They All Sound the Same, It's About Workflow

Three takes are modelers, one is the real amp:
https://www.fractalaudio.com/tmp/Be_Be_Be.mp3

Deluxe Reverb Vibrato channel
Gain 10
Bass 2
Treble 8
Things surely change as they progress 1,2,3, etc. They seem to get more compressed as the takes go...

But to me 1 Sounds the brightest. 2 drops and seems to sc
Three takes are modelers, one is the real amp:
https://www.fractalaudio.com/tmp/Be_Be_Be.mp3

Deluxe Reverb Vibrato channel
Gain 10
Bass 2
Treble 8
1 sounds the brightestpunchy to me
2 sounds more scooped
3 sounds like more mids added back and slight less bass
4 sounds like 3 but just a tad more umph..
 
We can't tell the difference. Let's just be honest.
I can definitely hear the difference on my studio monitors.

Take 1 sounded like a good Deluxe cranked up
Take 2 has a weird high end (dare I say aliased?) almost a fuzzy on top. It might cut through in a mix but I would have ear fatigue by the end of the night.
Take 3 was dull and boomy, wouldn't cut at all in a mix
Take 4 sounded decent.

I'd play either take 1 or 4.

What do I win?
 
I'm pretty sure the order of the clips distinguishes the evolution of the Fractal firmware.. Clip 1 being the latest and the last clip the real amp. Either way, the 1st clip to me sounds best and most likely the latest III's FW.
 
Actually just did the test to see if I could tell a difference with my new hearing aids (2k and above degradation plus tinnitus) and without.

Without, all I could tell is I didn't like #3 at all. The others sounded comparable.

With, I could hear what I guess is aliasing in #2. #1 and 4 are the clear winners and sound very close. Best guess is #4 is the real amp.
 
Last night I played Cliff’s example to a friend of mine who has been playing guitar for as long as I and has a very good ear. He listened through both my monitors and headphones. He couldn’t tell the difference until I actually pointed out the differences.
 
Well I'm glad I consistently preferred #1... And now I sit back and let the public tear itself apart over what if any lessons are to be learned from this little test/experiment. I will assume "L" brand is Line 6 and "N" is NeuralDSP's QC...
 
1. Amp
2. Brand L
3. Brand N
4. Axe-Fx

All modelers with latest firmware.
Did Brand N have a lot of aliasing going on? If it’s the one I’m thinking of, I believe they use a black-box method for their “models.”
 
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I am relieved to learn that #3 is a "competitor" because that one just sounded really weird to me, like a troll was gargling sand in the background.
Yeah, there's something weird going on with that product. There's this low end thing that sounds like lack of precision or something. It's almost like "bass static". It exhibits a ton of aliasing so it could be that but it's weird how it's concentrated in the bass on this model.
 
I didn't care for the #2: something funky going on there that didn't sound natural/analog. You could actually hear a difference in the noise before the playing started. Chord faded out strangely, too, like it suddenly dropped below a threshold instead of decaying naturally.

#3 felt like it was artificially cut off in the highs, and the note attacks sounded mushy.

#1 and #4 sounded closest to one another. I'd have a hard time choosing between them.
 
My gut reactions from just a single not super attentive listen:

  1. "meh, sounds pretty good"
  2. "ow, that hurts" (idk, there's something harsh around the edges, it's an uncomfortable breakup to the sound, really don't like it)
  3. "ugh, that's also pretty bad? hope these aren't all the modelers or everyone here is going to have to go apologize to tube snobs"
  4. "oh, okay, this one sounds pretty good"

Normally I don't care to speculate in these kinds of exercises, but I was so shocked by how nasty 2 sounded to me that I thought I'd comment...

1 and 4 sound close enough I'd not really worry about it. Think I "preferred" 1 (but maybe that's just psychological because it's the first one I heard). I'd happily own/play either of those.

2 sounded really harsh and unpleasing at the top end of the break up to me (dare I say it, "digital"), 3 sounded kinda “congested” and "wooly" or "boxy" or whatever your preferred words for "I don't like the low end/lower mids"... dunno what they are, but really can't imagine they're the Fractal units.
 
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