Swanky Amp (release 1.4.0)

[prodigal_sounds]

However, there does seem to be something up with the balance, my experience is different from John's. I had a patch where I turned DOWN the drive, and the output volume went UP quite noticeably.

I made a small error in the output level correction. I will try to address this in the coming days.

I tried to reproduce this behavior this morning, and couldn't. So unless you're sure there's something wrong, i wouldn't sweat it on my account.

[jbraner]

Increasing the overhead reduces the amount of distortion you get from the latter gain stages. In a small tweed-style amp it was really just the first gain stage contributing to the pre amp distortion (if you had a big guitar signal coming in), the next gain stages were used for inverting the signal and I *think* had enough overhead to handle pretty big signals from the first stage. So, to get that kind of sound, you should try 1 or 2 gain stages.

Thanks for the explanation
Yeah - It sounds good with just 1 gain stage

The power drive range in this plugin is pretty exaggerated, I would think most of the time it would be best in the range 2-4.

Aha! that makes sense....

I really let it get to 10 because if you want an over the top distorted sound it can be interesting. But it seems maybe it's too much parameter range. I feel like I need a "spinal tap level 11" switch somewhere to allow pushing things into that over the top range.

This is just an idea - but what about make the current 0-5 use the whole range of the knob and then have a "turbo" (or call it something clever like "11") button that changes the range for the drive knob to the current 0-10 when it's engaged?

so "normal" mode = half the current range (or less) or "turbo" mode = the full current range.

something like that?

[guitarzan]

I'm wondering if anyone's had the chance to play with the "dynamic" setting on the cab section. I know some of you like using your own cab emulators, so maybe this isn't entirely relevant. But I quite like the effect on the sound: quietly played sections are bright and full, but when the sound gets very loud and distorted, the cab sort of "closes in on itself" (the upper shelf moves back a bit), making the distortion less fizzy and a bit softer.

I just tried everything out for a few minutes, and I like the changes — the "Stages" act more like I'd expect (that always seemed a little "broken" to me). I like the dynamic action in the built-in cab sim, but I still prefer the ribbon IRs in Boogex — your cab now kind of has that phasey ringing honk I associate with SM57 IRs. See, this is where it would've been nice to have some nod to O.T. modeling, then you could have the closing in less fizzy thing independent of cab sim choice.

Impressive though — All-in-all the most dynamic amp sim I've ever used (by far)!

EDIT: the Swanky Amp download page on the ResonantDSP site still says "Version 0.9.0 (latest)".

[DaveClark]

Yeah I don't like nonessential fizz

It doesn't sound like fizz to me. Instead it sounds like the dying embers of cymbals in a reverberant hall. I use it to add a tail to the other distortions so that the distortion doesn't drop out so suddenly. Now some people prefer a more sudden drop-out, and one of my amps does that, but to me it sounds like the amp isn't set up quite right.

Regards,
Dave Clark

[garrinm]

Thanks for all the feedback and interesting discussion. I have an update that'll be out today addressing a few issues:

1) the volume will be a bit more under control when turning the drive knobs
2) the power amp drive will be easier to set. That super over-the-top distortion will be gone, and more of the parameter range will lead to pleasant distortion rather than just fizzing.
3) Preset names will restore when loading the plugin

Basically I had accidentally removed a feature I initially built into the amp. In the last patch the pre-amp drive was affecting the power amp drive. So with a large pre-amp drive, the lowest power amp drive setting was still substantial, and the highest setting was far above the intended value.

Hopefully you find things are better behaved after this. This should go a long ways to helping you get back those old tones John (though it still won't be identical).

I did have to re-work the sag control though, so you'll notice it's altogether a bit of a different beast. Personally I thin it works better now, but your mileage may vary.

The cabinet dynamics were also reworked a bit.

Garrin

[garrinm]

Yeah I don't like nonessential fizz

It doesn't sound like fizz to me. Instead it sounds like the dying embers of cymbals in a reverberant hall. I use it to add a tail to the other distortions so that the distortion doesn't drop out so suddenly. Now some people prefer a more sudden drop-out, and one of my amps does that, but to me it sounds like the amp isn't set up quite right.

Regards,
Dave Clark

Power amp drive is either exactly what you want, or totally unexpected, depending on your experience. With an actual tube amp, that power amp fuzz only comes in when the *volume* is set way high, at ear shattering levels (depending on the size of the amp I guess). So I think you heard it most often in a studio setting where the amp can be put in an isolation booth.

Those nice edge of breakup tones commonly found on 90s pop rock I associate with a bit of power amp drive, and not much pre amp drive (gain). But the heavy distortion grunge I find leans more towards pre amp drive. And modern metal tones are pretty much entirely pre amp drive (seeing as they usually come from the pre amp / pedals and go into a *clean* amp to avoid the additional power amp distortion).

I do find the pre amp fuzz dies away more more suddenly than the power amp fuzz. I think that's related to the cross over distortion in the power amp which smoothly goes away rather than suddenly going below threshold. That will depend on lots of factors: solid state / tubes / push-pull configuration ... So these comments apply mainly to tube amps in push pull configuration.

All this is pretty subjective though, so those are my 2 cents (worth less than John's 0.02 GPB though, given the current exchange rates).

[jbraner]

so those are my 2 cents (worth less than John's 0.02 GPB though, given the current exchange rates).

Your 2 cents is always worth a lot more than mine!

Hopefully you find things are better behaved after this. This should go a long ways to helping you get back those old tones John (though it still won't be identical).

I'm already fine with everything!

[garrinm]

Update 0.10.1 is released, as discussed previously here are the main features:

- The power amp drive is easier to set
- The volume normalization is improved
- The preset names restore after re-loading the host

You can find the downloads here:

http://www.resonantdsp.com/swankyamp/#download

Quite a bit of work went into re-balancing the sag and re-working the factory presets. Please let me know how you find the changes / if the sag seems off.

Thanks,
Garrin

[guitarzan]

Quite a bit of work went into re-balancing the sag and re-working the factory presets. Please let me know how you find the changes / if the sag seems off.

Everything seems OK to me after a quick try, seems like what you describe. I don't know if I'm just getting used to it more or what, but sag doesn't stand out as much lately to me as it did at first — I'm still not clear on what settings bring out sag the most… I mean, I can always twiddle the knobs and hit a few notes to convince myself it's there and doing its job, but what settings really make the sag stand out — where's the "Crazy Horse" settings?

EDIT: might want to back off on the "11" preset a bit, or include a headphone warning (almost blew my head off with ear buds).

[garrinm]

Quite a bit of work went into re-balancing the sag and re-working the factory presets. Please let me know how you find the changes / if the sag seems off.

Everything seems OK to me after a quick try, seems like what you describe. I don't know if I'm just getting used to it more or what, but sag doesn't stand out as much lately to me as it did at first — I'm still not clear on what settings bring out sag the most… I mean, I can always twiddle the knobs and hit a few notes to convince myself it's there and doing its job, but what settings really make the sag stand out — where's the "Crazy Horse" settings?

EDIT: might want to back off on the "11" preset a bit, or include a headphone warning (almost blew my head off with ear buds).

Thanks for the feedback. I think you're right about the sag, it doesn't come through as much, especially when the pre amp gain is high such that the signal is already compressed going into the power amp.

I think I took away too much of the sag onset (how much small signals contribute to sag). I'll revise that try to get a 0.10.2 patch out before the weekend.

[guitarzan]

Thanks for the feedback. I think you're right about the sag, it doesn't come through as much, especially when the pre amp gain is high such that the signal is already compressed going into the power amp.

I think I took away too much of the sag onset (how much small signals contribute to sag). I'll revise that try to get a 0.10.2 patch out before the weekend.

Is the onset sensitivity something that could be added to the the 'SAG' control? I'm sure not everyone wants gobs of sag all the time — I'm sure Neil Young's main amp was probably considered an absolute POS for 20 years by everyone that had it until Neil got it. Just having realistic sag is a big deal and the main thing, but it would be cool if it had a bit more control in your sim (if possible).

[jbraner]

0.10.1

This is great now!
The power amp drive gets nice and crunchy, and the noise doesn't start till 8-9 (Hopefully that's still enough for Dave )
Also - the volume doesn't change so drastically when you increase drive settings.

I was getting lost while tweaking today. (just getting used to the new settings)

When saving a tweaked preset as a new one, I just changed the number at the beginning, and changed the name of the preset ie
08 JB hi gain 02
saved as
09 JB hi gain 03
and it asked me if i was creating a new preset.

I don't remember if there's another way to do this or not - but this was pretty intuitive

So, I tweaked my presets again today - and I'm really liking it now.
Brave!

[guitarzan]

I'm wondering if anyone's had the chance to play with the "dynamic" setting on the cab section. I know some of you like using your own cab emulators, so maybe this isn't entirely relevant. But I quite like the effect on the sound: quietly played sections are bright and full, but when the sound gets very loud and distorted, the cab sort of "closes in on itself" (the upper shelf moves back a bit), making the distortion less fizzy and a bit softer.

See, this is where it would've been nice to have some nod to O.T. modeling, then you could have the closing in less fizzy thing independent of cab sim choice.

In case I was being unclear, what I was trying to suggest there is that what you have done for cab dynamics could serve very well as an Output Transformer model (or at least a placeholder) if moved to the amp model section. "…quietly played sections are bright and full, but when the sound gets very loud and distorted, the cab sort of 'closes in on itself' (the upper shelf moves back a bit), making the distortion less fizzy and a bit softer" is as good a description of O.T. behavior as I've seen anywhere.

If it's not "physical model" enough for inclusion in the amp section, maybe it could be labeled "Output Dynamics" and be separated from the cab sim (cab having its own seperate bypass switch, the idea being that you can use the Dynamics with any cab sim or IR)? Just spitballing ideas here. Including an IR loader would also do the trick, but that sounds like a lot more work and it's not as flexible for post amp sim routing.

[garrinm]

Version 0.10.2 is out, with minor tweaks. Here are the main features:

- The sag control has a better range, at 10 it is more audible, and near 0 it is more subtle
- The presets have been re-adjusted accordingly, and the "level 11" preset level has been turned down to avoid "blowing heads off"
- Some of the tool tips have been re-written to add a bit more detail.

Files can be found here:

http://www.resonantdsp.com/swankyamp/#download

Hopefully this takes us to the 1.0 release. But if there are any major hicups or obvious improvements I'll address those in another minor patch.

Enjoy!
Garrin

[peperonnn]

just testing this plugin, i really like the clean tone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO1yexPLYWk