Guitar Rig 5 setup?

[Islander]

I once found a forum link describing settings for GR that were fairly close to the sound I'm looking for, but I didn't bookmark it :doh

If any GR5 users are out there, can you share your settings or "stack" list?

[CygnusX-1Bk2]

I have it but haven't really used it. What are you looking for exactly?

[Islander]

The first setup I had was actually Guitar Rig 3... a reasonably close facsimile of the Grace Under Pressure sound, if that's a good description...I remember splitting channels, Tweedman with matching cabs on both channels, chorus/flanger and the High White on one, or both, can't remember...I can figure out the more recent, seemingly more simple sounds (I think), but I find that period is very frustrating to replicate...Limelight? frig sakes.....

[CygnusX-1Bk2]

Is it not possible to import from previous versions?

[Islander]

I think so, but I don't have it anymore :-(

[MarkScudder]

I'm working on a p/g sound in GR 5 to go with my Hentor Sportscaster. It's a little bright (it matches the p/g concert video more than the album itself), but I'll try to tell you what I did:

 

First, a few notes: I am playing a homemade Hentor Sportscaster with a Bill & Becky Lawrence L500L. The guitar body is alder. Many people will tell you many things about how much or how little pickups and wood will color the sound. If you're playing a "superstrat" where the pickups are mounted right into the body, that will sound different too - there is definitely a component of Lifeson's 80s sound that has to do with the vibrations ringing around the body routs and against a plastic pickguard. Remember Alex also plays most rhythm parts with his volume knob at 4 or 5 and only rolls it to 10 for solos. This gives you a gain boost you control at the guitar. Also, I hack these things together by sound so there's a lot of things that could be optimized, but they're not yet. This is also always a work in progress, this is version 3 since I got the L500L and I'm sure there will be changes down the road.

 

Now, the rig:

 

First I'm running into a Fast Comp. Input 24.3, Attack 1, Makeup -3.8.

Next, Electric Lady flanger. Rate 0.44, Static off, Depth 2.68, Color 5 Dry/Wet 82%/18%, Rotate 0, Sync and Invert off.

Next, the Shelving EQ.Low Freq 142, Lo Gain -14.9, Hi Freq 5008, Hi Gain -11.1, Volume +8.7.

 

For p/g and the tour, Alex was running three outputs - Four Marshall 4140 "Club & Country" 100W 2x12 combo amps (two dirty, two clean), and a Rockman "through a locked parametric EQ" (unfortunately Alex never gave more info than that), and they were mixed in various proportions based on the song (which I don't emulate here). GR5 does not emulate the Marshall 4140. I got a similar sound by learning that the 4140 was Marshall's answer to the Fender Twin, and using the Fender Twin ("Twang Reverb") head with the "British 2x12" cabinet.

 

So set up two splits, one inside the other. Mine show up as a red colored one inside a green colored one. The red split should be entirely in the green "Split A."

 

Red Split A (Dirty Marshall):

Put in a Tube Compressor first, Volume -5.5, Sustain 5.57, Attack 32.1, Release 7.67, Threshold +15.4, Sidechain off.

Then a "Twang Reverb." Volume 10, Treble 7.76, Mid 10, Bass 4.61, Reverb off, Vibrato off, Bright On.

Delete the matching cab.

Add a Control Room, select the "British 2x12" cab. Air 0, Bass -9.7, Treble +7.3, Volume -17.4, Rib 121 -3.43, Con 47 0, Dyn 441 -2.5, rest of the mics off.

 

Red Split B (Clean Marshall):

(Note: No compressor here)

Twang Reverb, Volume 10, Treble 10, Mid 8.98, Bass 1, Reverb off or very low, Vibrato off, Bright On.

Delete the matching cab.

Add a Control Room, select the "British 2x12 V72" cab. Air 0, Bass -15, Treble +15, Volume -1.2. Dyn 57 -12.3, Con 47 -1.9, Dyn 421 -3.9, all other mics off.

 

Set the pans on the Red Split Mix to center, and set the crossfader 80/20 to Split A.

Underneath the Split A mixer, but BEFORE the Green Split B starts, put a Stereo Tune (it's the closest thing to a Roland Dimension D we have). Mix 100% Wet, Split 682, Drift 55%, Spread 80.7%.

 

Now, on the B side of the green Split (Rockman):

Transamp: Volume 6.84, Bass 0, Treble 2.59, Drive 10, Amp 100% Tweed. Stereo Off, Clean Off, Cab&Mic On, Mic Pos 2% Far, Hot 4.91.

Parametric EQ: Volume 0, Freq 1 72Hz, Gain 1 17.9, Q1 0.5, Freq 2 1227Hz, Gain 2 +0.9, Q2 0.5.

 

Set the pans on the Green Split to center, and set the mix to 78/22 to Split A.

 

Now insert a Tube Compressor below the splits. Input 12, Threshold -31, Ratio 8:1, Attack 0, Release 1.22, Gain -5.

Then insert the Chorus/Flanger. Set it to chorus mode, Speed 0.17Hz, Intensity 6, Width 6. Sync Off, Stereo Spread On.

Next, the Psychedelay. Dry/Wet 84%/16%, Sync On (this allows you to map your foot controller to tap tempo), Time 1/4, Reverse Off, Detune 0, Feedback 49.8, Pitch 0, Stereo Time 0.69, Detune off, Cross Feedback 100%.

 

After that I put in a Solid Dynamics compressor (it's from an add-in pack) to act as a final, soft, opto-style leveler. May not be necessary. If you want it: Soft, Ratio 4, Thresh -17.9, Release 0.1, Fast Att Off, Lin Rel Off, Gate, Range 0, Thresh 0, Release 0.63, Fast Att Off.

 

Here's what it sounds like playing through "Territories," which I know isn't on p/g. Not my best playing but suffices for this demonstration.

 

This could use some improvement; it's very noisy. What I like about it though, is when you roll the volume back, the "dirty" amp gets out of the way and you get this nice smooth blend to a half-dirty, half-clean tone. Knock it back to the middle switch position (neck + middle, humbucking), and you get a nice tight, spanky single coil sound that's at home with quite a bit of 80s pop as well as Rush. Lot of different sonic possibilities with just the volume control and pickup switch. Of course you can adjust the crossfaders to taste - that was the point of this particular rig. A technicality: Alex ran his rig in mono during this time, but between overdubs and live sound, I'm sure it was split somewhere and widened.

 

And here's a quick sloppy combination of a bunch of screenshots of the rig. I think I got it all. Let me know if you end up improving it at all. Chorus and Lifeson go together well in any situation anyway.

 

Hope this helps.

 

http://i.imgur.com/iYtc8Jp.jpg

[MarkScudder]

Limelight/MP was Hiwatts, I think. Actually if you have a Matching EQ plugin, there's a way to get it close, because that tone was very barkey, very quacky. Go find the "isolated guitar" tracks from MP on YouTube and run them through the Match EQ, then get your GR patch as close as possible and play the same song through it. The Matching EQ should create an EQ curve that'll make your GR patch sound really close to Alex's guitar tone on that album.

[CygnusX-1Bk2]

That's fairly close. Definitely on the scratchy side. I question the use of so many compressors and recommend a noise gate on the end.

[MarkScudder]

Yeah. I have to clean it up but there's no other Rush fans around here who play bass or drums so I'm not motivated to do it, I'd rather just play.

[CygnusX-1Bk2]

I play both bass and drums.

[MarkScudder]

I play both bass and drums.

 

And you're 3,000 miles away. QED. :-)

[CygnusX-1Bk2]

Never stopped me from doing projects with 1-0-0-1 in NY or Pete in Ohio, or my buddies in LA, or...

[JARG]

Never stopped me from doing projects with 1-0-0-1 in NY or Pete in Ohio, or my buddies in LA, or...

 

Yup. I was in a two-album project with guys living in different states.

[Ron2112]

@MarkScudder......really great job. I'm a GR 5 and TH2 user, and I think you've done a great job here. I'm hearing a bit too much flange on the sustained chords, but that's about it. I'm gonna try this when I get home. My guitar is a PRS CE24, so I don't know if your patch will work as well, but it will be a great start. Wondering if there's a way to simplify this into a single signal chain for portability when gigging? (My pedalboard doesn't allow for dual signal chains right now).

[Islander]

Just wanted to come back and say HUGE THANKS to MarkScudder for the GR setup...I have the Epiphone Les Paul w/FR and a Charvel Jackson which sounds (relatively) awesome with this setup..all I have for an amp is a little Roland cube, but this setup is miles beyond anything I could come up with...

[MarkScudder]

Thanks guys. As for dual signal chains, the only splitting is in software. There's one input, into my audio interface. It splits the signal. In fact, since I use Apple Mainstage as a plugin host, I've been working on actually splitting it out into three amp channels and pre/post effects to make the thing easier to deal with. My studio is a wreck right now, waiting for the weather to get nice so I can finish painting, but after that I'll make some videos, as my Hentor Sportscaster is now officially done, and not having anything better musically to do, I will be dialing this patch in more.