Re: Major Equipment FAILURE!
Okay, I confirmed that GC has all the products I want to try out. I'm thinking I've narrowed it down to the Vox Tonelab SE or the Pod XT with the FSV Shortboard... that's $500 vs. $570 & both have the metal switches & solid metal chassis floorboard. I guess it comes down to how they sound and "feel" tomorrow.
That's about it! I'll let you know how the equipment testing at GC goes...
Today I spent about 35-40 minutes in a closed room with a small combo amp & the Pod XT with the FSV Shortboard. I liked the sturdiness of the pedalboard, but after trying all the stock effects & tweaking some of them to see what kinds of sounds I could create, I felt that the tones were a touch sterile. Some really nice heavy distortions and good effects, but it didn't have the "feel" I was hoping for.
Then the salesman went to get the Vox Tonelab SE & wasn't able to find the one that was supposed to be in stock. I went ahead and tested the floor model out in the middle of the store through a small Vox combo (at the display). I probably spent a good 35-40 minutes messing around with it & was VERY impressed! Attracted a small crowd of spectators too which I found humorous... they all liked my customized Soloist & the Tonelab's tones!
I got tones out of that thing that I've never achieved before... like glassy solo tone that distorts nicely when you give it some soul and cleans up to almost total glassy clean tone when you back off, and some sparkly cleans that get a little growly when you really crank the chords. It seemed to have some nice heavier sounds too + trippy effects that can be controlled with the two expression pedals. Really a killer unit! :cool2:
I figured out a way to finance the purchase & went ahead and brought the floor model home for now. The salesperson is ordering a new unit that will be swapped with the floor model once it arrives (I paid full price, no discount for floor model--because I want a new one in the box!). So the deal is DONE & I seem to have found what I was looking for! :fest6:
When I got home, I spent about 3-4 hours with NO breaks playing with different sounds. I have to say this pedal makes editing patches super easy! Everything is laid out very intuitively & the knob-oriented interface helps keep it all at your fingertips instead of burying stuff in layer after layer of menus. I'm looking forward to hearing it through my 4x12 later this week, but for now I'll settle for setting up some customized patches with headphones.
Maybe I'll record a few clips to demonstrate some of the tones. I'll have to see how it sounds direct! :18:
--Nightrunner