Black Plaid
Other Alan!
LOL, I totally missed your post.
An Awesome Modeler Would Be...
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Clashcityrocker
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People who hate modeling amps I think miss this crucial point for "most" people. For instance I don't have any Fender amps but I would like to have 3 or 4 if money was no object. I'd also like to have some Marshalls, some Prs amps a Highwatt a Vox AC30 and on and on. It's too expensive and I'd rather spend money on guitars than amps that in many ways have about 1 sound. A modeler will give you those amps with a good mic'd up sound. I'll still have my Vox AC15 for that sound of an amp in a room for when I feel like that.
sergiodeblanc
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I don’t think they miss that at all, instead I believe they’re coming from a place where the idea is having one great amp is preferable to having a hundred good facsimiles.
toothace
Zombie Thirteen, DFZ
Truth.
Yes.
The inescapable fact is that individuals are different from one another. And a lot of the reasons for our choices come down to priorities,
Certainly modelers are working for a great number of players. And that’s a fine thing. I wish they worked well for me. Being a perfectionist is a fairly expensive curse!
Clashcityrocker
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Still the point is I want more good amp sounds. The key word is good. How good are they? I haven't played Axe FX or Kemper but the feedback I'm getting is they are very good. I don't need hundreds of models but 10 to 15 that I would use would be great. Sure real amps sound better in a room but if you are using a mic to record them so you've got to have a good mic preamp, compressor etc. The good profiles are done in a good studio so they may actually sound better than what you would get at home. I don't play video games, buy the latest smartphone so I'm going to get on board with this latest technology. If I get tired of it I can always go back to amps.
Why not have both? I dig it.
sergiodeblanc
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Absolutely!
I use an Ampeg B15N Portaflex model by Universal Audio on most of my bass tracks. I tend to forget about that when I talk about disliking modelers, since my brain thinks ‘guitar amp’.
It sounds good and sits nicely in a mix; also takes EQ well. So I guess I have both.
dmatthews
Dave's not here
In a live band setting, whether you go through FOH with IEMs, use solely your own backline, or a combination of, the only person who notices you use a recent/decent modeler with a great patch/profile is you.
The sound guy will love your Kemper etc. because it's a known/solid/consistent entity, not a wonderfully new adventure in micing up yet another cabinet so you can kick the mic over whilst being a moron on stage (that would be me).
I absolutely LOVE my Custom 50 and H, but when Mark Knopfler uses a Kemper, I know it's good enough for me.
The sound guy will love your Kemper etc. because it's a known/solid/consistent entity, not a wonderfully new adventure in micing up yet another cabinet so you can kick the mic over whilst being a moron on stage (that would be me).
I absolutely LOVE my Custom 50 and H, but when Mark Knopfler uses a Kemper
, I know it's good enough for me.
sergiodeblanc
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Yeah but bass amps are boring AF. So it makes sense you’d want to skip buying a real one.
You’re right, but for years I had a Mesa Bass 400+, which was an incredible bass amp (McCartney tours with one). However, it got more use as something I ran synths through for recording to get a nice fat tone, than with actual bass guitars! It really added something to synths.
CandidPicker
Tone Matters. Use It Well.
Serg,
Off the top of your head, do you recall one awesome amp that did the job correctly for you? Or was it a matter of fulfilling a need that couldn't be satisfied?
sergiodeblanc
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That’s like, one of the few bass amps worthy of drooling over (even with the McCartney connection). I had really thought of buying one in the 90’s when I was making money as a touring bass player, but got the SWR SM400(?) instead.
Man, could you imagine playing some Gap Band Minimoog bass lines through that?!?! You could probably kill squirrels with it.
sergiodeblanc
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A bass amp you mean?
CandidPicker
Tone Matters. Use It Well.
No, not necessarily. One amp that checked all the boxes for you.
sergiodeblanc
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No, not really. There are plenty of amps that did a thing quite excellently, but not one that did everything. That’s probably why I held on to my rack gear for twenty years.
I absolutely LOVE my Custom 50 and H, but when Mark Knopfler uses a Kemper
Yeah, but what does he know?
For a tour, the cartage cost of shlepping a bunch of amps in road cases is just nuts - heavy five figures for most bands - and it’s no wonder he uses a Kemper live. I would, too. It also probably makes switching to the different amp tones much easier on the techs.
He did record the new album with his various tube amps, however; as I understand it, they were profiled at his settings for each amp/song.
I’ve heard some clips of the tour in Italy, and the guitar sounds are good.
