Mar. 2018: High quality for a moderate budget: ENGL amps!


You may find these amps used for some 400 euros today. Engl Rockmaster 20 head is: all tube design, made for almost every rock sound from clean to "hard rock". Maybe it is not gainy enough for "heavy metal", but you can always put a "metal pedal" in front of it.

I love it for its natural, warm sound, dynamic response to my playing and plucking style.

Has everything I need in gigging and living-room conditions. FX-loop, built in reverb, power soak, silent recording mode etc.

Engl Gigmaster 15 W head:


Engl Gigmaster 15 has a few features less: no reverb, less power and it sounds a little muddier than the Rockmaster head. It is cheaper, you can find it on the used gear market for some 300 euro, today, March 2018.

Oct. 2017: Complete analogue rig for only 300 euro, new?

Ideal for living-room players because of the <1W input. The other input makes gigs in smaller clubs possible. Laney Cub 12r, all-tube combo, has everithing I need to play classic rock and blues. It takes pedals very well and has an FX loop too.

Jan. 2017: Very good real tube sound for only 250 euro (used) or 370 euro, new:

After weeks of searchin for a good tube amp, I found a used Bugera G5 all-tube, 2 channels amp, which is able to produce most classic rock tunes, that I love.

With a cabinet that includes a Vintage V30 speaker it is perfect for me.
See and hear some examples on my Vimeo channel. or on my Youtube channel.

Nov. 2016: Good guitar sound for almost no money spent? Part 3:

Cheap all-tube-amps don't sound perfect, but changing the speaker may be a significant improvement. Even pedals sound much better with my new "low budget rig" than with all digital or transistor rigs I had.

See my Youtube video with 3 sound examples here.

Okt. 2016: Good guitar sound for almost no money spent? Part 2:

Spent some time comparing cheap amp simulators and found 2 of them really tubey-sounding and able to work with real pedals. Until now, I could not find any software OD or disto pedal simulation that sounds satisfiyng to me. With real pedals these 2 amp-models work as replacement for some boutique amps or classic Fender or Marshall combos and rigs, the sound I love!

Number 1 is Studio Devil Amp Modeler Pro, which is almost complete to let it rock.

Number 2 is Kuassa Vermillion, which sounds really good on clean settings and smooths too much distortion from pedals.

August 2016: New version of "Flora, the Lily of the West" uploaded. See here.

July. 2016: New arrangements of "Ajde Jano" and "Ej, čija frula" uploaded. See here.

Oct. 2015: New arrangements of "Navali se Šar planina" and "Raslo mi je badem drvo (Hajduk Veljko)" uploaded. See here.

Good guitar sound for almost no money spent?

Okt. 2014: With 1 VST plugin I was able to get some fantastic guitar sounds I always wanted. Never found a good enough solution in the digital world until X50 by TSE appeared. With this I can reproduce some sounds I like by Steve Morse and John Petrucci, clean, crunchy or lead.

This track was recorded only with X50 and some digital reverb: Petrucci Lick (mp3) .

August 2014: "Puče Puška Iz Goru Zelenu", "Prošeta Djordje Kroz Lojze", "Idi Dojdi Asan Aga", "My Boonie" and new arrangements of "Jutro Rano", "Kad Cujem Tambure" and "Moj Milane" uploaded. See here.


Aug. 2013: With a good guitar and cheap hardware it is possible to get very good results. I used Sonar as VST-host, but it works with almost any DAW. The signal went to a Fame OD-10 (Biyang OD-7) overdrive pedal (mode 3, warm) and to a homemade Hi-Z-adapter, which was necessery to convert the guitar signal to the audio-interface of my computer. There is an EQ in the recording channel to reduce the high frequencies and for a little boost of midrange. Because Studiodevil sounds too direct, I have used additionally the Mercuriall cab-simulator and a little reverb. C-Tuner is also free, so this rig was really not expensive.

The result is really tubey-sounding, with punch, sustain and clarity: GP-VST-Santanish.mp3 .
First lick is neck pickup only, second is neck pickup plus OD-pedal. Third lick is bridge humbucker plus OD-pedal.

Aug. 2013: So far the best amp-simulator for computers, and it is free: "Studio Devil British Valve Custom"! Hear a short demo improvised by myself. Yeah, it is the old demo from 2012, but now I found this excellent speaker/mic simulation plugin: "Mercuriall Cab v. 3." (freeware) and remixed the clip with it. Hear, what a realistic sound, and those distorted, but clear chords... This is my new rig for almost no money spent!

May 2013: New video with VG-99 synth-sounds on Youtube: DP-synths for VG-99. See also "VG-99 patches" for librarian files: clean library, rock library, basses etc.

March. 2013: Greek instrument bouzuki now for VG-99 available. See VG-99 patches. "Scatterlings of Africa" guitar accompaniment excerpts in the tabs section.

Dec. 2012: "The Ten Penny Bit" in a new arrangement, with chords.

Nov. 2012: "Slavic music" added with new arrangements, as examples for a different way to create harmonies.

Sep. 2012: "Ijwanasibeki" (chords), "Lily Of The West" added and "Tarantella Napolitana" in a different, longer version available, as midi and notation.

Apr. 2012: "Santana-style" singing lead for the VG-99.

June 2011: Experimental stuff: programs for the Korg PS60 workstation. This is an uncompressed piano for recording etc. In the editor you have to be in program mode, then load and write this patch to any location you want: GP-UncompPiano.

Nov. 2010: Finally found some good settings with Marshall amp-sim in the VG-99 for Jimmy Hendrix tones. My test-recording in style of the album "Band of Gypsys: Geepsees.mp3.

June 2010: For more accuracy in the conversion of guitar-tones to midi I bought an Axon AX50, which works fantastic after the calibration.

Here a short piece to demonstrate the AX50: Dimensio-Dynamic1.mp3. .

Dec. 2009: Using the advanced limiters in the FX-MOD-section, you may put more life in the sound of VG-99. Here a patch with optimized bass and rhythm-guitar.

Oct. 2009: After many experiments, I made a realistic lead-guitar tone, in style of the famous band "Cream", for the VG-99. Hear a sample with drums and my emulated "stiff bass".

March 2009: Lead-synthie for 80es pop-music and a warm, tubey lead sound, a la "early Santana" - check out the mp3s! Also drums and basses playable with a VG-99, see "VG-99 samples" and patch-downloads.

January 2008: 7th set of patches for VG-88 updated. Kind of "Best of GPs". Hear some "dual-path-sounds" - yes, the 88 can process 2 guitar sounds in the same time, tough not as flexible as the VG-99...