What do people mean when they say modelers "lack the amp feel"?

Honestly never understood it until I tried a Line 6 Helix, sounded pretty good, but the feel really wasn't there, quite sterile and felt like you were playing a modeler.
Fractal is on another level there
 
Turn It Up Dead City Radio GIF by Rob Zombie
 
Like others have said, I think people are essentially expecting AITR from FRFR, plus not pushing enough air, and when it doesn't sound/feel like they expect, they fault the paradigm rather than their configuration. To be fair, when I bought my first Fractal with an Atomic CLR, I made the same mistake.

Now when I want the "amp feel" that I think others are referring too, I put my Fractals through a solid state amp into a traditional guitar cab, and push a little air. That's more apples-to-apples compared to a traditional amp set up, and there's nothing lacking in tone or feel from where I sit.
 
Here is an interesting thought after reading this thread so far.
Would there be any differences in a recorded tone from:
A) Guitar into Fractal and recorded and monitored from headphones or studio monitors at a low volume.
to
B) Same as above but monitor the signal from the Fractal that goes from Amp block out to a real amplifier and cab in the room with you at a very loud volume to allow all those frequencies to hit the guitar while playing.

Obviously, these would be two different performances, but would the outcome be identical or different?
 
“i am not used to hearing my guitar isolated thru studio monitors and i am missing being in the same room with my amp/cab. And less than 100dB in the room!!! WTF.”

%94.765 of the people are actually trying to say this.

I remember when i recieved my axe fx 2 over a decade ago, i was there also.
 
I had issues with early modelers that would have a latency issue (you pick and there is a small delay before you hear the pick attack) as well as the lack of dynamics and the fuzzy/fizzy texture to the distortion with little to no mid gain or breakup just distortion or not. One of the worst offenders of latency was the original Zoom and then the Avid Eleven Rack was a close second for me in the latency issue.
 
The simplest way to put it is the feeling under your fingers when you play. Play a Fractal and the feeling under your fingers is like a tube amp. Play a cheaper modeler or an amp sim plugin and the feeling is much more sterile and much less responsive to touch sensitivity.

I’ve got a bunch of amps and bunch of modelers… Fractal is the only one that feels like my amps.
 
With the term feel, I always attributed it to volume and the interaction between the speaker and the power section of the amp.
 
Once saw an interview with Eddie Van Halen and he said the real secret to his sound was "volume". It definitely brings the guitar alive and the feeling of that volume while playing is like a drug once you get used to it. It can scare you at first :eek:.
 
I love my afx3, but I do still think there is a feel to (at least certain) vintage tube amps that does not translate or I cannot get dialed in. When I gig with the axe I use real cabs and a ps170 or fryette LX2. I pretty much exclusively play the twin model. This rig sounds great and the foh loves it because they get a direct feed. However when I plug a twin into the same speakers at similar volumes it feels better to me, I think it's the dynamics but it feels more alive under my fingers. Recorded or FOH you would be hard pressed to tell the difference but I feel a difference. That being said I gig the axe way more because it's a smart solution and really is great, also when I want to lug a tube amp out the axe is the best multi-fx unit money can buy.
 
I recall “plastic creaminess“ being a description. 😂 Guess that was more of a sound description.
 
To repeat what everybody else is saying, I'd imagine the number of people who try their first modeler through a top quality poweramp and 4x12 of their choice is pretty low. A lot of them will try an Axe-Fx or any other modeler through some set of studio monitors or headphones or something and compare that experience directly with how it sounds playing their favorite amp > cab in the room and immediately think "the real amp is better" with zero comprehension about why that could possibly be.

Most guitar players are honestly pretty ignorant to how massively the end of the chain (monitors vs SS amp and one cab vs tube poweramp and cab, etc) impacts the tone.
 
As stated above, for me, latency remains one of the biggest issues. Depending on the quality of the digital conversion the subtle nuance of transient and attack change slightly which manifests for me as a tactile disconnect under my fingers.

Fractal has, hands down, the best converters of any modeling device I have ever played.
 
For me, and I am probably a tiny minority, I am not into for any modeling, I am into it because of the way that it sounds and responds to my playing and the pure genius of routing abilities, effects, recording, control and everything unimaginable as far as output sources. Modeling or amp building, either choice the wheel was invented long ago and anything in today's world is just a continuation..... I think of it as the best audio source available to play guitar thru with unlimited tones to be had by all. And amp and a cab will always be cool, in 1978 someone created a sound that changed rock guitar, and it was a sound no one had any idea how to get, since then it's been on going and that sound is easily found from many applications, so amps will always be amps, the great reality is the ability to get a whole lot more with a whole lot less. Nothing will ever replace genius and raw talent, no matter whether it's a pig nose or a plexi stack or a complex CPU preamp. Cheers
 
I think "feel" gets talked about so much these days because, IMHO, it's the final frontier for digital devices. When it comes to tone, I have played a number of devices that sound great and, once the part is recorded, it can be tough for me to distinguish what I used. It's only when I plug in and play that the problems show up. I can play through those other devices and get the job done, but it's not nearly as inspiring or, for lack of a better word, fun. And that is due to feel more than tone.

It reminds me of when I experimented with guitar synthesis back in the day. The sounds worked and I used them in spite of the latency but I never found myself playing them for hours. They just weren't fun.
 
DId a show last weekend where the stage and FOH volume was really freakin' loud. The AXE-FX sounded and felt terriffic, it was awesome fun to get it cranked up. My other band primarily uses IEMs, sounds and feels great. I ususally play at home with pretty low levels, either studio monitors or a cab - still feels great. While it's a common topic, with the AXE-III the tactile sensation thing just isn't an issue any more.
 
NeoSound said:
Once saw an interview with Eddie Van Halen and he said the real secret to his sound was "volume". It definitely brings the guitar alive and the feeling of that volume while playing is like a drug once you get used to it. It can scare you at first :eek:.
Click to expand...
That's not it.
Sure his amps sounded better cranked up. Especially the old plexi because he needed to get the power amp distorting to get his tone out if it.
But there are lots of modern amps that "feel under you fingers" like that at much lower volumes. Cliff has stated it before it's the amp speaker damping factor that's doing it.
 
I think in some videos if you focus on the difference of the sound at the pick attack you can definitely hear the response differences:
 
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