" I think it's interesting how all of us have had perception changes over time with regards to the little black box. "
"I am really grateful to the FAS team for their continued pursuit of great tone".
While I am totally not following all the technical jargon Cliff has and the "why" behind a lot of the directions and new software performance experience, what I experience are 3 things.
1) More inspiration when writing
2) Easier to find recordable sounds that glue a mix and have plenty of 3d personality.
3) More tempting to explore.
When you are getting loads of amps in one box, you tend to be forgiving of stuff you have only dreamed about anyway. But I could swear that the stuff I hated and loved about the few tube amps I have had are, in the former, more avoidable, and in the latter, more and more and more accessible. My friend came into my studio and was, "like, everyone knows that you have to mic a guitar cabinet." When I first got into the Ultra, I was hoping to be out of that world. Yes, the sound was good and the fx were awesome. But it was like being clever and finding stuff, and isolating pretty exact settings to get what you needed. And placement in a mix was still somehow pretty difficult in some cases and with certain tones.
Now that's not true. Its harder and harder to not be tempted with a new sound, and to be faithful to the one you started with. You know, like those endless hard ons when you're fifteen.
Sorry. Someone's looking. Yes, I'm still working on the preset from yesterday. No, I didn't change it again, honest honey.
