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I’m also not interested in ‘deep editing’ or an excessive number of parameters. If it doesn’t sound good out of the box with the onboard controls then it isn’t designed right.
But I’m probably not the target market since I still actually prefer old-school analogue solid-state to modelling amps...
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
And even if it did all that it would probably be far too fiddly to tweak for the casual user.
What I want is both innovative tone shaping options AND an innovative amp design that makes it easy and intuitive to use. Finally, get rid of all the classic valve amp models from the presets, and replace them with presets that sound great in their own right.
If someone made an amp like that, it should put up a real fight against the valve crowd.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Not sure about the names, but they sound good
I have owned a regular Spider too. I think it was a Mk III 75W and actually gigged it.
I have to say I really don't like the Spider IV either - which from memory was out at about the same time - so it may be a software generation thing.
But the big problem with any of the models apart from the Valve is the lack of an FX loop (or more accurately a preamp out/power amp in insert point), which drastically limits its flexibility if you want to connect it to other things.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Bandcamp
Spotify, Apple et al
By "what the guitarist is prepared to accept" I am referring mostly to the immersive experience, ie. you may be able to get a FoH/recorded sound just like a pair of Marshall full stacks on 11 but it ain't gonna feel the same to the player as standing in front of a pair of Marshall full stacks on 11. For me, that's the only thing "missing" from the experience, but I choose to discount that factor in favour of all the positives.
R.
Eqd Speaker Cranker clone
Monte Allums TR-2 Plus mod kit
Trading feedback: http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/60602/
They're actually fine for home practice or a low-volume gig where they aren't being driven hard, and especially if there's a backing track - because they're very un-dynamic and sound more like a recording of an amp than an actual amp, they sit in the mix against a similarly compressed background very well, whereas a 'real' amp tends to be too dynamic and uncontrollable. I wouldn't have realised that until I heard a friend doing 'guitar karaoke' with one - but he also tried it with his proper band and it was appalling.
(Edit) I'll have to take some of this back. I've got a Spider II 15 here today, and admittedly it's the smallest, cheapest model - but I cannot get anything approaching a tolerable overdriven sound out of it, and barely a usable clean one. It's truly awful - it has a grating, whiny, metallic midrange that cannot be dialled out no matter what you do. On the bright side it doesn't need repairing after all - it must just have shut itself down when the owner was playing bass through it! So it's a fairly sturdy thing - if that's a plus, given how terrible it sounds...
This is the kind of thing that gets modelling a bad name - even the worst analogue solid-state practice amp I've ever played through sounds better.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Works for me anyway - I think my TVP 100 sounds great playing at volume with the band. Our other guitarist has a Blackstar HT Club 50 - admittedly his clean tone is better (though we don't use clean much in our 80's/90's metal covers band ) but for the high gain stuff that we mostly play there's really not much in it - both amps sound great
I think also a lot of kids playing today, with the modern technology we have, expect their amp to sound like the record when they first start out. It's only natural. When we started out we had cheap transistor amps that sounded pretty bad and then you eventually upgraded to the classic Marshall when you had been playing a while. The quality jump was astronomical. Kids today can buy a modelling amp for less than a hundy and have access to much better tones as a beginner. This becomes their expectation for what tone sounds like; their ears learn based on a 'model' of an mic'd up amp. When they play the real deal its too raw and unpolished. I guess what I'm trying to say is we never expected amps to sound like a record, but kids now do. They learn on modelling gear. They GAS over valve amps on YouTube thinking that is what an amp sounds like, oblivious to the fact that the amp in the video has been mic'd up. Thus it always falls short for them because they are used to getting an exact EVH tone on their POD. A 5150 would be too fuzzy to their ears!
The second distinction here is with regard to the video you watched about various FRFR speakers. I have myself heard people say they prefer 'x' because it sounds more like an amp in the room which of course defeats the purpose, but I don't think they mean 'sounds' but rather 'feels'. I personally think FRFR is great, especially in a gigging situation, but when I'm looking for a modelling/FRFR setup I need something that 'feels' like a traditional setup because it's what I'm, used to. I don't expect it to sound like one though, in fact I don't want it to. The reason I'd gig FRFR is to get away from gigs with un-mic'd cabs in pubs giving me a terribly mushy stage sound, but I can't sacrifice that 'feel' because the feel affects my playing, my own personal enjoyment of the experience. I can only assume that the type of power amp has something to do with this? I don't know the first thing about it but I know when I've played cheaper FRFR speakers (like a Behringer Eurolive) it has felt sterile in my hands, a little stiff and harsh to me. It does seem the more that you spend on FRFR the better it feels. That doesn't necessarily mean it sounds better to the audience - surely FRFR is FRFR right? but there is something in the feel of speakers that differs greatly and I think when someone says 'X FRFR sounds more like a real amp than Y' they possibly mean it feels more like a real amp?
I think modelling is great but as someone else pointed out, while the whole system is based around modelling real valve amps, the real amps are by definition better. Its the whole 'sounds like a Golf' thing... that very marketing stance sets the bar at the Golf. Until digital does its own thing it'll always play second fiddle. But why would it do its own thing when everyone wants it to sounds like 'X'? Ironically this is exactly why I didn't get a THR100 even though on paper its perfect; I wanted whatever I bought to nail me a Slash tone. I got a Kemper instead and it does just that.
The sound you get is as good (or very nearly) as the real amp, on a big stage through a good, well placed mic, i.e. I'll sound more like Slash to the bloke in the Dog 'n' Duck than I would with a 100W marshall blasting over the top of everything
I think
That does not necessarily follow.
Real amps are more *authentic*, because they're real not copies, but they're not necessarily "better".
R.
Eqd Speaker Cranker clone
Monte Allums TR-2 Plus mod kit
Trading feedback: http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/60602/
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein