[Marauder Moe]

I've been thinking of getting an electric guitar for a while now and I read about this Line 6 "Guitar Port" thing. Says it plugs into the computer and can emulate just about any type of amp/effects. Seems like the perfect accessory if one wishes to play any style of music and doesn't need a portable amp.

Anyone else have one of these? Is it a good idea or should I start with a regular cheap amp?

[Bob Wolford]

I have Guitar Port and it works great. It has great effects and different modeling amps. It also is great for recording straight to your Hard drive.

**Remember - you can only use it with your computer so you have to have a decent sound card and be at your computer.

Eventially you will probably want a stand alone Amp

[WernHalen]

If you have a PA system or even just a hi fi you might want to look at getting yourself something like a VOX Tonelab SE. It is a Guitar amp modelling processor, which also incorporates a magnitude of effects... I bought one just the other day and it sounds so sweet... There are others available as well such as the BOSS GT8, Line 6 or the Digitech GNX4 or even some cheaper ones but according to me none of them get close to the tone and feel you get from the Tonelab... The Tonelab uses a real valve transistor to model the warmth you get from a real tube amp... You wont ever really need an amplifer seeing that you could plug it directly into the PA system where you gig. Only thing is you would need to make sure you are going to have proper monitors...

The Guitar port would be a burden cause i would have to travel with a PC to be able to play gigs... Also PC software is so unreliable...

[737blues]

Actually, the guitar port is a pretty good sound card in itself. I leave mine hooked up to my desktop and use it all of the time instead of the computers own built-in soundcard, which is pretty ordinary. I guess it all comes down to dollars, Tone lab is better and kit like the GT8, better again. If you doing gigs the guitar port wouldn't be so useful. You can output it directly to a PA, BTW, but you'd still need at least a laptop computer to utilise the amp modelling software, which you would certainly want to do. If, on the other hand you simply want to do home recording to your computer, it's a great little gizmo. Makes it very simple. I use mine with Audacity freeware but you can use it with any sequencing software to record or Line6's Riffworks program. Riffworks is limited to loop based recording though and costs extra.

[WernHalen]

737 I guess you own a GT8... I am not a great fan. I wanted to get the GT8 because of all the features but eventually didnt because fo the sound quality difference... I'm guessing that I am opening a can of worms over here but what the heck. THe GT8 is a brilliant piece of machinery and it can do a lot more than the tone lab can actually do, but i am afraid that the small little tube that is in the modelling circuit makes a huge difference in the sound quality.

(Me and a buddy had a debate about this the other day ) Solid state amps are actually better if you are interrested in a true signal amplification, but the en-harmonic noise introduced by a tube just makes the sound so much warmer and soothing to the ear. To a novice ear the two might sound similar but, MP3's are not the same quality as normal Audio Cd's and Tapes for instance. (excuse the comparison...) So i am guessing that it all depend on what you want.

[737blues]

Gidday Wernhalen. No, unfortunately I don't own a GT8 or anything like it. I did see/hear a demo of it and the BR1200/1600 very recently and they're all pretty awesome IMHO. Again, I guess it just depends upon your budget. I see the tone lab as really just a guitar port with an additional mic. input. but better sound quality because of the tube thingy. As you say, neither the Guitar Port or the Tonelab were ever intended to compete with units like the GT8 and upwards. They excel at different things. Wiz, over in the PT forum, recently acquired a Toneport and I believe he's very pleased with it. Nothing as good as the sound of a basic, overdriven valve amp to my ears but yeah, depends what you are doing and what you like.

[nocat]

I own a GT-8, and honestly, I'm still on the fence about it... I don't know if I'm doing
something wrong, but I have the hardest time achieving tones I like... And once I do,
and save them into one of the user memory locations, it never sounds the same the next
time I go to use it...!!!
Also 80% of the presets sound like crap to me. I'm always tweaking something, which
takes time away from playing...

On the up side, there is a lot of versatility built into this thing...!!!

Oh... And it looks really cool...!!! :o)

Cheers
Ben

[Jim]

OK - I'm a recording noobie (all I've figured out how to do is use a direct input to my laptop soundcard and then used Goldwave to record it) but I have a question about Guitar Port.

Currently, I have my electric guitars plugged into the input of a Digitech RP80 Guitar modelling processor, and from the main output of it I connect to a small Marshall MS4 microstack, and from the secondary output of it I have the line going up to the input to the sound card on my laptop (a Sony VAIO).

Would there be a big difference using a Guitar Port in place of the Digitech? The Digitech has 40 preset and 40 settable effects, and also can model 20 (I think) amp types and has a pedal (like a wah pedal) built in - which functions as volume or wah, etc. depending on the effect selected, and it also has a built in drum machine. What would be the advantage/difference of hooking up a Guitar port instead of (or along with?) the Digitech (other than additional and different effects)?

Thanks!
Jim

[WernHalen]

I have never heard the Guitar port live but if like USgold said the Port is similar to the tonelab then yes you should get better sound out of it. The RP80 is a fairly old processor and it sounds plastic to me. Murf, a friend of mine swears by it but I think it sounds weak.

Ben, your response to the GT-8 is precisely why i ended up getting the Tonelab. I dont really need the pressure sensitive playing thingy... (you would know what i mean. ) I thought the sounds were weak/plastic as well.

Ben by the way I listened to your jazz track yesterday but the network went off this side before i could comment. I think your playing is very good. I could really hear the melody coming through. I agree with you that the guitar sounds weak. Maybe you should try to get a little more bass on the eq. I'm not sure but that might fix the problem a bit...

[WernHalen]

Oh jim, the guitar port would not have things like a wah pedal. you would have to buy an additional controller for that, and then things start to get expensive... One of the reasons why I never went for the normal tonelab, but rather the SE model was because the tonelab rack mount would have to get a controller board with it, and then the price just becomes silly.

THe micro stack I dont know so I cant comment on that, but if you use good connections you should not have a problem to get a good recording.

[Jim]

Originally Posted by WernHalen

Oh jim, the guitar port would not have things like a wah pedal. you would have to buy an additional controller for that, and then things start to get expensive... One of the reasons why I never went for the normal tonelab, but rather the SE model was because the tonelab rack mount would have to get a controller board with it, and then the price just becomes silly.

THe micro stack I dont know so I cant comment on that, but if you use good connections you should not have a problem to get a good recording.

Thanks! I didn't mention it, but the one addtional piece of equipment I have between the guitar and the RP80 is a Jim Dunlop 535Q Crybaby wah pedal - so sometimes I add that effect in and I usually use that instead of the pedal on the RP80.

So, is your comment about my not having a problem getting a good recording referring to my current RP80 setup, or a tonelab one? I do get a good clear recording, I'm just looking to get a better quality tone, like Ben (nocat) usually does on his recordings - and I'm sure you get as well.

Jim

[fly135]

I have a Guitar Port. I'm kind of a gizmo freak, so even if I can't play worth a hoot I still like fiddling with stuff. I bought mine a while back and played with it (i.e. made lots of noises). I can tell you two things about it. 1) It has all kinds of cool effects and amp/cab modeling. 2) You have to use it with a computer and there is no (AFAIK) way to control it with a pedal or without a computer.

Since I'm not really interested in having to use my computer with my guitar all the time it ended up sitting it on the shelf and I got a Digitech RP300. There is some kind of online subscription service that Line 6 has to go with it but I never tried it. Oh yeah, you can hook the stereo audio line out from the Guitar Port to your home stereo if you don't have an amp. It's a blast as long as you don't mind being teathered to your computer.

[WernHalen]

Jim,

I meant getting good reproducibility with regards to which ever rig you are using.

I am haviing a problem with recording onto my PC at the moment and I dont know what is wrong... Listening throught the soundcard directly out on to a system the sound is brilliant but when I record and I play back I get a distorted sound back. It is not the gain on the input side... I am waiting for a recording engineer buddy of mine to get back to rustenburg to come help me with the problem... I am having a ASIO sync problem as well... The soundcard is a SB live Pt so it shouldnt be that... So unfortunately i cant get the a sample of the tonelab recorded for you, i wll soon though.

But to get back to the subject... THe Tonelab's tone is great, NoCat owns a GT8 and he has complained that he cant get the tone he requires from the machine and just to close up I repeat what Fly has said... The port will ahve you hooked to a pc for better or for worse...

[Cedric01]

Good for Ed's "Brown Sound" effect. (Van Halen)