eftp/tonelab

[garystrat]

Hi Tony

You don't say which Tonelab you have, but on my LE I connect the Magicstomp via the effects "insert".

I think Charlie will confirm that the results I achieve are very good, I also tend to use the the stereo output from the Tonelab to the computer as this seems to give more "presence" to the guitar. I use an external audio interface and go from the Tonelabs left and right outputs to the matching inputs on the the interface.

If you're using an ST, I believe you would normally go from the Magicstomp to the main input, but that you can can connect to the computer via the combined stereo output, just make sure you have the amp switch in the correct position. A friend has an ST he uses this way and the results seem fine, but I'm not sure if he has tried it the other way round?

Interestingly, the Magicstomp has two outputs that may well achieve the same effect if done the other way round, I may well experiment with this.

Another tip is to use the computer to control the Tonelab settings via the free VOX software (download from their support site), this requires a midi interface (connects to the computer via USB), but makes programming the Tonelab far more visual. VOX seem to favour an M-Audio UNO, which works superbly on my system and is reasonably priced at about £35.00.

Gary

[garystrat]

Hi Tony

I just downloaded the manual from the VOX site, I think your confusion comes from their diagram of the internal workings of the Tonelab itself, this has built in delay, modulation and reverb if you wish to use them, you can also alter the order in which they take effect.

The only one I could find that is close to yours is the SE with pedals, so I'm not sure if it has a return and send, but if it does, I think you will find that is the best option, it emulates an effects loop. I have been using a Tonelab for about 18 months now, and people come to me to do home recordings for them, they seem very impressed with the results.

You are doing the right thing with the audio interface, this much better than most PC sound cards.

Gary

[Charlie Hall]

Hi Tony,
You could connect the guitar to the Magicstomp, then from there to the Tonelab. This would be closer to the way it was done by Hank in the early days (and still is when playing live) as his echo unit was/is also connected between the guitar and amp.
Regards,
Charlie

[Charlie Hall]

Hi Tony,
Yes, that's what I meant.
Regards,
Charlie

[garystrat]

Hi Tony

Just caught up with your posting again, in that case it is best to do as Charlie says and go from guitar to Magicstomp - Tonlelab - Computer, but it is worth making a left and right stereo connection Tonelab - computer.

The input/output midi ports are used to program from the computer via the software I described above, this is well worth doing to make the settings far more visual. You can download the VOX software and run it to give some idea of what it will do, but without a connection will throw up errors, just click through them. This also provides a method backing up up and re-loading your patches.

The SPDIF connection is to make an optical sound connection with computer, but I think you will find few PC's have these and leads are quite expensive.

In terms of setting it up you can follow the settings that one would normally use on the real thing, but it is also worth putting on modulation and spring reverb for Shads numbers, if you have it on your model a little compression too. Compression in particular tends to need a little care, start by trying sensitivity about 1.2 and level about 5.1. Other settings, Drive about 2.8, VR Gain 10 on VOX modelling, Treble 10.00, Middle 5.1, Bass 1.1 and Presence (which is a cut emulation on a VOX setting, and works the opposite way to the real thing i.e. clockwise gives more cut) 7.2. I tend to use the VOX AC30 amp model with VOX AC15 speaker emulation.

Hope this helps, and you get much pleasure form it.

Gary

[grip]

Hi Tony,

I can relate to a lot of what you said there , we used to change the shadows numbers a lot by adding an extra verse here and there to string them out for dancing. The Watkins copycat only changed settings once as night, the AC30 changed settings only a couple of times a night, most tone changes were done at the guitar.

I have to re-learn most numbers as I have been playing them wrong for many years , trouble is at 61, you instantly forget what you just learned.

There seems to be a growing band of us slightly ageing reborn shads fans on this site, its great!!


Kind regards,


grip

[sheendigs]

As I always say: ''Practice makes perfect''..
Always try to practice even when not playing in a gig...you will see that the tunes will be remembered easily!
Sheendigs