Cheap and light backup rigs?

aziz

Power User
What do you use for emegency backup? I could make throug a gig with one "good enough" tone, in medium gain territory. I was thinking of a regular old Pod, bad tone and wrong connections, but at least it's cheap.
 
I don't own one ( yet ), but am seriously considering this:

TECH 21 - FLYRIG5

Nice! Would you do a review on it once you get your hands on it? I've heard nothing but good about the SansAmp products and this would probably be my goto backup piece aswell (heck, it's even advertised as a backup tool; kinda weird to see that).
 
I found some praise for Fender Mustang amps, small and medium sized with supposedly ok tones.
 
Dunno about the cheap part but sounds good.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQY1cqmKwUw

I've watched a few vids on this, and the only thing that bugs me is that they never play the clean without Delay and Verb on it. Not a great sign.
And it looks like they also put a boost in front of it. If you need to bring 3 pedals, then it starts to not become a small back up rig.

I'm interested in that new Tech21 pedal.....can't wait to hear that when it hits the street.
 
What do you use for emegency backup? I could make throug a gig with one "good enough" tone, in medium gain territory. I was thinking of a regular old Pod, bad tone and wrong connections, but at least it's cheap.

I'm thinking of something for this purpose as well and I'm thinking one of the old SansAmp pedals or maybe he new Tech21 Fly Rig that's coming out.
 
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I found the new Digitech RP360XP has some pretty good basic sounds if you work with it. The editor is easy to use and it has a looper that allows you to tweak as it's playing. It's not an axe fx by far but it's cheap and small for a backup.
 
POD HD500 here, but never had to use it as the Axe never failed.
If size is also important then there are the smaller ones (300, 400, desktop).
 
I carry a Line6 M9 in a briefcase. It's my backup rig, and is also my "grab and go" board for one-off fly dates.
 
I use a VoiceLive 3 pedal for all my vocal harmonies at my gigs, and the guitar is already plugged into it to recognize the chord changes. If the AxeFx dies (and it has, once), all I had to do was take the 2 lines going from the back of the AxeFx to the monitors, and plug them to the VoiceLive 3>monitors, and I'm set to go, fastest backup ever - already on stage and plugged in!
 
What about Jam up BIAS via IPad and Bluetooth Midipedal with Line6 Sonic Port??? Anyone tried it yet?
 
I have a Zoom MS-50g with 3 presets programmed - clean, crunch and lead and hitting the button just cycles between them. Since it’s just a pedal I don’t think it can be any smaller and lighter as a backup. Obviously no amplification in there. It would go into a powered monitor that I assume that I could get hold of anywhere in case both the AFx2 and my monitor fails and then to FoH same as the AFx2.
 
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What about Jam up BIAS via IPad and Bluetooth Midipedal with Line6 Sonic Port??? Anyone tried it yet?

Nice... light too - but not exactly 'cheap' as per the OP's question (not so bad if you already own an iPad though of course
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I keep a Zt Lunchbox and a Line 6 pod hd500 in my trunk. I can run either direct with the line 6 or use it with the zt lunchbox as a power amp to power my cab.

Ya know, it seems a few folks around these parts tend to dis' the Line 6 stuff, but in a pinch I'd gladly play through the HD500/X without any hesitation. I keep my Vetta II 2x12 combo handy just in case because that thing is a work horse. I wouldn't call it light weight or portable compared to the floor modeler line, but still, I've got my bread-n-butter tones dialed in on that amp and can deploy it in a dire situation in just a couple of minutes without missing a step.

I've still got my old Digitech GNX 3 and 3000 boxed up just in case as well. A couple of variations on a good clean tone, overdrive, and lead patches and I'm pretty good. The L6 and Digitech stuff are great for portable backup rigs just to get you through an emergency. Hell, I'd even plug in my Korg Pandora PX5D if I had nothing else to get me through a gig. I keep that little gadget with me just about everywhere I go. Great for writing on the go.

I'm seriously considering picking up an iRig HD for my iPad and buying Bias and JamUp Pro. That combined with Garage Band and I'd have a great portable DAW for capturing ideas on the go.

YMMV
 
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