Why do this?
OK – so this idea has come about after a recent thread started by AJ asking about experiences with Tech 21 “Character” pedals.
I thought it may be of interest to the GDP populous in general to hear how these “amp in a box” type pedals fare against the real thing.
Firstly a bit of background
Wwe all know tube amps have the potential to break down at the most inopportune times therefore I a gigging situation we guitarists always want a back-up in case something goes wrong. It is not fun always loading and unloading a spare amp each time I play out so I have looked for something that can serve the same purpose but that will fit in my pedal bag and will good enough to allow me to finish playing a gig.
In my quest for this I found very little that was a stomp box sized all-in-one solution.
I did however come across the Award Session JD-10 last year which promised to deliver what was needed. The amp emulator section is not based on any particular amp or brand and purports to cover a very wide tonal range.
Now Tech 21 have released their Character series of pedals which work on the same basic principle – that is to emulate and amplifier and a speaker which allows it to be used direct for recording or for DI’ing into a PA for live use. As I have a fondness for fender type amps I couldn’t resist going for their “Blonde” pedal.
The amp
The emulators in this test are up against a 6G6 Bassman head running into a custom 2 x 10 cabinet loaded with one Weber alnico Silver Bell and one Weber ceramic Blue Pup speaker giving the cabinet a more “British” type sound
Running the emulators – power amp and speakers
Obvioulsy neither pedal has an in-built power amp and therefore need to be connected to one. As this test is designed to see how they fare in the situation I have primarily bought them for (emergency live performance) the answer is to run them through my PA system.
This consists of a Yamaha powered mixer and a pair of Mackie S215 passive speakers. This will ensure the sound of the emulator pedals will be reproduced “uncoloured” and let the voice of both the amp sim and speaker emulator come through. The Mackie speakers each have a 15” main driver so there should be no lack of low end thump if the emulator can deliver it.
The recording process
My trusty Edirol R-09 was placed about 2 feet in front of the amp.
Once the amp recording was done this was removed and the PA system placed in the same position to record both of the emulators.
These are the settings I had for the equipment
Firstly the amp
Notice I rolled off the presence knob because neither of the emulators have a presence knob control.
The Award Session
And finally the Tech 21 Blond
The actual recording
Here it is - Amp versum emulator pedals audio comparison
No effects were used in any of the recordings – guitar straight into amp in the case of the Bassman and guitar-pedal-PA for the emulators. The input in the PA was set with all eq controls in the 12 o’clock position.
The guitar? - my Peerless Gigmaster SC
I used the same generic rockabilly type lick in each case (I don’t have a looper so each recording has slight variances due to human error!). I had to reduce the recording input level on the Edirol for the actual Bassman as it really was loud. Both emulators were run through the PA kicking out a lot of volume but the Bassman was something else in such a small room!!
All tracks were recorded in WAV format, cut down and pasted together in Audacity and then saved to MP3. No processing was done to the tracks (not even normalizing!)
So, what we have here is a single file with the same lick being played through each bit of kit – there is a small gap between each piece of equipment.
I have mixed up the order of the equipment just to add a bit of fun for everyone to see if they can identify the real thing (I think it will be pretty easy for no other reason than a pair of 15” speakers don’t sound the same as a pair of 10” speakers)
Conclusions
I will let you have a listen first before I post the correct running order and my conclusions. What I would say is that both emulators are capable of much more than the “one” sound you hear but hopefully it gives a reasonable idea of their basic tone.
Cheers
- the results are as follows:
