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So How good is amp modeling these days?


radomu

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It's good enough that until my final track, I just model rather than record, and then lot of times, I don't even bother replacing the scratch tracks because modeling sounds great, and nobody comments on the amps sounding fake.

 

It might not have the "vibe" of the real thing but by the time you mic a vintage cab with a mic, things sound different at the recording console than in the room anyway (especially when you use a relatively inaccurate mic like a 57), and in the mix, modeling works great.

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i think its going to depend on who is playing them.

if you understand you will have to tweak the stuff and really get into it and not rely on the canned presets.. you can get very usable tones from say Guitar Rig or Amplitube 3 or any number of other things on the market.. if you just click the button and let some marketing deal dictate your tones.. with the canned presets... its pretty stale stuff..

you have to learn the gear..

 

mho.

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No one has ever been able to reliably and consistently tell the difference between a recording of a modeled amp and a real one. It's been this way ever since POD 1.0.

 

Feel is a bit of a different issue, but sound? NO ONE can tell the difference. Demonstrably. There have been countless double blind tests in music gear forums like this one challenging people to pick the modeler over the real amp, and again, no one can consistently get it right.

 

People who think they have golden ears that can hyper scrutinize guitar tone are laughed at by actual audio engineers, the people that trade in truly understanding sound.

 

I think modeling has always been quite capable since the first POD was released. These days it's exploded with new features and more detailed models, but the core tones have always been solid.

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No one has ever been able to reliably and consistently tell the difference between a recording of a modeled amp and a real one. It's been this way ever since POD 1.0.


Feel is a bit of a different issue, but sound? NO ONE can tell the difference. Demonstrably. There have been countless double blind tests in music gear forums like this one challenging people to pick the modeler over the real amp, and again, no one can consistently get it right.


People who think they have golden ears that can hyper scrutinize guitar tone are laughed at by actual audio engineers, the people that trade in truly understanding sound.


I think modeling has always been quite capable since the first POD was released. These days it's exploded with new features and more detailed models, but the core tones have always been solid.

 

 

Amp modeling has improved, yes. And recorded audio is manipulated via digital means in any case so you are right on this point. I think it's two different things when you're there with it live and you're the one playing the guitar, though.

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IMO, the VOX stuff sounds great , esp after I read the manual on how the diff knobs act differently depending on the model. I used to sit there and crank everything around aimlessly and then bitch about the lousy modeling.

 

Best at Vox (naturally) and the Boutique Clean. The Fenders are meh.

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i have a POD 2.0 and logic express that has the amp creator.. the clean sounds in the amp creator are pretty decent, but the high gain sounds are awful.

 

I like the TECH 21 pedals, but I would have to buy a couple of them to get a range of tones...

 

are the mustangs really that good?

 

I could just get the smallest one for plugging direct into my recording interface?

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No one has ever been able to reliably and consistently tell the difference between a recording of a modeled amp and a real one. It's been this way ever since POD 1.0...

 

 

I'd say that's a BIG maybe. The only "test" that I know of is this:

http://emusician.com/tutorials/showdown-clubhouse-amp-software/

 

"The panelists were D. James Goodwin (Thursday, Parliament-Funkadelic, Motion Picture Demise), John Holbrook (B.B. King, the Brian Setzer Orchestra, the Isley Brothers, Fountains of Wayne), Pete Moshay (Hall and Oates, Daryl Hall, Paula Abdul, B.B. King, Barbra Streisand, Fishbone), Paul Orofino (John Petrucci, Blue Oyster Cult, Anthrax), and Tozzoli (Al Di Meola, the Marsalis Family, David Bowie)."

 

With clean sounds "in the Twin examples, the panelists picked the real amp 60 percent of the time."

 

My first exposure to modeling was in the late 90s when a friend showed me Amp Farm and a SansAmp Classic. In his words, it was not as good as the real thing, but convenient some times.

 

Although Line6 gave me my first exposure to modeling, I've never liked their sound. Perhaps it may be difficult to distinguish it from a real amp after additional processing is involved (i.e., applying eq., compression, ADT, IRs,Irs, etc.) I have POD Farm 2 and seldom use it.

 

For me the best sounds -and response- I've heard in modeling still come from the H&K zenTera, which has been surprising considering it is "old" by modeling standards. Vox also sounded great when it came to Marshall sounds. I use Guitar Rig, Amplitube, POD Farm, TH2, Waves GTR, and others, but if I wanted a better sound (and feel) I go with the zenTera.

 

The Kemper looks very promising. I would love that or an Axe-FX in pedalboard format.

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I use an RP1000 or a GSP1101 for a lot of recording, it's a lot simpler to dial in a great sound plug straight into the board, and lay tracks.

 

I do love mic'd cabs and tube heads but, the reality is that unless your engineer knows exactly what they are doing then getting a great sound on tape or disk is not as simple as it sounds.

 

Modeling has a place in the studio, now live I prefer the real deal.

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I'd say that's a BIG
maybe
. The only "test" that I know of is this:



With clean sounds
"in the Twin examples, the panelists picked the real amp 60 percent of the time."


 

 

Not to take a side on this, but from a mathematician's POV that's fairly close to a wash in a small sample like that, i.e. the outcome being a random chance. If there was a compelling difference between the real amps and the fakes, you would expect a group of experts to nail it much more often than that. But the sample is too small to be all that meaningful. A bigger sample might change the outcome, but my personal guess is that it really is a wash. I own modelers, and digital amps and tube amps and for sure they sound "different", but I'm not at all convinced there's a clear "best".

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Been using Line 6 stuff for the last 10 years.

I was basically the "John The Baptist" of Digital Modeling.

I loved it and swore by it. It's all I used for a solid 10 years.

2 months ago I became TOTALLY disenchanted with ALL the aspects of Modeling.

"Math-tones" that NEVER cut through, had no presence and "felt" sterile...

 

Last night I played a Reissue Blackface Fender Twin.

Conservatively THE BEST overall amp I've played in 20 years

No Line 6 model EVER felt this good, OR sounded this good.

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I'd say that's a BIG
maybe
. The only "test" that I know of is this:


 

 

Really not sure about this-->I think his method makes it easy to find the modellers

Not beeing a specialist but using the Axe-fx often my take would be

 

1.)Blindtest

 

We did my friends Mark IV vs the Axe using his amp speaker-life-->no recording no DI-->He has very good ears,protect his Mark up to the teeth and had a 10% success rate

 

2.)Clean

 

Biggest difference I feel is in cleans-->this is much harder to dial in on the Axe (or any of the other good ones) overdirice is done very good in modellers

 

But that is just my experience

 

Roland

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fender mustang amps are the single greatest piece of music equipment... ever

their sound is that of angels singing harmonies with sam cooke on lead vocals

and they're magical... recently a buddy of mine was changing strings... unfortunetely he wound the high E too far and it snapped with such force that it sliced right through his arm, severing it completely from the wrist down... he wasn't sure what to do so he sat for a minute scratching his head (big mistake) then decided to plug in for a bit... he strummed the guitar once and when the sweet sound waves coming from the mustang's speaker hit his torn flesh ..his arm and hand grew right back... only more perfect than before... he has now quit his job as a nuclear physicist to become a hand model.... wonderful amps

 

but seriously

 

i think like scuzzo said a lot of it comes down to tweaking... i've heard great recordings done with modelers... and lots of people use them live with excellent results

 

i'll always be a tube amp guy though

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