Gear
Wednesday, October 8, 2025
For a few years I've been using the VOX Stomplab IG as an amp modeler for all the recordings that have been released. The idea of using this piece of gear is to eliminate having to use any microphone setups which would take up recording time. When I realized that this recording setup was effective I started to play around with other ideas on how I optimize it looking through amp modeler type of units. I've given up using plugins and software to get specific sounds. When I watched an interview with Mac Demarco for Ernie Ball I realized that his approach to recording was simple and straight to the point inspiring me to have that same approach. I wanted to control more of the onboard gear than the software (and anyway my laptop is pretty damn old so I'm not gonna even try to add a bunch of plugins and software that may cause it to die).
I want to train my hearing rather than looking at a computer for specific frequencies. I want to turn knobs and get color that way. Honestly I let the mastering producers take care of the bigger sound these days.I'm hoping soon I could acquire a Tascam 488 or a Tascam 688 and record records with that setup alone and use on board gear for most of the recording processes. Obviously I want to have the DAW on the tuck for certain things, but I want to be able to explore recording on tape more than ever. I think I love having the analog process be more triumphant than the digital.
So the Boss IR-2 is going to be used in the newest productions here on out until I find another unit that will suit my needs as a player. I bought this specific unit for the crunchy emulation alone as I'm more keen to having dirty sound on my recordings. On top of that I want to be able to put other pedals behind it to sort of enhance the experience. I may need to get a compressor pedal to sort of accenuate certain frequencies.
During some tests using the Baritone guitar the output of sound was definitely worth spending the money on the unit. With the slightly dirty settings of the Tweed and even the Diamond selection the sound really came out man. I'm already figuring out how I want to make specific riffs for this sound and am excited to see what else I can mix with the guitar.
The JHS 424 pedal just recently came out and being the Mk.gee fan I am I’ve realized that most of the sounds he was making from raw 424 preamps blended well for the recordings I was making for the “Age 40 - 1985” record. With Mk.gee he was able to craft the specific sound that I’ve been wanting to capture to incorporate with the slightly dirty sounds when played soft and this distorted break up when played hard.
Honestly he's the reason why I look at the Baritone a different way. In fact I gravitate towards that instrument more along with my Squire Bass VI. In the beginning the Baritone guitar was a bit of a struggle to work with, but putting in flatwounds that were both from the Bass VI sets and regular flatwounds I'm able to play it the way I envisioned it: finger style most times, but with thumbpick strum on some heavy chords for dynamics.
Right now I'm starting to write some riffs with Nicole from One Hundred Year Ocean and have been compiling riffs that could potentially be melodic and heavy at the same time. I'm going to be using these new pieces of gear to see if the sound I'm going after would create the vision I'm chasing after. Maybe if this project works out (and hopefully it does) that I can officially be in a band with some who has been a big influence in my work as well.
Using the Stomplab IG def helped provide a foundation of how I wanted to make certain sounds on my recordings, but I realized that there is a bit of a limitation being that the patches don’t necessarily have space to tweak certain frequencies. It was kinda difficult to dial in sometimes since it is patched based. The latitude to make any changes was a bit of a challenge. I’m hoping that this unit will allow me to dial in specific tones for specific guitar sounds I want to make and journal that as reference.
That's all for now! Thank you all for checking out the record. I really appreciate it!
- Arthur Read more...