Well, now that my Roland VG-88 will be at my house in 48 hours I suppose I should start looking into getting an different amp. I played bass for 8 years and sold it so I could buy my Gibson SG. Sadly, I never sold my bass amp and have continued to play my guitar through it for the last 17 months. So it's likely time to get an amp.
Someone suggested getting a keyboard amp since they don't add any color nor to they have a billion effects. Definitely wouldn't need them with the VG-88. Do you think that's a good idea? I think the suggestion was a Roland amp. I know Roland has several different key amps. Can some of you VG-88 users out there give me some ideas of what type (guitar or key) amp to use and even some specific models if you can. I don't gig yet nor in a band. Been playin' almost a year and a half. I want an amp that sounds decent but don't need anything wickedly loud. Even the 60 watt bass amp I'm currently using is too loud when I crank it to 5.
One suggestion to me was:
It seems pretty cool but then if I use the 12 string acoustic modeling lots on the VG-88 someone said to get a speaker with a tweeter (does that mean keyboard amp?) Anyone out there use the VG-88? What amp do you use?
"Nothing...can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts."
A tube amp would add some warmth to all those digital effects.
E doesn't = MC2, E = Fb
Music "Theory"? "It's not just a theory, it's the way it is!"
Jonny T.
i use a carvin ag-100D with my roland gr-33 guitar synth .. it has a tweeter and a 12" ... it faithfully and colorlessly amplifies the synth sound, much as i think it would the VG 88 sound .. i very much hope tto have a vg 88 within a year and fully expect to play it through the carvin with fine results ... the amp is quite light weight, has 2 independent digital effects loops and a nice master grapic eq ... and very economically priced
10 day no hassle return policy to boot
worth a try
good luck
Hey Tone, I went to look up the literature on that amp and sounds pretty decent.
http://www.carvin.co.uk/acatalog/carvin-ag100d.html
An acoustic amp for about $430 street price. 43 lbs. Reviews were good yet I'm wondering why it's an acoustic amp you use with your GR-33. My understanding was a straight electric would not sound so good through an acoustic amp and an electric acoustic would not sound so good unless thorough an acoustic amp. I thought the idea was to get a totally, totally neutral amp when using the digital multieffect boxes so as not to color the sound. I set up my VG-88 two nights ago and still playing through my bass amp and it sounds weird. Likely sounds weird because I'm so dog gone used to the sound of the RP-300 I used for the past year.
One review of the Tech 21 Power Engine ($300 street price):
http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/Data/Tech_21/Power_Engine_60-01.html
Any other suggestions out there?
"Nothing...can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts."
i use the ag100D because i wanted one simple amp to do two things at once ... my guitar has 3 outputs, 1 for the 'electric' pickups, 1 for the piezo 'acoustic' pickup, and one for the GK synth
channel 1 of the amp is what i use for the piezo output of my guitar ... the piezo gives a very good approximation of an acoustic guitar ... with the EQ tweaked and the effects 'just right', i get a very good acoustic tone for use live on stage with no feedback problems
channel 3 of the amp is 'full range', just like a PA system .. i use this channel for the guitar synth .. i keep the EQ flat and the effects off and i get nothing but a clean loud reproduction of the synth output
i use a whole different rig for my guitar's magnetic output ... it's a traditional preamp / effects / poweramp / speakers rack rig
i dont know what to tell you about using a bass amp with the vg88 .. it sounds like that would be pretty suboptimal ... does the vg88 have a headphones output? this might give you a better reproduction its capabilities
i know you are really missing out on the vg88's versatility until you get a GK pickup to drive it ... if you can go to a real good guitar tech, maybe they could build a little ''shim" to let you use a gk with your sg ... other than that, i am really out of ideas aside from getting a different guitar to use with the VG88 ... maybe a very inexpensive (used?) guitar that would ovly be for VG work?
good luck
Ok here's what I do. I have a Crown XLS 402, a shitty EQ left over from when I DJed, a DBX1 compressor limiter, and a Mackie 1202 with a pair of Diamond audio speakers. And I would suggest going the route of building a mini PA so that you that you get a good full range sound, cause once again you want to get the full sound out of the rig. But like I said before it might be a good try to hook the whole thing with a compressor (to use as a limiter so that you don't blow up the receiver) but that's only if you have to get by on the cheap at first. I know that you don't need it that loud, neither do I (well you know the louder the better and all, but I understand money becomes the constraint) you can get a mixer for a 99, a compressor/limiter for about the same, and the amp and speakers could be bought used to keep the costs down. I just happened to have gear left from when I was a DJ. But trust me you want to build it like this cause it freakin rocks sound wise and I doubt even a key amp would do as well. Just my opinion.
btw I didn't say nutsy that was a swearing filter I'm guessing :-)
