They All Sound the Same Part Deux

My ex father in law had quite a nice collection and let me tell you it sounded like a cat being swung around by its tail. He got home from work and sat down with the guitar and just loved playing. In my opinion, mission accomplished. If you love playing and an 8000 dollar les Paul or a 2500 dollar modeler makes you happy and you have the cash, you definitely deserve it.
If only that was all...

I'm curious what all of you spent on music gear over the course of 2021...

For me I first got new Dynaudio monitors for about $1000, spent around another $400 on software, picked up a new midi keyboard controller for $500, picked up the fractal FC12 and expression pedal for$750ish shipped? And then came the Larrivees... I bought a Larrivee OM9 with custom walnut for about $2800, and it was so tight at first I ended up also getting a Larrivee OM40 legacy with rosewood, moonspruce top and other custom upgrades for about $1300... I bought that used from GC and it didn't even have a fingerprint on it, probably worth 2200... but now the OM9 is opening up and it sounds amazing, they both do... of course I also spent another 600 in electronics for them and 200 for installs.

So yeah, it keeps going. But when the wife dropped a bunch of money on silver jewelry at Tiffanys because she taught summer school, I definitely had nothing to say about it.
 
How come, there is more of that high pitched sizzle from the AXE than from the amp?

These tests have all confirmed my appreciation of my EMGs.
 
If only that was all...

I'm curious what all of you spent on music gear over the course of 2021...

For me I first got new Dynaudio monitors for about $1000, spent around another $400 on software, picked up a new midi keyboard controller for $500, picked up the fractal FC12 and expression pedal for$750ish shipped? And then came the Larrivees... I bought a Larrivee OM9 with custom walnut for about $2800, and it was so tight at first I ended up also getting a Larrivee OM40 legacy with rosewood, moonspruce top and other custom upgrades for about $1300... I bought that used from GC and it didn't even have a fingerprint on it, probably worth 2200... but now the OM9 is opening up and it sounds amazing, they both do... of course I also spent another 600 in electronics for them and 200 for installs.

So yeah, it keeps going. But when the wife dropped a bunch of money on silver jewelry at Tiffanys because she taught summer school, I definitely had nothing to say about it.
How much time ya got? I could have had a Ferrari by now.

As far as silver, I've been poking around for actual silver silverware and cursory searches locally turns up nothing whatsoever.
 
But when the wife dropped a bunch of money on silver jewelry at Tiffanys because she taught summer school, I definitely had nothing to say about it.
She made a wise investment in precious metals while you bought some silly toys to play with in your man cave. Tiz best not to question such things. 😀
 
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I get this is probably a shot at most of the other digital players for not being as accurate. Fractal I'd obviously top dog for replication , but while owning a Quad Cortex,
Their own amp Sims are definetly subpar, comparable the L n E 6 H L X ,
Their captures are absolutely where it shines, and give fractal a run for their money
 
How come, there is more of that high pitched sizzle from the AXE than from the amp?

These tests have all confirmed my appreciation of my EMGs.
I'm not hearing anything I'd call fizz except in the 4th sample. To me, the first two (amp and Axe) sound virtually identical. A little high-end sizzle is good in a mix.
 
Their captures are absolutely where it shines, and give fractal a run for their money
Absolutely hard disagree with this one. The captures dont behave in a similar way to an amp (or axe) when you modify things like input volume.
 
I'm not hearing anything I'd call fizz except in the 4th sample. To me, the first two (amp and Axe) sound virtually identical. A little high-end sizzle is good in a mix.
Either your ears or you speakers don't go high enough. This is not a pleasant musical sound. It may be something oscilating or some noise the pick-ups pick up from dimmers or something. I don't know the source. I sounds a bit like some kind of drill that is pitched up high. It is kind of tonal - far from the pinkish noise from many analogue amps (which can have its charm).
 
I'm curious what all of you spent on music gear over the course of 2021...
$0 or close to it, maybe a set of strings.

Unemployed (laid off b4 covid but still not working mostly by choice) and couldn't get any pandamnic assistance so I'm a minimalist (except for good coffee or microbrew). Turns out I can do without some first world luxuries.

In the past I always eventually upgraded my Axe to the latest/greatest, but my fx3 mk1 is going strong even if 2 steps behind mk2 turbo.
 
If only that was all...

I'm curious what all of you spent on music gear over the course of 2021...

For me I first got new Dynaudio monitors for about $1000, spent around another $400 on software, picked up a new midi keyboard controller for $500, picked up the fractal FC12 and expression pedal for$750ish shipped? And then came the Larrivees... I bought a Larrivee OM9 with custom walnut for about $2800, and it was so tight at first I ended up also getting a Larrivee OM40 legacy with rosewood, moonspruce top and other custom upgrades for about $1300... I bought that used from GC and it didn't even have a fingerprint on it, probably worth 2200... but now the OM9 is opening up and it sounds amazing, they both do... of course I also spent another 600 in electronics for them and 200 for installs.

So yeah, it keeps going. But when the wife dropped a bunch of money on silver jewelry at Tiffanys because she taught summer school, I definitely had nothing to say about it.
I think my only big expense in '21 was a Custom Shop Gretsch Duo Jet. I bought it right after I recovered from near death (I would have been okay with that at the time... it was brutal) due to Covid Pneumonia in August. A couple of pedals here and there... Kingtone Duelist (incredible), Timmy V3, Kinnetone modded RAT (the fuzz is glorious).

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Yep, I have an F3, an F4, and a 95 pound Doberman named Ruger… the cats are little shits
You have your hands full!

We don't know what happened, but heard a loud ruckus last week, and saw our boy run through the living room with a plastic bag around his neck (no idea how/where he got it). We got him freed from the bag, but whatever happened, literally scared the piss out of him. Since then, he and the girl (they are brother and sister) have been growling/hissing/slapping each other. She's the alpha (which you can see in the pic... she's on top of him), and she was actually hunting him all over the house. They started sniffing each other's butts, and calming down Monday, and today seem to be getting along like normal.

Cat fights are not fun! That was a stressful week!
 
You have your hands full!

We don't know what happened, but heard a loud ruckus last week, and saw our boy run through the living room with a plastic bag around his neck (no idea how/where he got it). We got him freed from the bag, but whatever happened, literally scared the piss out of him. Since then, he and the girl (they are brother and sister) have been growling/hissing/slapping each other. She's the alpha (which you can see in the pic... she's on top of him), and she was actually hunting him all over the house. They started sniffing each other's butts, and calming down Monday, and today seem to be getting along like normal.

Cat fights are not fun! That was a stressful week!
We have the same issue with our cats. One is the alpha but they take turns trying to kick each others ass. One of them likes to use our curtains as a race track too. They are both 12.5 years old and we said, after they pass along, we are done with owning animals. I've had cats, non stop for 24 years and the Doberman (she's 6.5 years) is about a $60,000 dog (acquisition cost, vet bills, boarding, medicine, food, accessories, etc.). Love them but it's a lot of work.
 
We have the same issue with our cats. One is the alpha but they take turns trying to kick each others ass. One of them likes to use our curtains as a race track too. They are both 12.5 years old and we said, after they pass along, we are done with owning animals. I've had cats, non stop for 24 years and the Doberman (she's 6.5 years) is about a $60,000 dog (acquisition cost, vet bills, boarding, medicine, food, accessories, etc.). Love them but it's a lot of work.
"Get a couple Bengals" they said. "It'll be fun" they said. :oops::D
 
I don't confess to have good ears nor have I ever played through this real amp so I can't comment on accuracy but with that in mind, my initial thoughts were 1 and 2 sounded very dynamic and pleasing sonically, closely followed by 5, but 3 and 4 were very poor in comparison.
 
I think I have to change my vote. Since 3 and 4 had lower volumes, I ignored them, and I forgot about the rolled-back volume.
I firmly believe that 3 is the actual amp; that is the most dynamic; 4 is close to that, so that would be the ax-fx.
It was a big mistake to change my vote :D I believed that it should clean up for the volume control.
 
I didn't adjust ANY of the modelers to match the sound of the amp. I set the controls the same as the amp. Axe-Fx models use "ideal" values for all components, i.e. if a pot is spec'd as 1M the model uses 1M. We don't "tweak" the models to match the reference amp. We use the values as originally intended by the designer. That's why there will also be a slight difference between different copies of an amp and between an Axe-Fx model and the actual amp.

If a product's algorithms and models are accurate then the model should behave very closely to the real amp. That is the very definition of a modeler. In this case there are SIGNIFICANT deviations which means the product simply doesn't do its primary job well.
This statement has me confused as to why have reference amps if you're not trying to tweak them to sound like the real amp? And how can an amp model be considered "spot on" when you're using ideal values? If your using schematics, taking measurements, adding values intended by the designer, other than getting the measurements from the amp, seems pointless having a physical amp, no?
 
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