Taking a new approach to amps and modeling

[jzucker]

TBH, that's the main thing keeping me away from something like the OP, or Fractal. That level of tweakability tends to be a rabbit hole for me, so I stick with simpler, more limited stuff.

John

i've never understood that. You can tweak it as much or as little as you want. The out of the box amps sound great. No need to tweak it any more than you need to get in and solder new components and values in a fender amp. UNLESS YOU WANT TO. Choose to make music or get good at tweaking or some equilibrium in between.

[viccortes285]

These days many type guitarist then years ago.


Today we Computer Guitarist, that can create many sounds.
You have Purists that just plug into your mouth and play.
Country, Metal Classical guitarist. We have hobbyist and song writer.
So as many genes of music we have, there will be a Amp to satisfy everyone's needs.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[maggles55]

These days many type guitarist then years ago.

You have Purists that just plug into your mouth and play.

Yes, this is what I do....but I keep burning my tongue on the tubes.

[wzpgsr]

i've never understood that. You can tweak it as much or as little as you want. The out of the box amps sound great. No need to tweak it any more than you need to get in and solder new components and values in a fender amp. UNLESS YOU WANT TO. Choose to make music or get good at tweaking or some equilibrium in between.

Some of us can't help ourselves! Seriously, the more we talk about this the more tempted I am to dump my tube amps.

[Alter]

There is also the very simple approach of analog amp modelling, like the Tech 21 pedals. Cheap, simple, compact, reliable, good sounding, no negatives really. Great tools..

[jzucker]

There is also the very simple approach of analog amp modelling, like the Tech 21 pedals. Cheap, simple, compact, reliable, good sounding, no negatives really. Great tools..

they sound ok, nothing like the breathing dynamics of the tube preamp, tube rectifier, transformer, speaker modeling and impulse response of a true modeling amp

[h1pst3r88]

I use everything and love it all. The big thing I've taken away is that incredible tone is available from so many of the options that we guitarists/musicians have at our disposal today. Tube amps from boutique builders have never sounded better, modelers are offering possibilities we dreamt of just 5-10 years ago, and studio gear continues to increase in capabilities while dropping in price -- everything is available to us. Does it make music, no; we make music but there's no reason to judge or persist with an anachronistic perspective about what it should be or what this or that is or isn't, it's all just awesome. My kit, detailed below, is an invitation to creativity everyday... I couldn't be happier to be making music with the options available to all of us:

Analog gear:

• Samamp boutique Fender BF AB163 circuit tube amp with 1x15 -- just splendid tube goodness.
• Thunderbird Amps boutique '65 Twin Reverb pre-amp (a Twin pre and Reverb tank in one box) -- lovely tube reverb and Twin tone without the weight or volume.
• Quilter 101 mini head - Excellent SS performance in a tiny head with an FX loop (for my modeler to hook into the power stage for clean power amping)
• Vintage JBL D123 1x12 in pine cab

Modeled / Digital Performance Gear

• HeadRush Pedalboard - Absolutely fantastic modeler for amp tones, great palette of effects, great looper.
• Native Instruments Maschine Mk3 - Virtual instrument controller and amazing beat production device for loops

Modeled / Digital Studio Gear

• UAD Apollo Twin Interface with AKG BX plate reverb plugin (among others)
• JBL LSR4328P 8" active studio monitors
• MacBook Pro running Logic X, Maschine 2, Audacity, Ableton

[John A.]

i've never understood that. You can tweak it as much or as little as you want. The out of the box amps sound great. No need to tweak it any more than you need to get in and solder new components and values in a fendBb6er amp. UNLESS YOU WANT TO. Choose to make music or get good at tweaking or some equilibrium in between.

What can I say? I have poor impulse-response control.

John

[jzucker]

What can I say? I have poor impulse-response control.

John

do you keep a soldering iron and box of resistors and caps next to your practice amp?

[wzpgsr]

do you keep a soldering iron and box of resistors and caps next to your practice amp?

Don’t make me answer that question.

[John A.]

do you keep a soldering iron and box of resistors and caps next to your practice amp?

Actually modding amp is way beyond my skills and attention span, what with the poor impulse-response control.

John

[jzucker]

Don’t make me answer that question.

i used to ! I have a parts bin with over 1000 resistors and capacitors. Time to get rid of that now I think...

[John A.]

do you keep a soldering iron and box of resistors and caps next to your practice amp?

No, I keep those next to my bed, along with a can of pot lube, nudge nudge, wink wink.

John

[Herbie]

it's totally false that modeling amps *ONLY* copy old amps. First of all, there is a basic misunderstanding here of what a modeling amp is.

There are two different types of modeling amps:

1. Sampling based (i.e. atomic, kemper). These work by sampling existing amps. Not sure how you could sample a new amp if it doesn't already exist.
2. Circuit emulation amps - (i.e. fractal) - These work by emulating circuitry. Because of this, *ANYTHING* that can be represented with analog circuitry from synthesizers to SS amps to wah wahs to vintage fender to brand new mesas can be emulated. Additionally, fractal *DOES* have many original (new) amps that have *NEVER* been available in any form other than in their modeler.
   
   1. Additionally, with the fractal you can combine facets from many different amps and piece them together. For example, you can create a black face twin but give it a tube rectifier and then run it with EL84 tubes but running at 500v and into a single 15w vox alnico speaker. You can run the reverb before the amp, after the amp or after the cabinet. Is that an older amp or a newer amp?

Thanks for educating. My experiences are mainly from lower end – and best sold, I believe – modeling amps which all has those tweeds/blackfaces/marshalls/higain-amps but nothing new. Good to hear that it is not the whole story.

[muricanpsycho]

Hey guys! I need some help with choosing my very first amp. I'm 17, started learning to play almost 5 years ago and really enjoy it. I find garage and psychedelic sound suitable for me the most. I have a so-called "band" and we're all green, so please don't flame (:
I've googled quite a lot and found out VOX have really good feedback, esp. in this review 7 Best Modeling Amps (Mar. 2019) – Reviews & Buying Guide
And I'm actually considering to buy the top 1 amp from this list https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017KBLIPW/
(primarily because it has a quite cheap 40W model and we don't have much money yet)
So, did anyone have experience with it and what's your opinion? If not, what will be your personal suggestion under $250? Maybe there's even a reason for buying solid or tube amp? Also, is 40W enough for backyard gigs?
Thanks in advance!