software

So lately I've been curious about the practicality of buying a tube amp for recording purposes. I've just about had it with the the whole modeller thing, and although my little bandit sounds nice when clean I have yet to get a distorted sound that pleases me. So I guess my question is, in a house where volume is indeed an issue is a tube amp an option for recording? I mean- to get that saturated clip you really need to push the amp right? So is it possible to get a good tone without blowing the bedroom windows out? I was thinking that maybe a 30 watt combo like a mesa f-30 might be a good alternative to getting a podxt and that sacrificing the convenience of late night recording and limited mixing would be worth it for the *real* thing but I'm still unsure as to whether it would be overkill at this point. Would an iso cab help things, or should I just hold out until I move out or need to gig? Another thing I was thinking was that maybe I could build a small area lined with damping material from a hi-fi store and just try to make it relatively sound proof.

Your opinions are much appreciated, I'm getting close to the end in the writing process and I'm just trying to think of how to get the best possible guitar sound for the final takes. I have time, since drum tracks will need to be recorded first sometime in July and I won't be done mixing those for a looong time.

A tube amp and a few decent, not even good or great, pedals will get you there.

You must first remember that a tube amp has many more harmonics and will thus seem MUCH louder.

If you use distortion/OD and want to record late at nite a master volume, or attenuator is a necessity. I play my Z at all hours and just knock the hell out of the front end since I can't get all my power tube distortion.

High gain amps will go in the right direction, but even they sound better opened up a bit.

Luke

An attenuator... is that like a way of reducing the wattage while still pushing the tubes? Sorry if that sound dumb or something- I know nothing about tube technology, I've played solid state and the Vamp for as long as I've played guitar.

With an attenuator you get full blown, tube saturation. The thing is you can control the amount of current getting to the speakers. Very useful devices! Most guys like the MASS the best b/c it does not color the sound.

Luke

Load box a speaker sim. I prefer that to using an attenuator because I don't like the tone of a speaker that's not moving a decent amount of air.

Just don't get the Berhinger Ultra-G. I think it sounds like poo. IMO the HK Red Box is a pretty good unit for reasonable money.

Doesn't a speaker sim kind of defeat the purpose of using a real amp? I'd have to hear some clips I think.

Thanks for the help so far! This is turning out to be very informative.