Any advice on whether to go with BR80 or BR800 ?

[jegtar]

Also the 800 can be used as a TRUE audio interface.  What I mean is you can plug it in to your computer and use Amplitube, Freeamp or any software amp suite and record to your DAW if desired.
The 80 can't mix out it's own signal and you are forced to monitor your dry sound and the software amp sim and sounds terrible.  The recordings sound good but it's too distracting to monitor.

I recently ebay'd my 80 and got and 800 because of this and the 80's inability to do dry tracks.


If not for these things I would go back to the 80 in heartbeat.  Dead simple and I spent way less time in it's manual than I do in the 800.

Also the 800 has Toneload.  For drums it gives you the sound quality of loops with the simplicity of a drum machine/midi.

[wyvernwood]

Guys,

just wanted to add an addendum to this post to say thank you again for the advice. I bought the BR800 a few weeks ago now and I am really pleased with it. It does everything that I wanted it to be able to do - what's more, it is very intuitive to use, I have hardly needed to delve into the manual.

I don't have anything to post song wise yet as I need to improve my playing a bit first. The BR800 is really helping me in this regard. Firstly - just the ability to hear what I have played back (my rhythm still needs a bit of attention) really highlights shortcomings. The speed and ease of selecting a rhythm, recording chord sequence, then layering bass and guitar fills the card with songs in no time.

My one criticism of the BR800 so far is the quality of the Bass simulator - OK it gets the job done, but the sound is a bit stuttery regardless of which one is selected. I guess nothing beats actually connecting a Bass guitar.

When I feel a bit more comfortable with my playing, I'll post some songs.

Thanks again guys.
Martin

[banjaxed]

Hi Martin,
Your comments on the bass synth are similar to mine. If I remember ccorrectly you have to turn off the effects to get a reasonable sounding bass. Maybe someone will give you further guidance on this as I am fairly new to digital recording and cannot remember how to turn off the effects.

Maurice.

[wyvernwood]

Great - thanks, I'll give that a go. I think you just press 'Enter' once you have the guitar preset name highlighted - that brings up the 'chain' (not suire what the correct term is) that shows the amp, chorus, delay etc. where you can de-activate them. I'm at work, so I can't be too sure on that though.

It's not a huge issue for me, more a minor annoyance - and if that suggestion works it will knock that on the head.

Thanks
Martin

[Geir]

The bass-sim works best if you don't have a to "punchy" tone from your guitar. In my experience rolling down the treble and using the neck pickup (preferably a humbucker) gives best results.

[Neo]

It's not my intention to hijack the thread, but I'm seriously looking at changing the BR80 for the BR800, mainly because the 80 is a bit 'fiddly' to work with. Most options are buried in menu's and the button presses are made harder by having the silicon case fitted.

My question is, I've noticed on a photo that the USB connector looks like the square end type that you get for printers etc, not the flatter type for digital cameras, BR80's etc . . .

Is this right?

Cheers,

[Geir]

That's correct. Can't remember if one is included, but I prefer this anyway. Well I usually just remove the card to transfer songs to the computer anyway so it doesn't really matter for me.

[Neo]

Thanks Geir. I've now just taken the plunge and bought a 3 month old BR800.

Now to put the BR80 up on the 'bay. If I enjoy the 800 as much as I've loved using the 80, I will be a happy chappy.

[Geir]

Now to put the BR80 up on the 'bay.

really .... Sure you don't want to keep it? I've got both and I'd would be a hard choice if I had to get rid of one of them !

[Neo]

Now to put the BR80 up on the 'bay.

really .... Sure you don't want to keep it? I've got both and I'd would be a hard choice if I had to get rid of one of them !

Humm, good point actually. The main problem would be whether I could justify having two devices that do pretty much the same thing. The question I would have to ask myself is would I ever encounter a situation where the 80 would be more suitable than the 800 ?

I'll have to sleep on it.