Starting in Lithium in 2001, I started using digital effects, and a few years later, Amp Modeling before it even was a mainstream thing in the music industry. As of 2024, I still use a Line6 HD500 for a lot of what I do musically, even as an avid hobbyist. So this is just where I share my knowledege on such systems.
Digital Effects Processors & Amp Modeling
Here I talk about my experiences and knowledge regarding the use, programming, tweaking, Direct Signal usage of Amp Modeling, Effects Processors, and other things. In a way, I was a pioneer, using the Boss ME-6 and Korg AX30G to get my tone back in the Nu-Metal days when everyone else was pestering their parents for a Mesa Boogie stack.
| The basics of digital multi-effects devices and amp modelers, how they are structured, how they work, how they function, variations in their design. Basically, a generic page helping you to understand the basics behind any amp modeling or multi-effects device on the market.
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| MIDI FROM THE GUITARISTS PERSPECTIVE - A bit of a crash course on MIDI in the context of Digital Multi-Effects Devices and Guitar Amp Modelers. Basically it will go over all the basic MIDI stuff needed to know to create an automated rack-mount rig or manage to control multiple devices using on effects device - ie like using a Line6 HD500 with a Behringer 2024P while adding/removing the Behringer from the FX loop using patch editing and MIDI control.
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| BOSS ME-6 - The Boss ME-6 is a 25 patch stereo digital effects unit designed for guitar released in 1992. This effects unit is the one I cut my teeth on back in 2000, and what started the whole cultivation of my own unique guitar style. I used this pedal in Lithium, M.J., and early Project 2A03 to get my sound and did many cool things with it such as probably the earliest use of "Reverb Trails" on the song "Crystal" in 2001 - years before any hipster with a Strymon and a Jazzmaster had a dream, and the droning Delay Sitar sound of "The Least Ignored" was done on this pedal.
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| Korg ToneWorks AX30G - The Korg Toneworks AX30G is a 16 Patch User, 50 Patch total Digital Effects unit released in 1995. It featured analog I/O for gain and volume, one of the earliest "expression pedals" ever, and also was one of the earliest affordable units to feature a yellow/green backlit LCD with actual names for the patches displayed on screen. It also may have been one of the first "Amp Modelers" because it featured several "Tube Emulations" within allowing for one to obtain many rather good distortion and clean tube-amp sounds with this pedal. This is the pedal I used in Lithium for things like the Wah Wah and Ring Modulator on "Babylon", or in some transitional material such as the "Kicked R2D2" patch which sounded like a urinating computer, and a reverse space delay sound effect I used on a few unused demos. I also have a rehousing hack to convert this box to a more ruggedized enclosure.
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| Digitech RP-200A and RP-250 - Digitech's ubiqutous small-form-factor digital effects pedals that launched in the early 00's and continued on as late as 2015. I have owned two of these, one which I used for the M.J. Ice Box, and Killing Alabama demos in 2004 and 2005 respectively, as well as for several "compilation CDs" I was putting together around that time. I later picked up the updated RP-250 model as a travel songwriting companion before BandLab got their stuff together and put Amp Modeling into the program itself! The earlier model was one of the last of the manually programmable digital effects devices, while the latter was a MIDI-over-USB device complete with digital audio interface for recording. I used the latter on the SoundCloud albums Mad-Mike (2015) and Escape from Reality (2016) respectively, as well as all of Mikey Ferox's guitar parts on Murderock's Demonia album (2018), and our "Worst Little Podcast" appearance that same year.
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| BOSS ME-33 - The Boss ME-33 Multi Effects was an attempt to recapture some of the magic I had with my ME-6 after the cats destroyed my RP-200A that I had not had more than six months. The ME-33 lasted about as long. It's a digital effects unit that featured a intelligent harmonizer, pitch shifter, arpeggiator, and could run on batteries. I used it a lot on Killing Alabama and most mid-late 2004 demos before I got the Behringer V-Amp Pro. It might take me awhile to get hte section on this one up yet because I had such a limited time with this one.
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| Behringer V-Amp Pro - The Behringer V-Amp Pro is a 2 Unit Rackmount amp modeler and guitar effects processor I bought sometime late in 2004. It first appeared on a couple of demos but made it's Epynymous debut on the popular (for one of my recordings) M.J.: Agent Blue demo in 2006. I also used this for the majority of my YouTube guitar playing videos from 2006 till 2014 when it died one day while I was at work. This was an awesome little unit for the money and honestly really went against everything everyone had told me about Behringer products. It's also still a rather relevant piece of equipment today as I would still be using it if it were not for it dying.
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| DigiTech GNX1 - I Bought this for $80 back in 2007 and it was the only effects modeler used on the 2007 M.J. Demo "In Stereo EGA"/"In EGA Stereo" (Depending which print). The entire recording was done with this, and a few YouTube fans said it was the best sounding setup I had. Unfortunatley, it fried itself while I was at work, thankfully not burning down my apartment in the process, but it did suck that the thing was dead as a doornail and I could not continue using it as it had some really interesting and unique features it brought to the table. It was, however, the reason I would up buying a Digitech Whammy WH4 for my analog pedal live setup in Smokin' 66, as the original version of "Fact and Opinion"/"I Try & I Try" was written with this in 2007.
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| Line6 AX2 212 - I Bought this back in 2006 or 2007 as a "Gigging Amp" annd owned it a brief time before moving to the Bugera 333XL I currently use. The AX2 212 was an early modeling amp made by Line6 released sometime in 1999 or the early 2000's, and it was truly before the rest of their stuff really took off with the POD in 2001. I remember this being a rather confusing and tricky amp to program, but I got it there and used it on some tracks on "EGA Stereo" in 2007. It was traded in with a Fender Jaguar to buy my Bugera 333XL or the 66' Fender Mustang...I can't really remember which scenario anymore, it was years ago.
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| Blackstar IDCORE 10 - I bought this little 2x5" modeling amplifier with "specially constructed cabinet" from a pawn shop for about $45 used back around 2014 or so. I got it so cheap because they could not find the power supply for it at the shop. I replaced the power supply with a 7.5vdc IOMEGA Zip Drive power supply, and have been using it like that for almost 10 years now. This is mostly used as a practice amp, though I have used it as a amp modeller from time to time. Right now it needs the mini USB jack repaired/replaced so I can start writing the tutorials on using the amp editor.
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| Line6 POD HD500 - I bought this in early 2019 to replace the Digitech RP-250 I had to sell off, and to allow me to record YouTube Guitar videos again. This was a pedal I'd been courting since it was new in 2012 and finally found one for under $200 to fit the bill. So currently, this is my main effects processor of choice. I'll be posting patches and other stuff here in time.
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| Behringer Virtualizer Pro 2024p - I bought this back sometime in the 2010's to add to my setup for my Behringer V-Amp Pro. It's been a much unspoken piece of equipment because It's only seldom been used on a few M.J./Linguar demos, a few Deliciously Infectious rehersals, and came out to be used with my HD500 recently, and is being added to my new live/studio/practice setup as well.
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| BOSS Katana 100w MKII Head - Replacing my moody Bugera 333XL amp head, is this inexpensive, reliable monster, the BOSS Katana mkII Head. The Katana is a series of "modeling amps" made by Roland/BOSS which have gained a lot of esteem in recent years. This is likely to be my forever live/studio/practice amplifier, where it kills three birds with one stone, meaning I don't have to neglect my live amp for months/years at a time because it's too loud, or have more than one amp. At 100w this thing is ridiculously loud (hell 1/2 watt is enough to rattle the walls and make my wife's car vibrate in the garage when on 3 on the 4x12!), meaning it'll fit the bill for live performance, all the while I can jam on it through a 5" speaker, or even run it through my DAW if I choose to (I already used it for a few overdubs in 2025). It's gainy, it's low mantenance, it's small, it's light, and most importantly LOUD! And the chorus has a LOT Of control, so this thing is right up my alley.
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| BOSS SY-1 Synthesizer - Though a bit of an "oddball" on this page as it's just a regular stompbox that emulates synthesizers with guitar with no external hardware, I decided since I felt the manual was somewhat lacking, and the use-cases and where to put in your signal chain is somewhat misunderstood, as well as it being digital, that I would put this device in this page, right here. Where I can provide some help and support for it after having been using it for about six months. It's a very interesting and easy to misunderstand device with it's own specific quirks, features, and requirements to get the best out of it.
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