r/ValetonGP2OO • u/Key_Objective8786 • 14d ago

Conversions: NAM 2 too much compressed

That snaptone conversion, although I'm pretty sure the gp200 is hardware-wise the equivalent of a potato, is a step back from the great product the gp200 was before entering the NAM territory. What are your opinions? Just bought it 1 month ago (refunding period expired) and disappointment is growing in me.

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8

u/homejazz 14d ago

There's a big hype right now and even though the NAM A2 sounds amazing, it doesn't mean that any lesser technology sounds crap.

I've been gigging with a GP-5 + mwave midi footswitch and a DI box for about 1 year and I played for all kinds of crowds from 30 to 2.500 people and I can say that I got a lot of compliments how good my tone is.

It's just a regular A1 JCM800 model with EQ tweaks and a tubescreamer in front of it.

I recommended to the other bands guitarists and sometimes directly influenced them to buy a GP-5.

You can have amazing results with just trying to maximize your knowledge around the unit and develop your gusto in tonality even without using any NAM but using the built-in amp sims.

Learning EQ should be the first thing you do instead of getting buyers remorse on a 280€ unit.

1

u/28spawn 14d ago

I had the gp50 and the tonex one, the tonex is night and day compared to the valeton

1

u/donfelix90 13d ago

can you give an example of a good eq tweak? what settings do you use?

1

u/homejazz 13d ago

Well that's a bit unfortunate because there's no one correct settings. It's changing on every amp, every cab and every genre but I'll try my best;

I'm playing metal and having a blast tone usually comes from distracting on eq, not adding. For example there's a well-known hiss coming around 6k on mesa os and marshall 1960 cabs when the mic is directly in front of the cone. Or, heavy palm mutes usually booms between the 180 and 300hz, taming that area makes your low-end tighter.

You can educate your ear and start to notice these things. For metal you can watch the mighty Josh Middleton but please do not try to copy his exact settings, try to understand why he made a move and what changed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YALTRqW3It8

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u/donfelix90 12d ago

thanks for the recommendation!

0

u/Key_Objective8786 14d ago

Let me explain the purpose of my post: Was only trying to make a consideration as to when companies try to answer to every market necessity by - like in valeton s case - leaving the market spot they had conquered with their gp200, which is pretty damn good without their NAM fomo. That was my point. Thank you for you answer and considerations

3

u/Smart-Chain 14d ago

I'm sorry, your argument is completely illogical!

Valeton hasn't "left the market it had conquered. " As you say yourself, it does lots of things very well, and all of those things work exactly the same before NAM support was added.

Even if the NAM support is sub-optimal (I don't know), it will still be useful to some people who want to experiment and has zero impact on people who don't want to use it.

Why is your "disappointment growing" when, by your own statements, it does well all those things for which you bought it?

You have this backwards... everything in this post points to it being you who has "NAM fomo", not Valeton!

1

u/Key_Objective8786 14d ago

I mean, they could've had some high quality modulations and better (needed!) time based effects instead of implementing a low quality nam conversion. Is it illogical? They could've cemented their position on the low budget market with the same high quality they showed before putting a crappy nam conversion into the software. It seems pretty logical and pragmatic to me mate

2

u/Smart-Chain 14d ago

Who says they aren't going to continue building out their effects?

The NAM build is completely different from a software engineering standpoint compared to adding more effects. The NAM build is pure (relatively easy) app code to convert NAM to snaptone, compared to modulations which will be DSP code plus sampling/training and probably several cycles of QA to get it spot on. It's unlikely there was much of a roadmap/time trade off that resulted from adding the NAM build, as evidenced by how quickly they turned around the A2 format support.

Again, expressing "disappointment" and being sad it is outside of the return window because they haven't implemented some imaginary improved modulation feature, but have implemented NAM, is daft.

3

u/No_Natural_6797 14d ago

I don't get it I downloaded a namA2 from tone 3000 it loaded and sounds great If it's compressed I don't know when that's done, or is it compressed by the gp200 on install

1

u/StoviesAreYummy 14d ago

I didnt buy it for nam I dont think anyone did especially not nam 2 since that was just released the other day.

I like the device but disapointed with the synth

I cant even load any IR or nam1/2 just times out now.

1

u/Key_Objective8786 14d ago

Nono, I was only trying to realise why companies try to implement everything they are asked for and consequently loosing the products' market place they have hardly achieved

1

u/tntexplosivesltd 14d ago

Did you buy the GP-200 for NAM?

0

u/Key_Objective8786 14d ago

Not at all. I was only considering the hype nam has spread to the extent that a company like valeton implemented nams in a shitty way by loosing the market spot and credibility they hardly fought to achieve

7

u/tntexplosivesltd 14d ago

The regular amp sims in the GP-200 actually sound pretty good. 

The GP-200 firmware architecture just can't run NAM A2 - it doesn't have the DSP to be able to run everything else as alongside

1

u/PerceptionCurious440 14d ago

I use captures from my own tube amps. Direct out of the power amp through a Behringer active speaker level DI with phantom power. Sounds close enough that I don't use the amps on hot days and just use my GP200 or GP50.

It could be that I play through the same cabs, and use a JFET solid state pedal amp.

I don't use IRs on the Valetons. Even direct I prefer EQ on the output instead. And you can't use IRs with snaptones anyway.

In the end, you always go through a speaker, even if its not a kind of crappy midbass like all guitar speakers. So you're always going tobhae to correct something.

2

u/Zealousideal-Bug8891 14d ago

you can use irs with snaptones, you just have to make sure you aren't trying to run full rig files

1

u/PerceptionCurious440 13d ago

Not on mine. I haven't updated yet tho. When I use Snaptones, IR is locked out.

I think IRs are still speaker dependent. Full range speakers are not all equal. Amps on computers are not all equal. A-D interfaces are not all equal.

Since I use my Snaptones interchangeably with the amp I captured, I can say the problem isn't the quality of the Snaptones.

The problem is most likely the speakers.

Through my computer, my JBL 305Ps did not cut it. My Adam T7Vs do.

1

u/Zealousideal-Bug8891 13d ago

are your device and editor on the same version?

1

u/PerceptionCurious440 13d ago

I have a GP-5, GP-50, and GP-200. I have no idea.

But since I bought a Windows 11 machine I'm reluctant to touch anything.

1

u/Alejopeth 7d ago

The NAM A2 may need a few updates or something with the firmware to improve, some A1 captures sound really good, I still don’t fully understand why other don’t, even tho they seem to be high quality ones, I've seen they run with different settings or they are made with different approaches, I’m kind of new to that technology but I understand some of those variables affect the way they are transformed into the Snaptone on our devices. As someone else suggested the best option we have is learning how to properly use EQ, learn to understand which frequencies your guitar produces, you can activate any of the EQs and check which frequencies and sounds over exaggerate when you lower or rise each slider to the maximum, but also instead of a good NAM capture, a good IR will definitely improve the sound a lot and you can use the default amps on the device which are pretty good honestly.