Amp modeling successes - Cabinet VS Amp Poll

[zerocrossing]

I thought it was funny that Amplitube released a Slash pack. Slash? Really? Why not just release it as "Generic Rock Guitar pack?" I've never once heard Slash play and thought, "Oh there's a really new or really great tone."

I bought it because it solidifies their gear roundup in some important ways. First, they've got killer Marshall models now. I mean, bang-on. Give 'em a shot, they're great.

I did try them and... well I'm done with software for the time being. Other than to use the Kemper to profile the SVX models I use a lot (The Kemper doesn't come with any bass amps except for Bassmans and there are few in the Rig Exchange) I haven't used Amplitube other than to check out the Slash pack. Frankly, once you go Kemper there's no going back... It's stretched me out! You need to give it a shot... but trust me it will sour you to any software guitar amp solution. You know how much I used to love to check out software amp sims... I no longer even care. I've already sold my Amplitube 3 license.

[Agreed]

A renewal of the AT:JH gear would be really fantastic... Neat idea.

Although, and I can say this with confidence, there are actually at least enough people out to get Slash's "Appetite for Destruction" tone that I get to help them figure out the best way to do it now and then professionally, using pedals and their amp. I think you're somewhat underestimating the brand power of Slash, because you find him too gimmicky and commercial I don't even think he'd argue those points much, the man wears a top hat everywhere. But, it is theatrics. That's a part of rock n' roll. Jimi Hendrix had his own getup, certainly. And did you see some of the stuff Eddie Van Halen wore live during the Roth or Hagar periods? ^32 The '80s, man. And the end of the '80s.

I would like to call to the court Exhibit A, the "alternative rock" band (from the time period when the term was first becoming meaningless) featuring Linda Perry on guitar and vocals, with their smash, if only, hit,

(Linda Perry still rules, but for reasons COMPLETELY unrelated to... whatever the heck is going on in that video, ahaha.)

[Daimonicon]

Other than to use the Kemper to profile the SVX models I use a lot (The Kemper doesn't come with any bass amps except for Bassmans and there are few in the Rig

There are a few Ampeg for Kemper. Browse and you will find them. And forget about the SVX models.

[Cooker]

Played with free amp sim.s and nebula cab.s today (sampled from axe fx )...all I can say is compared to an ir those cab.s are in a different level.

Freeware amps are pretty good, still like vandal better but wouldn't mind recording an album with them either.

Cab. ir's are ok, just a little boring.

Nebula cab.s sound different when gain is increased, depending on sample or cab. some start to add very obvious color to low or high mind. Very dynamic too even with high amp gain setting, no amp suit I tryed can achieve that.

I like shred tones and with ir's if you want the guitar to really scream the general sound gets thinner, this doesn't happen with nebula cab. as there's considerable "body" in the sound. Best part is there are ton of free samples if you have the cheaper vers. of nebula

[Agreed]

I did try them and... well I'm done with software for the time being. Other than to use the Kemper to profile the SVX models I use a lot (The Kemper doesn't come with any bass amps except for Bassmans and there are few in the Rig Exchange) I haven't used Amplitube other than to check out the Slash pack. Frankly, once you go Kemper there's no going back... It's stretched me out! You need to give it a shot... but trust me it will sour you to any software guitar amp solution. You know how much I used to love to check out software amp sims... I no longer even care. I've already sold my Amplitube 3 license.

The Kemper technology is certainly neat, but I don't feel like it has any dramatic edge over other circuit modeling technologies. It does present some unique features that are interesting, but ultimately it's algorithmic. I think they're pretty careful with their language... If you look at early Line6 amp modeling technology, you can pretty much figure out that they had "clean amp" "crunchy amp" and "high gain amp" and those were sort of tweaked in various ways, different filters applied, variables behind the scenes changed to come up with the end result. Good enough for the time period for many guitarists. Kemper seems, to me, to be taking that concept and building on it substantially, just based on how the measurement process works and what kind of data can be gathered from it. Amps don't actually have DNA, after all, they have electrical behaviors, dynamic responses to input, and that is ultimately what it must be measuring to try to recreate behavior. There just isn't another option or path. And that's where I don't think that the Kemper technology is a priori superior to the methodology used to model amps employed by IKMM and other high end software companies. Multiple valid approaches, and we're all beyond the simplistic early wave-shaping... Or the much earlier Rocktron thing, I'm sure folks remember that, digital amp modeling rack units that kicked off the whole idea of "one box to do it all!"

They understandably hide whatever it is they're actually doing behind that nonsense word "sonic DNA;" that could mean "a whole mess of transfer functions that we use to dynamically calculate the relationship between input and output" or it could mean "we figured out how to actually make dynamic IRs work in the context of an amp modeler, go us!" or it could mean nothing like that and just be something that sounds nice to throw anyone trying to get clever off the trail. It's certainly advanced in its sound, but the number of people that know what it's doing is quite small, leaving the rest of us to speculate, if we care to.

I can understand why it has its devotees, though, it does sound quite nice in practice if you do the capture correctly, and it's pretty nifty to have something physical in front of you to work with. And move around. (That isn't a laptop :p, "where to put it" is the Kemper's main concern and it'll fit pretty much anywhere, laptops, as generalist CPUs that happen to be DSP-capable require rather a large amount of specialized supporting hardware and just aren't nearly as easy to work with in a live environment!) Though I'd argue that computers in general have a fully competitive feature set to the Kemper when it comes to reamping, etc.; Kemper lets you mess with the pick attack using its algo for that, but we've got about a hundred transient shaper options to choose from, if you get what I mean. It's neat as an all-in-one solution, though. I like that it's offering real competition to the AxeFX 2 in the hardware-housed DSP realm, that needs to happen just to keep everyone active rather than complacent!

It's a competitive technology, certainly, just not (to my view or to my ears) the game-ender or top dog. One of them; not the one. If you get what I mean. But I'm glad you're digging it, that's the important thing, connecting with your gear and making music (or, having tools you know how to use and get the most out of, on-hand, ready to go for others to make music with while you're in the control booth )