Mainstage as an amplifier

I'm not a guitarist but I think I can help with the questions.

In your situation I think that Mainstage would be great. You will read some problems that people are having but these are just about all related to software synthesizers and not the audio plug-ins that you would use. You can also read posts of folks that are having no problems at all and are loving using it.

Some people really like the Guitar Amp Pro plug-in that is included, others don't, so that's a matter of taste. But if the question is 'is it good enough for government work?' then the answer is yes.

And yes, it is totally possible to turn on and off effects with just the click of a button.

Hope that helps...

Hi Brandon,

I'm a guitar player as well, and can offer the following, based on your questions:

1. Could I reliably use Mainstage live?
=> Mainstage is a pretty new software. Many people in this and other forums are using it without problems, but if you go through the archives you'll find people who don't. In my case, using Mainstage for guitar tones and effects, I get excellent results. You'll have to try and see what it does to you.

2. Does it have pretty authentic tones?
=> This will be a personal thing. In my humble opinion, they are very good. Other users have plug-ins such as Amplitube or Guitar Rig running behind Mainstage. I only use Mainstage's effects and models and get exactly what I want. Tweaking those models and effects may take a lot of time, but you'll end up with something you can use.

3. Is it conceivable I could turn effects on and off with just a button or click or two?
=> Yes. You may choose a floor midi board or some other controller, and you can assign a certain button on your controller to enable/disable (i.e., turn on and off) an effect. Or else, you can just do that on the laptop, but in a concert that may not be very practical.

4. I use just a few stomp-boxes and have a Presonus FireBox as an interface, and have the most highly upgraded Macbook.
=> Make sure you have a LOT of RAM memory, maybe your laptop can take 4GB?

In any event, you will have to do a lot of experiments until you get the tone/effects combinations you want. I've been tweaking my system for 2 months and, so far, I've got 3 ⚠ patches that I really like.

You may wish to look at a rack for the audio/midi gear and laptop. SKB and Gator offer 2 and 4-space racks with a top compartment for a laptop. That way, you have your rig wired all the time, all you need to do is plug the power cord on the wall and you guitar cable into it.

Good luck.

Mano

I'm a keyboard player with 7 guitars... so I'll chime in on this one... 🙂

above all, make sure you've got correct impedance matching between your guitar and your interface. Line level input, albeit with 1/4" plugs, is not the same as the input you plug your cable into on the front of your amp... *if this isn't right, you'll never get what you're looking for*.

Once you've got that piece of the puzzle solved, there's a big wide world...

A number of amp/distortion/stompbox simulations are available, ranging from Apple's amp simulations (GAP), izotope's Trash (cool distortions), NI's Guitar Rig, Amplitude (sounds great), up to something called GTR3 (which includes some hardware for the impedance matching).

You're replacing a GREAT sounding amp... so I'm going to assume you've got the descerning ears to match... I'd say try em all out... because there are subtle differences that can mean the difference between inspiring and, well... adequate.

My personal fave is Amplitude, but am interested in GTR3... "Real" guitar players tend to like solutions that have guitar-player oriented pedalboards, although you can do that yourself with an inexpensive Behringer box called the FCB1010 or something like that...

have fun with this, it's beyond fun to be honest!

Michael

Would I be able to run my REAL effect boxes into the audio interface.

Through the use of your I/O and MainStage buses and inserts you can easily pull this kind of thing off. I use MS to control/trim outboard devices this way. Be careful though of devices that have specific expectations of drive levels or impedance. Guitar pedals and such generally are designed to receive signals that differ greatly from the outputs of things like audio interfaces and recording consoles. If your device has the sound you like because of its match to your guitar's pickups then you may not get the effect you desire.

I'm using a H&K TubeFactor as distortion between guitar and MotU Ultralite with MS from time to time.
Works perfect.
If the rat has a hard bypass like the old rats have, you might get problems if you use a line in on your interface.
You should have one with matched inputs for passive guitar pickups.
Otherwise the rat could function as a buffer amp.