software

Well, I'm due for a rig upgrade soon (a very large one!) and am just wieghing up my options. (So I have a bunch of questions!)

As far as price goes, some of the gear I've been looking at gets pretty expensive, so I will probably be looking to get some of it second hand to ease my wallets pain a bit. That being said, I don't want to stuff around, and want to get it right by buying the right gear. And as far as power goes, I will be gigging with it, so I will need a bit of power. Around 100W. I have had a lot of use with a 5150II, but I think I like the overall feel and punch from Mesa's a bit more.

I suppose I play a variety of heavy styles, but mostly metal. Things like thrash style Megadeth, Metallica to power metal; Blind Guardian, Iced Earth, then onto black metal like Dark Funeral, Dissection and over to the opposite end of the scale to hard rock like GunsNRoses, a bit of Danzig etc. So as you can see I would like something quite versatile!!!

It is for this reason I have decided I will have much use for a multi FX unit. Like a Boss GT-6 or 8... maybe a PodXTLive. I would also use it for home recording, so the amp sim would come in handy.

Now my real question is... If I buy a MFX unit like this, I can't see much use for a 3 channel triple recto if I am going to just use the one clean channel with the FX pedal!!! Would it be better for me to head in the direction of rack gear??? If I did, I would probably use a Boss GTpro rack unit unstead of a GT6/8 pedal.

Now this might sound stupid, but can you use something like a GTPro rack effects thing straight into a power amp, (then into a cab)??? This seems like it would make for a very simple rig, and with the FX unit, I could get my variety of tones/FX. Or would I need a preamp aswell???

Or am I better off just finding an amp I like and stickin the pedal infront of it??

Ideas anyone, I'm running around in circles here!

(sorry for the long post, but I know you all like to get all the information out of people before suggesting things!! )

I have a GTPro, it will sound the best into a power amp into a full range cab (not a stack), or direct to the PA- you wind up paying for the amp sims and not using them if you run into guitar cabs.
If you get the GT Pro, budget for a midi pedal too, you need some way to control it...I use a a Behringer FCB1010. Now, this is not a cheap thing, but for my uses I needed a rack...if you just like heavier styles, you may be better off with an amp and a few pedals.

Cool, so you can just run the GTPro into a power amp. Yeh, I assumed I would need a pedal to control it! Can you give me some examples of decent full range cabs?

I know I will be better off with a MFX unit, as I will definately use different types of od/distortion sounds, and need good reverb, chorus and occasional flanger. I will most definately use the amp sims for home recording too. I'd also like to have my presets locked in, as opposed to tweaking knobs on 5 different pedals every time I want to change to a different sound!

If the rack stuff is looking to be a mile more expensive, is there any disadvantage to running a GT-8 infront of an amp cab setup? You can turn the amp sim off so you are just sending the effects through to the amp yeh?

well the only disadvantage is that the amp sims are a big part of the price, and you wouldn't be using them. Still lots of people do it, and if it sounds good to you, who cares?

For cabs, I am using JBL Eons, which are powered, so I don't bring a power amp. They each have a 15quot; speaker and a horn, and they are bi-amped, so there is a separate amp for the lows and highs. Any PA speaker with a power amp would do though.