Inexpensive practice rig - AX3G, RP100A or G2?

jclogston

New member
Hi everybody -

Looking to pick up something for lat night practicing thru pc speakers or headphones. Want to keep it under $100 if possible. Looking at the following:
Korg AX3G
Zoom G2
Digitech RP100A

Which would you go for?

Thanks

Jeff
 
Re: Inexpensive practice rig - AX3G, RP100A or G2?

I went ahead and picked up the korg ax3g. Tested it out at home thru 2 different sets of computer speakers. The smaller speaker size made every sound sound fizzy. Moving to slightly larger speakers fixed this though.

Now for first impressions after playing for 2 hours. It is very easy to use and set up sounds. I was initially worried as it didn't have many "up front" knobs but it is pretty simple to use and get use to. Now I was able to dial up decent sounding clean sounds and distorted sounds with every type of modulation (short/long delay, pitch shift): sounds good to me. The only thing I noticed and didn't like was, even though I could dial in decent distorted sounds, these sounds were based on the 2 drive models - metal and shred. The amp models, distorted ones (UK 80s, UK Modern, US Modern) blow. So I a just a little disappointed in that I'm only using 2 of the available distorted sounds, and they are not even amp models.
So I will try it this whole week and see if i really like or if it is just the "honeymoon" phase.

As for other modelers -
-I have and sold a podxt. I didn't like it in the sense that the distorted sounds to me were all fizzy and i could never dial it out. Also, it didn't feel right. There was a delay between what i was playing and what i was hearing and this drove me crazy. The korg ax3g on the other hand, does not have these problems.
-Tried the v-amp2 and didn't like it.
-Pandora, i want something that has a footswitch built in.
-magicstomp, never tried but from what i gather it is not great in the distored realm. Also, i do not want to use a pc for (deep)editing.


So, i wonder if the amp models (mesa, marshall, soldano?) on the zoom g2 or rp100a are better than the ax3g's (should be as i hate the ones on the korg ax3g)?

How is the GNX1 in terms of the amp modeling?

Jeff
 
Re: Inexpensive practice rig - AX3G, RP100A or G2?

Hi everybody -

So played around with the korg ax3g somemore today. I am able to get decent clean (acoustic) sounds, and rock lead solos w/ delay, autowah, pitch. However i cannot get a nice metal sound, think along the lines of metallica, testament, anthrax.
So i think i will return it as this is the type of music i play these days.
So down to the zoom and the digitech. Can these get those sounds i'm looking for?

Thanks

Jeff
 
Re: Inexpensive practice rig - AX3G, RP100A or G2?

My rp200 gets the sounds you ask for. Dont know how close the 100 is too it. I got the 200 for $109 open box from music123.
Another advantage, digitech has an online forum where people share presets, so it usually really easy to get the sound you want.

Edit : Looks like the 100 is the 200 without an expression pedal, so I say go with that, you will like it.
 
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Re: Inexpensive practice rig - AX3G, RP100A or G2?

I bought a used Pod 2.0 for late night practice.... i hardly use it.. But it is pretty good! Used Pods maybe in your price range
 
Re: Inexpensive practice rig - AX3G, RP100A or G2?

for about 200 bucks you can get a korg/Toneworks Pandora
they are great for practicing

it has effects, amp simulators, tuner, you can hook up your cd player
through it and record up to 32 sec. and slow it down which makes it easy to learn , you can record yourself playin with the cd.
if the song in question is in Db or D# you can use the transpose feature and
not have to retune your guitar.

some people use these things live i ve never tried it. I ahve used it in the studio some it works great
it has sequenced tracks to play with to,you cant write your own,
but you can take there's and put whatever chord change's you want in it.

check it out.
 
Re: Inexpensive practice rig - AX3G, RP100A or G2?

Go out and get digitech RP200A. It has way more of options due to the foot pedal.
 
Re: Inexpensive practice rig - AX3G, RP100A or G2?

Thanks everybody -

It's down to either the rp100a or zoom g2. I tried the zoom g2 a long time ago but i will admit, i had no idea how to use it which was probably why i didn't like it then. But i have read both the g2 and rp100a manuals and will try both out this week.
Is the only difference b/t the g2 and g2.1u the usb and foot pedal? Is the rp100a the same as the rp200A but w/o the foot pedal?
I imagine you could dial up some metallica-like rhythms with the g2 or rp100a? Anyone have any sound clips?

Thanks

Jeff
 
Re: Inexpensive practice rig - AX3G, RP100A or G2?

The GNX1's amp modeling is great when it comes to the lower gain/clean stuff, like the blackface, tweed, and fender twin stuff. Some of the higher gain stuff sounds a little fizzy, like the Recto, the Hi Gain setting, and the JCM800, but you can dial it out fairly easy.
 
Re: Inexpensive practice rig - AX3G, RP100A or G2?

I have an old Korg AX1B for bass, which I got for about $40 on Ebay a while ago. It is not the most refined processor I have heard, but it is definitely fun to mess with. It is also a lot of fun when using headphones. Since the effects sound kind of toyish, I like to layer up as many as possible, and then I set the parameters to fairly subtle settings. Generally, layering up effects deteriorates the sound a little, and it can sound unprofessional with less expensive gear; however, cutting back on the parameters is an awesome solution.
 
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