My First Impressions of the iPad Guitar Rig

Hey all, in this video, I quickly go over my experience using an iPad with BIAS FX for live and rehearsals.
My band have recently played their first live show, and it went great. It was actually a heat of Metal to the Masses, which is a competition in the UK where the winner gets to play a metal festival called Bloodstock, and we won the heat! There were two other great bands there, and like I said, it was our first live performance (with a stand in vocalist too), so I was really surprised we won. We have 3 more heats to go, wish us luck :D
If you wanna check the band out, check out our first release: • BRING TO BEAR - The Sh... :)
Gear used:
iPad pro 2nd gen
Pedaltrain nano pedalboard
Xsonic Xtone interface
TC Electronic PolyTune tuner
Boss WL-50 wireless system
ESP LTD M1 Custom 1987
My instagram: / bedroom_guitar_hero
My band: / @bringtobearband
#metalguitar #guitargear #metalband

[@matheusexpert8666]

Love your videos man, cheers from Brazil! :D

[@MobileMusicPro]

Great video! We certainly love the iPad over here :)

[@MusicalKinetics]

Great video. You don’t need that ‘um’ and “you know” counter. Keep on going, you are doing great. I’m thinking of trying this out with a saxophone. This video is really helpful.

[@BedroomGuitarHero]

Thanks! Really appreciate the kind words :)

[@tomnowlin7396]

Great video! I use Overloud by THU and an FCB1010 with my ipad and love it!

[@BedroomGuitarHero]

I will have to check it out! Thanks for the recommendation :)

[@MarcCoteMusic]

I ran Jamup (by Positive Grid) from an iPod Touch for my live sound for over 3 years (I still use it in the studio). The iPod was in a rack along with the interface. So was the KMI Softstep I used to control the rig. When I went to a digital mixer (XR18) for the show I just put all that stuff into a somewhat larger rack. It worked very well and sounded great but eventually I went to a Boss GT-1 and a Mooer GE200 (I alternate as the mood strikes me). They sound as good and are more convenient for the reasons outlined in this video.

[@BedroomGuitarHero]

That is very interesting, how do you find the Boss compares to the Mooer?

[@MarcCoteMusic]

@@BedroomGuitarHero - Well, they do sound different but I like them both. There's no real reason to pick one over the other since they function pretty much the same. That said, every now and again I'll swap one out for the other just for variety. One of the tricks I use on most of my presets - and it works for both units - is to use the expression pedal to not only increase volume but also to increase gain. As a rule, I prefer more gain as well as volume for solos... this trick accomplishes both at once. The lowest exp pedal setting is my rhythm volume, the highest setting is my solo volume - unlike most people who go from 0% volume to 100% on the pedal.

[@anthonysthellhammerg4388]

Hey man just found your channel just subbed good shit ,keeping metal alive

[@BedroomGuitarHero]

Thanks man, appreciated \m/

[@AlexJonesAuraural]

Not sure if it’s a new feature or not as I’m only new to bias fix but there’s now a way to access the tuner via a midi command. Settings>midi settings >global midi control assignments

[@BedroomGuitarHero]

Awesome, not sure if its new, or just something I missed, thanks so much for the info! :)

[@johnfredrickson7215]

That works to bring up the tuner but it doesn’t work to close the tuner down when done. I just use a small clip on tuner.

[@3XATHAT]

Uhh/Uhm Very Informative and Quietly Amusing !!! I Appreciate the Detailed Explanation of this 21st Century Rig... I Dig the PG Tones and Software Also... Thank You Cheers AAA

[@Brainwave000]

To anyone who already owns an Ipad this is a no-brainer for the practice room. I know its what i'll be using from now on. As for live, I'm not sure i'd trust it yet, I'd need to see it run flawlessly in practice on many occasions with my rig before I trust it, Great back up option though. Good, clear video, subbed.

[@BedroomGuitarHero]

Indeed, even if not your main rig, its a great backup option that takes almost no space. Thanks for the sub! :)

[@MarcCoteMusic]

I ran my rig with an iPod Touch and an iRig for years without issue at all my gigs, from the very small to the very large venues.

[@JoeBoomerMusic]

Hahaha. I love the counters

[@RafaRGCL]

One more sub bro ✌🏼👏🏼🔥 keep going

[@lowbloom]

Bro. Keep up the good work! I want to make content like this!

[@BedroomGuitarHero]

Thank you so much for the kind words, that really means a lot :) Also go for it, its a lot of work but a lot of fun too :)

[@toneconsultant]

If I don’t want to run thru a cab simulator and a PA, but instead want to run my sound out of a real speaker cab, how do I do that? Would I go out of the interface into a power amp and then int cabs?

[@BedroomGuitarHero]

Yeah, all you gotta do is disable the cab section in BIAS or whatever sim you're using, and plug into FX return of your amp, or the front of a dedicated power amp :)

[@vio4jesus]

NIce vid.... extra credit for the 'uhh/uhm' and 'You know' counter. It seems you're using an Xtone. I have an Xtone pro, and it's frustrating - the foot switches ONLY send a MIDI message on release, not on press. I do looping and it's just sad they (XSonic) would make it this way. QUESTION: How long is your typical gig (Six songs)? DId you see the battery on the iPad running down? Sometimes I play for 3 hours..... I'm nervous that my iPad will drain. Thanks for the video.

[@BedroomGuitarHero]

Hey, thanks for the kind feedback. I dont personally use a looper, and dont experience the activation on press rather than release issue, but one thing that isnt great is that the lights that show activation of the switches arent always reliable, so I have to have view of my iPad to make sure Im on the right state (for example boost is off or on) - you cant always tell with venue acoustics. As for the battery, yeah we only play 6 songs currently, but we do 3 hour practices, our of which we realistically play no more than 2h30, and the battery does get below 50%, but I think it would easily go 3 hours. For extra reassurance, you could always get a hub that would allow you to power it as well as connect the interface. I use the QGeeM USB C Hub, 8-in-1. Hope that helps :)

[@TreePhoto]

I’ve seen similar setup but with a positive grid Riff attached as well. Do you know the benefits of using the Riff as well

[@BedroomGuitarHero]

I actually didn't know about this Riff interface, it looks pretty nice, but the one thing I need the Xtone for specifically is the footswitches for live performance, I don't think the Riff interface can do that, though the product page does mention that it can control BIAS, so I dunno really, sorry :)

[@MicroChipMonk]

Was sound quality an issue?... what was the output sample rate?.. Thanks

[@BedroomGuitarHero]

Absolutely not, in small venues you could play sims from the 90s and noone would be able to tell. This setup has very decent sound to my ear, I would not use it on studio recordings, but everything else should be fine. The Xtone has a sample rate of 192khz, and I think I saw a video somewhere about sample rate not actually affecting audio quality past the magic 44k/48k numbers.

[@pskemster]

Remembering all of these little things,,,sounds daunting. Does Bluetooth enter into the mix at any level? Cheers!

[@BedroomGuitarHero]

You could use a bluetooth midi footswitch to control your presets, but I am happy with the footswitches built into the XSonic interface.

[@arkavagoswami3068]

I used iphn 7 n xtone n a zoom expression pedal for gigs from last 3 yrs.bias fx was really good..bias fx2 is somehow unreliable to me as the sound changes a lot eventhough saving(not had this prob with bias fx) but finally i ended up using thu rigplayer as i can load IRs too..for metal chugs thu is great but for ambient clean tones nothing beats bias fx.

[@BedroomGuitarHero]

What's a rigplayer? :)

[@arkavagoswami3068]

@@BedroomGuitarHero thats quite like a capture of real amp in various way creating rigs that u can use through ios device..overloud thu rigplayer..search it in utube...u'd love it more than anything..the ammps capture are ver accurate..like a mini kemper version u can say..if u try plz try to compare with qc once.

[@BedroomGuitarHero]

That sounds like it would make for a nice comparison video, thankd for letting me know 😁

[@Robert_Charles]

Would a PodGo be a better alternative?

[@BedroomGuitarHero]

I would personally prefer any specialised unit, just because there are less bits to forget, connect and fail

[@daveevans1343]

The same interface and ipad produced an unacceptable amount of latency between finger picking on an acoustic guitar and what came out of the pa. This doesn't happen with e.g. A pod go.. I sent the interface back.

[@BedroomGuitarHero]

Interesting, I wonder why that is. I dont have any latency issues outside of screen recording while playing on the ipad :)

[@DVRKSHVYVN]

100 subs? 100k subs soon!

[@BedroomGuitarHero]

112 duuuude :D

[@BedroomGuitarHero]

Yeah 100m soon

[@DVRKSHVYVN]

@@BedroomGuitarHero how can there be 100m subs when there's only 7 million shen's in the world?

[@BedroomGuitarHero]

@@DVRKSHVYVN sexual reproduction

[@Joenoblocks]

You missed a few counts 😂

[@AGB-vy2ci]

Dude, get rid of the tuner pedal and get a headstock tuner, problem solved..

[@BedroomGuitarHero]

Yeah, except its a bit unsightly and doesnt mute you, so it has downsides :)

[@AGB-vy2ci]

@@BedroomGuitarHero it uses the vibrations of the guitar, so it has nothing to do with 'plugging it in" .. just turn down the volume on the guitar and it still works.. and i have one that is only 1/2" high so you can't really see it...

[@BedroomGuitarHero]

Oh yeah I know, but I like the utility of being able to silence yourself is what I mean :p