Vox Tonelab ST (?)

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nickt

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 31, 2008
Messages
160
Location
Sydney, Australia
Probably the right section but the wrong forum but you dudes have "ears" so here goes.

I'm about to be seconded to the UK for work and can't take my AC30 etc. My cunning plan A is to take a guitar and a Tonelab ST. Sounds good in theory - amps and cabinets modeled - some effects (which I never use but might be fun) - headphone output - light weight. Trouble is I don't actually own one!!

Now the problem - all the clips I've heard of the ST have that goddawful crappy japanese sound with too much reverb and harsh overly brite tone. The amps modeled are recognisable but ICK!

Is the problem:
a) me
b) the clips
c) the ST is crap and I need a better plan
d) all of the above  ::)

Any thoughts (particularly based on experience) would be much appreciated.

Thanks  ;D
 
I have used Tonelab for years. I think it's the best sounding amp modelling box, but it has limitations you need to work around.

1. Bad sounding stomp box emulations. I find almost no use for these. Useless univibe, shit tubescreamer etc. Just use a real stomp box.

2. Not all of the models are good. Mesa boogie types are especially shite. Anything swimming in massive amount of distortion that you still want controllable is just not possible.

3. the output effects (like flanger, chorus) are a bit bland. Sometimes useful, but there are better alternatives one can stick to the signal chain.

But for my type of studio guitar work, it has some serious advantages

0. super easy to use and fast to dial a good sound, especially if you know each model behaviour.
1. It has the best AC30/AC15 type models of any digital box (homefield advantage shall we say). highly responsive, like any decent tube amp should be
3. It also has very good fenders, like bassman, deluxe and twin models. again, highly responsive. Generally very good crunch models.
4. The cab models are very good. nice selection available with great effect on tone.
5. the reverbs are actually ok, as long as you use them like normal people do, and don't attempt to swim in them.
6. delays are great and varied.

Despite the fact that the tube has a backlight, it is not your average starved plate fart-i-nator design. It's used faking the power amp stage, and it actually succeeds. It's probably the reason Tonalab variants seem somewhat easier to play and have a more natural response than others. Change cheap electroharmonix tube to something better and you will actually hear an improvement. all the preamp sections are fully digital.

In a nutshell, the unit is great for a very realistic plain recorded guitar sound, from clean to crunch. Same amount of post production work required as any real amped guitar track. The internal effects are a bit bland, and extreme mesa boogie type modern distortion sounds like crap. It still does some unrealistic but cool super distortions very well.
 
I agree with Kingston.  I have the first gen Tonelab amp.  I still haven't heard any other modeling amp that comes close, including the $$$ Fractal Audio stuff (Revalver software is in the same league however).  The amp does have that bit of realistic feel missing in the others, so maybe the tube is doing something.  Vox claims it's set up as a clean gain stage feeding the solid state power section for added realism.  However, as Kingston said, the more gain, the less realistic the sounds are.  I usually don't go past a JCM800 crunch.  I bought mine without much expectations, other than having a versatile box for laying down scratch tracks, and was pleasantly surprised when I had a chance to dig in.  As with any programmable amp thingy, erase all the factory presets as soon as you get it out of the box.

-Chris
 
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