Got a newsletter from an amplifier manufacturer today... Clearly they haven't tried Cygnus! Lol!

Amplifiers are a big pain in the ass. In so many ways that it is impossible to list them all.

e.g.: a while ago I was working with a Tube Drive-3 knob Dive Block in front of a Hipower Amp Block. I got a very decent lead tone, and then I though: let's see how it cleans up bypassing the drive. Well, it sounds like shit with the settings that I had. Very low volume and very dark. That is easy to fix with a modeler, but it would require a lot of workaround and switching in a real rig.
 
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The most versatile tone I have in my arsenal is the Mark IV amp, lead channel. It covers so much ground with just the volume knob it's amazing. Axe-FX is just easier to play though, your mistakes just don't jump out as harshly.
 
jaza69 said:
Why LOL? Once they hear Cygnus they should wrap up? Without the amp manufacturers the modelling industry wouldn't have anything to copy the tonez from.

Clearly there is a marked for tube amps. Had a conversation with a buddy, he just wants to plug his guitar into an guitar amp and enjoy the music. Modellers? Too complicated for him.
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He should try the factory presets, I bet there's a one-and-done in there for him :p
 
Tube amps are great but the whole bit about even order harmonics, blah, blah, is patently false. ALL amps produces mostly odd harmonics. In fact even harmonics sound fuzzy and farty. The trick is getting the right ratio. You want mostly odd with a little bit of even mixed in to warm things up.
 
Imagine doctors suggesting that tube amplifiers are good for your back pain.

Wait! No! That was another story! :D
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Marketing 101. Use words and terms most people don't know or understand to show that you're an 'expert' and should be trusted. Then, don't bash the competition but acknowledge that they're close but not the same to show you 'respect' them but your product is still superior. Finally, use more 'sciency' terms to connect the potential buyer on a personal, tangible level.
 
I’ve learned that you can’t transfer your preferences for the playing experience onto other people. It just doesn’t work, and never will. It’s about what happens while playing that matters. The sound, the ability to mold tones.

Pro players at the upper levels of music making choose amps over modelers by a very wide (but shrinking) majority, so disregarding them as old tech when they’re making most of today’s guitar music is silly. One of the biggest inroads modelers have made into this realm is effects and routing control, and that’s a big deal in itself. There will probably come a time when the use of modeled amps will pass the models they emulate, but I don’t expect to see it in my lifetime. Effects though? Yeah, that’s coming.

I have great tube amps. Love them, and I‘ve only added to their number since adopting the Axe Fx as my main gigging rig in 2011. Ive owned every FAS modeler since that Ultra, with the exception of the FX8 and FM3. Love all of the modelers I have used, too! The Axe Fx III is a masterpiece, and the center of my live rig. But the experience is not the same, and it’s my opinion that this is why I have never developed a preference… I just use what I want, what fits, whenever.

Examples? For gigging, the Axe Fx is hard to beat. In that scenario, I’ve worked out the tones/scenes/controllers and just want everything to be consistent gig to gig. Impromptu jams or inventing parts for a recording? I like amps and a pedalboard because every knob and control is right there and makes it fast and easy to adjust multiple things on the fly. In short, each has advantages and disadvantages, and I like to use them where they work best for me.

As a matter of fact, one of my most used combinations of late is a PRS HX/DA into a UA Ox Box, out to my DAW and monitors with the UA cab sims and effects and a live cab dry at the same time being driven by the attenuated amp. Tubes, models, computer effects, powered monitors and live guitar speakers in one big dance.

One or the other may be better for you. That‘s great! But realize that your opinion means zero to the next player, and make a little room for other views and needs. Some guys sound spectacular with just a guitar, cord, and old beat up tube amp. More power to them, they’re awesome. One or the other is not the do-all-end-all guitar solution, and I’m glad to have both!
 
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Budda said:
He should try the factory presets, I bet there's a one-and-done in there for him :p
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I agree, but Fender '65 Princeton Reverb Reissue is on his wish list. He does not own any FRFR solution , just a Fender Hot-Rod Deluxe amp.
 
Rick said:
I’ve learned that you can’t transfer your preferences for the playing experience onto other people. It just doesn’t work, and never will.
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Big +1 on this comment. Just because it's the best product for me doesn't mean everyone else will feel the same way or have the same experience. I've never understood people who think others are stupid for not liking what they do or agreeing with their opinions.

We are individuals and what I like doesn't mean you'll like it and what works for me doesn't automatically mean it will work for you, nor does it make you wrong for not liking it or using it. The world would be a much more pleasant place if we'd all simply let others have their opinions and preferences without feeling the need to change their minds. Could very well be we're the ones who are messed up.
 
FractalAudio said:
Tube amps are great but the whole bit about even order harmonics, blah, blah, is patently false. ALL amps produces mostly odd harmonics. In fact even harmonics sound fuzzy and farty. The trick is getting the right ratio. You want mostly odd with a little bit of even mixed in to warm things up.
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Thanks for saying that. I'd always read that it was the odd order harmonics that were most pleasing to our ears, and after reading the OP, I was starting to doubt my memory.
 
FractalAudio said:
Tube amps are great but the whole bit about even order harmonics, blah, blah, is patently false. ALL amps produces mostly odd harmonics. In fact even harmonics sound fuzzy and farty. The trick is getting the right ratio. You want mostly odd with a little bit of even mixed in to warm things up.
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Admin M@ said:
There are also a lot of places you can visit to re-enact the American Revolution, which ended hundreds of years ago.
Does that make you old school? Not necessarily.
Does it mean the world is going back to muzzle loaders? Different question altogether...

https://www.milsurpia.com/revolutionary-war-reenactors
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I love both of these posts for different reasons! :cool:
 
I will say, that even though I know a virtual model can be every bit as good in terms of sound, and have been a FAS user for over a decade, I still do typically choose to use hardware analog synths instead of software or hardware modeling synths, basically “just because” lol

part of it is no doubt with synths, there isn’t the issues of needing to crank them up to loud levels, and, the hardware alternative costs similar to the software.

$250 for a behringer pro one analog clone, or $150 for something like Uhe’s cool Vst ? Sure, I’ll pay $100 more for real hardware.

with amp modeling it’s not like most of these amps have $300 hardware, it’s more like $3000, so the modeling makes way more fiscal sense

but; let’s just pretend someone started make dead on clones of lots of cool amps and effects for pennies on the dollar to what they normally cost? You bet I’d probably buy a few “just because”
 
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