Interesting "Deluxe" Shootout. TC/UA/AMP/TONEX

[the swede]

It's not a long video, worth just listening through. I myself is surprised over the quality of all four variants. Dont skip to the reveal!



Im also very surprised I preferred both modelers over the amp and profile of the amp.
Throughout the video my mind was telling me "A" every time.

So to me:
TC sounds balanced and kinda neutral.
UA sounded somewhat off in the highs and im sure he could have dialed that in better.
Amp and the Tonex profile sounded great and very close to each other.

Shame the Walrus ACS1 was not included.
As I currently use the Walrus I can confidently say that it sounds somewhat close to the amp/tonex sound with YA Deluxe IR.

 

[BenIfin]

In both Clean and Driven ... B and D by a country mile ... I didn't bother with the "FX" examples

B and D could be dropped into a Live or Recording mix pretty much as they are.

A and C were all "zing" and "ultra-chime-sheen" - they lacked pretty much any mids - they would each require *a lot* of EQ'ing for either Live or a Recording mix.

Just my 2c

 

[laxu]

Throughout the video my mind was telling me "A" every time.

Same here. I would not have guessed which is which by audio alone tho.

To me A actually had the most mids out of the bunch.

This is kind of a problem with comparisons because your ears start to default to a particular sound, and then the much more scooped sounding B and C sounds like crap, even though by themselves they would be totally fine. I literally was just playing the UA Dream plugin and though that sounded pretty good.

D sounded mainly a bit dull.

 

[the swede]

Same here. I would not have guessed which is which by audio alone tho.

This is kind of a problem with comparisons because your ears start to default to a particular sound, and then the much more scooped sounding B and C sounds like crap, even though by themselves they would be totally fine. I literally was just playing the UA Dream plugin and though that sounded pretty good.

D sounded mainly a bit dull.

I reseted my self and then listened to B and D alot, over and over. Then suddenly A didn’t sound as good any more. I do think my brain prefers neutral or slightly scooped sounds. I think i initially picked up the strong mids in B and D and didn’t noticed that they’re pretty much very full sounding once he plays on the lower strings.

Played a little though my ACS1 after, and I’m pretty pleased, it just very easy going and sounds great…..
don’t need to be diverted by YT clips

 

[jay mitchell]

I preferred A very slightly over B. C completely rubbed me the wrong way, and D sounded too edgy for my taste. FWIW, I don't necessarily consider a loaded-down amp through an IR as representative of how the amp sounds in normal use.