LET'S PLAY "EQUIPMENT REVIEWERS"!!!

[Max Ventura]

Dear Craig, and fellow forumeers,

here's my idea for a new topic:

WRITE A REVIEW OF A NEW PIECE OF EQUIPMENT YOU'VE JUST ACQUIRED, ALONG WITH COMPARISONS, PROS AND CONS.

Besides helping others in making a good choice when buying, it'll hone your evaluation and writing skills.

 

As I promised in another topic, here's my review of Zoom's answer to Line 6 Pod, the GM-200 Amp Modeler.

It's finally here, I paid it 310.000 lire, about $ 140 US, dealer price.

Tell you right away, right out of the box this small desktop device sounds awesome. It's a guitar amp, pure and simple. No programming and no storing, no tuner, no Midi; however, the quality of the output is not even stunning, I'd say breathtaking.

The Fender Twin IS a Twin, and you can even hear the separation between the cones.

The Marshall 800 is none other than the real thing, up to the way the gain knob would react in the head itself: a different gain scale than in most other amps.

The spring reverb, man, it's as sweet as I've ever heard one. No comparison with that on the Pod, which at its factory setting is, at best, useless.

I know I sound like I am hyping it, but mind you, I value simple, effective devices that work with little fuss WAY better than powerful ones that take a lot of dedication, time and fatigue to yield decent results.

 

This Zoom machine is doing exactly what it is supposed to do: emulate the emission of several classic miked amps, for the purpose of multitrack recording.

An real-life amp is not programmable, has no special effects, has no Midi and no tuner. You get the effects from somewhere else like stompboxes or a dedicated processo.

The reason you need an Amp modeler is exclusively for multitrack recording,

because miking an amp usually requires too much trouble for most of us, in terms of noise, sound isolation, choice of mic and placement, and so on. And you have to actually have the amp.

Any other usage, like livesets, for example, is not intended for this type of machine, like wise for the Pod (I know Craig uses it live, but come on, there are easier ways of

getting realtime controls on your modeled sound than the rig you have, Craig, with the PC-1600 and all).

I never liked the Pod. Right from the start I heard unexciting sounds, unexciting effects that I wouldn't use anyway (because, like most of you, I like my effects BEFORE the amp rig, not within it or after it), and the major pain of deep, remote programming which is something I seldom do even in my synths.

The Pros and cons of the Zoom GM-200 are as follows:

PROS:

-same ease of use as a straight, classic guitar amp;

-outrageously creamy tube saturations and really firm, heavy texture of distortions; no cheap diode breaking-up here, just thick cream and lots of body.

-much better emulation of a spring reverb than most dedicated reverb processors, with a very long decay and a very wet and sweet texture.

I almost heard the coils rattling.

-battery-operated (I don't remember if the Pod was, too).

-a lot of interfacing options (it has different settings according to where you'll be hearing it from, such as home stereo, multitracker, guitar amp, and such);

-one-third of the Pod's retail price

-very stright-forward thinking.

 

THE CONS:

-Could have implemented a tuner;

-the effects knob is difficult to position properly and precisely (in its single rotation range there are four effects to choose from, along with their intensity);

-Could have at least five or six user memories, but again, the parameters are so few and straight-forward that it's really quick getting your sounds back;

-RCA out only.

 

CONCLUSION:

A fantastic-sounding, no-fuss and easy to use amp simulator, with a colorful choice of classic amps along with their relative cabinets and personalities, and a wonderful spring reverb that screams to be played. The whole thing packaged in a really inexpensive device that will fit on any desk no matter how crammed.

 

 

AFTERTHOUGHT:

I really don't understand why this brand Zoom is so underrated worldwide.

I mean, it has excellent new ideas, all their machines include original thinking, great sounding presets and new

takes on classic sounds; their effects processors offer an enormous bang for your money, almost making

Lexicon and TC El. seem silly (check out the RFX-2000 multi-effector with mastering processing, for instance);

their drum machines, although limited in Midi features, editing and sequencing options, offer THE BEST

sampled sounds in the drum machine market, period. Trust me, I had a RT-123 jamming along with a TR-909

sitting next to it; the owner of the latter couldn't tell which was which. And he owns an analog museum with

more than 40 pieces.

[Tedster]

Well, this is a topic (the guitar emulator thing, esp) that I am interested in, as I want one (sick of line hum and using live mics in my little home schtudio)...

 

Reviews are certainly helpful. But we've all heard friends rave about a piece of gear, and we try it, and are left cold. I guess the absolute best thing is to go down to yer local store and try the items in question side by side.

 

Which brings up another item. Have y'all ever played an amp in the store at a polite volume (trying not to drown out the sixteen year old next to you running through "Enter Sandman" for the 50th time cranked up to 11) and the thing sounds great, and so you buy it, and it sounds like a Hoover on the gig???

[Anderton]

Thanks for the Zoom review...very interesting. I don't know how many other people will take you up on your request to write reviews, but I hope some do.

 

>>Any other usage, like livesets, for example, is not intended for this type of machine, like wise for the Pod (I know Craig uses it live, but come on, there are easier ways of getting realtime controls on your modeled sound than the rig you have, Craig, with the PC-1600 and all). <<

 

Well, in some cases I just program a bunch of presets before hand and switch among those. But I have to say the beauty of using the PC-1600 live is that it's so versatile -- you really can access all the parameters, and have different fader sets for different songs. If you know of an easier way to get that kind of control, let me know!!

[Max Ventura]

No, not that kind of control.

But the pain I see with that rig isn't in the devices themselves, but the cable jumbles, the AC adaptors, the Midi cords...

 

When I played guitar in a band, when I was in NY, I had an effects rig that was considered to be the biggest in the city. It was a floor board that fit into a 88-keys keyboard flight case and weighed about 62-65 lbs. Me & my brother had to carry it together. It did allow me all the realtime controls I wanted, because it had an extruding wooden arm (I'm serious!) that came up to chest level with a mixer and some more effects with knobs on, that would be routed thru four A/B boxes, four multieffectors and stuff. It was an engineering Frankenstein that I once did and couldn't replicate now.