is in from a reputable soundman.

Last gig at this place (Hennessy's, in Boston) I had full rig, Bogner, Pedalboard etc.... soundman was raving over the sound of my rig, loved it. For room in car this time I brought the 11R, no FRFR, but in ears for me. Dude pumped it through the monitors (although somewhere along the line it did lower in the monitors) and I had in in my ears.

At the end of the evening I asked him which tone/dealing with it all he preferred. He thought about it a long time, said he like the 11R better. Easier to work the sound with it, no mic bleed, didn't have to worry about the mic getting kicked and moving. He just loved the ease of use. He said none of the other bands had used and 11R but a few had brought PODs etc... He thought this blew everything away.

I think we don't want to admit/accept that our stacks are a thing of the past.

I hear the 11R at rehearsal every week. It kills. That and the AxeFX, straight into a PA? They sound good. Really good.

I can attest that our mix in the room is a lot cleaner and clearer since we've been running all DI. And it's not like we were using cheap shit either. And the 11R is a lot nicer sounding piece than my Pod XT.

I thought Katatonia sounded pretty good with their AxeFXs when they opened for Opeth. My other guitarist saw Muse recently and they had Kempers DIed with AxeFXs for effects, no amps at all in a stadium- and he's seen them like six times in several different countries- and said they sounded fantastic. And those guys are super gearheads, too.

agreed. Seems like this "modeling" thing is just about down.

The ease of this place in Boston is also there is a short wall/barricade in front of the band, so I was able to prop up the 11R on the foot switch case and it was facing towards me also. was a perfect scenario for the 11R

It's damn close. The current generation cleans up well and doesn't have "modeler fizz". How accurate they are, I don't know, but more to the point, I don't care, because an 11R or AxeFX sounds and responds like some sort of real amp. The top end from Chris's 11R just kills my Pod. (Which is surprisingly decent dialed in right, but really, there's no comparison. It's like bringing a Peavey Bandit when the other guy has a Hiwatt. Yeah, you can make it sound okay, but...) And admittedly he's dicking with it in PT- the interface seems nice; we spent a good while dialing in tones, but that thing... To me, the current generation of stuff, they're just another amp now.

And I've played the Axe II through KRK V8s for a few hours, too. That thing is nuts. The guys I know personally with the nice current modelers all have piles of quality gear and use the modeler for their live rig. They may add pedals on the front end to do specific wierdsounds.

While i understand what is appealing and useful about the digimaps, it is one of the things that i personally, am and aim to continue to be, completely a luddite about.

I actually LIKE the awkward, heavy, noisy, loud, smelly, loud, high maintenance, inconsistent, qualities of my tubemap.

For me it is the same mindset that has me using handtools lately instead of all my power ones. It isn't just about the end result, it is more about the point a-to-b process.

But i do understand why everyone else loves the new way.

Too bad that Kemper amp is like $2000. I really want to fuck with it with some pedals in front but ah well.

I prefer realmaps when practical, and would still like to accumulate a large collection of them. There is something euphonic about the things and moving some air, and prefer them for recording, in real spaces.

I do get the advantages of digitalmaps though, readily enough. It's a little odd only hearing the amp through the monitors, but the current-gen techshit is frighteningly good sounding, enough that I would use it live and not as a backup.

Now, were I in a touring band, this changes and I would use the realmaps live if possible. My preferred rig would be an AC30 and a Shiva into four 4x12s, one of Greenbacks and one of Blues for each, roughed-up checkerboard or wheat grilles preferably, though matching cabs could be sexie, and a fleet of pedals with a switching system. Essentially, the shit I used to have, just more of it. If I had the budget for that though, there's a in the rack behind them for backup for sure.

That's only because I haven't spent too much time with a Hiwatt, and while I like old Fenders I don't know it's what I'd use for my live tone, and I do often need a good dose of gain.

FWIW, I prefer hardware synths for live work. They tend to not fuck up. I wish Native Instruments made one with Kontakt and Absynth on it. I still don't trust laptops live, even though I've been using them live for... I think ten years now, '03.

Oh I totally agree with using real maps. If I were able to have a dude to lug shit here and there and afford it, I would use nothing but my Shiva's, although a 101b might be good to have as well, but in the case of this past weekend 5 of use went to Boston in my chicks minivan. Bass rig, guitar rig, keys, my rig, 2 singers, 2 guitarists, 1 bass player... we needed every inch we could get so it seemed to make sense to use the 11R here.

We have 3 shows on Fire Island the next 3 weeks so it will travel there as well, we have to take people ferries there, no cars on FI. There has also been a few spills off the ferries by the guys loading them, if the 11R falls into the water yeah I will be pissed and upset. If the Shiva went into the water I would kill someone.

Those are only two of my favoritemaps.

That was part of our decision- one was shithead soundmen, the other is that we have cases full of shit we can't bring because amps, cabs and various hardware take up most of the space. We have at our disposal a decent-sized hatchback, a Jeep- Jeeps suck for transporting gear, by the way- and a small-ish pickup without a cab. (With the session guy we gain another pickup, this one with a cab in place of the Jeep.)

Cases full of lights, a couple fog machines, all sorts of fun shit.

I fit more shit in my old Nissan than I could ever fit in the Jeep. Way more. Two heads and cabs, a rack, a mixer in a road case, three guitars, a synth and various accoutrements. I used to belt gear into the front seat, generally the rack, and wedge the heads in between the front and rear seats.

Fuck, a friend once fit a 9-piece drum kit plus cymbals and hardware into a tiny Ford. I watched him do it. It was nuts. Granted there were no bottom heads save for the snare.

yeah the size a space saving is the difference maker here. The Shiva is a 1x12 but big (Soundmen always assume that one is a 2x12) my pedalboard is big, an SKB PS455 like this:


The 11r is in a soft 2u rack, and the fcb1010 is in a softcase, and i carry a bag with mics, inears, cables etc. If I put the guitar in a gigbag, I can carry everything in 1 trip to the car, boat, plane, camel.. whatever.

If you roll up to the gig on a camel, you are my hero.

Used the 11R again Saturday, just because.... I had room for the Bogner, but I want to get as used to it as I can. Only drawback is the tuner feature, I need to look into the tuner on the 11R. I don't have it setup for easy access other than [pressing the button, and it doesn't completely mute, I am sure I just have to check some settings. It just about takes the volume out, but not completely. Almost like it cuts out all amp/effect sims.

Put a TC Polytune in front of it.

I love my polytune... I might, but trying to keep everything to a minumum. The on board tuner is good, just need to tweak