He explained in the video how he set it up.I am curious if he used an actual tone match block to do this test, or if he just dialed it in to be exactly like the real amp?
Pretty much all distortion algorithms sound the same with this much gain. You could use a simple hard clipper, i.e if x>k then x = k.
The real tests of a modeler are things like edge-of-breakup, what's the distortion texture like, what does the distortion sound like as the notes decay, does it clean up the same when you roll off the volume, do the tone controls behave accurately, etc., etc. These are the things that we've literally spent a decade perfecting. Getting the EQ right is easy, the hard part is getting the distortion characteristics. Tube amps have complex, multi-band distortion and (in my obviously biased opinion) nothing matches our algorithms in that regard.
I'm not sure, as Cliff stated, everything has always something unfair in these videosThe gap is narrowing.
NopeThe gap is narrowing.
Nope
And he turned power amp modeling off in the AX-8. If he had turned it on and used a proper IR it probably would've sounded even better.
Ola is a great player, does great videos and has a great ear for metal tones. However I have a problem with tests like these. They are really only testing a unit's ability to match the EQ which isn't really that great a measure of how well a modeler works. When there's that much gain and you boost with a Tube Screamer the input EQ is basically a bandpass filter and all you're hearing is the output EQ. Pretty much all distortion algorithms sound the same with this much gain. You could use a simple hard clipper, i.e if x>k then x = k.
The real tests of a modeler are things like edge-of-breakup, what's the distortion texture like, what does the distortion sound like as the notes decay, does it clean up the same when you roll off the volume, do the tone controls behave accurately, etc., etc. These are the things that we've literally spent a decade perfecting. Getting the EQ right is easy, the hard part is getting the distortion characteristics. Tube amps have complex, multi-band distortion and (in my obviously biased opinion) nothing matches our algorithms in that regard.
He turned the power amp modeling off on the Helix as well and I don't think this was fair to the Helix.
The reason I'm even commenting on this is because there is a profound lack of knowledge about these sort of things in the community. The more people that understand these things, the better for everyone.
Haven't seen this posted yet, but this video is a pretty damn good demonstration by Ola Englund of how close to the real thing Axe-Fx and AX8 gets: