Ryan's Gig Guide - October 2019

choice. You are also given the option to turn off the cab sim and use your own simulations or IR’s. The next problem you encounter when trying to record boutique amps, at the required volume to reach their notorious g spot, is bleed. You need to isolate your sound to properly dial in your tone. Boutique amps can be loud. Real loud. Even if you neighbours aren’t a problem, the level of volume still makes life hard at home. What your microphone picks up can sound very different depending on where it is placed; for example, where it is pointing, which speaker it is pointing at, and how far away it is. Not to mention if you are trying to use two mics to get your sound,then you need to take into consideration phase alignment as well as making sure they are complimenting each other sonically. To do this you need to truly isolate your amp from where you are trying to mix. Talking from experience, having recorded a 50 watt amp in a house mate’s bedroom whilst trying to monitor it from the room across the landing, it is a struggle to accurately dial in a sound you like. In this given example the house was so poorly isolated for sound, the amp was clearly audible from the bus stop a street over. Hey, upsetting neighbours of neighbours has started to become a fun pastime, but trying to listen and make executive decisions about the sound coming out of some monitors, whilst the low end of the amp that is ripping itself apart next door bombards its way unforgivingly through the walls, is a hard task. Yes, you can record, then play it back, then walk into the other room, move a mic, then tweak the amp and sit back down, then hit record and repeat the process until you are happy. But being able to just play and tweak whilst sitting at your desk is a luxury that should not go without massive celebration from whoever is recording as well as the entire local district. So before neighbourhood watch start scaling your fences to tell you to pack it in, give one of these modules a blast. The Synergy SYN1 and its respective modules are not just limited to a recording environment. Using a four cable method you can effectively add another two channels to your ampli er. Foot switchable with the switch that is included with the SYN1, you can bypass the module to use your amps sounds as well as engaging and icking between the two channels that are available on every module. This must be one of the easiest ways to get the sound of two completely different amps on stage in an analogue format. The modules pop in and pop out, sliding in a draw like fashion into the enclosure, the process is far more simple than anything that ever came out of an Ikea. The modules are largely designed by the manufacturers who made the original amps. If their pedigree was ever in question, Synergy products are produced in the same plant that outputs names such as Morgan and Friedman. They have unrivalled access to circuits and secrets of the mysterious boutique ampli er world. Throwing another perspective into the re, you could view Synergy as the analogue answer to Kemper. Kemper products are powerful, great sounding pieces of kit, but there are elements that Synergies modular system could bring to your experience of the amp on demand ethos they are both tackling. Number one, Synergy are mainly analogue. When you pull the module out you can see all the magic components you would nd in a preamp, including the tubes. The only part which is not analogue would be the cab simulation on the way out of the D.I. There is also the argument for the more tactile/hands on experience of using the SYN1. Turning the knobs very much feels like making an adjustment on a real amp. Also, much like a traditional amp, each knob is dedicated to one speci c role. In other words, one knob will never share two or more functions which is often the case in digital boxes such as the Kemper. A great example of this is the two channels available in every single module that Synergy offer. Where this is highlighted is the dedicated set of controls per channel that you can switch between. This makes the interface a lot easier to understand whilst also allowing quicker adjustments. Another advantage is the limited options. You may not initially see limited options as a good reason for choosing one product over another but too many options can sti e creativity. Lots of options can be distracting and quite frankly unnecessary. You only need one good sounding amp to make an awesome recording, so having several great sounding little boxes of fun is just a bonus. Maybe then, the unseeingly endless amounts of presets and pro les you can access could be seen as over kill. Both approaches have their pros and cons. It is a lot to do with nding what works best for you and your work ow. This fresh concept has been executed by a brand with access to the knowledge required to make these tiny tone cartridges sound their best. Get down to your local supplier and get plugged in to see what the future of amp technology could potentially look like. www.ryansgigguide.com rgg Oct 2019 31