As I said in an earlier post or two, modelers do best at heavy tones for various reasons I won’t repeat.
If the artist is happy and inspired, the performance will be good, and the audience will be happy. That’s all that matters, not whether they use tubes or digital.
I’m happiest listening to a very dynamic clean-to-crunch performance, and worse, I can hear the things modelers do and don’t do as a result of mixing hundreds and hundreds of broadcast tracks. I’m far too opinionated to be of much use in the discussion of the whole topic.
So I’ll surrender on that score.
One thing that’s become a big topic among bands on long tours is that the freight cost of dragging a real amp rig around has become a major expense and in some cases can be the difference between profitability and loss.
Depending on the tour and the artist’s rig, bands can add $50,000-100,000 in roadie, freight and cartage cost savings to their bottom line by switching to modelers. For some bands that are huge enough, that doesn’t matter, it’s a drop in the bucket. For other bands, where the bottom line is far less from a tour, it matters a great deal.
If I went on a tour and found out I didn’t make any money because it cost too much to drag the gear around, I’d be pretty bummed.
I also wasn't criticising but just trying to show that Digital - whether that's for their entire rig (apart from the guitar), just used to replace amps or the bulk of their FX - I know Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and John Petrucci as well as numerous others that also have clean to crunch type sound - not just 'heavy' use Axe-FX, Helix or Kemper on their set-up. The only point I was making is that the Digital aspect is 'good enough' to take out on the road and leave their audiences with no complaints about the sound - they are also using them in the studio too.
Whether they are better than 'real' valve amps or not can be like saying is the SE line 'good enough' compared to the core line PRS guitars. Both you and I may well agree that the quality of the Pick-ups and overall quality does show through in the sound when A/B'd against each other but some may feel that for their budget, an SE does the job and doesn't sound so far off with pedals and distortion.
Its not like it was when I started playing. Multi-FX and especially the 'digital' multi-FX were not good enough for professional touring musicians. They were often the 'beginners' first experience of using FX before moving up to real pedals. It was the same with Solid State amps and even the Valvestate Marshalls were seen as a stepping stone. I remember quite a few people having discussions about these - the Valve guys arguing it wasn't all 'real' valves and others saying its close enough.
In the late 80's, early 90's, if you turned up to audition with a kidney bean, you would get laughed at. Nowadays, its acceptable to use these for whatever reason - whether its for your entire rig because its so cheap (relatively), easy to take on tour and take your sound with you, just for home use because your valve amps are too loud, easy to plug in and use for making your youtube videos, just used for FX on your pedal board and easy to swap patches without having to tap dance, etc etc.
Its a usable tool for musicians. Whether its the 'best', better than a real valve amp and a big pedal board of FX, just 'best' to transport all over the world, just best to plug straight into your PC for doing youtube or just best bang for your buck to have an entire rig in one box and cheaper than buying just a Mesa Boogie head - can be cheaper than some individual pedals. Point is that they are now a viable tool for a 'serious' musician, inc those that wouldn't think twice at dropping $50k+ on some vintage instrument so money isn't an issue. Its the fact that these are viable now and can be for nothing more than messing about with in search of creative inspiration to replacing everything but the guitar.
I still think your opinion matters even if you have a vast wealth of experience and can hear the differences - whether they are 'clear' to everyone or much more subtle that very few may hear. Its still valuable - assuming you have the latest modellers or at least have access to hearing both digital and traditional amps. Your experience is valuable as you can point out where the differences actually are and then others can try to listen out for those. It will give people the information to make a more informed decision on whether the Digital option(s) is good enough for their needs/budget etc or not. I can't see Joe Bonamassa wanting to use modern digital options myself but that suits him and the gear he owns but there are numerous professional musicians that feel they are good enough for what ever purpose they intend to use this tool.
