The Watering Hole

Well, not naked but ampless. I have been wanting, forever now, to not lug around an amp to gigs. I half stepped it by going to a Vetta combo, but it is still a heavy piece of gear that I have to lug around, and it still creates extra sound on stage. My band has finally decided to dump a couple grand into upgrading our PA. Once we do this, I intend to get a GT-10 or something and run with no amp. The best part is, my other guitarist is hyped on the idea too.

How sweet it would be to have a bare naked stage with no amps. If we do it, I am sure the bassist will follow suit.

I know so many people hate modelers and I realize playing without amps has it's drawbacks, but I think the positives will outweigh the negatives. I have gotten some really nice tones out of modelers going direct to DAW. My Vetta is, afterall just a modeler with an amp and speakers attached. I am sure with a good PA and some time spent tweaking, we can get good sounds.

Last night, I got to the gig, in Georgia, an hour or more form home, and realized that I hadn't brought my mic or stand. I had to dangle some othe rmic from my cab, and it was not an instrument mic. sounded like shit. I wanted to run the Vetta direct but didn't have time to tweak it. Before buying the pedal I am taking the Vetta to the studio tomorrow and turning off the speakers and testing it for direct sound. If I get even a decent useable tone, I'll grab the GT-10 and start tweaking it. I have heard some pretty good direct tones on Youtube, user made GT-10 demos. (if I had to rely on Roland to convince me to buy their shit I would never evn consider the thing, their demos suck).

anyhow it is a great experiment underway now

Spai, I personally would avoid the GT10.  Don't care for it.  If you're going to do the direct thing, I'd snag a Pod X3 Live.  The direct sounds are much better.  The heavier sounds are, IMHO, a whole lot more convincing.  Also easier to program.  Tripper has one of these puppies and digs it.  If I was doing the direct rig, I'd get an X3.

GT10 has pretty lights.   :D

I definitely will vouch for the X3 Live as a more than appropriate option for replacing a Vetta.

Unfortunately, I haven't had the opportunity to play any guitar gigs with my X3 Live, so I don't have any direct experience with it as a guitar rig live. I've been playing nothing but bass at shows (with the occasional acoustic guitar tune that I use my Variax on)

To me, though, the guitar sounds on the X3 Live sound like taking a blanket off the speakers of the XT Live - there's just a lot more clarity, detail, and "tubeiness" than past generations. The processors used in the X3 series are much more powerful than the ones in Vettas and the one in XTs.

And as I said over on Andy Z's board - a powered monitor will help if you need a little more guitar than your monitor mix can provide (as I know many bands don't have individual monitor mixes).

We're all direct in my band (guitarist uses a Digitech GSP1101 rig direct) - we have been in a bunch of the bands I've played in, and it's way preferable than dealing with someones over-loud bass or guitar amp. It's just ESSENTIAL that you have good monitors.

Tripper