How the PROS Use Modelers Live - JC

[kartikg3]

Some great great tips from JC on using modelers live, setting up live presets to preserve sanity and other great practical tips:



My favourite take-aways were:

1. When dialing presets at home, dial them darker than you'd like, because in gig volume things tend to become brighter, so darker dialing in will have it sit better when in gig volume.
2. Assign reverb+delay mix to an expression pedal.
3. Use the same cab(s)/IR(s) for clean and dirty and accross snapshots/presets to keep sonic consistencies.
4. Use minimum number of presets/core tones, for simplicity of management and core-tone consistency.

 

[holoholo]

Some great great tips from JC on using modelers live, setting up live presets to preserve sanity and other great practical tips:



My favourite take-aways were:

1. When dialing presets at home, dial them darker than you'd like, because in gig volume things tend to become brighter, so darker dialing in will have it sit better when in gig volume.
2. Assign reverb+delay mix to an expression pedal.
3. Use the same cab(s)/IR(s) for clean and dirty and accross snapshots/presets to keep sonic consistencies.
4. Use minimum number of presets/core tones, for simplicity of management and core-tone consistency.

1 and 3 are big ones. Hardest part is for live, it makes the most sense to have the same cab for clean and dirty but finding one that works for both is sort of a compromise.

 

[dronerstone]

Some great great tips from JC on using modelers live, setting up live presets to preserve sanity and other great practical tips:



My favourite take-aways were:

1. When dialing presets at home, dial them darker than you'd like, because in gig volume things tend to become brighter, so darker dialing in will have it sit better when in gig volume.
2. Assign reverb+delay mix to an expression pedal.
3. Use the same cab(s)/IR(s) for clean and dirty and accross snapshots/presets to keep sonic consistencies.
4. Use minimum number of presets/core tones, for simplicity of management and core-tone consistency.

Big thanks for that! I probably wouldn't have watched the video, and now I've still learned something.

2 seems weird, the rest I agree with.

 

[dronerstone]

1 and 3 are big ones. Hardest part is for live, it makes the most sense to have the same cab for clean and dirty but finding one that works for both is sort of a compromise.

I dunno, I haven't really considered using different cabs for clean and dirty, I've always stuck to the "what would I do with real-life gear?" approach -> same cab(s) for anything, most of the time.

But yeah, I can totally see why people would go "this cab is great for cleans", "this cab does chug" etc.
Fair point!

 

[kartikg3]

I dunno, I haven't really considered using different cabs for clean and dirty, I've always stuck to the "what would I do with real-life gear?" approach -> same cab(s) for anything, most of the time.

But yeah, I can totally see why people would go "this cab is great for cleans", "this cab does chug" etc.
Fair point!

As an audience, I can imagine feeling quite lost of all I see is one guitar player on stage, and the core sound (cabs) changing every 5 mins, or worse, within each song. Major cognitive dissonance I can imagine.

 

[FuzzyAce]

As an audience, I can imagine feeling quite lost of all I see is one guitar player on stage, and the core sound (cabs) changing every 5 mins

Laughs in Eric Johnson

 

[Jarick]

As an audience, I can imagine feeling quite lost of all I see is one guitar player on stage, and the core sound (cabs) changing every 5 mins, or worse, within each song. Major cognitive dissonance I can imagine.

I think it’s more for front of house, if the tone is constantly changing it’s hard to sit properly against the other instruments. Like the drums and bass probably aren’t changing constantly so the guitar shouldn’t have wild swings either.

 

[Jarick]

Some great great tips from JC on using modelers live, setting up live presets to preserve sanity and other great practical tips:



My favourite take-aways were:

1. When dialing presets at home, dial them darker than you'd like, because in gig volume things tend to become brighter, so darker dialing in will have it sit better when in gig volume.
2. Assign reverb+delay mix to an expression pedal.
3. Use the same cab(s)/IR(s) for clean and dirty and accross snapshots/presets to keep sonic consistencies.
4. Use minimum number of presets/core tones, for simplicity of management and core-tone consistency.

I really liked this video and saw it as a good challenge. Rather than trying to get a lot of different tones to play different things, how much can you play with the least amount of virtual gear?

Kinda like five watt world except without the constantly changing rotation of $8,000 guitars.

But seriously if I had 20 amps and 50 pedals in my basement I’d probably spend more time fussing with those than if I had 1 amp and a couple pedals.

 

[paisleywookiee]

3. Use the same cab(s)/IR(s) for clean and dirty and accross snapshots/presets to keep sonic consistencies.

JFC this. This one band I saw locally, just a cover band, was using a Helix and all their shit was all over the place sound-wise. I get it, you think it's cool that because you've got a modeler you can "nail" the album tone. But A. no one cares how close you are to it and B. you sound like shit because the sound guy is busy trying to herd cats.

 

[FuzzyAce]

This is a timely video for me. There's a lot of common sense here in the points he's making.
I've really just now started diving into building some core presets in the Helix stomp, disabled the cab section and then running it into a small, clean ss amp. I'm liking the results although I think getting a "FRFR" cab is where I'm heading. Most of you have been doing the modeling thing for years but for me it's been a relatively new experience, especially with cab IRs.

 

[Byrdman]

JFC this. This one band I saw locally, just a cover band, was using a Helix and all their shit was all over the place sound-wise. I get it, you think it's cool that because you've got a modeler you can "nail" the album tone. But A. no one cares how close you are to it and B. you sound like shit because the sound guy is busy trying to herd cats.

Therein lies the paradox!

Before watching that video, I have been trying to nail each song with it's own preset on my Stomp XL. For the past day after watching, I have been trying to dial in presets that will cover 3-5 songs each. I think I would be better off with a Dual Rec tone to handle the 90's-00's heavier songs, a 70's crunch, Marshall-type, to handle the classic rock stuff and an edge of breakup, maybe a Fender Deluxe Reverb tone, that can be rolled off to clean if needed.

If anyone has any other suggestions, Feel free to chime in please!

 

[Byrdman]

This is a timely video for me. There's a lot of common sense here in the points he's making.
I've really just now started diving into building some core presets in the Helix stomp, disabled the cab section and then running it into a small, clean ss amp. I'm liking the results although I think getting a "FRFR" cab is where I'm heading. Most of you have been doing the modeling thing for years but for me it's been a relatively new experience, especially with cab IRs.

Me too! I just started playing with 2 other guys and trying to figure it all out is a huge time suck that should be spent practicing, lol

 

[paisleywookiee]

Therein lies the paradox!

Before watching that video, I have been trying to nail each song with it's own preset on my Stomp XL. For the past day after watching, I have been trying to dial in presets that will cover 3-5 songs each. I think I would be better off with a Dual Rec tone to handle the 90's-00's heavier songs, a 70's crunch, Marshall-type, to handle the classic rock stuff and an edge of breakup, maybe a Fender Deluxe Reverb tone, that can be rolled off to clean if needed.

If anyone has any other suggestions, Feel free to chime in please!

The only times I've seen someone pull off the "hey, it's the album tone for this! Then this!" is when they ran their own sound, off of a X32. Whenever it's some rando soundguy, the whole jumping through IR's thing does nothing but fuck everything up. Treat the modeler like a multi-channel amp. Like you said, a Recto for one thing, a Plexi, and then a clean channel would probably be good.

 

[Byrdman]

The only times I've seen someone pull off the "hey, it's the album tone for this! Then this!" is when they ran their own sound, off of a X32. Whenever it's some rando soundguy, the whole jumping through IR's thing does nothing but fuck everything up. Treat the modeler like a multi-channel amp. Like you said, a Recto for one thing, a Plexi, and then a clean channel would probably be good.

Adding complexity to an already complex enough process is like stepping on your own dick!

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

Kinda like five watt world except without the constantly changing rotation of $8,000 guitars.

Yeah, the dissonance of that channel is real.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

Adding complexity to an already complex enough process is like stepping on your own dick!

What kind of complex stuff are you doing with your dick?!?!?

 

[Byrdman]

What kind of complex stuff are you doing with your dick?!?!?

Just a figure of speech, lol...

Urban Dictionary: stepping on my own dick

1. Used to describe potential failure in a given situation if a particular course of action is taken. 2. When you have done something exceptionally stupid causing you to have no progress toward resolution when attempting to solve a problem. The concept being that it would be stupid, dangerous...

www.urbandictionary.com

 

[FuzzyAce]

Me too! I just started playing with 2 other guys and trying to figure it all out is a huge time suck that should be spent practicing, lol

It does take a lot of time. I've been using the stomp mainly for recording but now I'm thinking 'how should I use this for jamming with a band'?
That's a whole different thing but it's forcing me to at least get some preset groundwork done with the time comes.

 

[FuzzyAce]

Adding complexity to an already complex enough process is like stepping on your own dick!

I hate when that happens!

 

[kartikg3]

Laughs in Eric Johnson

True. I love EJ