Modeller clean sounds a bit “piezo”?

FreddieVanHalen

So I’ve been experimenting with various amp modellers and noticed that many of them have a strange piezo quality to the clean sounds.

It’s hard to describe but it feels like a bassy thump when you hit the strings and a lack of the instant response that I’d get from a real amp.

I’ve tried to EQ cut the bass, which helps but still not quite there - anyone got any tips for getting great modelled cleans or am I just being too fussy?

John_A

What modeller, what amp (virtual), what guitar?  'piezo quality ' suggests you need a high-cut, probably 4-khz or at least a cut around that band with a parametric EQ.

FreddieVanHalen

@John_A  it’s something I’ve noticed with various guitars and clean models (helix, AmpliTube, UAD).

some are better than others but I wondered if it’s something that others had noticed and if I was missing a common trick to get better clean models.

interesting point on the high end, will give that a try also.

John_A

Odd, I find clean sounds the easiest.  I like a bit of grit on them, that seems to smooth it out and make it less hi-fi

FreddieVanHalen

Ah, maybe that’s the key I’m missing! I might be making the cleans too clean where they’d benefit from a bit of grit.

ICBM

I hear that characteristic in a lot of modelled sounds, both clean and dirty. It's what I've always assumed people mean by 'sounding digital', since that's how I would describe it.

Are you going through FRFR speakers/headphones?

FreddieVanHalen

Hi @ICBM  I am monitoring through both studio monitors and headphones. 

It it is that “sounding digital” thing I’m hearing.

The funny thing is that I don’t perceive anything like as much when I use a real amp + impulse responses.