Hi there,
@northern_fox,
Maybe I can give some insight, in reply to your last post?
I'll never understand the resistance to wanting new amps. There are still plenty that aren't represented...
Hmm. Maybe there are some who
resist new amps outright. But I'm not in that category. I suspect most of us who think Cliff can afford to
deprioritize adding new amps
aren't saying, "No, none, no more, never!"
It's more like: "How many people are clamoring for a Digitech FreqOut in the Axe III, vs. how many people are clamoring for a 20-watt B.C. Rich Devastator?" The former would seem to be a higher
priority than the latter; so, if I discover the B.C. Rich showing up in a firmware when the FreqOut
still hasn't yet, I'm going to think maybe time and effort could have been better-spent.
So that's the
first hurdle an amp has to get over, before I find myself saying, "Wow, glad Cliff & Co. spent time giving us that!"
There's also a
second hurdle it has to get over, before my enthusiasm brims-over in anticipation of a new amp. That hurdle is: "Is this new one
unique enough that its sound (when fed through Cab XYZ, or when certain params are tweaked) even
distinguishable from the sound of an existing amp (when it is fed through a slightly-different cab, perhaps, or when its params are tweaked in a slightly different way)?"
That last item may be hard-to-follow, so please read it carefully. The point is that unless they are amps which provide very unique tones, we may be approaching a point where 5 new amps amounts to little more than 5 new ways to make sounds you could already make. That's okay...IF you don't already know how to make them with the existing amps. But if you
do, then you wonder if the time spent on the new amps couldn't have been
better used.
Why NOT add more recently designed amps/pedals?
Oh, wait a sec, there. If you're adding
pedals to the mix, you're changing the conversation!
My only objections to new amps traditionally have been because I'd rather have had a new other effect (i.e., a pedal). That means I wouldn't ever be heard objecting to
both new amps
and new pedals. I don't know of
anyone who says that!
That "the audience won't know anyways" is a poor excuse - the audience won't know if I'm playing a POD for that matter.
Yeah, I agree. If someone says that, I would dispute it. I haven't ever objected on that basis. A happy player matters.
Example: it takes 3 parallel paths to do what the X7 pedal, one of the most popular modern bass pedals does. Add phase discrepancy in there and it's often frustratingly difficult to accomplish the same thing as the pedal. While it is possible to get a similar effect, it's not the same by any means and also requires a bunch of blocks and routing to accomplish.
Okay, now you and I are vociferously agreeing with one another.
It's precisely
that kind of missing pedal that makes me wonder, "How many of the new amps from the last few updates would I have given up, to get the pedals we've Wish-Listed for a year or more?"
Now, let me stipulate:
- We're spoiled, and shouldn't complain, and Fractal's awesome: I'm grateful for all the updates we get.
- If we had both the pedals and the amps, I wouldn't begrudge anyone the extra amps, even if I think they're possibly redundant in sound sometimes.
So it's just matter of priority, for me.
Best to you,
-- Dr. D
. In the meantime we could be exploring the 303 existing amps. Wait! me too! What am I doing? 