Digitech GSP1101 - Studio Tracking

[buddaman71]

File this under FWIW:

I just spent 8 hours tracking guitar for my band's upcoming 70's Cali/Rock/Alt-Country CD using ONLY 3 guitars and my Digitech GSP1101 live rig at a fully loaded ProTools studio.

The engineer is a ridiculously talented guitarist who owns a fully tricked-out Matchless HC30-based Bradshaw rig built by Bob himself back in the early 90's (check out country-shred on Robert Keeley website...rkfx.com ) and was a little skeptical when I wheeled in a Peavey Penta 412 cab and a 6U rack with a GSP1101 and a tube power amp.

We started dialing in and tracking 100% totally dry presets using the AC15, Matchless, Fender Twin and a few others mic'd with nothing more than a single SM57 on the lower left 12" speaker. Of course we're running that mic through an Avalon 737, so that does help a bit.

Two songs in, the engineer just shook his head and said, "DAMN! That thing sounds GREAT!! Can't believe it cops the AC15 vibe AND nails that Neal Schon/EJ type fat rich lead tone."

I'm no shredder, but I fired up and overdubbed a couple of simple, melodic lines, some slide guitar fills and added a few harmony notes using the .22 Caliber model. Just stupidly fat and absolutely as good sounding as any tube amp I have ever owned. (Of course I am mic'ing up a tube-powered cab) I might get an AXE FX some day, but the GSP1101 rig is the best all-round price/performance rig I have ever owned. ..and I have owned a LOT of rigs over the last 25 years!
:drink

[mtmartin71]

File this under FWIW:

I just spent 8 hours tracking guitar for my band's upcoming 70's Cali/Rock/Alt-Country CD using ONLY 3 guitars and my Digitech GSP1101 live rig at a fully loaded ProTools studio.

The engineer is a ridiculously talented guitarist who owns a fully tricked-out Matchless HC30-based Bradshaw rig built by Bob himself back in the early 90's (check out country-shred on Robert Keeley website...rkfx.com ) and was a little skeptical when I wheeled in a Peavey Penta 412 cab and a 6U rack with a GSP1101 and a tube power amp.

We started dialing in and tracking 100% totally dry presets using the AC15, Matchless, Fender Twin and a few others mic'd with nothing more than a single SM57 on the lower left 12" speaker. Of course we're running that mic through an Avalon 737, so that does help a bit.

Two songs in, the engineer just shook his head and said, "DAMN! That thing sounds GREAT!! Can't believe it cops the AC15 vibe AND nails that Neal Schon/EJ type fat rich lead tone."

I fired up and overdubbed a couple of simple, melodic lines, some slide guitar fills and added a few harmony notes using the .22 Caliber model. Just stupidly fat and absolutely as good sounding as any tube amp I have ever owned. (Of course I am mic'ing up a tube-powered cab) I might get an AXE FX some day, but the GSP1101 rig is the best all-round price/performance rig I have ever owned. ..and I have owned a LOT of rigs over the last 25 years!
:drink

What's your take on the GSP1101 vs. the RP1000? I guess the big differences are the GSP has two processors and the RP1000 is an integrated board with 4cm capability to mold with a current system. Do you use the GSP in lieu of your Budda? How do they stack up?

Thanks

[buddaman71]

RP1000 is, for all practical purposes, identical to the GSP1101/Control 2. Only difference the dual-chipset adds is the verb/delay spillover feature when switching presets. Other than that they are functionally identical. I prefer the rack, as I have a stereo 412 and a tube stereo power amp.

I love my Budda/Mesa/Matchless/Egnater/Fender amps, but I finally decided to go standalone, when I could match 95+% the tones I was getting in 4CM with all my amps by tweaking the models in the GSP. Editing is extremely fast and intuitive. Both these units are more than worth the money for the stomp box models alone.

I have gigged 3-4 nights per week for almost 2 years with my GSP1101 rig and still love it every single time I turn it on. I have zero GAS and could care less about buying any more stupid pedals/amps/etc. Every sound guy who plugs it in, from clubs to 30k+ crowd outdoor festivals has been extremely impressed.

I could handle pretty much any gig with an RP1000 and a decent tube amp with an effects loop or a pair of powered EON/QSC monitors.

PS: I highly recommend investing in a PedalSnake for any 4CM pedalboard hookups. MUCH neater on stage and fast setup/tear down.

[Lt_Core]

Serious RP1000 gas for me, again. I have a Rivera Chubster 40 watt 1x12 combo with effects loop. I'm assuming by using the clean channel and 4CM to the RP1000 I would be in amp/cab sim heaven? Hahaha!

[mtmartin71]

Well, I just bought a new RP 1000 for $389 at Guitar Center. I found a place online in Arizona called Rainbow Guitars that's selling them for that price and was able to prove it so my local Guitar Center gave me the price match. I'm going to try it out vs. my M13 and give it a whirl. I've got 30 days to compare the two and see which works better for my needs.

[buddaman71]

I have used my GSP1101 in 4cm with my:

Mesa LSC 112
Matchless Chieftain 212
Budda SD18-112
Budda Twinmaster-212
Peavey Classic 50-212

Worked perfectly with all of them. Absolutely amazing that you can, on a preset by preset basis, instantly switch from your amp tone to a model that is fed directly into your amp's power section.

Got a killer Fender-style amp with great clean tone that you just want to stick a bit of compression in front and a bit o' delay in the loop?
CHECK. Save that preset with the Digi preamp bypassed.

Want to make that same super clean amp sound like hell's fury?
CHECK. Save the next preset with the Digi Triple Rectifier preamp and your amp's pre section is completely bypassed feeding the Rectifier model directly into your amp's return.

It takes a bit of tweaking to get the levels balanced, but once you do, it's absolutely instant, silent switching back and forth between your amp and the internal models. You cannot do that with the M13, as it's simply a pedalboard.

If you get 60 Hz Hum, just plug everything into a grounded power strip and then lift the ground on the FX unit. Still safe as you are still grounded going into the wall. Dead quiet. NO impedance loading like with multiple pedals. I cannot overstate how much the stompbox models kick a$$. SparkelDrive and Redline models are killer!

PS: Let's keep in perspective that the RP1000 is about the price of 1.5 one-trick pony boutique stomp boxes...

[Lt_Core]

Thanks for another great description and set-up ideas. Congrats on the studio tracking as well. Any sound samples for us?

[buddaman71]

I am finishing up most of the guitars tonight. Starting vox next week and will have some rough mixes in a couple of weeks. Should be mostly done by the end on May, not counting mastering. I am playing all acoustic, electric and bass guitars on the record.

Should be cool, as 100% of the electric tracks shall be 100% GSP1101 tones. Hopefully, I can do it justice. The songs are standard pop vocal type tunes and are pretty harmonically simple, so I am working very hard to make them sonically and melodically interesting.

I think it's interesting approaching pop/rock/alt country from a "guit-orchestra" slant. Maybe like a blend of the Eagles and Mellancamp-esque vox and songwriting as interpreted by a guitar player who grew up listening to too much Queen and Journey.

[dc_jcm800]

This thread is, of course, useless without CLIPS!:phones

Thanks for the great info.

[frankencat]

So, any clips yet? :D

[buddaman71]

I posted some live XLR direct to the board clips of my GSP1101 at www.JackRowdy.com


I don't have SoundClick or anything up yet, but PM me your regular email account and I can send you one layered rough mix studio track called, "Let It Burn on Down". It's kind of a desert-y Eagles-esque country rock tune.

[frankencat]

Cool I will check them out after work. :)

[egkor]

Jason,

I gave another listen to all the songs you have posted ...

I'm really liking your guitar tones from the GSP1101!

-Gary K

[fakeox]

Yup, real nice!

[JPenn]

great tones! that looks like a very easy, clean rig as well.

[buddaman71]

Thanks for the kind words. I love that I can set up my entire rig in about 5 minutes.

Those live tracks are 100% GSP1101 direct to the board.

Lately, on larger stages, I have been splitting the signal from my X2 wireless with a Radial ABY.

A goes to the GSP1101
B goes to my Flextone III XL
MIDI out of the GSP to the Flextone.
Control 2 switches everything instantly

I wrote dry patches on the Flextone III (mostly semi-to medium breakup Plexi model) that complement the main tones on the GSP. I send a mono center panned DI from the Flex and treat it like a digital WDW setup. Simple way to get really big, lush, complex tones for not too much dough.
Works great!!

Here's a snapshot of my inexpensive, non-boutique, rig.

http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/36/l_8f1b040ee60444d385e651b59fff8873.jpg

[buddaman71]

I posted a couple rough mixes of some pop/country tunes at the Digitech site:

Lost in Love has some simple harmonized lines and slide.

http://www.digitech.com/soundcomm/guitar_view_music.asp?productid=235&music_id=4017

Let It Burn on Down is an Eagles-ish Cali-Country type song.

http://www.digitech.com/soundcomm/guitar_view_music.asp?productid=235&music_id=4010

All electrics and bass were tracked with the GSP1101.

I played all guitars and bass and sang all the bg vox.

I know the guitars are a bit low in the mix; this was just a quick reference mix we pulled at midnight last night.
:dunno

[TrickinSid]

Sounds great...!

[buddaman71]

Here's one more un-mastered rough mix of a tune I wrote called, A Bridge You Can't Unburn.

I sang and played everything but the drums.

All electrics are 100% GSP1101.

http://www.digitech.com/soundcomm/guitar_view_music.asp?productid=235&music_id=3974

[fr8_trane]

Hey Budda, I know you probably posted this somewhere else but can you let us know what models/cabs were used or which ones you favor and how you set them for the best tone?

Speaking for myself, using the RP355 I like the twin, AC30, 77master and jmp pnl. Favorite Cabs are brit and twn2x12 and any of the vintage 30 4x12's. Fav OD's are the 808 and redline.

Some things I have found trying to get the best tone:

When running the RP through an amp/cab I leave the outputs in mixer mode. The amp mode is just too fizzy. Mixer mode keeps it nice and smooth but not dull.

I really dig using an OD (real or sim) + low-med gain amp for some tones. With single coils I love the timmy in front of the RP for adding gain with very little color.

I use low output single coils mainly and I found that putting the digi comp set for low sustain, medium attack and hot output in front of the amp sim boosts the gain in a way that sounds better than just turning up the gain on the amp.

High output humbuckers can overload the input of the RP355 causing some digital dist on hard picking/strumming.

The cab sims on the RP's are OK but my recorded tones are much improved by using 3rd party cab impulses from Redwire, recabinet and even freebies found on the net. These cabs make a WORLD of difference to the recorded tone.

I never use the noise gate

I like the lexicon ambience + delay for adding space to a patch. The plate isn't too bad either but i have VST plugins that sound much better.

Thats it so far. Pretty much digging the tones I am getting for my $160 investment.

[buddaman71]

My fave lead tones are the Mesa .22, Plexi and Orange 120. I think I get much better tones by layering multiple gain stages with a little OD or compression to push the model rather than just cranking the gain on the preamp. These studio lead tracks have basically no effects on them, other than some of the cleaner bed tracks that have a bit of chorus or detune on them. I like the Glisten chorus with comp and delay and the Twin model for a lush live clean tone.

77 Master is my fave crunch rhythm model. (REALLY impressive.) AC15 and Twin are my fave cleaner models and the Matchless Chieftain is cool for med-gain/blues.

All my studio recorded tones are via a mic'd 412 pushed by a tube power amp. All my live recordings are 100% GSP1101 direct to the mixer.
For live, I choose the ONE Master Cab Sim option in the I/O section (412 Alt I think...I haven't changed it in awhile...I listened to all of them direct to my PA and liked it best.)

No cab sims on any of the studio tracks.

[buddaman71]

This is an update to this old thread, but I just finished tracking the last three tunes on my upcoming CD release last night and had a reality check that reminded me of how superior the tone of the GSP is to one of its competitors.

Due to time constrictions, we needed to quickly record the drum tracks with the rest of the band playing live in the control room for reference tracks. I didn't have time to go grab my rig, so I just plugged into the Pod Pro X3 that the local L6 rep dropped off at the studio for the engineer to check out. I have years of experience dialing in the Pods, so I figured it would be no problem to come up with a few basic tones that would be used only for the reference tracks and then deleted.

Man...it was almost impossible to get a usable tone out of the thing! I had forgotten how incredibly splatty and thin the L6 models are. Please don't think that I'm just blindly negging the L6 products; the feature set is REALLY cool. I really wanted to like it, the actual sound leaves MUCH to be desired though. As I fired up my GSP and started layering a few "keeper" rhythm tracks, it was instantly evident how much smoother, richer and more authentic the GSP models were than the X3. No contest.

[buddaman71]

UPDATE: 80's Hair Metal Ballad at http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=670313

I think the guitar tones are killer for the style. Probably the best first take rock solo I ever recorded.

Pop Country tune - http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=670322

I like the ride out solo. Another first take. Fits the tune pretty well I think.