Digital Igloo (Eric Klein, YGG)
- Thread starter Digital Igloo
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Mainly because they came from Catalyst amps, which have their own Master volume knob.
This question has been debated on the Fractal Forum multiple times. In Fractal Audio's world the aim is to also be as accurate as possible to Fractal's reference amps. One of the reasons given was that "good tone" is subjective. What one person thinks sounds good may sound like a$$ to someone else. So aiming for a "good" sounding amp model ends up being futile because some will like the result of "good" but others will think "good" sounds "bad". Accuracy becomes the path to avoid getting into this never ending debate.
This was the outcome of discussions I read on the Fractal forum. I'm guessing that Line 6 follows a similar thought process. Obviously, this is only my opinion, so @Digital Igloo can give an authoritative answer that I certainly cannot.
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Yep, which is where our Line 6 Original amps come into play—designed to sound and play great, right out of the box. My only sticking point is when someone calls our other HX amps "inaccurate." It's like... Dude, if anything they're often accurate to a fault. Certain other companies sacrifice accuracy for a hyped and/or dumbed-down sound (superfluous filtering, audio compression, smoothed-out dynamic response, severely limited tonestack ranges [WTF?!], removal of virtual componentry, etc.). Sure, they might be easier to dial in for beginners who may not really care about tube amps, but IMO, a $1500+ multieffect designed for professionals shouldn't be welding unremovable training wheels onto its Marshalls, MESAs, Voxes, and Fenders.
Perhaps naysayers are espousing an "inaccurate compared to what I imagine the real amp sounds like in my head" thing, which frankly warrants a facepalm. Every single person who's been in our studio to do the A/B/X thing (engineers, session musicians, dealers, distributors, artists, influencers, and users coming in for Open Houses, etc.) is blown away by how they can't tell when switching between the real amp and model. In one case, we set up dummy switches and asked "which switch is actually switching between the real amp and model?" just so no one could feign hearing/feeling differences they couldn't.
laxu
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I've been getting tones I was happy using for so many years and generations of digital modelers already. I've been happy with the tones even when some amp model I used was found to have a bug that made it behave in an inaccurate manner. So at least for me, the accuracy or lack of it wasn't much of a real issue if I liked the end result. I was still convinced that the modeler sounded like a tube amp, because I felt I was getting all the things I love about tube amps.
I would expect no other result from Fractal forum because so many people have jumped on it with the promise of accuracy, having a gazillion real amps modeled etc. The reality is that 95% of the people on that forum would think a new firmware sounds better if Fractal just said it does, even if there were no actual changes to the code. Most haven't played more than a fraction of the real amps modeled, including me. We instead put a lot of trust on the manufacturer in this regard.
Line6 and Fractal have put the bar very high for this stuff, so if you want to release a modeler claiming to sound like certain amps, you better be accurate. There are probably some unhappy Fender TMP developers working hard on the amp models right now.
Maybe eventually we will get to a point where the tide turns and people are more open to purely fictional digital amp models as the tech has now proven itself. The Line6 Catalyst amps are already stepping towards that direction, but are somewhat compromised by their intended price range and requiring a speaker that plays ball with all the amp models rather than shines with only a few of them.
I'm kinda hoping Boss would be bold enough to make the "GX-1000" only feature their own custom amp models. Their "this is what you get, deal with it" approach is probably the best way to push people to just accept it as its own thing.
SeeD
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This is why I love capturing, as it`so much fun starting and 5 minutes later I have the same sound as my reference source ( Cabs, Drives, Boost, Amps, EQ ) and that I can stack these in a single preset
I hope you guys get that tech in the next modeler
For fun, here are some photos of a custom cabinet that the bass player in one of my bands in the 90s made for my AX2. I sold it about 20 years ago. Of course, I wish now that I never had, but it's long gone, so too late now.
Wood is walnut, maple, and bubinga (the thin strip accents embedded in the maple). It turned out to be impractical for gigs, though I still used it for a couple of years. It was kind of harsh sounding by itself, but sounded great and cut through in the band mix.
I bought my Axsys 212 (later upgraded to the AX2 in the pictures below) from Musicians Friend in 1996(?) as a pre-order, before they were even shipping. It was a cool amp that I used for gigs for 3 or 4 years. Enjoy!
Wood is walnut, maple, and bubinga (the thin strip accents embedded in the maple). It turned out to be impractical for gigs, though I still used it for a couple of years. It was kind of harsh sounding by itself, but sounded great and cut through in the band mix.
I bought my Axsys 212 (later upgraded to the AX2 in the pictures below) from Musicians Friend in 1996(?) as a pre-order, before they were even shipping. It was a cool amp that I used for gigs for 3 or 4 years. Enjoy!
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Ha! That's very... specific. Nope; I joined Roland US in 2005 as Product Support (synths, groove products, recording). Not sure who that might've been. Igor Len is their A&R now and we have the same haircut but he was Audio Projects Manager during my interim there. Great guy.
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0XI0
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i just remember it was a bald dude with a pinup girlfriend said he was a artist rep for Boss pedals, all I could play was one finger drop d tool songs, we were on the front deck one night hanging out, and dude said "ever hear of radiohead", and stated running through these weird ass chords with like built in voice leading and dissonant speed bumps that twisted around like a snake, it might have been karma police. blew my mind right out of my head. maybe that's everybody's reaction to radiohead the first time, just got to hear it live. dude looked like Billy Howerdel but shorter
Stone
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Hello Eric, great podcast with Steve,
I am curious and asking what is the future of the Powercabs, without of course not crossing your NDA
are there new models, revamped platforms in the works ? seeing as Fender upped the game by adding some BMTC functions to their FR-10/12
Cheers
Mike
I am curious and asking what is the future of the Powercabs, without of course not crossing your NDA
are there new models, revamped platforms in the works ? seeing as Fender upped the game by adding some BMTC functions to their FR-10/12
Cheers
Mike
BahamaDada
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the swede
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Agree, a nice mixture of tech talk and history tidbits (those are the most interesting imo) about the development and random stuff. It’s hard not to like Eric, just a straight up awesome dude.
Oh, while I’m here got to throw out a question to @Digital Igloo.
In the video with Steve you mentioned throwing together mockups of the XL. Did you ever “draw” a version with screen oriented to the left? Would be cool to se a mockup like that. In my mind that would’ve looked better somehow. I guess I/O and stuff might have steered the design to what it is now?
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HomespunEffects
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Do you take model requests? Something like a Mesa Mark Five preamp into a Marshall Super Lead power amp would be really amazing.
My trial of Helix Native has convinced me to pick up an HX Stomp or the big Helix. It depends on what amps I can sell. I guess I should actually try to sell some though.
I think any of my issues that I had with Helix Native was due to my subpar computer interface. It doesn’t have the proper input impedance.
My trial of Helix Native has convinced me to pick up an HX Stomp or the big Helix. It depends on what amps I can sell. I guess I should actually try to sell some though.
I think any of my issues that I had with Helix Native was due to my subpar computer interface. It doesn’t have the proper input impedance.
ragingplatypi
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Here’s a PodGo feature request if it doesn’t add too much cost: a quieter switch for the Tap/Tempo. I just heard my BPMs bounce off the back wall of the church this morning.
Sascha Franck
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Possibly not a big deal to replace it yourself.
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We're definitely not finished with PowerCab.
Steve's always easy to talk to. Great guy, great player.
IIRC, yeah, we did mock up a version with the screen on the left, but traditionally, our TAP/TUNER and MODE/EDIT/EXIT switches have always been on the right because most right-handed players edit with their right hand and tap tempo with their right foot. In this case, the functional precedent won over aesthetics.
Here's what it might've looked like:
molul
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Makes more sense to me like it is, with bank switches on the left and tap and on the right.
the swede
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I feel so weird, but I have to say that the left oriented screen version appeals to me more. Even though I am right handed/footed, I’ve always tapped with my left foot and also always placed the stomp top left on pedalboards. Well, that’s me haha. I totally understand though, why it is what it is now.
ragingplatypi
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The thought crossed my mind, but it’s way low on the priority list. I just brought it up because I’m pretty sure a lot of people are using the PG in churches and a lot of those spaces are designed to project every little creak. Not an issue with the Helix switches, but the PG enclosure is more hollow and the switches are traditional clicky ones.