Real amps vs modelling and plugin amps

[Naillerz78]

I have a 5 watt VHT special 6 ultra (tube amp) , Roland Cube 30x , and various plugins . The Cube 30x is my favorite . It has JC120 , Marshall , Triple Rec . Blackface , Tweed , Vox , 5150 , acoustic , and some basic effects . It's NOT to over the top for me , meaning too much tweaking ... And it's NOT too limited like the 5 watt tube amp . The settings I don't care for are the 5150 , Balckface , and Tweed ... I like the triple rec for heavy , I like the jc120 for clean (U2 police) , I like the Vox and Marshall for that classic and 80s rock sound . I don't know why I just didn't jive with the other amp models ?

I think of all the modelling amp combos the Roland Cube is probably a “classic” and the best seller of that market . All the others have come and gone but the cube is still popular. Vox Valvetronix & Line 6 combos are pretty much extinct it seems. Fender mustang is kicking on a bit.

I do miss my microcube at times. It was like a lil Swiss Army knife of tones . Is there a 15W cube variant that has all the options you listed? Must try to get one again could be the ticket.
A stereo Cube would be awesome.

[Uncle E]

My favorite practice amp was the Mike Matthews Freedom Amp. I had this one for 36 years:

IMG_8492.jpeg

[planet trauma]

Nothing beats the feel and vibration of a 100 watt tube head thru a nice 4x12 on a stage. Don't get me wrong, in-ears are great, but the actual rumble of the amp you feel is the icing on the cake.

[harddaysnight]

Plugins matched real amps in every way like a decade or more ago.

Scuffham's S-Gear was the first to do it right - crossed the line for me. Been fine with plugins ever since.

You can tell who's prehistoric by their opinions on this matter.

[fedexnman]

Plugins matched real amps in every way like a decade or more ago.

Scuffham's S-Gear was the first to do it right - crossed the line for me. Been fine with plugins ever since.

You can tell who's prehistoric by their opinions on this matter.

Yes , I agree ... And the processors (cpus) for modeling pedals , pedals and modeling amps have gotten cheaper as well . Now the feel of air moving and zero latency from a real tube amp NO . I'm not in that ballpark for that last statement but that's what I hear now . I rather have a volume level that doesn't piss the neighbors off or the folks in the house of . I also like variations. Ex. I like JC 120 and Fenders for clean . I like Marshall and Triple Recs for crunch lead and distortion . Most dirty amps suck clean .

[cvieira]

Plugins matched real amps in every way like a decade or more ago.

Scuffham's S-Gear was the first to do it right - crossed the line for me. Been fine with plugins ever since.

You can tell who's prehistoric by their opinions on this matter.

Thats not true.

Even today most off them are way off.

Neural Amp Modeller is the best , but have other limitations.

[harddaysnight]

Don’t forget your ibuprofen before bed.

Plugins matched real amps in every way like a decade or more ago.

Scuffham's S-Gear was the first to do it right - crossed the line for me. Been fine with plugins ever since.

You can tell who's prehistoric by their opinions on this matter.

Thats not true.

Even today most off them are way off.

Neural Amp Modeller is the best , but have other limitations.

[tapper mike]

Plugins matched real amps in every way like a decade or more ago.

Scuffham's S-Gear was the first to do it right - crossed the line for me. Been fine with plugins ever since.

You can tell who's prehistoric by their opinions on this matter.

There are more things in the heavens and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy. If something works for you that's fine. If something works for someone else that's fine as well. Maybe they feel something with those old sounds even if they can't define it that works for them.

Playing on stage in front of paying customers is quite different than playing on a soundstage and playing in a studio. Someone may have had great response for their style that suits them from a system that you may feel is a relic. Me I'd love to go back to those days of 500 seat jam packed bars, but it aint happening. I liked my rig although it didn't do everything it was "My Sound" I didn't need to dress up in a wig and makeup to feel pretty.

I have been guilty of tone chasing trying to find my own tone or recreating the tone of others to rekindle the flame. I think the saddest part of this forum is it's over attachment to tone over technique. Tone first comes from your headspace and your hands. Some think they can overcome inadequacies of playing by chasing tone.

Learning songs all the way through, playing songs I know well and love as well as new(to me) songs from a playlist either alone or in the company of other humans is infinitely more satisfying than constantly debating the number of angers that can dance on the head of a needle and always having to prove you are right and everyone else is wrong.

[cvieira]

Don’t forget your ibuprofen before bed.

Plugins matched real amps in every way like a decade or more ago.

Scuffham's S-Gear was the first to do it right - crossed the line for me. Been fine with plugins ever since.

You can tell who's prehistoric by their opinions on this matter.

Thats not true.

Even today most off them are way off.

Neural Amp Modeller is the best , but have other limitations.

did you ever played / recorded a real tube amp ?
if not , you dont now what you are talking about

[revvy]

Learning songs all the way through, playing songs I know well and love as well as new(to me) songs from a playlist either alone or in the company of other humans is infinitely more satisfying than constantly debating the number of angers that can dance on the head of a needle and always having to prove you are right and everyone else is wrong.

Word.

[zerocrossing]

Here’s what I don’t miss about tube amps. Even low wattage models can be really loud in the context of a home studio. Turning them down often makes them sound thin. They bleed into other mics in a stage situation. They can be really noisy. That zero latency can seem like as much latency as a plugin when monitoring through headphones. They take up space, especially if you’re looking for a variety of different sounds. Cats love to scratch at them. When using an audio looper, they need to have an effect loop or you end up adding more preamp distortion to every pass if you’re overdubbing. This eliminates most amps.

At one point, I tried a 3 channel amp into an iso-cab. It was OK, but still more audible than I wanted. I even drilled a hole in my wall and ran it in my garage, which was acceptable, but I ultimately didn’t like the sound of the cabinet at all. I guess I could have tried different mics, speakers, etc, but at the same time, I bought a Kemper, and while I was futzing around with the cabinet, I was getting great results with it. Not all captures were good, and a lot suffered from that mushy, grainy low-mid thing the KPA is known for, but I found plenty of profiles that were great.

It served me well for a decade, but I missed having true stereo rigs, like I did in my amp days. I saw the Quad Cortex come out and it seemed like a good fit, but too many delays in shipping pushed me to the AxeFX, which was great, but in hindsight, a mistake. Plugins had already equaled it and were better suited for my production.

I can’t imagine going back. It would feel like a demotion. I don’t give a damn about “amp in the room sound.” I only care about the final product, which is a recording. That said, pan the mics a bit, or use a stereo IR and a touch of room convolution, and I feel like I have a better amp room than I’ve ever had before. Would I get better results with a full blown professional studio setup? Of course, but at what cost?

[stimresp]

This obsessive search for perfect tone is a fool's errand. We have more (and cheaper / free) options today than ever before, and they all sound awesome in their own way. It's up to to the player to get the best out of amps / amp sims by spending serious time with them, not just twiddling a few knobs and deciding that it doesn't capture Clapton in '72.

Take an amp - any amp or sim - set it right for your guitar and get intimately involved with it. Make it your own. The classic tones were eeked from limitations of the gear and player chops, not endless cork-sniffing.

[Uncle E]

Learning songs all the way through, playing songs I know well and love as well as new(to me) songs from a playlist either alone or in the company of other humans is infinitely more satisfying than constantly debating the number of angers that can dance on the head of a needle and always having to prove you are right and everyone else is wrong.

One of the best lessons ever taught to me:

Sight read a song non-stop at 50bpm
Do it again at 60bpm
Do it again at 70bpm

You now know the song and have made a giant leap in your sight reading ability. Keep doing it daily with different songs and you'll soon be starting at tempo.

[zerocrossing]

This obsessive search for perfect tone is a fool's errand. We have more (and cheaper / free) options today than ever before, and they all sound awesome in their own way. It's up to to the player to get the best out of amps / amp sims by spending serious time with them, not just twiddling a few knobs and deciding that it doesn't capture Clapton in '72.

Take an amp - any amp or sim - set it right for your guitar and get intimately involved with it. Make it your own. The classic tones were eeked from limitations of the gear and player chops, not endless cork-sniffing.

I used to know a dude who was so hell bent on capturing Jimi Hendrix's sound, he went as far as to get some special edition Stratocaster that was a lefty guitar that he strung righty. He had the amps, the pedals, all of it. He'd come into the music shop I worked in and talk about it all ad nauseum, to whoever would listen. He forgot one thing... to learn to play. He was literally just starting out and was already many, many thousands of dollars into his setup. Kind of reminds me of someone who used to frequent this forum.

Even that's fine, though. Want to be a collector who dabbles? No law against it. Do what makes you happy. I do have to laugh when I hear someone proudly post their hardware amp setup recordings and it sounds like garbage. Not that I'm a virtuoso, but my focus has always been as a song writer first, instrumentalist second. I hold my own and can keep things simple but well executed.

[pekbro]

I do have to say that SW was the first setup I had that sounded good all around. Since I only had cheap crappy amps at the time imo. Which is why I went and bought all of them.