OT: TECH21 California pedal.A good Mesa Boogie tone attempt?

[djemass]

All is in the title.

In the ad, they claim they get great MarkII lead tones emulations.

Anyone tested it ? Does it sound as fake as other modelers (Line6 & Co) ? Can we get great lead tones a la Petrucci &Co ?

BR

Djemass

 

[Mountain Fever]

I cannot speak to that exact pedal, but FWIW I bought the Liverpool which is the same idea, but covering the Vox AC30.

Going into it, I wondered, OK if you are running an emulation pedal through an amp, is it realistic to think you get the real sound. And...I would say the answer is no.

Having said that, I found that using my cleanest amp the pedal got very close to doing a really nice job in getting the Vox sound.

I think these pedals will do their best work in a home studio environment directly into the DAW or used with a PA.

In the end, emulators are just that...something that makes you think AC30 or Mark II in your case, but in the end, it is just a copy of the real thing.

 

[djemass]

thank you for your answer.

As i own the real thing, i agree emulation is just a copy. However, can be useful to get a portable solution for direct recording.

Cheers

Djemass

 

[Mountain Fever]

I recently bought the Boss BR600 8 track recorder and I really think this is an easy way to get a sound that may be as close as mic'ing my AC30 with and SM57 would be and much more contained. Essentially is solves the problem of trying to mic the enclosure at a cost of about the SM 57.

 

[mule#1]

I would actually like to check out the California boogie emulator. I don't know that I'd pay $200 but it would be fun to run it through my valve jr for practicing.

 

[petejt]

I think these pedals will do their best work in a home studio environment directly into the DAW or used with a PA.

Absolutely correct.

I had a Tech21 Sansamp GT-2 pedal, and it sounded horrible when used into an amp. Directly into a mixer, well....it was better.


I've heard this "California" emulation on a guitar magazine CD of the pedal you spoke of (TRI-AC?). It did sound close to the early MarkI/II "California Lead" tone, very sustainy. But of course it's just an emulation. Also not as versatile as the true California lead tone which can be morphed and used in different ways, so therefore it's just a one-trick pony.