Frustrating gear day today. Sometimes nothing seems to work

[Jarick]

I notice the same thing. I’m tempted to try a real cab at home, but I’m not sure how that will work with switching to an IR for live. I have a feeling I’ll be making a lot of tweaks.

I wonder if I could get a real cab and then have someone shoot IRs of my actual cab to use live?

So I got an Orange 1x12 cab on Monday, and was using my Katana as a power amp for it. Sounds really good!

I knew Celestion has a collection of Orange cab impulses, and they had a 1x12 that matches mine, so I picked that up as well. The impulses actually sound fairly similar to the real cab!

 

[OrganicZed]

I notice the same thing. I’m tempted to try a real cab at home, but I’m not sure how that will work with switching to an IR for live. I have a feeling I’ll be making a lot of tweaks.

I wonder if I could get a real cab and then have someone shoot IRs of my actual cab to use live?

Have you tried playing around with the dynacabs? That might help alleviate the madness that comes with auditioning IRs.

 

[AutomationBias]

I so hear you. I generally have these days with modelers and VSTs, but rarely with amps and cabs. Maybe it's because I've played amps for a very long time, but I just know what I'm going to get on a daily basis from them, while I may have made an Axe FX patch over the course of an hour or two with progressive ear fatigue the whole time, when I sit down to an amp I have my tone in 2 minutes or less usually if it's not already preset for me.

This has become really clear to me as I've started moving back to tube amps. Part of it is just that there are only so many things you can tweak.

 

[la szum]

One more reason to go in with super low expectations!!

Always happy!

 

[dean701]

I’m dialing in tones for a gig today and everything just sounds terrible. I can’t find the texture I’m looking for, and the digital stuff is feeling really compressed and unnatural. I battled IRs all afternoon trying to find something that worked. Some days I feel this disconnect where I just can’t seem to make it sound natural…

But then other days it clicks and everything sounds amazing

that's every day for me. It seems to change hour to hour for me. I could dial in a tone, love it, walk away, come back an hour later, hate it. Rinse and repeat.

Part of it is just that there are only so many things you can tweak.

absolutely

 

[la szum]

I never struggle anymore. Seriously. Sorry.

Getting out of my own way and not OCD'ing over tonal minutiae has been one of the
most significant psychological manuveurs I have made in the past few years. It's literally
almost never the gear these days. For me. It's a shitty day. Stress. Work. Fatigue. I am hangry
and need a sammich. Or I haven't gotten laid in an hot minute.

All of those things have way more impact on my perception of tone than what gear I do or
don't have.

 

[JasonE]

I have to say that I am happy to read that others have this happen to them as well. I have had days where I very much dislike every sound coming out of my amps or modelers no matter what I adjust on them. I will shut every thing off and come back to it the next day and it sounds fantastic. I haven't touched it since I hated the sound of it. It just seems like some days my ears pick up on things I dislike and that is all I can hear. The difference has been pretty drastic for me. It isn't just a little annoying.

 

[la szum]

Sometimes everything that comes out of one of our loved one's mouths is irritating
and hits us the wrong way. Just one of those days.

Same phenomenon, I say.

 

[holoholo]

I never struggle anymore. Seriously. Sorry.

Getting out of my own way and not OCD'ing over tonal minutiae has been one of the
most significant psychological manuveurs I have made in the past few years. It's literally
almost never the gear these days. For me. It's a shitty day. Stress. Work. Fatigue. I am hangry
and need a sammich. Or I haven't gotten laid in an hot minute.

All of those things have way more impact on my perception of tone than what gear I do or
don't have.

Toan is in the post nut clarity

 

[Jarick]

I never struggle anymore. Seriously. Sorry.

Getting out of my own way and not OCD'ing over tonal minutiae has been one of the
most significant psychological manuveurs I have made in the past few years. It's literally
almost never the gear these days. For me. It's a shitty day. Stress. Work. Fatigue. I am hangry
and need a sammich. Or I haven't gotten laid in an hot minute.

All of those things have way more impact on my perception of tone than what gear I do or
don't have.

What’s your secret?

 

[FuzzyAce]

What’s your secret?

 

[DrewJD82]

Sometimes everything that comes out of one of our loved one's mouths is irritating
and hits us the wrong way. Just one of those days.

Same phenomenon, I say.

I was actually going to make a post questioning he psychology/physiology behind it and your post hit that same vein. I know the way I hear treble differently from day to day is most likely a physiological thing, crossing some lines with tinnitus and blood pressure. I suspect the blood pressure because the pulsatile tinnitus I developed a couple years back where I could feel/hear my heartbeat in my ear also affected how I heard treble.

But those days aren’t the same as when I think everything sounds like shit. I really think those days it’s a physiological thing that’s most likely our brains telling us “You’re resistant to what you’re hearing because it’s not what you’re supposed to be doing right now”

 

[JasonE]

I was actually going to make a post questioning he psychology/physiology behind it and your post hit that same vein. I know the way I hear treble differently from day to day is most likely a physiological thing, crossing some lines with tinnitus and blood pressure. I suspect the blood pressure because the pulsatile tinnitus I developed a couple years back where I could feel/hear my heartbeat in my ear also affected how I heard treble.

But those days aren’t the same as when I think everything sounds like shit. I really think those days it’s a physiological thing that’s most likely our brains telling us “You’re resistant to what you’re hearing because it’s not what you’re supposed to be doing right now”

I think there is something to this. I have had tinnitus for many years. Thankfully I can still hear a good range of frequencies. It hasn't affected that and I thought it would at the level I have it at. I have also been on blood pressure medication for well over a decade now. I am able to keep my BP in a good range for the most part but occasionally it will go up. I have no idea if it was up on the days I hated what I heard coming out of my amp. I may put one of the BP monitors in my music room to be able to test it the next time this happens.

 

[DrewJD82]

I think there is something to this. I have had tinnitus for many years. Thankfully I can still hear a good range of frequencies. It hasn't affected that and I thought it would at the level I have it at. I have also been on blood pressure medication for well over a decade now. I am able to keep my BP in a good range for the most part but occasionally it will go up. I have no idea if it was up on the days I hated what I heard coming out of my amp. I may put one of the BP monitors in my music room to be able to test it the next time this happens.

I’d be curious to hear the results!!

That pulsatile tinnitus really put into focus how tiny and delicate the ear drum is, so I can imagine any sudden changes in that area having a fairly profound effect.

 

[Jarick]

I think there is something to this. I have had tinnitus for many years. Thankfully I can still hear a good range of frequencies. It hasn't affected that and I thought it would at the level I have it at. I have also been on blood pressure medication for well over a decade now. I am able to keep my BP in a good range for the most part but occasionally it will go up. I have no idea if it was up on the days I hated what I heard coming out of my amp. I may put one of the BP monitors in my music room to be able to test it the next time this happens.

I'm the same way, although my right ear is starting to lose a little volume compared to the left. I have had to manage my stress and anxiety to keep the tinnitus in check. Probably the biggest impact of tinnitus on how I hear things is that I have grown to dislike/hate/fear high volumes. Which is a big reason why I lost interest in tube amps and started getting into modeling. I want great guitar tone at like 70 dB, not at 100 dB.

But I think there's something in the high frequencies, maybe that's more sensitivity I dunno, that changes a bit more from day to day. Biologically, that could be something with the fletcher munson curve. We are more stressed, tired, angry, whatever, and our senses are on high alert for danger. So we may hear those harsh frequencies more. And if we are relaxed and happy, maybe we hear those less.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

I never struggle anymore. Seriously. Sorry.

Getting out of my own way and not OCD'ing over tonal minutiae has been one of the
most significant psychological manuveurs I have made in the past few years. It's literally
almost never the gear these days. For me. It's a shitty day. Stress. Work. Fatigue. I am hangry
and need a sammich. Or I haven't gotten laid in an hot minute.

All of those things have way more impact on my perception of tone than what gear I do or
don't have.

Similar. I have days when I don't like my PLAYING -- either my hands just won't work; I'm not "hearing" anything but the same old licks in my head; I'm hearing how not-perfect my hands are, etc., but its been a good long while since I had that "must be a waxing moon on a Tuesday during the rising tide!" trouble with gear tone that I used to feel like I had. Most days, no matter what, I can just hit a big note, or a small note, and literally just sit in wonderment at the tone I've got available so easily these days.

I think you're right that this is mostly a mindset situation. I mean, I've heard stuff that metro and jarick have posted and it all sounds great tonally. I DO hear the little quibbles that are mentioned when Metro is like "dude, the bass is so different" and I'm like "yeah, it's a LITTLE different." I dunno how to make that shift. Maybe my ears have just taken a nose dive.

A couple of things that have gradually changed over time is (1) my guitar collection has shifted to super specific instruments, rather than a Swiss-army-knife HSS Strat. (2). Similarly, while I will tone surf when needed for a song I'm working on, I mostly stick to a VERY small handful of known amp/cab combinations when playing, and typically stick to a single combination for weeks at a time for general "picking up the guitar and playing or learning a new lick/song whatever."

 

[dronerstone]

walk away from it and come back another day with fresh ears.

This.

 

[Jarick]

Similar. I have days when I don't like my PLAYING -- either my hands just won't work; I'm not "hearing" anything but the same old licks in my head; I'm hearing how not-perfect my hands are, etc., but its been a good long while since I had that "must be a waxing moon on a Tuesday during the rising tide!" trouble with gear tone that I used to feel like I had. Most days, no matter what, I can just hit a big note, or a small note, and literally just sit in wonderment at the tone I've got available so easily these days.

I think you're right that this is mostly a mindset situation. I mean, I've heard stuff that metro and jarick have posted and it all sounds great tonally. I DO hear the little quibbles that are mentioned when Metro is like "dude, the bass is so different" and I'm like "yeah, it's a LITTLE different." I dunno how to make that shift. Maybe my ears have just taken a nose dive.

A couple of things that have gradually changed over time is (1) my guitar collection has shifted to super specific instruments, rather than a Swiss-army-knife HSS Strat. (2). Similarly, while I will tone surf when needed for a song I'm working on, I mostly stick to a VERY small handful of known amp/cab combinations when playing, and typically stick to a single combination for weeks at a time for general "picking up the guitar and playing or learning a new lick/song whatever."

Broken record, but if I'm working on a song and need a specific tone, I can usually get it in under five minutes and I'm usually pretty happy and everyone seems to give good feedback. If I'm just aimlessly trying to dial in a tone, there's no end point and it will go on for years.

I wonder if that's where @metropolis_4 (and myself too) would benefit from having two rigs: the super flexible rig that you use when you are trying to do a very specific thing (like his theater gigs), and then a minimal no-fuss rig for practice and jamming.

 

[la szum]

I was actually going to make a post questioning he psychology/physiology behind it and your post hit that same vein. I know the way I hear treble differently from day to day is most likely a physiological thing, crossing some lines with tinnitus and blood pressure. I suspect the blood pressure because the pulsatile tinnitus I developed a couple years back where I could feel/hear my heartbeat in my ear also affected how I heard treble.

But those days aren’t the same as when I think everything sounds like shit. I really think those days it’s a physiological thing that’s most likely our brains telling us “You’re resistant to what you’re hearing because it’s not what you’re supposed to be doing right now”

Good point. Drew. There's so much going inside of us, isn't there? And then around us?

We are neither an isolated and self-contained continuum, nor are the mind and body distinct
entities. Interactions and accumulations abound!

Combine a predisposition to certain things physiologically, compound it with some intense
psychological stress from the day, and well, it is likely that all we can perceive is shit.

Shit here! Shit there! Shit everywhere!




I bet "how we hear" is no different than an inclination towards high blood pressure. Stress exacerbates
that shit. Suddenly something that was ok is not ok.

So eat right, get your vitamins, meditate or do yoga, manage your sleep well, and then miracle
of all miracles all of your tones will be better.

Maybe.

 

[la szum]

What’s your secret?

Ewww....... this is where I can end up sounding even more like a pretentious asshat.





I do have some thoughts to share, as well as perspectives, above and beyond
what others have said here. Maybe later tonight. I got grilling on my mind, and
need to mow the lawn first.