucks and never ever run into clipping (regardless whether using just the onboard sounds or USB audio).
Also, as mentioned before, audio interface performance is pretty bad on both of these (in fact horribly bad on the GP).

---

Anyhow, will post some NAM/plugin vs. NAM-GP-converted comparisons later on. So far, the GP is sounding pretty damn well to my ears (as in "damn well for that price tag"), but I'll post some clips for you to judge on your own.
Click to expand...

I think the tonex input clips often with many pickups. It's just that people aren't using it as much as a USB interface and hence don't see the DIs. So they don't know this is happening.
 
ian_dissonance said:
a little eq adjustment would probably fix it
Click to expand...

Yeah, very likely. In general, the GP seems to be a tad more midrange-y, but really not much.
Also - most importantly for me - there's pretty much no differences in dynamic behaviour. Second half of the clip is played on the neck pickup dialed back quite some and both versions are still very close.
 
Dimiguitar said:
It's just that people aren't using it as much as a USB interface and hence don't see the DIs. So they don't know this is happening.
Click to expand...

Regardless of how bad that might be, still goes to show that a tad of digital clipping doesn't necessarily matter all that much - otherwise people would've noticed when playing through the thing.
 
Sascha Franck said:
Yeah, very likely. In general, the GP seems to be a tad more midrange-y, but really not much.
Also - most importantly for me - there's pretty much no differences in dynamic behaviour. Second half of the clip is played on the neck pickup dialed back quite some and both versions are still very close.
Click to expand...
You can definitely hear the hands and the strings equally as well in both clips.
 
Another short one, a capture of whatever Divided by 13 amp.

NAM:


GP:


FX courtesy of Logic.
Fwiw, all NAM files are 400 epoch files.

I think we can basically stop here already, unless someone wants me to check some HQ NAM files or whatever.
Wanted to post some clean patch comparisons as well, but they're even closer to each other.
For my use cases, those converted NAM files are just working great.
The only thing I might still check is how well the GP deals with pedals - but it's not likely that I will use it with any too much.

---

Some more observations regarding the GP-50:

- The internal drives all sound very same-ish. Some are pretty bad. The DS1 has almost no gain range, starts with fullblown overdrive at 0 already.
I also wish there was an RC Booster thing in the drive section (there's a BB Preamp in the booster section, but I'd rather wanted that for the drive block because of switching logistics).

- None of the internal amps seems to sound authentic, but some are serviceable. Others however made me go all "WTF?!?" Maybe I'll post some examples, just for you to scratch your heads as well.

- The looper is in fact hit or miss. Quite a pity.

- Already said so, editing is super easy, the app is done quite well (some quirks but nothing really bad), BT connections are established fast and stable.

If you need a super small emergency backup, a jamming device for whatever occasions or even something simple for non-demanding gigs (*check* for all three in my case), at €119 this is possibly the most no-brainer device I've stumbled upon in a whole number of years (or maybe even ever).
 
Last edited:
Sascha Franck said:
Regardless of how bad that might be, still goes to show that a tad of digital clipping doesn't necessarily matter all that much - otherwise people would've noticed when playing through the thing.
Click to expand...
Yeah. I think it doesn't matter as much as one could imagine. I can even get my SSL2 interface to clip somewhat (just tested it with Duncan distortion), but you'll hardly find complaints about it online, even if this interface is used by many metal players.
 
Sascha Franck said:
If you need a super small emergency backup, a jamming device for whatever occasions or even something simple for non-demanding gigs (*check* for all three in my case), at €119 this is possibly the most no-brainer device I've stumbled upon in a whole number of years (or maybe even ever).
Click to expand...
It’s been 2 weeks. Still using it?
 
ragingplatypi said:
It’s been 2 weeks. Still using it?
Click to expand...

Oh, a lot! Right now I'm on the road quite a bit (several gigs far away from home each month) and this has become a superb "sparring partner" when wasting time in whatever miserable backstage and hotel rooms. Guitar and headphone cable, mobile device to feed backing tracks via BT = lotsa instant fun.
And I also used it for one set of a non demanding gig (IEM monitoring, fwiw), had two patches set up, a clean and a dirty one with boost and lead options each (the footswitching options are great), used an external Ampero switch for up/down. Went just great.
In fact, things are working so well that I'm considering another Ampero Control (MIDI switch) for the most compact setup ever. Would fit in a gigbag.
 
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