Budget Backup Guitar Rig 

You missed the most important brand to slap their logo on one of these....Fender!

I’d never NOT bring my whole rig because the gig promoter told me not to. I’ve had far too many instances of miscommunication to ever trust what anyone says. Every gig, my car is loaded to the hilt with everything I might need. Great video as always, convinced me to pick one up!

I've been saying for years that lightweight is the way to go with live stuff. In Japan, everyone is really old school about their rigs; my old bandmate had two tube amp heads and cabs running in stereo! I'm from the shoegaze scene so people frown on using the kind of rig I used (a quilter head and a multi-fx unit running into a dummy load), but I don't miss dragging a huge amp and pedal board to a crowd that really does not care about the fact that you did or did not do so. Live shows are all about the energy and honestly I think digital/solid state gear makes it really easy to focus on actually important things like playing the set! It's not like recording where you want to focus on everything sounding just right; people are drunk and high and they just wanna have fun. For those expectations, running a big expensive analog rig is nothing but trouble.

I've used that pedal in band practice sessions. We also plugged this straight to a mixer for bass guitar, so we would get the low notes from the bass amp and middle frequencies from pa (Motörhead sound). It helped when I played a guitar solos, so it sounded like there was more rhythm on the background.

When a venue tells me they have backline, I bring my entire rig anyways. Almost always do I end up needing it in the end. Follow the Boy Scout Motto: Be Prepared.

I’ve got the Mooer DI and it does it’s job pretty well when you don’t have access to a guitar amplifier in a tightly knit gig!

Hughes & Kettner’s Red Box has been my go to for around three decades. It’s a DI, in its MkI iteration that simulated 4x12” cab or a combo amp. They’ve come in different flavors over the years and for what amounts to a “One Trick Pony” DI with an on/off Eq (aka Speaker Simulator), it sounds better than most at the $50 +/- price range for a used example. They’re built pretty solid. My example has been in regular use for about 30 years.

Honestly the Mooer Micro Preamps are such great pedals, the best ones I've played are the US Gold 100 (Friedman) and Fifty-Fifty (5150) - combined with a Mooer Radar IR loader you have everything you need.

I think for live use, it's absolutely OK as is. If you add some light reverb, it's gonna sound a lot less "DI" when it's recorded.

A Quilter micro block 45 fits in your gig bag and will back up the bassist too. Can be had for 150 used

According to the January 2010 Guitar Player, Gear/Shop Talk column, Gerald Weber (of Kendrick Amplifiers) states: “You never want to operate an amp without a speaker load connected….A “no load” condition can cause high-voltage arcing in the output tube sockets, requiring them to be replaced, and the filter caps (capacitors) in the power supply can also be damaged if the speaker load is suddenly lost.” I make it a point to “always connect the speaker load first.”

As of speaking, Harley benton still has the D.I pedal on the site for like 20$

The Mooer Radar IR pedal is a better option for this use IMO - you can use your own IRs on the pedal instead of being stuck with a sub-par cab sim.

This was an interesting concept I’m going to have a look into getting one of these it’s a good idea

It's a good practical solution if you need something cheap, and you have some pedals for building tone. I have a Line 6 HD500X that I use for effects with my amp in 4 cable method. Amp sims are disabled. However, I have some emergency backup patches that do use amp sims as a backup, so if my amp goes out for whatever reason, I can just switch to the amp sim patch, plug straight into PA, and switch output mode to Studio/Direct. Takes a couple minutes, and I'm back up and running. The DI box is basically the same principle.

Monoprice makes them, too. I have 2 of them. For bass, they're great for mixing the PA and bass cab, or for running a bi-amp rig using two separate amps. I also like the fact that the DI and 1/4" plugs BOTH get the amp sim sound, so you can put it into the FX loop on a solid state or hybrid amp and run directly into an FRFR cab AND front of house all at once, and the same goes for guitar multiFX pedals that have great amp and pedal simulation, but shittier cab/speaker emulation (I'm looking at you, Zoom). These things pair perfectly with amps like the Joyo BanTamp series or similar offerings from Orange, Friedman, Engl, and more, as well as Marshall Valvestate or Hartke GT100 heads, or anything from Crate or Ibanez, et al. They also work great for running backing tracks to FOH for bands with only one guitar during solos for bands that use their demo recording DAW projects on a laptop to set met and control monitoring and automation live (which I also highly recommend!).

I got my Hughes & Kettner RedBox pro for 40€ and it does the same thing.... I’m still gonna buy one of these now.

Firm believer in the KISS principle - so I always have a Cube Baby (Probably going to upgrade to a Tank-G), a Vox Amplug3, an 'assortment' of suitable cables and adapters - and a small'ish Bluetooth speaker with an aux-in; I've actually just upgraded the 10W JVC to a 60W Veon unit - and it's loud!. Highly portable, I'm good for about 8-10 hours on battery - and the sound isn't all that bad; works for a club! If I was in a studio, I'd be connecting things differently... but studios don't figure in my future.... Oh - and the best thing about the mini-multiFX is that they're also IR capable - and you can get some amazing sounds from them!

I have Sans Amp clone as base for my pedalboard at home. It is normal sized pedal and costs around $50 new but it also has few essential knobs you expect to find on every amp, so you can get somewhat usable tone without any additional pedals (assuming you can add some reverb on PA console). So I'd suggest something like that as emergency solution.

Behringer also makes the GDI21 V-Tone Guitar Driver pedal that has XLR out. It has lots of different settings for selecting the sound you’re looking for.

8:15 Glen looking very happy after his Thai massage.

Thomann actually started producing the Harley Benton versions of this thing again. They're €20,- and still a convenient in-case-of-emergency option for getting a usable guitar tone.

The Wampler Pinnacle v1 doesn't sound bad for me, but the lack of a mid control makes this pedal not that much usable as preamp. That's probably why Wampler made the Deluxe version.

Heart my commennttt

I'm sorry but nothing beats having a tube amp and a 2x12 or 4x12 speaker if they know hot to dial in tone and play their instrument everything else is just a toy lacking what the OG shit gave

Hi. It's interesting how you aproach your youtube from an inteligent point of view and really pointinh out important issues that people need to hear about, and yet your music is glam rock. The dumbest and the most pointles subgenre of r&r. How come?

Wait, I was sure I was subscribed to this channel... Maybe that's on my other account, then. Oh well, the problem has been fixed. Nice song, by the way.

Gets you OUT of a bind! Begorragh, you take the TRAIN to practice?

My gig saver has always been the pedal called a .22 Cal or the .44 cal. They are tiny powerful amps that if your amp dies, you plug your guitar into it and pull the cord from your speaker and plug it in to the output of the pedal. Not the best sound but it will save your gig and both pedals are quite loud. Tube amps always die on gigs never at practice!

I had this for awhile and it's actually really dope.

FOH wet dream pedal. So many FOH dudes are just not interested in micing up cabs anymore, especially bass cabs.

I have to say not to be mean but just as criticism, I think the song could use better producing. The vocals are very dry and the backing vocals too would benefit a lot from a little bit of reverb. Love the videos!

Think I jammed with your bassist last week, small world. Nice tune

I’d been looking at these for exactly this purpose! Thanks for the review!

I had a wampler tweed-it sounded and felt nothing like a tweed amp.....

Used the Mooer version of this DI for years for my backup board, worked great whenever I needed it to. Only traded it out when I got a smaller modeler to backup my main

The Joyo American Sound and AC Tone are also good alternatives. They sound great for DI recording and straight into a PA for a gig.

That's an interesting star shaped guitar on the wall. What is it? Have you made any videos about that guitar? I just found a Japanese star guitar with the strat headstock and bridge made by Motsumoku. I have a burst flying v and a burst explorer from that era as well.

Very informative. Thanks! 💥🎸💥

New subscriber here keep it up!!! Crush your competition with P r o m o s m!!

damn i love pedalboard rigs for some reason recently

Are you guys going on tour with Chappers any time soon? 😂

Not a fan of the music but you are an awesome player regardless.

Cab Sim off sounds like it could be usable in an industrial record.

Sounds ok and beats nothing by a long shot.

Holy cow, I didn't realise you were Irish (English is not my mother tongue and I can only distinguish US accent from the others - ok also strong Scottish but that's easy). I did spend a gap year around Dublin some 14 years ago and I took the DART to that precise station A LOT, so that brought some memories back. Even weirder is that I also now own that same Ormsby gig back, but the DART and that bag belong to very different eras of my life, so that was real messing with my mind. I've used a ZoomG5 for quite a while, a multieffect board with amp sims and I also love the tones I get out of it. I even use it for recordings, even though it's old, probably older than a lot of the popular line6 stuff. It also has a line out XLR port that perfect to plug into PA's. I've moved to something a bit more professional and modern, but I would still use the G5 for practice and as a backup. It was fairly cheap too, so I would recommand that as an alternative compact/ backup rig. Cheers !

I haven't used an amp in years.

HEY i like yur blog's n videos brother i could use some helpful input on better quality in an affordable range kinda like this product

very usefull, thxa lot :-)

All the way from Bray. I think you need a permit to film on the Dart but I won't say nothing

Hi KDH, I like to hear your opinion and thoughts on the Nobel odr-1, "The industry's best kept secret". I bought one for my birthday and I love it. It gives more of what you want from your amp. The claims of the pedal is that it's used by the player circles in Nashville and L.A. session players, also market as mostly blues and country pedal even though it does give you a good rock/hard rock sound. Even the box it claims that it's "the best overdrive on the market" with an endorsement on it. It's £100 in the UK but it sounds like a boutique pedal. I am interested in hearing thoughts on the pedal.

How about the radial JDX direct-drive? It’s what I use as a backup, doesn’t require you to add a preamp to your pedalboard, a couple more simulator options while still being super simple and bare bones, has XLR out, and it sounds great going straight from pedalboard to PA. Only thing is I think it’s a couple hundred more than this DI.

I'm dumb when it comes to these things. So the outs to these?.. Just goes to any speaker cab?

No fucking way, I've met your drummer Alex, recording him in a studio for a college assignment. Really lovely guy and a great drummer!

Excellent video! And REALLY LOVE the montage jam! Great riffage!!!!

I bought Nux Mini Studio recently. Three banks of 8 slots for impulse responses (comes preloaded with IRs for guitar, bass and acoustic but you can load your own with the accompanied software if you like). Then again it doesn't have a balanced output, so you might need a proper DI box as well. But it's compact and fairly cheap, about 70€ new.

“Just bring your amp head the cabs are backlined” then if you show up and there’s no cabs you can run this in your effects loop. You don’t have to plug anything into the return jack so this can be your cab Edit: I was wrong. Do not listen to this idea.

Great way to Mount a pc screen :)

I am only here for the ASMR 👍

Awesome song! Reminds me of Motley Crue for some reason, Home Sweet Home I think?

Ive used an ancient Digitech RP 50 for this purpose for ages, picked it up for like 25€ used 12? 15? years ago. It sounds… not completely horrible; with some delay or light chorussing it‘s… bearable, I guess? Big advantage: One small box to do it all as a lifesaver, what‘s not to like, and it‘s cheap as dirt. Made the difference twice for me between „sorry, we have to stop playing“ and being able to finish the gig without even re-starting the song when my main rig did the fritz.

This was a really practical solution, thank you for sharing! I hope someone without the funds for a true live rig sees this and realizes they can still make due!

Just want yoiu to knoW I'm enjoying your channel more and more. You attract more flies with honey than vinegar, :)

Neat, but it's only really useful if you already got a bunch of pedals (or at least a drive or a preamp pedal of some kind). Multi Effect units that can load 3rd party IR seem to go for as cheap as around $150 these days, and IRs just destroy analogue speaker sims, plus you get all the relevant effects and amp sims too in one box.

Tech 21 Blonde.

Sonic cake rules!!

Beautiful Woman is a great song! Favorited on Spotify! Thank you for sharing! This video is pretty good, too....

Lol, I thought I heard your band name is "Wanker". Good stuff as always!

is it digital or analog

Seems like a pretty handy little pedal to keep in the bag for HX Stomp users who might need an XLR output for a gig.

I'm tempted to put something like this into my Katana mini practice amp. It could get you out of a lot of sticky situations. It has an emulated line out but a di socket would be better. Oh and the only thing I would add about playing DI is try your best to get a dedicated monitor. You'll never get the monitor mix to your liking otherwise.

Moore Radar is a much better option with many options.

Great vid.

Useful info KDH and a good fun video. But what about that lovely train? Surely that must be star of the show!

Tornado of souls solo

Does the ammoon American sound perform the same task but with eq and drive?

Always informative and cool videos! 🎼🎸😎👍

does the di need phantom power? I have preamp pedals that the di's do& some don't..

That was the first demo I've been able to discern the cab sim on especially on a tablet.Good one.

Mooer 005 brown sound 3 maaaan

I keep a Cuvave Cube Baby in my gear bag for emergencies. Saved my ass when my rig went down at my new band's first practice. I have my own IR's and presets on it that sound pretty decent straight into the PA. It has a usb-rechargeable battery, so I sometimes plug it into one of those small cheap bluetooth speakers for a lightweight, wireless rig alongside acoustic players at campfire jams.

I probably would have just taken that helix lmao

I could be wrong but don't you need at least a power amp sim between the other pedals and the di/ cab sim?

Your song sounded great. Best of luck with it.

Listened to your band's new song the other day, was really good.

What is your name? Kerry? Anymore shows booked?

I'm considering one of the amp in a box preamps with a cab sim and xlr outs. Many have excellent cab sims and excellent amp choices. Then add a couple pedals such as delay and wah and maybe a chorus and your good to go. FOH solution and no bad back from carrying huge cabs. 🤘♥️🤘♥️

The Digitech Hardwire CM-2 is awesome.

The Walker song sounded awesome👌

What kind of guitar is that 😳

7:33 really like this song you guys did. Great sound and mix is really good.

So the 'cab sim' is just a filter that cuts highs and mids - you can just do that in your DAW with any parametric EQ plugin which gives you way more control than a single preset.

All the best from Canada 🇨🇦!

This is a really good idea

Good job on this . 🎸

that single is awesome!

Omg I need this!!!

Band sounds tight. I’ll check-out your tracks later. ☮️

Pretty cool

I thought it was just me who had a hard time with the Wampler Pinnacle, especially given it's online acclaim. I sold it not too long after a handful of failed attempts to lessen that 'hard' clipping characteristic you mentioned in the vid.