What was your first Digital Modeler?

[Stratoblaster]

Yamaha DG-1000 rack, the one with the motorized front panel knobs. Was a decent sounding modeler at that time.

 

[FractalAudio]

PodXT. If it wasn't for the PodXT there wouldn't be an Axe-Fx.

Bought a Dual Rectifier and hated it. Store wouldn't refund my money so gave me store credit. I used the credit to buy a PodXT. Tried for several weeks to make the thing sound good. Couldn't.

I thought the concept was great but I just couldn't get a usable sound out of it. So I set out to make something that actually sounded good.

 

[Stratoblaster]

Vox Tonelab SE

I still have mine and use it as a backup. I also use it on the rare occasion I drag out my Marshall or Orange tube amps for FX although my FM3/FM9 will assume that role going forward.

I think it sounds ok through my CLR's; great unit, built like a tank, super easy and efficient to program, and is very reliable.

 

[jon]

I still have mine and use it as a backup. I also use it on the rare occasion I drag out my Marshall or Orange tube amps for FX although my FM3/FM9 will assume that role going forward.

I think it sounds ok through my CLR's; great unit, built like a tank, super easy and efficient to program, and is very reliable.

Yeah it's a great concept, I love the form factor of the ST in particular (despite its lack of footswitches!!!) , and fact that they used an actual tube for some of the sounds. I love the tiny, all in one package

Also, to Cliff's point, without some of these terrible modelers we won't be where we are at today! As bad as some of them were, kudos to their development teams for pushing the envelope (albeit not a very hard push!) of technology at the time!

Amazing too that even back then people would claim there's no difference and the audience couldn't tell the difference! While I can argue that point about TODAY'S modelers, I honestly can't bring myself to that same conclusion of the earlier versions of yesteryear

 

[DaveW]

My first was the Boss ME5 used to get some great tones out of that. Wow a long time ago.

 

[sprint]

My podhd500 still makes a great midi switcher for Axefx - with some convoluted external programming (Bome midi translater pro) it can maintain state and have linked groups of switches. I actually upgraded it to Helix Floor just for the midi switching to Axfx with active labels but the HX midi seemed a bit buggy at the time and I returned it - so my podhd lives on for pre/post axefx2+3 modulation switching (red/green on preset 1A), custom scene level settings (white on preset 1B), black for looper control. USB jack no longer works and I keep having to clean the sticking switches - once it finally dies it'll be fc4me! For now, in combination with my old MFC which is a tank I don't think will ever die, I have all the switching I could ever want in my mancave.

 

[MaVo]

A Digitech GNX1 by 2001, after that a PodXT Pro Rack in 2006. Looking back, you really have to admit that the AxeFx marks a milestone within the modelling market and today’s sound quality of the AxeFx3 is really a quantum leap when comparing them to the old units

 

[Rick]

PodXT. If it wasn't for the PodXT there wouldn't be an Axe-Fx.

Bought a Dual Rectifier and hated it. Store wouldn't refund my money so gave me store credit. I used the credit to buy a PodXT. Tried for several weeks to make the thing sound good. Couldn't.

I thought the concept was great but I just couldn't get a usable sound out of it. So I set out to make something that actually sounded good.

It would appear we all, unknowingly, owe quite a lot to the PodXT then! Thank goodness you bought one.

 

[xarkon]

PodXT. If it wasn't for the PodXT there wouldn't be an Axe-Fx.

Bought a Dual Rectifier and hated it. Store wouldn't refund my money so gave me store credit. I used the credit to buy a PodXT. Tried for several weeks to make the thing sound good. Couldn't.

I thought the concept was great but I just couldn't get a usable sound out of it. So I set out to make something that actually sounded good.

There's an origin story short film to be made here. Cliff taking a sledgehammer to an (unlabeled) red bean.

 

[GreatGreen]

I loved the idea of modeling (who wouldn't? lol) and the Line6 AX2 had more "advanced" parameters than any of Line6's other amps so surely I could get a TON of awesome tones out of this bad boy, right? Well, a buddy of mine and I were both seduced by the promise of "infinite amazing tones all from one box, man!" and so we both got AX2's around the same time. We kept them for a while but over time it became clearer that no matter how much we tweaked, the tones just weren't getting there.

PodXT. If it wasn't for the PodXT there wouldn't be an Axe-Fx.

Bought a Dual Rectifier and hated it. Store wouldn't refund my money so gave me store credit. I used the credit to buy a PodXT. Tried for several weeks to make the thing sound good. Couldn't.

I thought the concept was great but I just couldn't get a usable sound out of it. So I set out to make something that actually sounded good.

Stories like this are amazing. I wonder what that jerk store owner would say if somebody told him that that his greedy refusal to issue a refund for an amp the customer didn't bond with would effectively cause the disruption of the entire industry upon which his business was built.

 

[fcs101]

Amazing too that even back then people would claim there's no difference and the audience couldn't tell the difference! While I can argue that point about TODAY'S modelers, I honestly can't bring myself to that same conclusion of the earlier versions of yesteryear

The industry was obviously pushing the product. Many young and inexperienced users probably didn't know better...tell a kid that this'll make you sound like EVH and many probably thought any problem was with them. Then there's sometimes denial for those that should know better...I see it with some gear reviews, someone buys an expensive piece of gear and then seems determined to defend the choice, as if the cost alone equates to quality.

 

[unix-guy]

PodXT. If it wasn't for the PodXT there wouldn't be an Axe-Fx.

Bought a Dual Rectifier and hated it. Store wouldn't refund my money so gave me store credit. I used the credit to buy a PodXT. Tried for several weeks to make the thing sound good. Couldn't.

I thought the concept was great but I just couldn't get a usable sound out of it. So I set out to make something that actually sounded good.

Finally something to thank Line6 for

 

[don_joe]

Digitech RP-7.

I was so disappointed, I saved my money for it quite a while and then it seemed so limited as it arrived. But it was such a fruitful era in my career and lots of good tones with this device.

 

[LiquidGuitar]

My friend had the Line 6 red bean pod in the early 00s. It was awful. That's why I didn't get a modeler until 2021, I couldn't get that "taste" out of my mouth.

 

[scottp]

I had the Roland GP-100 when it first launched.

Hughes & Kettner ZenTera 2x12 combo, head, and combo again with the diamond plate foot controller!
My back now thanks me for using Fractal.

I lugged that ZenTera to church way too many times to count!

 

[ruso]

I too worked in a record store while at college (in 1987).

I haven’t found a better environment for discovering new music since. I discovered hundreds of bands through customers and employees.

 

[la szum]

I need to go through my trash can and see if I have anything to post. That's what we are doing
here, right???

 

[la szum]

I'm also thoroughly ashamed and embarrassed to have gigged the offerings from zoom, the digitech RPs, various pods, boss GTs and roland VG gear, korg, vox, and a host of others....usually I'd play a total of one gig with them believing they'd sound great, and ditch them in favor of my amps again. I think I played a couple gigs with modelers like the xt live and the VG-99, before ditching them, but the majority of gigs saw me pack away these 'modelers' after the first gig!!

I also used eventide and tc electronic gear for fx before Fractal, with an engl preamp and a rack mount tech 21 psa......that's also a modeler, but of the analog type! Actually was pretty cool, 1U and digital preset recall of the analog values set by the encoders or something like that.....

At least you are honest. I applaud that.

I think the Sansamp holds up great. Pretty sure Jim Matheos of Fates Warning has
used one on almost every album.... blended with his Mesa Mark series amps.

A lot of the initial rack units were analog circuitry with maybe some digital switching
and recall for presets like you mention. I recorded in a studio in 1988 and the producer
demanded I use a Rocktron Pro-Gap he had running direct into the board (no speaker emulation!)
and I HATED IT!!

 

[la szum]

So I set out to make something that actually sounded good.

And damn if that exactly what happened. Kind of cool how a sense of lack can
be so inspiring. It's like musicians writing music that they want to hear because
it doesn't yet exist. Pure artistry!

 

[Aivoryuk]

Depends what you classify as a modeler.
I've had a korg g3, korg Pandora(still own), digitech rp6, zoom 9000 (still own)
But my first was original pod (still own)
The original was better than all the pod farm stuff.