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I know it is essentially heresy (at least to the younger me), but it really would be better/easier/less stressful to record things with a modeler into ART tube Pre than to mess with microphone set ups and tryiing to get decent reference tone of amps.

For demos, heavily effected sections, bit crushed parts, and mixed-low triple-tracked parts or harmonies....just doesn't make sense!!

What non-software (I like turning knobs-twss) modelers do y'all use or recommend?

Line6 stuff is ok. It doesn't sound perfect, but its better than a lot of SS preamps. You might also check out AMT's preamps.

I've got an itch to record, but don't have the facility to drive my big amp so I've been using a Vox Tonelab with external effects pedals. The Vox is know for it's good clean tone and I've got enough dirt pedals to make it filthy.

That being said, I'm looking into a AMT Electronics SS-20 Guitar Preamp; this baby has sweet sweet tubes and a effects loop. It may be the next best thing to an actual guitar/amp/mic.

http://amtelectronicsusa.com/productpagess20.html

An analog option is the Tech21 line. I have a VT Bass DI that works well with guitar and bass. It's small, versatile, sounds good and has tons of interesting options...

I have, not in order of preference, the modellers in the GR-55, the Behringer V Amp Pro rack unit, a Fender Mustang V amp (which will have the same available sounds regardless of sub-model in the line, just difference is # of presets and non-PC editing capacity), Boss GT-001, the venerable Boss GL-100 "Guitar Driver" rackmount pre with speaker emulated outs (which was a first when I saw it in 1990 or so when it came out, at least to me).

The Boss GT-001 is a GT-100 in a desktop box with USB interface (and stereo outs), and has a ton of stuff inside. If I had to pick *one*, it would win.

I still use them all, because I've found mixing one manufacturer's take on a particular amp with another's can have very fun results.

GT-001 was the first modeller that passed the Turing test for recording with me - I reached over to the 4x12 to make sure it wasn't pushing air (forgetting for a moment I was in cans) at 6 am.

Very, very, very deep editing as well, and more stupid control than you can shake a stick at (external FS available, etc).

Probably the best $299 I've spent on recording gear in a long, long time - it's my go-to when I don't want to mic stuff (or even if I do, because it blends with the 3 mic'd amps I have on call and has a direct guitar dry available should I ever want it for something as well).

I ended up buying a $30 behringer SansAmp knock off. I expect not much of anything from it.

When I get disposable income, I'll buy that GT-001. After reading some reviews (including yours!) and listening, it seems like one of the best and not as confusing as Fractal or ElevenRack...not to mention cheaper as well. Thanks for pointing me in that direction!

The Behringer stuff isn't terrible, especially the things geared towards the pro audio department.

It may or may not hold up, it may or may not be grand, but I was never a huge Sansamp fan to begin with - at the time, it worked, but that's about all I can say.

The Boss is definitely worth the price of admission, so much so I'm going to add a GT-100 as well just for the block-editable/assignable hardware FX loop in it, even if I won't ever use the volume pedal (my right foot is the absolutely mangled, worthless one, and unless it's a perfect stars aligned day, no way in hell can I use the left one for anything but balance even sitting).

I have the Behringer Bass V-Amp Pro. It's a great piece of gear. Heaps of amp and cabinet sims as well as loads of decent sounding effects. Works awesome on Bass, guitar, keyboards, basically anything you throw at it. Lots of connection possibilities.

Yea, the V Amp Pros are seriously underrated. Ok, they're basically POD knockoffs, but they have enough I/O options to kill babies (and at the time I got it, the SPDIF out was worth the price of admission as I needed something to go digital for a project). The thing that also very, very much rocks is the knobs glow based on the settings in the patch - no wondering where something is. Editing is easy with or without the PC editor (but requires a USB to MIDI adapter, the thing doesn't have any USB capacity, but it's six or seven years old now).

I'd have gotten a bass one if they were being closed out at the time but well, it was a $100 price difference, I paid $110 NIB for a closeout one from B&H.

Yea, the V Amp Pros are seriously underrated. Ok, they're basically POD knockoffs, but they have enough I/O options to kill babies (and at the time I got it, the SPDIF out was worth the price of admission as I needed something to go digital for a project). The thing that also very, very much rocks is the knobs glow based on the settings in the patch - no wondering where something is. Editing is easy with or without the PC editor (but requires a USB to MIDI adapter, the thing doesn't have any USB capacity, but it's six or seven years old now).

I'd have gotten a bass one if they were being closed out at the time but well, it was a $100 price difference, I paid $110 NIB for a closeout one from B&H.

$110.00 is an awesome deal. I paid about about $500 AUD when they were new. But Aussies get totally screwed when it comes to gear.

They went down like lead balloons here, they came out too late to make any impact and Behringer was just starting to make inroads on the pro audio market - before that it was "oh, god, cheapo crap shit amps and effects that nobody wants" that you got as a grudging gift.

A lot of it's still in that category IMO but there's some gems hiding.

I scored an Echo Machine pedal from my SS last year. Not a bad unit actually. A lot of bang for the buck.

Yea, sometimes they're decent units. I was tempted but I have enough delay to kill small villages and repeat it back for a week.

For FX, the Zoom G3/G5 are great. The amp models on the Zoom boxes are fine, but the stomp box models really shine. For crunch and cleanish tones/amp models, the Vox Tonelab is one of the best. I have owned and used the Zoom and Vox units with great results.