Direct recording dilemma

[Nomy]

OK, I'm mainly recording at home rather than live playing these days....sadly. But I'm trying to find the best way to record direct...I can't crank up the amp where I currently live!

At the moment I use a BOSS GT8 straight into my DAW. It's ok, but having had it a couple of years I'm as frustrated as hell with it. Sure it can do a lot, but it's just not intuitive for me, there's just simply too many possible sounds making it a perfect demonstration of that saying concerning wood and trees Besides, I don't exactly find it very user friendly at all.

Are there any good alternatives out there that have great stock core sounds and effects (as well as amp modelling etc), that don't stretch my brain with all the fancy stuff that I'll never use.

It would make a lot of sense for me to make my own pedalboard, but I'm just not sure what I would use for amp and speaker emulation before I send it to my DAW.

Any advice most welcome!

[mwynwood]

I've never really used one much - but I wonder if a Line6 POD or even the little Pocket POD would do the trick?

[Big Tim]

I've never really used one much - but I wonder if a Line6 POD or even the little Pocket POD would do the trick?

+1

The Boss GT8 is a multi effects box, it's primarily designed to sit between your guitar and an amp. Yes, it has some modelling stuff and you can record directly out of it, but it's not 100% designed for that function. It still requires a speaker cab and a amp circuit in some form or other to sound decent, especially with fuzzy/distortion sounds.

A Line 6 Pod, Behringer V-Amp and some of the Sans-Amp stuff IS designed to work without an amp. They are proper amp modelling boxes which will do all the speaker and amp simulation inside them, meaning the output doesn't require a guitar amp (in fact the best way to use a Pod live is through a straight PA amp and a 4x12") and can be recorded direct more satisfactorily.

Line 6 are the daddies of this stuff, but there is a bunch of other good stuff out there these days, and even some software options like Guitar Rig can give good results in a similar fashion. You just DI your guitar straight in and work out the tone later.

[Nomy]

Thanks guys, that does answer my question nicely. I've been looking at the Line 6 stuff, so I think that's the way I'll go...

Ta