How good is Gearbox @ reproducing specific models?

[StrokerAce]

i know its not the same but with it i notice pretty significant differences from one model to another.
i am trying to fight off the GAS for a Marshall tube amp but there are 4 les pauls in this house and i feel like they hate me for not having acquired one thus far.

so.. what i think is good for me is a single 12" 18 - 40 or no more than 50 watt combo with good tone and preferably 2 foot-switchable channels. i would ultimately like something with enough gain to pull off some '80s metal-like stuff without the need for a pedal. and a modeling amp is out of the question. i am trying to get rid of a Line6 Spider right now.
enter the JCM800. ive been wearing this one out. its definitely the amp i would have wanted when i was a kid as it sounds like the one randy rhoads used. so that model is tattooed on my brain.
but my demands get more specific and probably impossible....
after using gearbox for quite a while i have come to really like the vintage sounds it produces with its equivalent of the 1974x hand-wired 18w.. and of course there is the plexi too.

now with all the amps i use i almost always use a compressor with them so i probably wouldnt be opposed to buying one of those but i dont want to get back into the pedal fest of days gone by when i spent all of my paper route money on them, batteries, patch cables etc.

i have a feeling i am going to need 2 amps to get what im after unless someone can educate me.....? please? :)

[hubberjub]

I use it for recording demos. It works pretty well. You can't go wrong for $99.

[sunvalleylaw]

I have it as it came with my Toneport. I have not played most of the amphs it models, but I like the ones I have tried. I can run them back through my C-30 and that sounds good too. My favorite last time I was using the toneport was the 58 or 59 (i forget which) Bassman model. Mind you this is just a home wanker talking. When I have recorded for myself, I tend to mic my amph so I can learn more about the sounds I would likely use live.

[StrokerAce]

thanks for the input.
ive been using it for about a year now with the UX2 and i dont even turn my real amp on anymore.
i have a 505w surround system for my pc and i love it. throw in all the learning tools, video lessons etc, i really dont even see a need for an amp until i have the stones to go and jam with some really good players who practice regularly at a friends house.

i guess what i was asking is can i safely assume that what im hearing with the gearbox for the most part what i would be hearing if i went to a store and plugged in?
if thats the case then i pretty much have it narrowed down to 3 or 4 Marshall's, but i really dont know enough about their product line to say for sure.

[sunvalleylaw]

I can tell you that through my Peavey Classic C-30 on the clean channel it sounds great, and pretty much what I heard through some decent, but not great Yamaha computer monitors. The sounds may be warmed up just a touch, as you would expect going through the C-30 tube amp, but mostly the same. This is plugged in through the input and not the effects loop. I plugged in though the effects loop and did not notice a big difference, as I recall.

[StrokerAce]

I can tell you that through my Peavey Classic C-30 on the clean channel it sounds great, and pretty much what I heard through some decent, but not great Yamaha computer monitors. The sounds may be warmed up just a touch, as you would expect going through the C-30 tube amp, but mostly the same. This is plugged in through the input and not the effects loop. I plugged in though the effects loop and did not notice a big difference, as I recall.

im not sure i understand. do you mean you are running gearbox thru your amp?

[sunvalleylaw]

Oh, I get it. I misunderstood your question. Yes, I do run the gearbox output back through my amp, and it sounds good. If I now correctly understand, you were wondering if the Gearbox sounds faithfully reproduce what you would hear if you plugged in to the actual amp. I guess all I can really answer is that I am getting good sounds, not that they are faithful reproductions.

[StrokerAce]

ahh ok. yea there are a few models that i have absolutely fallen in love with via gearbox thru my pc. gearbox is kinda like an dyno for me at this time. i understand a computer processor cannot replicate to the t a vintage tube amp, but i was looking for hopefully someone who has used a particular model on gearbox and in "real life".:)
so are you at all impressed with it.... you must like it a little if you use it at all?

[sunvalleylaw]

I like it a lot actually. Like I said, I was really stuck on that Bassman sound for a while. I have not used it in a while, other than as an interface to record my mic'd amp, as I was getting into what my pedals could do, but I actually really like messing with the amp models and effects, and think you can get some really good sounds. I would like to get some good monitors like you have at some point and go at it that way too. I would likely record more directly at least some of the time if I did that.

[StrokerAce]

yea the '58 bassman. i have that saved both clean and dirty. this is a dangerous tool they have sold me. i can see a lot of money being spent on vintage amps over here because of it.
thanks again for the input.