pires100 wrote:
I don't understand why preamps like this aren't the norm in guitar rigs?
I guess it depends on what gear you already have and what you are trying to do? E.g. Home practice vs Home recording vs Live use.
I've seen a few guitar rigs with something like a MXR Micro amp (I like) and a speaker emulator w/DI - but this is to get around lugging a amp around. I reckon most prefer to get their tone from a amp w/pedals than pedals w/DI - It's tradition? Add some speakers in and you have instant G.A.S.
Though having a Kemper is changing things - enough like a amp to placate the guitarist who is used to a amp, but in my mind it's just a dedicated audio laptop with some damn impressive software...I'd have no issue using one :?
I did try and setup a versatile software only rig a while back (laptop, interface, daw w/soft fx) and it was an immense PITA. You have to think about a lot of things that one takes for granted when using amp pedals (floorboard for switching & RTL (round trip latency)) - certainly doable, but not plug n play. Getting it consistently reliable like a amp & pedals needed more time & $ than I was willing to invest. But I was aiming at a something that I could use at home for practice and recording, then take to a gig - interesting idea, but ended up like a swiss army knife solution. Kinda worked, useful in a pinch, but results would be better with the correct tools.
No idea where you'd get one of those pedals locally - If there's no 2nd hand ones, cheapest/easiest would be to self import. Local distributors (if any) too often mark things up to ludicrous levels.
