Let me preface this with saying that i have 40 years of playing guitar through marshalls and 5150s so I know what a good guitar tone is. I stopped playing for about 10 years and just picked it back up with an interest in playing in some local cover bands and my 120 watt 5150 is not going to cut it. I need more versatility and something that sounds good at lower volumes.
Now...back in March, I got a Line6 Catalyst 200 watt 2x12 combo. My intention was to find a decent hard rock tone and a decent clean tone to complement it. I was actually very happy with the amp models in the Catalyst itself. I added an HX Effects to the setup and run in 4 cable mode. I am very satisfied with the tones I am getting. While they are not true tube tones, they are very close and I am typically a snob so for me to like it, it must be decent. Having said that, the switching between amp models on this Catalyst has about a 1/2 second dropout so going from clean to dirty is not very smooth.
When I started watching youtube videos on the Tonex, I was blown away. It has everything I could want and it would pair perfectly with my HX Effects. I figured it the Line6 amp models in the catalyst were good, the Tonex would be even better.
So I bought one direct from IKmultimedia. It took 2 weeks to get here. I couldn't wait. Then it arrived. I hooked it up through the power amp in on my 200 watt Line6 Catalyst and prepared to be amazed. And.....I wasn't. Something sounds....off. Sterile if you will. I initially tried it through headphone with the cab ir feature on.....and it sounded lifeless to me. No character, no harmonic charm...it sounded like a bad solid state amp. I disabled the cab models globally and tried it through my amp....and it was better. But was missing something.....and it was flubby. The marshall models bass was really flubby for lack of a better term. I spent an hours trying to dial in a tone that sounded good, I tried the 5150 model and I thought I got it sounding decent, but then when I switched back to my Line6 HiGain model it just sounded pure and full bodied...and....much more like an amp! I know it is an "amp" but it's just using amp models itself....so I was figuring the Tonex would be way better than the 6 buil-tin models of the line 6.
I ended up shelving my Tonex for a week and was just loving the tone and the smoothness of the Line6 Catalyst higain model. But....watching videos and seeing everyone sing the praises of the Tonex on Youtube, I figured I had to be doing something wrong that is sounded so sterile and flubby.
But today, I tried again and after 2 hours of trying, the Tonex just doesn't sound good through my 200 watt line 6 2x12 combo. I am using the Power amp input as well so none of the tone/feature of the amp are complicating this issue.
So...what am I doing wrong here? The tonex sounds online seem to be decent but something is amis in my particular setup. Any help would be appreciated. I am thinking about selling the Tonex but I want to make sure I am not missing something obvious. I have been using just the builtin sound models so far....I haven't even installed and signed into Tonenet or whatever it is that you use to download models. I figured I'd better get the basics working before I introduce a bunch of uploaded amp models.
Thanks. Sorry for the long first post!
