Nice hotel practice rig?

[nangillala]

Hi everyone,
I'm looking for stuff that helps me practice in hotels.
I'm on business trips for some days each month and would like to bring a guitar and some small practice stuff whenever possible. It should fit into a guitar case/gigbag along with the guitar.

I have an Axe-Fx III at home, which is perfect, but of course I am looking for something smaller, lighter and much cheaper here. So it is just for this application and doesn't need to do more.

Most of the time I am very happy with a Soldano Simulation with a touch of Reverb. Metronome/Drums/Audio In would be nice, but is not a must.

My ideas at the moment are:

1. Pocket Pod - Up until the Helix I've never been a big fan of the Pod stuff, but I guess it sounds ok and would have the perfect form factor
2. Zoom G1 Four - Looks good, has Drums. Does the output work nicely with headphones?
3. Joyo Preamp House - I just found it online. No idea how it sounds. No reverb, No Audio In,...
4. TwoNotes Le Lead - I like the idea to have a "real" Preamp. I like the soundsamples online. I'm just a bit afraid the headphone signal would be too dry for me (no Reverb...)
5. Some kind of Mini-Amp: Blackstar Fly 3 / EVH 5150 Micro Stack / ...
6. Something really small like the Vox Amplug / Traveler Headphone Amp /...

I have the Strymon Iridium at home to test it right now. Great sounding pedal, and the Room is perfect. It just doesn't have enough gain for my taste right now :/

Thanks for all the input

 

[maccayoung]

This? Though it's quite pricey (£380);


Otherwise the katana mini is quite nice.

 

[KailM]

JCM 800 full stack. Sorry.

 

[budda]

Hx stomp?

 

[vilk]

Have you seen the Waza Air?

edit: how did I not see that post? lol

 

[ATRguitar91]

My vote would be the Zoom G1 Four out of what you've listed. Very budgety and the tones should be good enough. I have its predecessor and used it for headphone stuff.

Assuming you travel with a laptop, you'd probably get better results using plugins with a cheap interface.

Have you tried boosting the Iridium?

 

[Wolfhorsky]

I’m in the same boat. I ended up with NK headless axe and iRig (i will upgrade to Apogee Element 24). I use Bose Noise cancelling headphones. And in my Mac i use Nolly and Plini sims from Neural DSP. They are just GREAT. I use my Mac on my business trips and headphones as well. NK headless after some upgrades is simply very nice guitar and i use it on my gigs. Plugins are used in my studio. So in my case the only trip related investment was this small guitar interface. I plan to get Apogee Element 24 as it utilizes Thunderbolt and has almost zero latency.
Cheers.

 

[sleewell]

Hx stomp?

this or those boss headphones

the benefit of the hx would be that you could integrate it into your existing loud rig.

 

[efiltsohg]

in a hotel I would probably just practice unplugged

 

[Shask]

I have a Zoom G1on that works great for this. It was the previous version of the G1Four. Sure, it is more compressed feeling and noisier than an Axe-FX, but it is pretty amazing for what it costs. Going up in cost, I would probably look at the Line 6 HX Stomp next, and then eventually, the Fractal FM3.

 

[maggotspawn]

I love my Pocket Pod. I've had it forever. I play through it pretty much every day.

 

[Aewrik]

Unless playing in a venue without a PA, my rig literally fits inside my case. Guitar, HX Stomp, expression pedal, microphone, strap and cables.

If only there were four foot switches instead of three the HX Stomp would have been perfect. I guess I could upgrade my pedal to the Mission Engineering one, though...

 

[wheelsdeal]

I am still rocking my Pod XT with my M40x...so any dated modeling stomp would work even better.

If you want something with speakers the Yamaha THR line is a cool piece of kit.

 

[TheWarAgainstTime]

I have an HX Stomp in my rig and it's awesome, but for headphone jamming on a lower budget, I would also look at the POD HD bean since they go for around $150-200 at this point. It's a nice option in between the Pocket POD and the HX

 

[nangillala]

Hi guys and thanks for all the answers already.

This? Though it's quite pricey (£380);



Otherwise the katana mini is quite nice.

It looks really interesting. I need to try it at some point. Could be the perfect solution.

JCM 800 full stack. Sorry.

I still have my 100w top sitting at home... Maybe if I bring my 9(!)x10 Speaker it would work as a nice travel rig?

Hx stomp?

How could I miss the HX Stomp? It's a great piece of gear. Although I would only use it for this special application, so it might be a bit expensive.

My vote would be the Zoom G1 Four out of what you've listed. Very budgety and the tones should be good enough. I have its predecessor and used it for headphone stuff.

Assuming you travel with a laptop, you'd probably get better results using plugins with a cheap interface.

Have you tried boosting the Iridium?

I'm leaning a bit towards the Zoom for those reasons.

Yes, a laptop... But it's my work laptop, so I'm not sure if I'm allowed to install stuff like that But I've been following the "new" plugins quite a bit, and they look and sound really nice. Probably the best idea, since an interface is even cheaper.

Yes, I boosted the iridium and it works great. I just don't want to end up carrying a pedalboard

I’m in the same boat. I ended up with NK headless axe and iRig (i will upgrade to Apogee Element 24). I use Bose Noise cancelling headphones. And in my Mac i use Nolly and Plini sims from Neural DSP. They are just GREAT. I use my Mac on my business trips and headphones as well. NK headless after some upgrades is simply very nice guitar and i use it on my gigs. Plugins are used in my studio. So in my case the only trip related investment was this small guitar interface. I plan to get Apogee Element 24 as it utilizes Thunderbolt and has almost zero latency.
Cheers.

That sounds really good. I'm thinking of getting a strandberg for this. But an NK would be a nice first step. Did you buy yours on Aliexpress? Still looking for nice cheap headless guitars.

I love my Pocket Pod. I've had it forever. I play through it pretty much every day.

That's good to hear. It is probably totally ok for my application

 

[Wolfhorsky]

I’ve bought NK via Reverb.com and payed via Paypal - i wanted double protection plan. Out of the box NK is good-ish. Pickups are disaster. I put DM Breed in the bridge position and DM Humbucker from hell in the neck position. I took it to my local luthier to make the arm contour more ergonomic for my taste. Luthier was essential to round the fret/fretboard edges and to polish the frets. The frets were leveled and crowned in the factory, but they were very rough.
I still vote for plugins. Neural DSP gives two week testing time for free.
Cheers.

 

[budda]

If you're going to be at all picky about your tone with a travel rig, it's going to be a little bit expensive. If all you need is clean/dirty, grab a marshall MS-2.

 

[fcv]

Mooer GE-200 is small, cheap and sounds pretty good.

 

[Cynicanal]

JCM 800 full stack. Sorry.

I was going to recommend a used 6505 and a 4x12 for maximum SSO cred, but this works too.

 

[rexbinary]

I was going to recommend a used 6505 and a 4x12 for maximum SSO cred, but this works too.

Don't forget the OD808