Line 6 California Crunch (c+)

[dmcguitar]

I am wondering how people think the line 6 vetta II's california crunch channel compares to the actual mark II c+. Line 6 says their " '85 California Crunch" is based on a Mesa/Boogie® '85 Mark IIC+. When i played through the line 6 pod x3 live (which has the same amp model as the vetta) its seems as though there is not much gain.

Has anyone here played both, that can compare them?
I felt that the 5150II model is pretty good. (my bass player got the pedal to use, I have a 5150II, but play with the pedal when doing demo's)

 

[ytse_jam]

I heard a vetta just once but It seemed to me amp models sounded better on the vetta then on the pod. I don't know about the specific case

 

[jdurso]

I am wondering how people think the line 6 vetta II's california crunch channel compares to the actual mark II c+. Line 6 says their " '85 California Crunch" is based on a Mesa/Boogie® '85 Mark IIC+. When i played through the line 6 pod x3 live (which has the same amp model as the vetta) its seems as though there is not much gain.

Has anyone here played both, that can compare them?
I felt that the 5150II model is pretty good. (my bass player got the pedal to use, I have a 5150II, but play with the pedal when doing demo's)

first off the vetta is a great amp... you can get some great tones out of it if you spend enough time with it.... the key is to use both amp model channels at the same time.... the diezel and bogner tones are great especially when played at the same time..... with that said the mesa amp models suck... especially the california crunch.... its nothing even remotely close to the same thing.... now you can come close to the markIIc+ tone with other amp models used at the same time (fender + diezel herbert if i remember correctly)....... as far as other L6 products, well nothing stacks up to the vettas in terms of great tone and tone shaping especially if you get the head and run it through a good cabinet (L6 cabs blow IMO)

now if your looking for something that sounds amazing look at the axe-fx..... its a modelling preamp thats mission is to deliver realistic tube tone... i was skeptical at first but my buddy (who is a session guitarist and has toured with alicia keys) got one about a year ago and it sound unbelievable.... he has it paired with a mesa 2:100 and a vht 2:90:2 in a full stereo rig...... between the quality coding (L6 vetta uses 10,000 lines of code for the modelling where as the axe-fx using almost 100,000 to reproduce tube sag and the organic reactions of a tube pre-section at saturation) and pairing it with a great power amp, you have an unreal sounding rig..... and on top of that the fx are mind blowing..... i would say on par with eventide... not as many crazy fx but you get some of the best verbs, delays, intelligent harmonizer, etc...... the reason i bring this product up is because the best amp models in the unit are the mark IIc+, the brown channel for a little eddie, and the diezel model.... if your seriously looking into the vetta you might wanna look into the axe-fx first... there were alot of converts from the vetta forum when it first came back and they were blown away by how much better the axe-fx was

 

[Elpelotero]

I've played both and needless to say the Line6 version is simply not close to the real thing. The C+ sound is impossible to capture in an actual amp, let alone a digital one. The real amp has lots of dynamics, more gain, and just lots of....I don't know...realness. It's hard to describe.

 

[jdurso]

I've played both and needless to say the Line6 version is simply not close to the real thing. The C+ sound is impossible to capture in an actual amp, let alone a digital one. The real amp has lots of dynamics, more gain, and just lots of....I don't know...realness. It's hard to describe.

definitely right..... you cant 100% reproduce the real thing but i'll tell you the axe-fx comes pretty **** close.... too bad the waiting list for those things are insane.... i guess you can consider it a boutique modeling amp

 

[Geiri]

Shredi knight

Posted a clip here a couple of years ago and had many believe that he was playing through a mk 4 or 2c+ but it was a vetta ll. At that time I had a vetta ll myself and tried his settings and they were surprisingly accurate.

But it was mostly clever eq-ing

 

[shredi knight]

Shredi knight

Posted a clip here a couple of years ago and had many believe that he was playing through a mk 4 or 2c+ but it was a vetta ll. At that time I had a vetta ll myself and tried his settings and they were surprisingly accurate.

But it was mostly clever eq-ing

Now now, lets get our facts straight. I would never try to fool the Boogie faithful over here................I did however fool quite a few people on Harmony-Central and Rig-Talk's amp forums with my Vetta clip (I claimed it was a Mark IV by the way). :mrgreen:

I actually used the Vetta's Bogner Uberschall amp model for that patch (along with the previously mentioned "clever" eqing with the Vetta's parametric eq). It was the best tone I was ever able to get out of the Vetta. The Mark IIc+ amp model was a joke. Very weak sounding and pretty unusable IMO, which was strange because the IIc+ sim on the Vetta's predecessor, the AX2 212, was really good and my personal favorite on that amp.

I'm now using an Axe FX and it kills the Vetta in every conceivable way. Everything jdurso said was spot on. This thing is amazing. I'm getting some fantastic Mesa Mark series/Petrucci tones with the "USA Lead" amp sims (the Axe FX has several Traixis, Mark IV, and Mark IIc+ amp sims).

Speaking of which, I'm going to take at least a little bit of credit for the Axe FX having the Mark IIc+ sims. After almost 2 years of asking for that amp to be added to the Axe FX on the Fractal forum (the Axe FX receives constant firmware update with new amp sims, effects, improved features, etc....), it's creator Cliff Chase added this little comment in a thread announcing a new firmware release a few months ago:


"Oh, and Shredi, two Mark IIC+ models for ya...."


I almost fell out of my computer chair when I read that. :lol:

 

[dmcguitar]

cool about gettng that added; do you do sound clips? maybe you can post them up and have them rival what the Mark V is doing?

 

[shredi knight]

cool about gettng that added; do you do sound clips? maybe you can post them up and have them rival what the Mark V is doing?

The clips I have are just audio extracted from videos shot with a digital camera, but that's pretty much on par with the sound quality of the Mark V clips that are out there so far (i.e. youtube videos).

These were recorded several months ago with my old rig that I was using the Axe FX, which was a Carvin DCM600 ss power amp into two Avatar 4x12 cabs (I'm now using active studio monitors). Some were recorded at low volume with the camera fairly close to the cabs, and others were recorded at loud volume with the camera in the next room. All of these are using the "USA Lead 1" amp sim (Mark IV).

Excuse the sloppy playing and aimless noodling. Most of these were done as sound tests without the intention of anyone hearing them. :roll:



"Mark IV Lead" clips:


http://www.lightningmp3.com/live/37459-80851-AxeFX-MarkIVTone2.mp3



(I was controlling the amount of gain with an expression pedal during the more "cleanish" parts of this clip)


http://www.lightningmp3.com/live/30264-39668-AxeFX-MarkIVTone1.mp3



http://www.lightningmp3.com/live/81639-AxeFX-MarkIVLead.mp3




"Too Much Volume,Too Much Delay,Too Much Fun" (playing around with feedback & delay):


http://www.lightningmp3.com/live/77218-TooMuchVolume,TooDelay,TooMuchFu.mp3




Petrucci "Angel Echoes" patch.


http://www.lightningmp3.com/live/79656-AxeFX-AngelEchoesMarkIV.mp3

 

[LTE]

I played a vetta a while ago, and every overdriven amp model sounded so fake and loose, flabby, etc.

Most of the time with clips like those, the best possible mics and recording is used, i mean line 6 can make a spider sound bearable on their website! :lol:

 

[gonzo]

shredi,
i listened to your first clip..
it sounds awfully fizzy...
i'd like to hear it actually recorded to a daw/desk, and see how it translates in a real recording

i don't think the little camera mic is doing it justice..

 

[Geiri]

I've had/used nearly everything that line6 has produced and always tackling that elusive cali crunch tone. I think line 6 never did a good job at that one but another modeling company did a crazy good model of the cali crunch. It was in my V-amp pro from behringer I bought that sucker because of that sound alone.

If you get a chance to try one out please check it. The cali crunch is a really nice sound on its own in memory at least wether it nails the 2c+ or not.

 

[TemporarilyStairs]

lol, I was actually thinking the same thing about the V-Amp. That little sucker had a lot of terrible tones in it, but I was always very surprised at the usability of some of them. And the cali-crunch I remember being pretty awesome actually.

I've never even really come close to using the Cali Crunch on my Pod XT. Every time I dial it up it sounds like a flubby inarticulate mess of crap. Only thing I use it for is rolling back the tone and flailing around like Santana ;p